Monday, June 17, 2013

Training.

6/17 - pullups x8/6/5x5/4x4, chins 5x5/5x4, pulldowns x30/20/15/10/8/20, alt db curls 3x10, wrist curls/xt 3x16/8, COCT 3x10, gtg ng chins

"Having a sharp, analytical mind is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to improving your performance in the weight room. These kinds of minds are drawn to structure, patterns, and dissecting systems, and there is plenty of that. Having a mind like this is great for identifying weak points and breaking down different aspects of one’s training to optimize results. However, this fascination with optimization and efficiency will often work against you. The chief issue that gets brought up time and time again with the smarter people I know is this fixation on the patterns of a routine. The strict reps and set amounts. The when and the how often. The allure of periodization and deloading and ridiculous body part splits. The worries of overtraining. To an analytical mind used to dissecting stuff, breaking down things to root causes and in need of organization and neatness, all this stuff seems to make sense. And it does, to a point. But taken too far, and all you’re going to do is hamstring your gains...

The biggest dudes I know just do work. They don’t care about fancy routines, or “functional strength”, or overtraining. Nearly every day they are in the gym underneath the bar lifting as much as they can. They do the Big 3 (4 if you include military/shoulder press). They do tons of volume *and* weight. After the big ones they do a considerable amount of isolation exercises (oh no!). Their bodies are stuffed with protein on a constant basis. They’d laugh at some toothpick coming up and advising them about 4 day body part splits or telling them they shouldn’t be in the gym longer than hour because it’s supposedly catabolic. They are the true smart ones. They know the body can get used to just about any amount of strain and still prosper given proper and/or excessive food intake and sleep. They know that big gains come from hard, heavy, and frequent work, not four hour lifestyle hacks or “Get Ripped In A Week!” Men’s Fitness bullshit. Sure, they have their routines, but it’s not three lifts three times a week at 5×5. Their routines are frameworks, not rules set in stone..."


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