-It’s
amazing how 2 people can read the same thing and walk away with 2 different messages. Most people read with the hope of reinforcing
their perspective rather than challenging it.
-The body
does not understand reps, sets, days of the week, range of motion, or many of
the other things people consider crucial.
It DOES understand effort and fatigue.
Try to design programming around THOSE 2 variables and everything else
will fall into place.
-I legitimately
wonder how many people lift weights purely as an excuse to experiment with
meth.
Christ this is so stupid
-Bringing
back bodyweight dips into my training has been huge for my growth and development. Sticking with bodyweight is amazing for
accumulation, and my pecs, triceps and shoulders are growing while elbow pain
has been minimal. Additionally, if you’re
sticking with bodyweight, you don’t need a super hardcore set-up to do dips.
-I found out
I CAN press twice a week, as long as one of those days is a push press.
-We were all
so cool in the mid 2000s and we KNEW that western periodization was garbage,
but here it is making a comeback. Accumulation
vs intensification is an incredibly helpful lens to view training from. Know WHY you are training and vector around
that. Some phases are going to be higher
volume, some are going to be higher intensity.
Trying to do both is silly.
-People with
confidence in their knowledge and experience welcome questions as an
opportunity to discuss and share. People
insecure with their knowledge and lacking experience respond to questions with
venom.
He may very well be insane, but he will go live on the radio to spread his insanity...for free
-I am
unreasonably excited about the “Westside vs the World” documentary.
-People say
things like “strongman training” or “train like a strongman” as though it means
anything. There is no codified
approach. It is simply doing what one
needs to get better at. It’s smart
training: the way you SHOULD be training.
-The “donuts=gains”
meme is creating a LOT of fat and weak trainees. Don’t perpetuate it.
Remember how we all made fun of Planet Fitness for free pizza...yeah, this is just as stupid
-A lot of
folks don’t know the difference between injury and pain. This leads to too many reports of injuries
and an overabundance of “injury prevention” voodoo. To put it simply; injury means dysfunction. There is physically something broken that is
preventing you from being able to function normally. When a bone is broken, you are injured,
because no matter what you do, that bone is broken. Pain can be an indication of a pending
injury, or it could simply mean you pushed too hard one day, but if you can
move THROUGH the pain still, you aren’t injured.
-As a home
gymer, I never understood the comment “my gym doesn’t have X.” Cool story bro; go buy it. And hey; if you REALLY like your gym, maybe
you can donate some equipment to it.
-I can’t
keep track of all these youtube heroes and gurus. I feel like there is a new one every
week. How do people have so much time to
watch all this stuff, but no time for conditioning?
-I think I
liked it better when we used to day that the powerlifting gear was doing all
the work, vs now where we blamed it all on steroids and genetics.
Gotta love when this is a selling point
-Everyone
says having a strong grip is important, but no one wants to actually TRAIN
their grip.
-Breaking
the emotional bond with food was HUGE for my progress. Food isn’t a reward or some source of joy: its
fuel. You can enjoy it if you want to,
but keep your mind on the goal.
-On the
topic of food, I got an instant pot for Christmas and it’s blowing my
mind. Pressure cooking is awesome, and a
great way to make a lot of food really quick.
It also plugs in to the wall and has minimal clean up. Get yourself one.
-People ask
me how to program conditioning, and I give them a look like a dog looking at a
wristwatch. Just do a thing until you
puke, and then go home.
This guy gets it
-I legitimately
don’t understand people with the desire to make money off of lifting. Don’t get me wrong; if you’re an actual
professional athlete and you can do something you were going to do anyway AND
get paid for it, that’s awesome. I’m
talking about the people that are trying to capitalize off youtube views and Instagram
follows and stuff like that. Taking a
passion and trying to make it a job is a great way to resent your passion,
because when money is on the line, you tend to have to do things you don’t like
in order to increase your mass appeal.
The pay off just doesn’t seem worth it either. I really like having a job that pays me and a
hobby I spend that money on, and having neither one of them get in the
way. But that might just be me.
-As a former
fighter, I just scratch my head when people say stupid stuff like “It doesn’t
matter how much you deadlift; you’ll still get tapped out by a black belt.” You mean to tell me that, if you take 2
athletes and have them compete in 1 of those athletes specialty, that athlete
will win? Do wonders ever cease? And I feel it’s endemic to the reality that,
no matter how we slice it, we’re still trying to do the stupid “alpha male”
thing, and size and strength conveys it so much better than anything else. People get threatened by signs of strength,
and try to find some way to minimize it.
Meanwhile, most legit big and strong guys don’t like the idea of
fighting, because it sounds exhausting, and you could probably get hurt doing
it.
-No one on
the internet knows how to lift right, and there is definitely a right way to do
it, that’s for sure. At least, that’s
what I’ve gained seeing how everyone’s form gets critiqued for being “wrong”. People; less Plato, more Machiavelli.
Nice work ! Honestly all your articles are on point but I prefer your insights into the psychology/philosophy of training rather than your training articles themselves.
ReplyDeleteThanks man; I appreciate the feedback. I like writing those philosophy/psychology pieces quite a bit, but I feel like I need to write something "actionable" every once in a while. Glad to know people out there aren't thinking I'm getting too long winded, haha.
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