Awesome stuff here man, that’s a lot of work in a short time!
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I really like that sales pitch to newbies!
One thing that gets not talked about enough imo is pain and health.
On all of social media you see people being big and strong and talking about health and how it’s the most important thing, how you’ll feel amazing through lifting heavy and so on. A lot of them on illegal drugs that might alter their hormone balance forever.
Fuck those guys! Shit hurts. You will get injured. You will suffer fatigue, wear and tear and if you want to compete, shit will eventually get unhealthy to a degree.
Pushing through pain and eating like it’s your job is not healthy behavior. Psychological stress from underachieving, competing, injuries and stuff is not a healthy relationship with sport.
A lot of sports will have you suffer injuries. More so than strength sports even. But I still think strength sport athletes have a particularly interesting relationship with their sport.
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I still remember one of the most telling moments I had was talking with a co-worker that had recently dropped about 30lbs of weight. They were doing really good for themselves, but came seeking my advice. Specifically asking “What do you eat to make it so that you’re not hungry ALL the time, because I’m really struggling with that.”
I looked at him and blinked a few times before saying “Dude, I AM hungry all the time. If I’m not hungry, it means I’m getting fat.”
And it was such a big eye opener to him. It was like I gave him permission to feel not great. Because people are sold this image that being fit and strong is about feeling good all the time and no one suffers or experiences pain. In turn, when it comes to PURSUING getting big and strong and lean, people interpret any sensation of struggle and suffering as an indication something is WRONG rather than right. It’s why you go to a gym and see NO ONE breathing hard.
Like, think about the last time you saw someone REALLY putting in effort in a set in a gym. Actually straining themselves, finishing the set and gasping for air at the end, laying down on the floor in a puddle, etc etc. Typically, IF that ever happens, it’s pure attention seeking theatrics (“the grunter”), but otherwise people just go through the motions and never actually strain themselves. Because they operate under the premise that physical change is accomplished with a minimal level of effort.
And then we someone get on facebook at talk about the struggle of training after all of that.
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Yer I have hard skin on my back from the bar.
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Yeah no shit right. Someone asked me recently if doms ever go away and I just honestly told him not really, but that because I’m always in some sort of pain you kind of just get used to it
I definitely sold it to myself, I keep doing it despite all the above! It’s a weird hobby that’s for sure. That’s not even getting into the bodybuilding way of things those guys are nuts (mainly because of the Speedos and spray tan but I suppose the dieting deserves some small bit of recognition…).
My Mrs always says “take it steady” pretty much every time I train, I always reply “nope” - become a weird routine. But generally no one around me has any understanding of lifting and would disapprove of the scarring, burns, bleeding etc!
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Thanks Klein - giant sets are unbeatable for getting work in, it allows me to do stuff I don’t really like or want to do and not go over time (which would just cause me to skip it altogether).
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It’s because all the guys putting in decent effort train in home gyms!
I think years of advertising selling us “easy” ways to get fit and sexy, which are just lies, but powerful ones because we want to believe them. We want to believe that we can look huge and ripped and just the absolute minimum and not change how we eat or live - it’s such an easy sell, and after a while people just believe it without thinking or more importantly trying it.
Then if they do try it, it clearly doesn’t work, because they don’t put the effort in and then they just blame genetics or some other meaningless excuse, to cover up what we all know deep down - it requires hard work and sacrifice the likes of which the vast majority of people don’t want to give.
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Great to know I’m in good company, the callouses on the hands, the scarred shins from deadlifts (now wear sleeves and that’s stopped any further bleeding), the aches and pains, the stretch marks (those were a joy to me - know you’re growing then!) these were all expected the shoulder burns being relatively new were unexpected!
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That sentence summarized at least 100 papers I eventually end up coming across
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You just described the majority of my recent sessions - especially shoulder day. There’s something about putting the bar overhead that can gas you.
I basically did the same workout Monday that I did Sunday. Sunday was 100 push presses with jumps every time I put the bar down. Monday was 100 bench presses in the same format. It wasn’t nearly as difficult because I got to lay down. It was nice not having to support my body for a bit.
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My mum’s the same way.
Same. I have a strange little patch that is permadead.
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I feel personally attacked.
But for real though people look at me like I’m a freak when I do clean and jerks or max squats
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Morning weight 212.5 not surprising at all, got beasted at drill last night probably sweat out a lb. It made me regret squatting the day before - my vmo cramped which was less than pleasant and everything feels a bit tight this morning. Flat out with work today and preaching this week which I haven’t finished prepping and need to video and send probably today. All that moaning and whining to say I might delay today’s session until tomorrow.
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211.75 - had a long late night shout which had me working fairly hard. Good news is I’m not dropping significant amounts when these things happen, so my body’s accepted this weight and I’m just dropping a bit of hydration.
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Is this done with BtM today then?
No unfortunately not, got 2 more sessions (got slightly out of sync somewhere along the line), but happy to say I achieved my target weight, and will finish the program on Monday/Tuesday.
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Two more very fun days ahead!
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You’re missing some punctuation there, “fun”.
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