Saturday, March 4, 2017

YES, EVEN MORE BULLETPOINTS


-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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

2 comments:

  1. 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.

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    1. Thanks 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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