They’ve tried to make alcohol illegal (Prohibition) - it didn’t really work lol. It’d probably just be too hard to do that, it’s too deeply engrained in society.
There’s the biggest problem and that includes alcoholics. However, meth addicts are the worst. They care about no one and nothing. They not only steal, they go deep into theft with identity theft, check forgery (making, altering, stealing checks), and other cons.
@carlbm, and idea how they clarified harm to others? I think the impact meth users have on society is the highest of any drug (from my personal experience).
Only from English shop (very expensive) or occasionally from Aldi.
No off the top of my head. Although I’ve seen this info presented (on ther internet) a few times.
I really wanna join in the conversation but I’m working out. Stop distracting me when in doing skull crusher.
Replace meth with heroin over here, and that was my instinct too. Certainly as a % of users. If we were going down that route (% of users), surely alcohol would be pretty low down? I would say upwards of 90% of the population use alcohol to some extent, the vast majority without any harm to others.
Notice I said instinct, because I have no data to back this up.
I will give a full reply tomorrow, but it’s a great topic so I want to give it my full attention and I think my wife is giving me evil looks for ignoring her - those looks are worse than the sides of hard drugs!
My “view” on drugs. As an ex casual user.
This is a rabbit hole on which we could all write a whole essay. However time/place? My over arching POV is this. The reasons we hear of drugs being illegal are:
Danger to the use
Danger to socioty
The danger to user is such a myth. Well - not a myth but misrepresented. MDMA is less dangerous than horse riding. In fact if you where to give every person at the start of a marathon a choice - take MDMA or run the course - it would statistically be safer to take the drugs (this is from TV broad cast a few years back so carries some credibility although is unchecked by me).
Danger to society - the argument her is that by introducing more drugs we get more addicts. This is not how it works. If drugs became legal / were decriminalised the number of addicts would not suddenly explode. What people are addicted to might change. But its would mean alcoholics would be junkies. The change is for all purposes not significant.
Lastly - by controlling supply you get rid of the dealer. And a layer of organised crime. You can also dedicate to people - get help or come off supply.
I also hate the massive hypocrisy of drugs are bad for you in a socioy where we celebrate boxers. Where its totally acceptable to risk your own health for fun. BUT if you want to run that risk f=with drugs - its bad?
Again - its not a “complete” theory. Its more bits and bobs I think about. I don’t think there is a complete theory - or a good solution to drugs. My ideas have holes but then they all do!
Was going to reply to this but the forum is unreadable right now, and typing on it is a painful experience, hopefully someone will sort it out in the next day or two will hold off my big drug monologue until then.
Forums virtually unusable for me right now, ah well. Log the training best I can and log off until it’s fixed sorry if I’m a bit incommunicado, but malfunctioning tech is one of the very few things that makes me genuinely annoyed.
Week 3: Monday
My legs are in pain, not doms but sore hip joints and knee joints, with some slight pain in the muscle on right leg near the hip joint (nothing overly serious but I am clearly still fatigued and connective tissue is complaining, hardly surprising given I hit a weight I’ve never hit, for a double). Since today is heavy squat day and since I want a decent run at it and since I programmed everything myself I gave my a deload for squats, will hit 160 for 10 next week, when my deadlift is being deloaded, made sense to me.
Gs1:
kB swing: 24kg X 5 X 5 sets
Squats: 60, 80, 100, 120, 140kg X 3
Cable crunch: 50kg X 8 X 5 sets
Gs2:
Ng chins: 10 X 3 sets
Dips: 20 X 3 sets
GHR: 8 X 3 sets
Gs3
Cable curls: 30kg X 25 X 3
Tri pd: 30kg X 30 X 3
Cable crunch: 30kg X 30 X 3
Going for deload on squats was a solid idea, reinforced by how heavy 140 felt. Smash it next week. Reduced volume on accessories, chins felt smooth, almost effortless, BtM did good things here. Anyways that’s all because this forum is making me scream a little inside my own head.
Yeah boy! Big numbers.
Squats are heaviest when deadlift is lightest? Smart!
Auto regulating the volume of accessories? Also smart!
Deloading without a vacation from the weights! You’re learning bro!
Did you hit that stupid screen reader button?
I’m not sure, it’s flipping annoying whatever it is.
Any ideas? I don’t have the accessibility button to turn it off if it is that? Makes my keyboard lag out seriously badly as well, which is what makes the site so unusable. I only access it via phone as well. Major pain.
You hit the screen reader button. Clear your internet cache and temporary files. After that, this blue guy should reappear.
