There’s always something crazy going on in this industry. At any moment, there’s a maniac in a weight room taking a dangerous lift and a shady businessman in an office finding a way to turn dirty profits. The posts you find here in
my log are the musings of a mashed-up meathead — the reactions I have as I spend my whole life watching this industry. I will share my thoughts with you here, unedited, uncensored, unfiltered, and
Under The Bar. If you are offended by profanity - do not read this.
For years I have sat back and read the same shit over and over again. Things such as... •Training has become too complicated. •We need to get back to the basics. •Information overload. •Most of what you read about training isn't needed. •All you need to do is the basic lift and leave. •If you want to bigger squat, bench or dead than all you have to do is squat, bench and deadlift. •Technique is overrated. If you want to squat then just sit down and stand back up. •Percent Training is worthless. Just go heavy or go home. •Just go to the gym and work hard. •If it’s not done with a barbell than don’t do it. I can greatly expand on this list but I think you get the point... Training needs to be simple if it is going to work and be effective, otherwise it’s worthless. It's SO Simple! Isn’t simple determined by who is receiving the message? - Is simple for me the same as simple for you? - Is simple for someone who have been training and acquired a Masters Degree in exercise science the same as simple for someone training for a couple years? - Is simple the same for someone who has competed and been in the sport 30 years the same as someone who have been competing for 2? - What about those who have never set foot in a weightroom and just want to get strong? What is simple for them? What are the basics for them? For example here (listed below) is a basic squat session that many powerlifters would use. Many would consider this simple and getting back to the basics … but is it? If I showed this to a true beginner (I spent over a decade training them so I know how they think) the inline notes would be the questions they would have. Hurdle Drill x4 Leg Swings x10 Sleeper Stretch Couch Stretch * They would have no idea what any of this stuff was not to mention if someone had disc or joint issues related to degeneration, spurs, etc this warm up would not help but would rather expedite the problem. Maybe it’s a bit more complicated then just move the joints around to warm up. Maybe the individuals joint function and/or dysfunction has to be taken into consideration.
Squat I have read countless times this movement is made way to complicated. All you really need to do is sit down and stand up (I actually heard this once at one of our seminars and then found something else for that person to do as they had no business teaching anything). If this was the case then this is a perfectly acceptable squat. *Just sit down and stand back up. It’s really that easy. No need to make it complicated by teaching people how to track their joints safely. That would be making things way to complicated. Just squat! Screw safe movement patterns! Squat and when it doesn't progress squat more. When this stalls it's because you don't train hard enough so squat even more. 40%x5 * 40% of what?
