@max13 I never really split, because I’m dumb. I went for grams instead. The best results I’ve had really have been in the last three weeks where I started to really look at fat I take as well as protein and carbs.
I look for:
200 grams protein (non-negotiable)
Under 90 grams fat (becoming non-negotiable)
However many grams of carbs it takes to bring my calories up to 2700
Looking forward to reading about it, good luck.
Thanks. I’m pretty excited. I want to put in as complete a performance as I can (duh, but that has eluded me in the last two meets).
So my shoulder/bicep actually seems to feel better today. Interesting.
Shoulder/bicep continues to improve. Very pleased. Starting to get excited for the meet too.
Rant
OK, well maybe not a rant as such. Who am I kidding? This has been mulling around my head for a while, and while it’s been said before I haven’t.
Point one: it’s great that people are being encouraged to be more active. What shits me to tears is that you see people coming in all enthusiastic (and I’m really sorry but a lot of the time it is women, not just dickhead dudes) and strutting around like they’re awesome without having done the hard yards. Fuck off. You aren’t shit. Good on you for getting off your arse and doing something, but just because you’ve started training with a barbell doesn’t make you fucking special or strong or empowered or whatever. Keep at it for a few years, learn and help others and you’ll get my respect. Until then, pull your head in and respect the space you’re in for what it is: a place of work. It’s not a fucking playground you visit. It’s a place you clock in and clock off, just like the place you go to earn money to pay your bills.
I don’t know why I get so riled up about this. I have sacrificed literally nothing to achieve what small progress I have made. I guess it’s because despite all that I feel like I have consistently put in the time and always taken it seriously. I have approached it as a second job for years, probably since I first started preparing for competitions. It absolutely is a selfish endeavour and one I find immensely fulfilling which helps me be a better person in other aspects - but I treat it like a job.
Point two: following on from point one, you aren’t entitled to results, so getting better isn’t and shouldn’t be accessible to everyone. If you do the work, you’re entitled to commensurate results. If you’re not prepared to do the work, fuck off and don’t complain you aren’t seeing change. Getting stronger, or somewhat leaner, or whatever, isn’t for everyone. If you’re too mentally weak or lazy to do the necessary work - which is neither particularly hard nor onerous - you don’t belong under a bar. You do not belong in this place of work.
I think the bottom line for me is that if I can achieve modest results in these areas, no-one has any excuse not to. I’m not special, I’m not talented, but I am prepared to do the work. My life isn’t hard, but it isn’t super easy and I have similar responsibilities to most other adults.
Do I need head pulling out of backside @T3hPwnisher @The_Myth @flipcollar @max13 @andypee @FlatsFarmer
No head pulling required, you’re just blowin off some steam. I think its safe to say most of the people who post on here regularly treat lifting as a second job, and a passion to be taken seriously. Especially those who compete. The average jerkoff who you see in the gym is most likely just going through some type of phase and will likely be on to something else long before they put in the time and effort it takes to achieve real results with the iron. Just like the dozens of guys who come on here looking for advice, don’t take it, then disappear. We can only control our own decisions, and though we try to help anyone who asks for it and be supportive, in the end all we can do is tell a person what worked (or didn’t work) for us and let them figure out the rest on their own. There’s a ton of assholes in my gym who I wish would disappear, and I think its fucking stupid that all they do is bench and curl and never get any stronger or bigger or leaner but hey, fuck 'em.
I didn’t see anything unreasonable in what you wrote. I imagine the next step is to simply not let it get to you.
One of the best things my grandpa ever told me was “Look at what 90% of the population is doing and go do the exact opposite”. The majority of people are simply going to fail in life at whatever it is they want to achieve. Now, most will just be mediocre, which isn’t a crime at all (we need mediocrity, as otherwise there would be no greatness to recognize), so it’s not like I’m saying these folks are doomed to be washouts and stains on society, but in terms of having emulatable qualities, they’ll be lacking.
When I observe it, I don’t hold it against people, and I recognize it in myself. I have a guitar in my storage area that I’ve played a handful of times and for the most part I’m awful at. I have a harmonica that suffered the same fate. My mind keeps telling me that I want to make music, but I don’t have the drive to be successful at it. For some folks, that happens with physical training too.
You’ve seen me do this personally in one of the training logs here. I’ll observe you and @dt79 give awesome and patient advice to a dude who just plain isn’t ready to receive any of it. Occasionally, I’ll pitch in, get the same response you guys do, and say something like “I feel we will have to agree to disagree” or “it sounds like you have it all figured out” and exit the scene. It’s not worth getting my blood pressure up, and as long as I succeed, everyone else can fail and that’s just fine with me.
It’s a little jaded and cold, but so am I, haha.
Oddly enough, it almost never does when I’m training - only when I’m at a loose end.
Pretty much. Although, then you get guys who never really squat or pull but can passably bench 400 lbs. I don’t know what to think there.
Best thing is to not let it bother you mate, we’ve all got out annoyances in the gym with stuff like that, just try focus on what your there for and leave then in the dust 
theyll get bored of getting nowhere and leave sooner or later!
Well personally, can’t say I’ve anything bad to say to someone who benches 400lbs. It definitely took a shit ton of work to get there(400lbs) and I hella respect that. Besides, maybe some people just like wearing skinny jeans. End of the day, it all comes down to his/her lifestyle choice.
As for your rant, I absolutely get where you’re coming from and I’ve similar feelings about my peers and etc at times.
In agreement with @max13 and @T3hPwnisher too.
