You're a Smart Veteran Lifter. Time to Start Acting Like One.
Here's what you need to know...
Don't sabotage yourself by clinging to a workout program. Listen to your body and take advantage of training opportunities.
dimanche 12 juin 2016
Mistakes That Experienced Lifters Make
You're a Smart Veteran Lifter. Time to Start Acting Like
One.
Here's what you need to know...
Don't sabotage yourself by clinging to a workout program.
Listen to your body and take advantage of training opportunities.
If you have nothing to talk about aside from your gym and
food accomplishments, it's time to do more with your life. Accept those who
have other aspirations.
Short, intense workouts are better than nothing. Fit them
in.
Training while injured will set you back longer than the
time it would take to recover.
Stop thinking your goals depend wholly on training. Your
diet plays just as big a role.
Beyond Basics
You're not a beginner anymore. You've made training a
priority, you fill up on protein, and you use progressive overload to make
progress.
Those are lessons learned by newbs. You're not a newb. But
there are still areas for improvement. Here are the mistakes experienced
lifters make and the solutions for overcoming them.
1 – Being Too Rigid
It's good to follow a program rather than just going into
the gym and winging it every day. But it's just as important to learn how to
adapt your workouts on the fly based on how you're feeling or your
circumstances that day.
Fix it: Leave room for instinct and unpredictable
circumstances.
Say your program calls for you to test your deadlift or do a
brutal set of 20-rep squats when you feel a cold coming on, or your back is
particularly stiff. The prudent move would be to hold off on your program and
invest in your next training session when you feel better.
No, this isn't a hardcore strategy, but pushing through a
workout when you're not at your best can sabotage your next few training
sessions and set you back.
Now let's say your program calls for you to deload, but
you're feeling great and you have a buddy in town that wants to lift with you.
Rather than being a slave to your program, go in and get after it. Don't pass
up opportunities when you're feeling great.
And never miss an opportunity to work out with people
stronger than you or more skilled in a certain aspect of training. Doesn't
matter if you just did a brutal squat workout the day before - if someone
stronger invites you to join in on their leg day, toughen up and jump in.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to advance because you're
too anal to stray from your program. You're only hurting yourself.
2 – Thinking You're Better Than Others
It's amazing how often some lifters bash those who aren't
big on lifting weights.
That air of superiority isn't attractive to outsiders. It
discourages them from wanting to get started. It also gives lifters a bad name.
You know those Planet Fitness commercials that paint an ugly
picture of meatheads? Don't be the guy or girl who makes them somewhat
accurate.
Smug Lifter
Fix it: Give up smugness and self-righteousness. It's just
training.
If you judge people based on how they choose to exercise or
eat, you need to rethink your priorities in life. Or better yet, get one. If
you've got time to be a jerk, maybe you need to fill your life with more than
just fitness.
The people you're bashing are probably better than you at
other things. Maybe it's parenting, or farming, or being a rocket scientist, an
FBI agent, or a heart surgeon. These people have made different life choices
and could just as easily be ripping on you.
Keep that in mind and don't be a dick.
Lift weights because you love it, and leave others to pursue
their own passions, whatever they might be.
3 – Doing All or Nothing
A lot of lifters won't even bother hitting the gym if they
don't have time to work through their full training session. If they don't have
90 minutes to devote to a full warm-up and a preplanned routine, they figure
it's not worth it.
Fix it: Work out when you're short on time.
For anyone with a busy life (you), it's important to learn
that when you're strapped for time, something is always better than nothing.
Say you allotted 90 minutes for your upper body workout and
intended to foam roll and do a dynamic warm-up before doing a workout
consisting of 5-6 exercises for 3-5 sets each.
If you get stuck late at work and end up with only 20-30
minutes to train, you're much better off going to gym, ramping up in weight,
picking the two most important exercises from your program that day and
alternating back and forth between them for as many sets as you have time for.
This beats going home because you can't get it all done.
Is it that a perfect plan? No, but short workouts add up
over time, even if it's just a few sets of chin-ups here or a couple sets of
deadlifts there. And hitting the gym when you know you don't have a lot of time
can force you to be more efficient.
Ironically, having fewer responsibilities will make you
conditioned to expect lengthy workouts at your convenience. But the tighter
your schedule, the more you get used to squeezing in training as often as
possible.
4 – Prioritizing Training Over Diet
It doesn't matter if your intention is to build muscle, burn
fat, lose weight, gain weight or improve your body composition, how you eat is
the single biggest determinant of whether or not you achieve it.
