SOME THOUGHTS

-If you wanna eat the way you wanna eat, you don’t get to train the way you wanna train, and vice versa.  What I mean is, I enjoy eating a LOT of food.  I have a voracious appetite.  However, the only way I’ve ever trained to be able to justify that intake was when I ran Deep Water or Building the Monolith: and both of those programs were ROUGH.  However, if I don’t train like that, I have to ease up on the food intake.  There’s never going to be both going in the right direction.

-You did one meet and now you’re a powerlifter, or you did one comp and now you’re a strongman?  Great.  Instead of using this as an opportunity to strut around and call out non-competitors, realize that now you’re an ambassador for the sport and act accordingly.  You represent more than just yourself.

-I thrive when given limitations.  Limitations are what breed creativity.  I got creative when I couldn’t train my knee, I get creative when I have to train in a gym that isn’t mine, etc.  I feel like decisions are easier to make WITH limitations vs without, because now you know the operating parameters.  Understanding this, maybe you should self-impose some limitations if things are getting stale.  Or maybe, if you’re just starting out and you’re feeling overwhelmed, you create some arbitrary limitations.  Only 1 author you listen to, only 5 movements, etc etc.  See what it forces you to do.

If you can't figure out how to train for a decade using this and a barbell, you're most likely spoiled

-So many people are drinking “Bang” energy drinks now, to include non-lifters.  I remember when creatine first hit the scene and people thought it was steroids.  Hell, some people STILL do, and yet people are just knocking back creatine drinks.  I’m wondering what’s going to be the impact, especially for those drinking a few of these a day and not hydrating terribly well.

-People with meticulous form and light weight seem to get upset when I point out that the weight they are lifting isn’t much, whereas I don’t get upset when they point out that my technique is poor.  Is one of us living unauthentically?

-I miss the old MHP Mass Gainer “Up Your Mass”.  Also, I most likely also miss MHP, because I don’t see them around anymore.  Maybe I should just be honest and say I miss the mid 2000s.

-I legit don’t understand the dietary goals of some people.  “I’ve been eating to gain muscle, but now my gas smells bad: how do I fix it?”  Are you eating to have good smelling gas?  What a weird goal.  “I’ve been eating to gain muscle, but now I’m getting acne.  How do I fix it?” Use proactive and keep eating. ARE YOU GAINING MUSCLE?  That’s what you are eating for!

-Ever notice how it’s only testosterone that guys will try to manipulate with over the counter remedies?  Like, so many kids are wondering “How do I boost my testosterone” with no actual idea on if they have low test, but where are all the people shooting up insulin because they think that they MIGHT be diabetic?

I'm sure that asterisk is just standard boilerplate stuff

-Dips and chins are 2 of the most popular upperbody assistance exercises because they’re the easiest to set up.

-On the above, the lesson is to not confuse popularity with effectiveness.  Dave Tate talked about how, on some Westside days, they’d decide their supplemental and accessory work based off what the ME workout was for that day.  “Hell, we’re doing block pulls?  Let’s do some RDLs for supplemental work, and then some barbell rows for accessory.  We can just unload the bar as we go!”  If you just looked at their workout WITHOUT that context, you’d be confused as hell about the layout.

-They call kale a superfood because, otherwise, no one would eat it.

-I really hoped that, when Eddie Hall retired, his fans would go away.  Not only did that NOT happen, but now we have Larry Wheel’s fans along for the ride too.

-And that’s not to denigrate Larry.  He’s a strong dude.  In fact, I think it’s pretty uncool that NO ONE is giving him a competition shirt to wear at his competitions.

-Allegedly, Westside Barbell vs the World is being released on 7 May to iTunes, and I’m supposed to get my direct download sometime before that.  I have a feeling there is no way it can live up to the hype of 2 years of production and drug deals and money laundering and lawsuits, but at this point I’m in too deep NOT to watch.  Also, I want to point out that what I wrote is probably one of the few times “Westside Barbell” and “too deep” appeared in the same paragraph.

It's amazing that powerlifting has become even MORE ridiculous since this time...

-How to tell if you’re stupid: when you see a unilateral exercise in a program and it says 3x10, do you ask “Is that per side, or total reps?”  Know how you can tell you’re stupid?  Would you have asked that same question if it said 3x11?

-I’ve switched to benching exclusively using the Ironmind Five Star bench press, which is basically just solid steel with a thin close cell foam padding, and in doing so I’m wondering what the hell the big deal is about the Thompson Fat Pad for benching?  And hey, if you’re putting up 600lbs, I get it, but that’s not the people I see clamoring over it.

-People ask for the “solution” to being light headed when you train as though it’s a problem.  Just be lightheaded. 

-When people link me studies, I’ve taken to just say I don’t understand the science enough to be able to comment or respond to what is being reported.  I’m wondering how many people will follow my lead on that…

-I can always tell when a lifter is just parroting an author when they say the phrase “The deadlift is the most taxing movement on the CNS.”  Oh really?  Ever try walking with a yoke? But that’s the other fun comedy too: you do one of those “which 5 movements would you pick if you could only do 5” things, and 99% of the people that respond will pick static lifts.  Bench, squat, deadlift, press and chin.  Oh cool: guess there’s no front carries, or farmers, or yokes, or throwing, or jumping, etc etc.  Good luck with all that.

You know: the IMPORTANT exercises

-I find many people quoting abstracts at me fail to understand what the words “prove” and “cause” actually mean.

-“Touch and go deadlifts are bad form”.  Agree.  Squats too, right?