It sounds like you are competing in a few days!
You should be pretty fucking keyed up!
Obviously, you have got to calm down. Relax and save energy for that 3rd deadlift. Don’t burn yourself out worrying about nonsense.(How dare that woman have some much confidence!?)
But don’t relax too much. You want to be able to call up maximum “Psycho Logical Arousal” or “aggression” at a moment’s notice on Sunday. You gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad dog mean.
Some bitch did hip thrusts in the mono? In a few days, some motherfucker is going to try to outsquat you in the mono! Now I’m pissed!
Just a few thoughts…
I used to have a much bigger ego than I do now, as far as heavy lifting went. I was also much smaller and weaker when I did. So it’s hard for me to really get mad about someone who thinks they’re the shit when they haven’t done anything. That was me. I made a lot of progress in my first year, so even though I was only benching 200 lbs and squatting less than that, I was proud as hell, I wanted to tell everyone about my lifting, wear fucking tank tops to class, etc. Immersion in the iron game humbled me over time. It was all just part of the process, and it’s hard for me to say that I would have gotten hooked on lifting the way I did if that initial enthusiasm hadn’t been part of my personal experience. That being said, I totally get where you’re coming from. If I met the old me in a gym today, I wouldn’t really have anything nice to say to him. He would annoy me.
As far as your point 2 goes, I agree. A lot of people want to be strong. Very few want to GET strong. It’s why so many people jump on steroids after 6 months of lifting and not getting HYOOOOOOGE.
Along with that, the direct correlation of work put in to results achieved is why I love lifting so much. I have a job that’s basically never ending. There’s no satisfaction of completing major tasks, hitting milestones, no real goals. It’s basically a ‘keep the train on the tracks’ sort of business. So I find the sort of fulfillment I need in life at the gym instead. I fell in love with the process, and it’s the reason I continue to show up and push hard, through pain, stress, fatigue, etc.
And finally, I don’t have a problem with anything that people choose to do in the gym. If you wanna bench and curl til you’re blue in the face, go for it. Do what makes you happy. My goals aren’t anyone else’s. If you hate squatting, don’t do it just because someone else told you to. That’s fucking stupid in my opinion, far stupider than the guy who sucks at lifting but shows up every day, uses every machine in the building, never makes progress, but loves what he does. That guy is living the dream, lol. I only wish I didn’t care about results.
LOL!!!
I have violin and a harmonica(2 actually, in C and G) that suffered the same fate.
Was it that Indian kid’s log?
Oh god, that kid was silly too, but I am referring to our fellow from Egypt.
Oh ok. I’ve kinda blocked that log from my mind lol. There were signs that that dude was going to get nowhere with his mindset but I gave him the benefit of the doubt due to the language barrier. Really shouldn’t have done that.
@FlatsFarmer I honestly can’t believe I never made that connection.
You’re all right, by the way @T3hPwnisher @dt79 @Benanything @andypee @max13 @flipcollar
FWIW the people who come in, do weird or dumb shit but love doing it have never irritated me for all the reasons laid out. It’s the pretenders to strength that do. Buy like flip said, sometimes they’re the ones who turn out OK. I probably was one at some point.
Both you and I neglected to consider the stupidity and laziness barrier.
Oh yeah, there’s this one dude at my gym who walks around like he’s king shit, and goes YUP or WOO before every set (like Ronnie) and makes guttural throat noises like he’s about to lay an egg while doing dumb shit like T-bar rows. The dude squats like 365! Everyone laughs at him.
This. The color coordinated shoes and tops and headbands, the dudes with the big Beats headphones and the brand new belts that they wear all the time, and the constant battle for space in front of the mirror…which also happens to be in front of the dumb bell racks. Do you really have to curl right there so nobody else can get a set?
Humility is a great personality trait.[quote=“MarkKO, post:807, topic:208986”]
If you’re too mentally weak or lazy to do the necessary work - which is neither particularly hard nor onerous - you don’t belong under a bar.
[/quote]
Onerous - many believe this word is derived from the biblical character Onan, who refused to knock up his dead brother’s wife and instead masturbated. Onanism became a term for masturbation, and the task of impregnating his brother’s wife was onerous for Onan. I’m not sure where I read this, or why I think it’s relevant, but I guess you could say that many gym goers aren’t really lifters, but are actually just wankers.
The helping those that ask was a surprise for me when I first started strength training this year - I really didn’t expect it. But, I was one of those that questioned advice - not because I didn’t believe it, but because I wanted to understand it, and had either read or heard something different. I believe it was @T3hPwnisher that broke me of that habit in a thread on Starting Strength.
A few years ago when I had to go to a few (12) weeks of anger management (long story), the guy that ran the group explained something important to me. He said that no matter where you go, there will be some ass hole that needs to have his ass kicked. But, you have to realize, you have not been appointed by god to administer the beating.
For some reason, this made sense to me.
I believe this inversely proportional relationship is universal.
OMG, the patience @dt79, @Yogi1, and @MarkKO display in that thread. It honestly made me feel like a complete jerk watching them spoon feed him without getting frustrated. Fucking saints!
Probably quarter squats 365. I always want to say something to those dudes, but, then I remember, I was not appointed by god . . . and who’s gonna listen to a skinny old fuck like me anyway.
Sorry it took so long for me to weigh in. We have new IT guys at work. While they can’t get shit to work, they have managed to block t-nation from my computer so I can’t waste all day doing important shit, like posting on here.
TL:DR Here’s what you need to know;
Rant on Markko - you’re entitled.