True and true. Maybe I spend too much time on social media and not enough time in this community (which is a lot more thoughtful) because what I see is mainly a lot is fit pros telling women what they āshouldā want or assuming that their main goal is to be just like them.
Their advice is always something like this: āHereās how to be more like me.ā
That is so foreign to what we see here. New lifters, elderly, overweight, and experienced get kinda the same respect.
Good for you for showing up anyway!
I mean no disrespect to new athletes, senior athletes and of course the ladies. But when a young man /Iām talking about young and healthy guys/ visits the Gym for several years and is still very far from the results I talked about, it is practically assumed that he has made efforts in vain. Because success is only measured by how much you can lift. Or, for example, what level is your strength endurance, for example, continuous work and density with a weight of at least 80% of 1 RM on heavy core exercises. It doesnāt matter that you look good, feel good and so on. This is very nice, but no one is really impressed by these things. Generally speaking, these achievements are underestimated if you are a young man and you are not strong, but you train at the same time. Actually, many people hold this opinion, but I personally donāt care. Sport should also bring pleasure and we should do it willingly. Which doesnāt mean that you donāt make an effort and itās not difficult for you. Iām not going to go to practice and be sick. Difficult yes, very awkward yes, but not nasty.
I think everything depends on the training goals. If the goal is longevity, balanced physique and overall athleticism, then going for 3x bodyweight deadlift is rather not the best approach.
Totally agree.
I feel attacked.
Iām addicted to the feeling (perhaps illusion at this point in my training career) of progressing on something. Not necessarily more weight on the bar or reps but some measurable indicator of progress somewhere in my training. I fear absent this Iād lose interest.
I wonder too if getting to the place where one has the physique and strength you mention in your premise is possible without at least some focus on progressive overload, at least in the early training years. Iād say it is for most people.
Am the very same, i need an objective measurement. You can certainly train by āfeelā, and more power to those who can, but for me training by āfeelā isnt something i could really hang your hat on.
Ha! I get the impression youāre achieving all those things.
Love that! Knowing what keeps you consistent is its own super power, whether your goal is maintaining or improving. So the fact that you know this about yourself is huge. Now youāll know what you need to do to be a life long lifter.
This seems to ring true. Thereās a rush to getting better at something and seeing your progress early on. Getting a new lifter hooked on it will be a lot easier if they know theyāre improving.
This seems to be the most common way lifters stay motivated, and Iām fully support of it. Whatever keeps you in the gym is a win!
But there have been times when Iāve worked toward a very specific strength goal, and then got to thinkingā¦ why am I doing this? My body didnāt look any better. My joints didnāt feel any better. I was dreading workouts. It felt like I was trying to achieve someone elseās goal just so that I could be accepted by people who are stronger than me.
So thatās when it hit me: I didnāt care about the amount of weight I could lift. I cared about what people would think of me.
And that realization was liberating. Sure, I still care, but not enough to beat my body up in ways that donāt improve it outside of the gym.
I think the mentality you talk of is just part of maturing in the gym. Lots of people when they join think āIām gonna be this, Iām gonna be thatā. Maybe itās the young lad adding weight to their deadlift and bench every week and beating their mates, or the lady thinking sheās going to just do lots of leg workouts and never touch a bench press in her life. Time goes on, desires change, experiences add up, and most of all YOU change. Iām not the same person I was when I first walked into the gym, Iām not the same person I was 6 months ago.
In terms of just walking in and training with randomness. Yeah, a lot of coaches may advise against that and a lot of the general public might never make any progress. In a way, youāve earned the required knowledge over time to just clock in haphazard workouts doing what you enjoy, it will work for you. For Joe Bench or Little Miss Donkey Kicks it can often be a fast-track to nowhere special though. You may think your current workouts are random, but they are educated randomness. That is the difference.
100% agree. On a slight side note, the whole idea of Milo and the Bull is very misleading. In all likelihood Milo ate more, got fatter and simply became more skilled at a specific activity, the latter is certainly advantageous for a competitive powerlifter, olympic lifter, strongman/woman that compete within a weight class. But in most cases its not a big issue.
I cant disagree at all, i seen many individuals in the last 3+ decades whom are in fantastic shape without emphasising progressive overload.
For 20 years i was into HIT, Mike Mentzer pushed the idea that if you were not progressing (in weight, reps or both) EVERY workout or at least every other workoutā¦you were overtraining. I realise now how ridiculous that idea is, its like asking a spinter to run fast everytime they train or race lol. These days i try to āown the weightā before progressing.
Best
Rob
Well, there are always exceptions, saw once 86 year old doing 2,5x bodyweight deadlifts for 5 reps. Unfortunately I donāt have any information how he trained. Maybe you will be this kind of exception
Your entire comment blew my mind, but that part in particular resonated the most. Educated randomness will be what I call my training plan from here on out!
It seems like dedicated lifters struggle to enjoy the bodies and health theyāve been working for. They try so hard to be the opposite of ābody positiveā that they enter into a ānever good enoughā frame of mind. (Iām guilty of that for sure.)
But thereās got to be a middle ground where we can work hard and enjoy it without making it the thing our lives revolve around. I also worry that an excessive focus on the body distracts us from things that feed the soul.
Thatās a great way to think of it!
I really think a lot of this comes from folks not being as likely to have had athletic backgrounds nowadays. Playing sports forced you to understand goals-based training, that it would shift, and the concept of off-season a. Every gym day canāt come with gameday performance. And I personally donāt think you are likely to ātrainā for long without a competitionā¦ thereās just too much sacrifice to never have a reward. Some folks are awesome at making up their own competitions (like @T3hPwnisherās 405 x 5 x 10), and some need it externally, but those are the things I think you need to drive a specific progressive plan.
None of that is to say I think āprogressives overcomingā or āeducated randomnessā or whatever is wrong. Itās my go-to as well.
I feel like weight training is its own reward though. The workout itself whether you go harder than normal or do the bare minimum is enough of a reward to keep me consistent. Itās like brushing your teeth: the reward is clean teeth. And now I canāt imagine not working out because itād make me feel gross. Ha!
But you donāt want to stick to a mundane plan of adding a rep or a lbs a week because of the boredom. I think youāre restating my point more eloquently
I think I probably was confusing in my wording as I reread. I donāt really know how to say what I mean here. Iāll try again after TB12 wins this game!