Click on him and reset everything.
I did the same thing. There are several posts in the forum feedback section about it.
Ah thanks dude, back to normal, what on earth is that setting about and why can’t you change it without having to do all that crap, can’t be helpful for anyone with accessibility needs!
Thanks Flats, I had half a mind to just “man up” but then decided my knees and hips would probably feel horrid and it would work well to sync the heaviest stuff with deloads. Always wondered why 531 maxed everything at the same time.
Thanks, good to hear I’m on the right track!
Deloads always set me back and I never enjoy them, so hopefully this works better.
No kidding. My phone has its own screen reader mode and it’s much easier to find and manage.
Going back to drugs for a minute. As another experienced casual recreational user my opinion is based on several factors. Let’s start with the fact that drug use is rampant and drugs are even included in the GDP of the UK (making up 0.7% or the same amount as agriculture apparently, but given the illegal nature I’d suggest it’s bigger than the reported problem) so drugs are a substantial issue, the current methods of prevention do not work.
Addiction, whilst “self-inflicted” are still a serious medical problem and very often stem from phsyicological issues, abuse/neglect in childhood etc. Criminalisation of users is not at all helpful and means addicts are reluctant to seek help, they are also marginalised and this makes it easier for them to go against societal norms.
There are so many issues around criminalisation, I’ll run through a few, purity; if you make something illegal, you immediately put control in the hands of unscrupulous people with no accountability, a significant portion of the damage (particularly heroin, as it’s injected and blood vessels are so delicate) to users comes from impurities, cut with brick dust or in contaminated with anthrax.
Users: alcoholics, gambling addicts, tobacco addicts, all problem groups and whilst there will be a higher portion criminals amongst this group, it pales compares to drug addicts. This isn’t necessarily because drugs force you into an alternative lifestyle (the largest ever study of heroin users, studied 931 users for a decade in the 1930s, from memory they were given a clean supply and they held down jobs and had no overdoses, no observable adverse health outcomes, probably due to lack of ECGs and MRIs but still it shows that you can be functional), but because criminalisation means you’ve automatically got an alternative lifestyle, you will struggle to get a job, housing and the usual things that assist with integrated society living.
No doubt drugs cause a massive policing problem, there was a study in Switzerland where they registered all the heroin users in a town and gave them a clean supply for free, the crime rate dropped 95%. This massive problem can be solved.
Helping users: as mentioned users are reluctant to get help, and there is a massive funding gap so that the services available are woefully inadequate, double win here, if the government controls the drug supply then there is regulation; purity increases dropping health issues, saving money for the NHS, policing costs reduce significantly, taxes can be earnt on drugs, which means more funds for harm reduction and addiction services, more money for early intervention and hopefully stopping people getting addicted in the first place).
Portugal is a success story in decriminalising use, however I think full legalisation has more benefits, you strip the guts out of the black market which means policing costs drop and you get that all import control and tax.
There is an argument that you’ll create a new generation of addicts, but it doesn’t really hold weight, not like me or you will suddenly decide heroin sounds like a great idea. If it’s government controlled and users have to register with ID and have controlled limits, whilst not foolproof you’ll limit ODs and underage users, but when it’s in the hands of profit seeking criminals then you’ve got zero control, they’ll push to school kids because the younger you get them the longer you get a “loyal” customer.
Pandora’s box is open, drugs won’t ever be eradicated, the “war” on drugs is a farce. We need to learn to manage them and live alongside them, we allow adults to make all sorts of destructive decisions, keeping them from this one does more harm than good, much like the prohibition proved make any substance illegal and you’ll just create a dangerous black market.
I think it’s good to try stuff, or to do science experiments on yourself. It’s always interesting to read about what people are trying out and how it works.
I see so many logs where people have the same bad experience with the OG 5/3/1 style deload that they give up on the whole idea of waving intensity. It can take a little trial and error to find your way. The whole “man up” mindset can make it take even longer.
I’m guilty of it not working for me and rather than give up on 531 (I was the opposite and stayed on it for years) I just never deloading then got injuries, which forced a longer deload.
A lot of the time I use the “life given” deloads which usually mean a complete break for a week due to work or family stuff, but now I work at home and only train 3 days a week and only on lunch breaks then I really do need to figure it out. Definitely have to break that man up 24/7 mindset - useful but only when correctly applied and not on an indefinite timeframe.
Looking forward to seeing how this method works for me, deloading movement patterns and slight reductions in volume, could be the ticket and like you say the experiments are good, regardless of the results the data will help drive future improvements!


