Yeah… I hear you. I’m a big “what’s your baseline?” when problem-solving guy. As an example, some folks need to learn to stand up for themselves, and some need to stop being bullies. Fairly assessing how aggressive you should be in a given situation requires an understanding of your own proclivity. Like if I think I’m being a little impatient, I’ve probably already way overstepped; if my son worries about being too vocal, he’ll end up wetting his pants for fear of asking to use the restroom.
My rambling point there is: consistency of effort just works. For almost everyone, the program doesn’t matter; the bigger risk is missing sessions or never putting in intense effort. Understanding that as the baseline, I could care less about program hopping vs spending all your time finding the perfect one because you’re self-registering for a life sentence. Basically, I think our overcorrection has done the average trainee a bit of a disservice. That’s not to say we don’t owe it to ourselves to give a program time to work; we just shouldn’t be scared to switch when it’s stale.
It is! I think this is almost where we can make the program hop the feature instead of the bug: you’re just making deals with yourself. Pick some minimum of time (6 weeks?), and then you get to do whatever you want. If it is continue on, great. If it’s try that next thing, whatever; you repaid your initial investment so it’s up to you.
Or this could all just be self-justification, as is most of what I say.
For almost everyone, the program doesn’t matter; the bigger risk is missing sessions or never putting in intense effort. Understanding that as the baseline, I could care less about program hopping vs spending all your time finding the perfect one because you’re self-registering for a life sentence.
The longer I train, the more true this becomes. I’m really of the opinion that the only thing about a program that matters is that it inspires you to comply with it. We run into issues when folks try to fit the square peg in the round hole, just because they’re told it’s the “optimal peg”. Compliance falls off: they either “tweak” the program so much that it no longer resembles what it was and, therefore, no longer works, or they just end up mailing in the effort or skipping days/exercises because there is no passion in it. If we just take the time to find the program that speaks to us and follow THAT one, we’ll go far.
That said, I DO feel like some manner of progression model needs to be included. I’ve done my fair share of slamming max effort just for the sake of max effort, and though it FEELS good to do that, I didn’t progress in the same way I did when I had some days that were throttle down and some that were ease off. But I’m agnostic to WHAT the model is: it just needs to exist.
This is such a great feeling after things have been wonky. I’m glad for you! I’ve been enjoying a similar return to what I like to think of as “regular me.”
Much appreciated @EmilyQ ! It’s been a process for sure. And tradeoffs as well. I’ll still think back about what I used to be able to do and mourn my loss there, but then I think of what I had to do to get there and realize that whatever I had to sacrifice was completely worth it to live the way I’m living. Better to be sad for an hour in training and happy for the remaining 23 than the other way around.
EDIT: I’m going to use this as an opportunity for a gee whiz observation.
I post on a weight gaining subreddit, trying to help folks..well…gain weight. One of the strategies I like to suggest is finding the food you like to eat…and eating it. Mainly because a lot of folks really handcuff themselves into thinking they NEED to eat ultra “healthy” competition prep bodybuilder style of just chicken, rice and broccoli, which, of course, makes gaining impossible. My goal is to move the needle FIRST and THEN dial in the diet. Let’s get the gain train out of the station.
You like pizza? Cool: eat pizza. Burgers? Get some. You get it.
But so often, when I ask these folks “what do you like to eat”, the response I get is what they DON’T like to eat. “Anything but fish”, “Anything but broccoli”, etc.
Is this a failure of our language? Do we hear “what do you like” and interpret that to mean “what don’t you like?” Is this a sign I’m dealing with people that don’t appreciate the hedonistic pleasure of food, and THAT’S why they struggle to gain? They only see food as stuff they don’t like vs stuff they CAN eat? Do I need to ask the question better?
Like, you ask me what I like to eat, my answer is immediate: beef ribs. I’ve got other things too, but that’s the top of my list. I wouldn’t think to respond with “Anything but spoiled food”
Loving the conversation in here, the program hopping is still in the back of my mind - particularly this:
The food question
Maybe try a more limited question, just ask what is your single favourite meal to eat? You’d hope the additional specificity would avoid any sense of leeway in regards to turning the conversation more broad or to the negative. It would be super weird to answer that with “my least favourite meal is…”
Given how well you answer questions and communicate here, I don’t think what/how you are asking is the problem.
I think this must be the case, or they want an answer so complicated, it sounds like the easy way out. Like people thinking they have to do a juice cleanse, walk 23.3 minutes per day and pray to the Crystal Guru of juniper trees and moss to lose weight.
I know everyone is different, but I’m with you in thinking they lack enjoyment of food. Are food sociopaths a thing?
