Since becoming good friends with Rhodes and Wendler, they have offered much insightful advice and guidance regarding training. Every time I am developing a program or have an issue I always like to touch base with the boys. I was able to start my most recent exchange with them on a much different note than usual.
For the past bunch of years, I have not been able to find a groove at all with training. Part of it is because I am no longer competing which gives me a single purpose with my training. Another has been injuries, tightness, and nagging pain. This has been frustrating to say the least.
So being able to train the past two months consistently with a progression for the first time in a long time caused me to shoot off the following text "Hit 325x20 on trap bar pretty comfortably and shut it down. I have been spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day stretching for over a month now. No aggressive conditioning either. I miss my 80lb weight vest walks and sprinting, but they were more harm than good for me. I haven't felt this good in years. Thanks for all of the sage advice over the years gentlemen."
Jims response is worth its weight in gold to me "Word of advice: you can do ONE hard thing. The guys who can do two hard things (and excel) are called NFL football players.
Regular dudes who aren't 25 years old: Yoga (or similar), walking, lifting weights (with a brain)
Two hard things is sustainable for a short period but always has consequences. Or they have to be severely abbreviated. For example: you lift 3-4 days a week, 1-2 hard sets a workout and that's it. You go run or sprint or do insane Prowler work. Even this is tough.
Point is we have less money to play with. And if you want to lift hard, everything else has to be easy as f@ck."
There is not a statement about training that will resonate with me more especially considering the sh!t show mine has been for the past few years. I have been fighting an uphill battle doing exactly the opposite of what Jim laid out.
I have never given up training hard. I ALWAYS push myself in the gym. It's my nature. Along with that I have really tried to up my conditioning. I have tried to improve my mile time. I was doing 80lb weight vest walks, hills, carries, brutal Tabata's, extra kb swings, bodyweight circuits, burpess, etc. Without realizing I was spending a lot of money out of my account that I didn't have. I would clearly be over-drafted and would regularly have to pay the consequences and not even be sure why.
Here's the problem, I never considered conditioning in this same category as strength training. I figured it's not like I was any good at it. I wasn't breaking a six-minute mile or hitting up crossfit competitions.
Because I didn't consider myself "crazy conditioned" the work I was doing to improve didn't seem like it would matter. Now looking back, I would punish myself pretty severely during some of those sessions. I guess going for a 3-mile 80lb weight vest walk in humid 90-degree weather at 50 years old could be considered taxing. There lies the kicker though, even ten to twenty years ago when I was chasing strength with everything I had, my body wouldn't have held up to additional heavy conditioning.
I have to serve the one master. If I want to be crazy conditioned, my strength training will have to take a backseat. That doesn't mean I can't get better conditioned. It just can't be trained as if it's my priority.
