From my perspective, that seems odd. There isn’t a single workout that I had that wasn’t fun (but you can exclude cardio as fun.) If it wasn’t fun, I would never have done it.
Concerning cardio:
I can’t even imagine this, haha.
Funny you mentioned this. After I hit those I felt pretty directionless and drifted away from the gym for a while.
Obviously a dumb move.
To those of us who grew up playing sports, cardio was always less fun and beneficial than that.
Cardio was always helpful. But I am unwilling to spend hours running in place on a treadmill, but brief sprints are good. Doesn’t compare to lifting, though.
Goals matter so much. I gained so much weight after competition in the same way you’re describing; just kind of meh.
For real. In a similar vein to “making it fun,” I like to try to just put it in life. If I’m going to walk my dog, anyway, can I just wear a heavy enough backpack that it counts as cardio kind of thing.
I can see competitive runners enjoying it, but that’s because it is sport at that point.
Funny thing is, that while I’m getting stronger and older, more I seem to emphasize the fun and gut feeling in my training, and it has not really hindered my progress.
Everything might change though, since first time of my life I hired a coach. Maybe I’ll hate my training soon. Hahah.
I think that’s been the most interesting revelation of this thread though - optimism, learning from mistakes, how lifting makes life better - the things that held us back made us better in hindsight.
I never had a coach. I didn’t like my training partners telling me to “get another rep.” I just cannot imagine paying someone to aggravate me. That would be the end of the fun for me.
I guess these are the individual differences. I mostly train alone though, so I’m not used to get hyped/pushed either.
And the coach won’t be present in every workout. And he’s a PL coach, so most likely he’s going to order me to leave more reps in the tank. Hahah.
I started lifting without knowing anything about it. I mainly used Nautilus machines my first couple years which turned out to be a solid start. I bought a used weightlifting book for athletes - quite good, but it didn’t include the deadlift. Still, first time I deadlifted I did 225 - not much, but the lack of deadlifting did not much matter.
Only coach I had was for CrossFit. Not sure I would have learned to Olympic lift without that, even if I am mediocre. I don’t need a coach to motivate me, but I have no doubts it would improve my technical skills and performance. Still debating whether the added risk of injury at my age is worth getting better at just a few lifts… I am pretty strong all round, and value other things more.
I was reminded today of something that will hold many indviduals back.
Educating themselves on the basics and having the ability to think independently.
Overhead a guy at work who i had instructed many years ago on basic barbell form.
He was talking about the routine he was on… run of the mill cookie cutter program. Had some gimmick marketing name… " So and So’s get shredded routine" he was going over the workout details with another guy.
Needless to say i had to bite my tongue and not insert myself into the conversation
The program was shit…
I generally don’t comment or give advice when people in the gym are doing something pointless or counter-productive, which happens all the time. I don’t really know (or much care) what their goals are or what might work for them specifically. I do generally comment if they are doing something dangerous or highly disrespectful.
Which is why i kept it to myself.
Yeah.
Is it worse to not be able to think independently but think you do, or be aware of that lack and follow the pretty good but cookie cutter routine of guys who know more than you do?
It’s only better if you can tell the difference between shy*te and shinola. There’s more counterproductive stuff than good stuff out there, even if anything works for six months.
Which unfortunately comes from researching… trial and error and experience .
Unfortunately the indvidual in question doesnt question and honestly doesnt have a rudimentary understanding of the basic principles. But that how it goes i guess. Is what it is.
It is my guess that the individual is also ugly and that his mother dresses him funny.
But that’s just a guess. 
My guesses are often wrong.
Oddly no…
Like i mentioned i brought him to my garage gym years ago to teach form.
Weird part is he was a very competitive Spartan runner.
Do you think more folks hold themselves back by questioning/ thinking for themselves or not doing so? I’m seriously curious your experience.
Let me actually sit down and formulate what i want to say since im not a writer like some on here.
This is another case where the genetically gifted have a distinct advantage. Not only do they build muscle easy, but the time lag between “cause” and “effect” is much shorter than others, especially the hard gainers.
We try to put on muscle doing things which is the “cause.” The resulting muscle growth is the “effect.”
Now comes the questioning and thinking. The analysis is easier for the genetically gifted lifter, and progressively more difficult as you get closer to hard gainer.
So, the hard gainer has a huge challenge analyzing what works and what does not work. That person could easily find themself in a “paralysis by analysis” situation. Thinking and questioning soon seems futile.
Just a nuance worth considering.
From The 11 Laws of Systems Thinking by Peter Senge: