YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION

This one goes out to all of you in internetland.  All of you posting questions about “can I add curls to Starting Strength” or “Can I increase my training max faster on 5/3/1 than the author recommends” or “am I allowed to skip the conditioning work” or “can I go to the gym if I’m sick”, or “can I do this ‘intermediate program’ even though I’m a beginner”.

Please read through this, and pull it up whenever you need.  Please refer it to anyone else who is asking the question.

You have my permission. 

 
...sure, go ahead

I am allowing you to do this.  I have come down from Mount Sinai and on these stone tablets you will find your permission.  Here is your get out of jail free card.  Your request has been processed and you are approved. 

…that’s what you wanted right?  This is what you were asking for, no?  Permission to act?  Why else would you be asking?  You knew full well before you asked that the author of the program knew what they were doing when they made the program.  You knew the program worked as written.  But you also knew better, right?  You knew that there was a better way to do it.  Well, maybe you thought you did, so maybe you needed some permission first, so where better to look than the internet?

Are you insane?!  Do you know what kind of people are on the internet?  You didn’t want to believe that an accredited and accomplished coach with decades of experience in churning out successful athletes knew how to write a program, but you’re going to trust some 16 year old named “BigGunz69” to help you achieve your max potential?  What’s wrong with you?!  You’re not doing “if dad says no, ask mom”, you’re doing “if dad says no, ask a homeless junkie”.  If you’re just going to keep asking around until someone gives you permission, for god’s sake just go ahead and do it.

 
Crap, NOW who is going to give me permission?

This really isn’t as hard as you’re wanting to make it out to be.  Look; those coaches know exactly what they’re doing.  They put together a very solid basic program that will give you a base to work from when you set up your training.  But you honestly can’t capture “hard work” through a series of sets and reps.  This is where YOU come into play.  When you bust your ass and sweat and grind and exert yourself, you become stronger.  And in truth, if you’re just going through the motions because the program doesn’t capture your passion, it won’t matter how expertly put together it is, because YOU aren’t putting in the human element.

But at the same time, quit changing the programs and then calling them what they were, because you do a disservice to the authors.  And this is why every time you ask for permission, the answer is “no”.  “Hey, I’m doing 5/3/1, but I want to replace deadlifts with farmers walks”, great; you aren’t doing 5/3/1 then.  Don’t expect it to work like 5/3/1 does, don’t apply the same rules as 5/3/1, and don’t ask the author of 5/3/1 what he thinks about your mutation.  Just do it, document your success or failure with it, and put it in your toolbox.

And while I’m ranting, because I don’t even know where I’m going with this, why is it the same people that are asking for permission to change the program ALSO use the program as some sort of shield against change?  “Hey, I’m getting really out of breath on my sets of 3x5 for squats on Starting Strength.  Could I do 3x3 instead?  That way, I wouldn’t be doing so many reps.”  Well hey, have you considered doing some conditioning work so that you won’t get out of breath?  “I don’t really want to change the program by adding in conditioning work.”  Oh really?  Are you sure you really just don’t want to change the program by doing something harder?

Conditioning?  *Psh*  I'm trying to get STRONG. Can't do conditioning if I wanna get strong.

And that’s fundamentally what this asking for permission thing boils down to; people want to do what they want to do, but they want to make sure they’re still guaranteed the same results they would have if they would have followed the program as it.  Nuh uh.  It doesn’t work that way.  You don’t get to be a pioneer and travel the well trodden path.  If you’ve been visited by the good idea fairy, you have to take responsibility if you follow it and it fails.  But that also means you get to take full credit if it succeeds.  And isn’t it funny that all the people who ask for permission are all too willing to say “I’m running Cube/Juggernaugt/5/3/1/etc” when they unveil their abomination of a program, but if they actually experience any success they are all too willing to pat themselves on the back for how smart they are, rather than saying “Man, it’s a good thing I was following 5/3/1 all along, because if left to my own devices, I’d be too stupid to figure this out?”  Holy crap that was a long sentence.

Fundamentally, the choice is yours.  You can be the person who asks permission, or the person who gives it.  My father taught me at a young age that it’s far easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and though a terrible lesson to teach your own children because they will use it against you, it’s been a fantastic guiding principle in my life.  You can keep asking permission in the hopes that someone will allow you the opportunity to succeed or you can just go out and make your own decision and suffer the consequences.

In either case, you have my permission.