Abs
Fix it: Adopt a nutrition strategy before piling more
exercise on top of your program.
Hard work and good intentions don't really matter if you
regularly throw caution to the wind with your food choices.
You know this. You can regurgitate all the platitudes about
eating clean and out-training a bad diet, but if someone were to take a closer
look at your diet, would your actions match your words, plans, and goals?
Some lifters always want recommendations on the best way to
train for fat loss. Should I add more interval training? Do steady state cardio?
Circuits? Barbell complexes? Kettlebells? Spin class?
Sure, all those things can work, but none of them will if
you continue to crush shitty food like it's your job. Learn how to live without
the damn donuts before you worry about what type of cardio you should be doing.
And this isn't just for those wanting to lose fat. There are
guys who are dead-set on gaining 20-plus pounds. They'll say they've tried
everything: high-reps, high frequency training, full body routines, body part
splits, you name it.
The problem? Their training program isn't the missing link.
Diet is.
One guy came to me with this very issue, and when I asked
him about his diet, he told me about his intermittent fasting and how his only
meal was a big dinner and a couple snacks.
Sure, he tried everything in the gym to gain muscle. But he
was missing the most important part of the equation - food. Not surprisingly,
he'd been stuck at 160 for a few years despite trying all sorts of training
protocols.
No program is going to make you build muscle if you're
eating like a bird. Intermittent fasting may be effective for those trying to
lose weight or maintain their current physique, but if you want to gain a
noticeable amount of muscle, eat.
5 – Training Through Injuries
Lifters will argue the merits of different forms of
training, but none of this minutia will matter if they make the mistake of
training through injuries and making them worse.
Fix it: Prioritize recovery.
If you injure yourself and can't train for an extended
period of time, no program is going to work... no matter how good it is. Missed
training time due to injury is far and away the biggest impedance on your
progress.
Most training-related injuries start as minor tweaks then
become major injuries because you're too stubborn to take care of them right
away. When the discomfort first presents itself, you ignore it and train
though, hoping that it'll disappear. But this just makes matters worse.
Remember this: When recovery is at stake, the body always
wins.
That doesn't mean you can't train at all, it just means you
need to seriously modify your approach, work around the issue, and give it time
to recover. You'll also need to figure out the underlying cause of the injury
to prevent it from getting worse.
You already know the difference between injury and
exercise-induced muscle soreness. It's fine to train through muscle soreness
provided it's not too severe, but strains and joint injuries are not to be
ignored.
Don't try to kid yourself and train when you know it's more
than just soreness. You'll digress when you try to make progress like a
jackass.
6 – Letting Workouts Define You
If your life is defined by your workouts or diet, you need
to take a step back. It's one thing to have a passion for training and health,
but it's another to let it define who you are.
Workout Music
Fix it: Zoom out, re-prioritize your life, or at least
pretend you haven't drunk the Kool-Aid when you interact with other people.
Last summer I ran into an acquaintance whom I hadn't seen in
almost two years. I asked him how he was and expected to hear about his job,
family, who he was dating... you know, life-stuff.
Instead, he went straight into telling me about how sore he
was from his workout the day before, how hard it was to stick to his new
"cutting" diet, and how he was pumped about getting shredded.
After describing the complexity of his training and
nutrition protocol, he had nothing left to say.
Sure, it's fine to talk training with your friends, but
remember, I hadn't spoken to this dude in almost two years and that was the
most important thing for him to talk about. I made up an excuse to avoid
hanging out with him.
Contrast that with a couple days later on my trip to see T
Nation contributor Eric Cressey. Not once during our two-day visit did we
broach the topic of training.
I have no clue how my closest friends train themselves, and
frankly I couldn't care less - unless we're working out together. My friends
have no idea how I train either because it's just not something I talk about
that much outside of the gym.
As much as I love working out, when I meet someone who has
nothing to talk about other than how he lifts or eats, I make a mental note
never to hang out with that person.
Friendships and experiences aren't enhanced through
self-referential fitness chatter - unless you're actually working out together
or seeking feedback.
It's as annoying as the school girls who don't, like, stop
talking about, like, the boys they like, and what they're, like, going to wear.
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How to Lift Forever -Some Mandatory Best Exercises
The Best Movements for Long-Term, Pain-Free Gains
Here's what you need to know...
Do face-pulls to correct your posture and keep yourself from
hunching over.
Use the rear-foot elevated split squat to strengthen the
lower body and jack up the load without harming your spine.