I stick with the bodybuilder chicken, rice and broccoli for the most part while bulking so I don’t put on too much weight. After meals I’m thinking.. hmm. Feel like I didn’t eat, what else can I shove in my food hole?
I thought this was normal, apparently I need to find a way to trade food drive with these “hard gainers”.
I’m thinking I might have trouble answering the question because I love everything so much - how do I pick what I love when I love healthy food and rich food and seafood and good burgers and fast food burgers and good pizza and frozen pizza but I could also eat salmon and broccoli and rice three days in a row and I very often moan with pleasure over the third round of grilled chicken. Oh! Last weekend we made the taco/fajita bar and I ate it SIX TIMES over the course of the week. And still liked it!
I am the same. Every time someone asks me what my favorite anything is my answer is always “depends on the day”. I have no favorite food, band, song, movie, color… It all depends on my mood. But I too have no trouble gaining weight. Lol
@alex_uk Yeah, I’m curious if I really need to trap them with the question, but part of me wonders if I’ve also discovered a nutritional Turing Test here. If I ask the question in the way I ask and I get the answer I get, did I just find a food robot? Haha.
@BethB and @EmilyQ I dig this food sociopath idea, haha. But I’m not even looking for a FAVORITE food: just a food they like to eat. You both were able to rattle off foods or contexts for enjoying them so easily to demonstrate the point. For favorites, I did that whole “Death row last meal” thread a little while back, and it definitely forces the issue, but those are fun sometimes as well.
@unicornsandrainbows I like the idea you presented there of a built in failure plan. We do see that quite a bit, right up there with the people who “don’t have time” to do anything. I always ask them if they have FOUR minutes, and then link them to the Tabata article, haha.
You and I are indeed a different breed though. It took me a LONG time to discover satiety. And I definitely still have the throwdown mechanism built into me. But I see it as my bulking super power, especially if I eat just one meal a day. The Valkyrie has expressed to me that she would find my approach to eating difficult simply because she can’t eat enough in one sitting to be satiated all day…and that’s a reality I can’t comprehend, haha.
Problem is that people have been told they can’t eat things for so long, admitting that they eat it comes with shame. I’m also convinced that people just don’t know the basics of how to cook, so what they like and what they actually eat are at odds with each other. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t want a slow cooked roast over Mac n cheese with Dino nuggets… but, they don’t know how to pick out the meat, the base, veggies, etc. and certainly don’t know how to dump all the ingredients in the pot cooker, set at 250F and wait 8 Horus.
@dchris You raise another good point there too. It’s like when a doctor asks someone what they eat and it’s always grains and veggies and no garbage. People want to give the “right” answer, when, in this case, the right answer IS the junk food. Totally agree on the inability to cook as well: it’s amazing the basic life skills people lack. But even then, if the answer was “Chipotle”, I’d get them on the burrito a day diet, haha.
For breakfast, I took 8oz of ground venison and 8oz of 72% “lean” ground beef I got on a great discount and made meatballs. That ground beef is nuts: it looks white. So much fat. Helps balance out the leanness of the venison. Paired it with 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
Made pork tenderloin for dinner. Ate my share, alongside 3 eggs and 5 whites.
TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 2
“ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT”
20 minute recovery row
Notes:
I actually considered doing some martial arts this morning instead, as I don’t find it terribly comfortable to go straight from sleeping to sitting in a rower. Tends to bug my hips. But it actually was ok this morning. I wonder if all the stretching is helping in that regard. I avoided stretching for years, primarily because, every time I did it, I’d get injured, but I’m thinking a more controlled/monitored approach will do well.
Carried a 230lb keg, hung from fat gripz for a minute last night.
Weighed 84.5kg this morning. I’m very much considering competing up a weight class come 7 Dec just to avoid having to worry about bodyweight. No one is currently in my age and weight class, and there’s some folks up a class, so that’d work well.
Valkyrie completed another round of the ABF last night. That’s the 4th workout, and I think I’m going to cut week 2 there and get her started on week 3 next workout to compensate for our abbreviated schedule. She’s doing awesome with the progression. I actually think she’ll outgrow her kettlebells before the program is done, but I thankfully have no shortage of equipment.
Tang Soo Do tonight. Basics/forms week, can be a good workout.
Repeated breakfast from yesterday. For dinner, we did a scramble with 15 eggs, a splash of fairlife skim, some shredded grassfed cheddar, pancetta and a breakfast sausage I found with no sugar. I topped it with some Amish butter, sour cream, salt and MSG. Ate my fair share, but also have some leftovers that I’m thinking of doing for breakfast tomorrow.
