This is part two of a two-part series.

 

Trade-offs

There are trade-offs with training that affect the outcomes of the choices we make inside and outside the gym doors. Here's a list of things that came to mind:

  • When you eat too few calories and find it’s just as bad as eating a lot of poor ones for fat loss, expect to be a fatty either way.
  • When you take too long to warm up and find it isn't a good idea on a training day that requires a lot energy, expect to drink a Rockstar.
  • When your warm up is too brief and you find it can be the difference between making a heavy lift and missing one, expect to find the appropriate timing and break a light sweat.
  • When you want to do Olympic lifts, expect to learn to do them correctly.
  • When you want to do Crossfit every day, expect to burnout.
  • When you want to get abs, expect strength to suffer.
  • When you want your cereal in the morning, expect your blood sugar to eventually drop.
  • When you love watching the Dexter series at night until 2:00 a.m., expect recovery to suffer.
  • When America becomes pussified, expect Arnold to be replaced by Adrien Brody in Predator roles.
  • When you don't drink enough water, expect digestion, joints, and cellular energy to suffer.
  • When you don't have any sex drive, expect to keep lifting light weights and start liking men.
  • When you're in pain, expect to learn better lifting techniques or stop being a va-jj.
  • When you love the Paleo diet, expect to have a hard time finding gluten-free beer and gaining weight.
  • When you are afraid of risk, expect to never grow both physically and mentally.
  • When you find out sleep, water, eating real foods, and meditation are more powerful than any exercise ever invented, expect testosterone levels to rise.
  • When you take too long to think of something to write about, expect to move on.

What works?

“I know of only a few truisms, one being [that] if your parents didn’t have children, you won’t have children. Another is whenever you make a strength program easier, you will get weaker.” —Bill Starr

What works is what you will stay with and progress. Look at strength training today. Strength is so gone now, it's sad. You're hard pressed to find guys lifting anything heavy. Do you care about pressing more than the same weight on the bench press three days a week for five years?

Many professional athletes are extremely weak as well. But wait just a hair—do you think strength training is all that matters at that level? Hell no. These guys are highly skilled at their respective positions. Strength is required, but it is only one aspect of many in their preparation for a season. There have been many greats in the NFL who had weak bench presses, so don’t get too suctioned into the barbell lifting aspect. Remember, you're training an athlete, not a weightlifter. However, let me backtrack. Most need to get stronger because it has been so void in their training it is ridiculous. Look at their current competition calendar and base biomechanical stressors on where they are with practices, field work, and lifting with the team. For the most part, they need to lift because they don't do it enough. Just be careful on the volume in comparison to sport skill development.

For most of us reading this, I assume we want to maintain some sort of athleticism, get yolked, lift heavy objects, stay in shape, and have some sort of attractive physique, right? Well, I'm not sure why you read any of this and you may have completely wasted your time.

I was fat and out of shape. I changed that with hill sprints and good nutrition. You can, too. I was weak and had no direction. I changed that by seeking good programming information and lifting heavier. I was small. I changed that by eating a lot and keeping the program to the major lifts—squats, deadlifts, military presses, pull-ups, and bench presses. Well, for many, this is a lost art.

I look in the mirror and make eye love to myself. I don't change this habit because I've worked hard for it. What are you willing to do to get what you want? What makes you happy? What will keep you active? What will get you stronger? This is what matters.