Program loaded carries into your training with progressive
overload. They'll strengthen the entire body including the core, shoulders, and
hips.
The glute bridge won't just make your butt look better,
it'll also protect the lower spine.
Squats and deadlifts don't have to be done with a barbell in
order to be effective. Add these movements into your regimen for training
longevity.
How to Lift Forever
Love lifting? Love playing sports? Then you need to make
certain exercises a priority in your training to prevent injury and insure
lifelong orthopedic health.
Why? Partly because your posture sucks. You sit a lot and
you stare at a lot of screens. The exercises below will straighten you out.
The second problem is the ratio of pulling to pushing
exercises. Generally speaking, most lifters push more than they pull, leading
to a host of potential problems down the road.
So the first step is to get your training program
rebalanced. To do this, use a 2:1 ratio of pulling to pushing exercises.
Once that's taken care of, use these exercises to keep you
in the gym and out of my office for the long haul.
Exercise 1: Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squat
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat
The rear-foot elevated split squat beats other single-leg
training movements. You can load some heavy ass weight up with it, translate
the movement into more mobility and stability, and get a downright brutal
training effect when executed properly.
The position through single-leg loading creates a dynamic
environment for tapping into the highly plastic strength curves of athletes and
lifters. This is even more evident in lifters who have spent a majority of
their careers only training the big lifts, which are bilateral.
After years of training bilaterally, lifters will have a
tendency to develop a bilateral strength deficit. Strength coach Mike Boyle is
largely responsible for popularizing this term to the world of high performance
athletic training.
A bilateral deficit is evident when the strength of each leg
is separately added together, the potential sum total strength would exceed the
numbers of the same movement when executed bilaterally. In this case, the sum
can be greater than the whole.
Not only does this movement have the ability to be loaded
up, but done so in a safe manner. It actually protects the lower spine.
How? The single leg nature of the movement incorporates a
reciprocal pelvic position that deloads the lower spinal segments and helps
protect notoriously vulnerable segments from unwanted shear stress.
It also provides some direct dynamic mobility work for the
hip flexors of the leg, which is placed in the elevated position. Achieving an
extended hip position with a flexed knee puts a nice stretch through the
superficial and deep hip flexor groups while challenging this position under
stability and strength requisites.
Exercise 2: Loaded Carry
Loaded Carry
The loaded carry is another class of movement that is
absolutely pivotal for every single person on earth to practice and master.
Some think it's too simple to yield results. Functional
training gurus, the kettlebell allegiance, and the powerlifting faithful have
all prioritized a popular tool or method above the idea of matching actions
with goals that are unique to a lifter. Thus the loaded carry has been vastly
overlooked and under-programmed.
But those are the same guys putting their long-term
orthopedic health at risk in the all name of cultish training.
It's no surprise that world class experts have been
passionately teaching the loaded carry for years to tap into both a
prehabilitation model of the spine and synergistic neuromuscular stability
patterns that link up the shoulders, core, and hips.
When executed properly, loaded carries are the ultimate form
of core training. There's a reason why the world authority on spinal health,
Dr. Stuart McGill, considers the programming of loaded carries absolutely
essential to any training program.
So why does the loaded carry keep you healthy and
functioning above all other core specific movements? The phenomenon of what Dr.
McGill has coined "super-stiffness" can be explained as a rhythmic
and timely firing pattern around a region of joints to maintain an optimal
position.
The loaded carry does just that, and then some. Not only are
the four layers of the abdominal wall being activated, but also the hip and
shoulder complexes that can have the ability manipulate the position of the
spine, especially when they become dynamic in nature.
Don't dismiss the carry as just an optional metabolic
finisher. When programmed with parameters of progressive overload, the carry
can be advanced to match increasing levels of your skill and strength.
Exercise 3: Glute Bridge
Glute Bridge
Spinal health is a big deal if you plan on lifting for the
rest of your life. And gluteal strength and hypertrophy is important for spinal
health.
You can prevent spinal injury through training the lower
pillar of your spine in a more concentrated dynamic nature.
From the simplistic supine bodyweight glute bridge to the
loaded hip thrust, the popularization of glute training has never been more
mainstream.
The largest of the butt muscles, the gluteus maximus, is a
highly influential structure with specific attachment points throughout the
posterior pelvic girdle that translate into enhancing both posture and
stability throughout the lower lumbar segments when properly trained.
The gluteus medius may be equally as important to long-term
function, responsible for both lateral hip stability and alignment, especially
in single leg stance.
From athletic performance to avoiding hip fractures later on
in life, targeting the glutes directly translates into function. Manipulate
range of motion, rhythm, and loading variables in training, and the glutes will
not only start to fill out a pair of jeans, but also enhance global function in
every step of your life.
Stronger glutes can undo the poor postural stresses of daily
sitting while also firing up the posterior chain, which most people tend to be
less dominant in compared to the anterior chain.
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5 Signs You're About to Get Hurt -BODYBUILDING
1 – You walk funny and go up and down stairs like an old lady.
Aside from breathing and drinking water, the most foundational activity that ensures our survival as human beings is bipedal locomotion. Doesn't that sound fancy? We're talking about walking here, people.
5 Signs You're About to Get Hurt -BODYBUILDING
1 – You walk funny and go up and down stairs like an old lady.
Aside from breathing and drinking water, the most
foundational activity that ensures our survival as human beings is bipedal
locomotion. Doesn't that sound fancy? We're talking about walking here, people.
Gait Assessment
Plain old walking can objectively show a lot. This is one of
the best ways to diagnose a person's functional status and likelihood of
injury. A requisite for training is being able to walk symmetrically and
without notable deviation, dysfunction, or pain provocation. Also, the ability
to continuously walk at a natural rate for ten-plus minutes without pain is a
pretty good indicator of your ability to stabilize the spine and reciprocate
the lower and upper extremities.
Doing a self assessment is easy. All you need is a mirror.
Most gyms have mirrors plastered up on every square inch of wall space. Find a
treadmill facing one and hop on. Are you shifting your weight side to side? One
foot toeing out more than the other? Are you hunched over like Igor?
Just watch yourself and evaluate. Does it look like shit,
yes or no? If it does, start with comparing your arms and shoulders side to side,
your hips and legs side to side, then finally the overall fluidity of the
movement. This is walking, it should look halfway decent. If not, you have your
new LISS (Low Intensity Steady State) training program.
Stair Climbing
The ability to ascend and descend stairs without the use of
the handrail can be a great self-diagnostic tool. From knee and hip stability
and strength to proper single-leg balance and proprioception, you need to be
able to dominate ordinary steps before you have any chance of training
effectively in the gym. And by steps, I don't mean slouching over and hanging
on for dear life on the stair-mill.
2 – You spend more time wrapping your knees and elbows than lifting.
Nothing's more emblematic of a broken-down lifter than the
overuse of external training crutches like wraps, sleeves, belts, and other
accessories designed to hold together body parts that most likely lack
ligamentous and capsular stability. Let's look at these one at a time.
Lifting Belts
The use of a lifting belt is justifiable for strength and
physique athletes that know how to properly brace and utilize the belt during
strategic sets while using maximal loads or insane intensities. Notice I didn't
say anything about lifting newbies trying to falsely inflate their already
pitiful numbers, or having a convenient place to clip their phone.
During some of the big movements like the squat and
deadlift, the use of a belt almost becomes a requirement if you want to
maximize your iron performance. No qualms with that. When used strategically,
it's a great tool.
But we have to draw the line when the lifting belt becomes a
necessary crutch for just about every single movement, including arm training
and the elliptical! Yes, yes, the belt strapped around your lumbar spine makes
you feel stable, but isn't that feeling of instability telling you something?
Take the belt off and assess your true baseline of function. Only then will you
objectively be able to evaluate your weak links, improve the chinks in your
armor, and then implement the belt correctly.
Wraps
Sure, from a biomechanical and functional orthopedic
perspective, the use of knee wraps can be a viable option for adding poundage
to your squats and presses by adding a more elastic component to the bottom of
your range of motion. So functionally, yes, wraps work and work very well. But
what about from a long term joint and soft-tissue health perspective?
The long term use of wraps for an extended number of sets
per training day can add some unwanted shear and compressive forces to local
joints. Let's be clear here, this won't be likely to happen after just a few
sets, but it will happen over time if all of your sets are compressed.
If you're using incomplete ranges of motion with wraps, your
best bet is to normalize your ranges, not wrap tighter. The use of wraps and
sleeves can be viewed as a metaphor for your entire life. If you depend on
crutches, it's just a matter of time until you fall on your ass and can't get
up.
Don't become the "compression man" where every set
is highly dependent on wraps, sleeves, and other dependencies. If your goal in
life is to keep on lifting, limit your external fixes and start improving your
internal stability, mobility, and motor control factors. You'll thank me when
you're 70 and still hitting the gym hard.
Powerlifter
3 – You keep doing the same crushing programs.
Blame it on what I call the "Football Glory Days"
program. Many long-time lifters are now paying for some brutal old school
training methods with orthopedic demise. I'm not saying that the "crush
yourself with volume and intensity in the big barbell movements" mentality
isn't an effective way to get jacked and strong. It is. But your body also pays
a price for all them gainz.
This type of training style isn't appropriate for those who
experience pain with every move they make in the weight room. Sometimes a
strategic diversification or remediation is necessary for the greater long term
good of your training. It could be as simple as using dumbbells instead of
barbells for a while.
A tremendous amount of top-notch strength information has
flooded the industry over the last two decades, so there's no excuse for not
making use of this knowledge to make strategic changes. However, the primary
problem has more to do with the psychosocial aspects of training. Adding a
little intelligent modification, like going from the barbells to dumbbells is,
for some, like transitioning from powerlifting to Zumba.
If, between sets of pain-wracked bench press, you're still
talking about how much you used to lift, you need to listen up. These old
school methods have worked wonders in the past, and that barrel chest you're so
proud of presumably played a huge factor in attracting your first wife and
possibly your second. But those days have passed – even if your mindset hasn't
progressed at the same rate.
You can only linearly periodize the same movements for so
long until one of three things happen:
You plateau and no longer experience a notable stimulus from
training.
You end up injuring yourself by pushing through workouts
And lastly, and most likely, you've mistakenly turned your
once impressive training routine into a damn travesty, which leads to the next
point.
4 – You're shortening the range of motion on the big lifts.
The quickest way to crush your shoulders, spine, hips, and
knees is to forget about using a respectable range of motion and supramaximally
loading your lifts over and over again. It's amazing how piss-poor some
movements become over a long enough period when both pain and dysfunction are
thrown into the mix with no means of movement remediation or recovery from
injuries.
You can compare the deterioration of movement to the day-to-day
mirror effect that many go through while dieting and training. If you see
yourself in the mirror ass-naked, multiple times a day, it's unlikely that
you'll be able to differentiate your physique from one day to another. But if
you had the discipline to wait a few weeks before looking at yourself in the
mirror again, the transformation would be unmistakably clear.
If you've been benching poorly for years on end, for
instance, you may not even realize how bad your form has gotten. The only
biofeedback you're getting is likely the grating pain deep in your joints and
possibly the presence of some shooting radicular pain traveling down your
extremities.
As pain science shows, people who exhibit chronic levels of
pain for long enough durations become accustomed to this level of negative
neural stimulation, thus mentally and physiologically mitigating the pain.
These guys just keep grinding through workouts, year after year, while digging
their own orthopedic grave a bit deeper each time.
Ultimately, your obsession with sticking to the big barbell
movements and other old school staples turns you into a self-justifying half
repper. With less and less range of motion being employed over time, and more
and more poundage added to the bar to keep on track with your notion of a
linearly periodized strength model, you're in for a rude awakening.
If it doesn't happen now, it will happen later. The body is
pretty resilient, but it's just a matter of time until it breaks. At times,
enough is enough for even the most out-of-touch lifter when the bar is just
moving an inch or two.
5 – You're weaker, fatter, and in more pain than last year.
If this is true for you, what have you done differently to
improve your physicality, your health, or your functionality to get back on
track and start forging a foundation you can use to rebuild what you've lost?
If you can answer those questions honestly, you've already taken the first
steps in the right direction.
Even the most broken down lifter still possesses the rare
qualities of work ethic, perseverance, and unwavering drive and passion. So
what's holding you back? The limiting factor will be different for every
person, but the solution will be the same. It's time to create a new reality, a
new set of goals, a new way of doing things; one that you can be proud of and
that fits you as an individual at this point in your life.
We're all drawn to training because it allows us to control
the controllable, challenge ourselves physically and mentally, and to escape
the realities of our daily grind and reap the benefits of our sacred practice.
It's time to pay your training the respect it deserves, use the tools in front
of you, and create an environment that will feed your passion for the rest of
your days. If you don't, your most valued daily practice will one day be taken
away from you. Make sure that day never comes.
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When Life Gets Hard, Work Hard
Successful lifters find comfort in discipline. Here's what you can learn from them.
Some lifters are relentless. They know what they want, make a plan to get it, and always follow through. They never seem to lose their passion for training and are always on track. In short, they get results....
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