Whether you are performing a fast lift like a clean or a slow lift like a curl, you should always be in control. If you feel like the weight has you and you don’t have the weight then you are going too heavy. If you feel like for some reason you are unstable when lifting then you need to evaluate your technique and your program. You may need some specialized exercises to work small muscles that may be weak. Remember that your body will always try to take the easy way out. You have to make it do the opposite in the gym. There is a difference between pulling yourself up to a bar or doing a pullup to increase back size and strength. You have to be in control. Are you pulling with your back or using your arms more? Do you go all the way down and let your back stretch? Can you pause on the way up, at the top, and on the way down? If you can’t do these things then you aren’t working out a muscle as much as working a movement. Cleans, snatches and the like and movements that we train. Exercises like curls, pullups, and pushdowns are to train muscles. Know the difference and make sure YOU are in control and not the weight.
Someones workout for the day
Squat
4 x6
B1. Sumo Deadlift
4×5, 1×12
B2. Incline Bench Press
10,10,8,8
C1. Pulldown
3×12
C2. Rear leg elevated Split squat
3×10
Barbell Complex
6 reps then next move
High Pull
Ft. Squat
Push Press
Good Morning
Self Discipline
More important than your exercise or diet program is your self discipline. It doesn’t matter if you workout hard for a week, or stick to your diet for 3 out of 5 days. What matters is what how you act in the long run. How many “little cheats” did you let yourself get away with this week? How many workouts did you skip in the last month? Or the last year? The little things add up. Don’t make excuses for your own lack of discipline. It isn’t about just making yourself go to the gym or something you enjoy on some level. It is making yourself do the things you don’t want to do. The best rehab patients are the ones who tirelessly perform the repetitive boring physical therapy they have been prescribed. Day after day for hours on end. This might also mean you can’t workout for weeks or even months. You watch your body go away and you feel soft but you stick with it. That is discipline.
There are somethings you do just for the sake of building discipline. For example if you are a pasta lover you might cut out all pasta for a year. Not just because it is making losing fat difficult but to see if you can do it no matter what the situation, not matter how hungry you are. As an adult, no one is making you do anything. Do you lay in bed for a half hour or do you get up when you wake up? Do you let yourself mindlessly surf the internet for an hour then complain you don’t have time for things? I bet if you really look at yourself you just don’t have much self discipline. It will spill over into all aspects of your life for the better. We are experts at lying to ourselves and making excuses. (“I need to look at internet videos to unwind.” “I need to lay in bed because mornings are tough for me.”) Shut up. They are tough for everyone. You are just lazy and self permissive. Be tough on yourself and you will be a tougher person.
How the Split Jerk works (simple version)
The jerk can has great benefit to the power athlete. It requires speed, coordination and decent shoulder range of motion to perform correctly. Here we have an athlete who doesn’t have much training in the jerk. The drive is initiated with the legs then you push yourself under the bar. You are using your speed to get under the bar as well as strength to initiate the drive. This lift allows you to stabilize a lot of weight overhead and you can’t perform it correctly if you don’t move fast. The goal is to get as much out of your legs as possible and move YOURSELF under the bar rather than trying to simply push the bar overhead. Since the weight used can be very heavy there is no eccentric phase and the bar is typically dropped.
As the trained eye can see the form isn’t Olympic weightlifter perfect but we don’t need that for this example. Instead you can realize that this is 3x Olympian Lauryn Williams just messing around with overhead stuff between winning medals and being faster than you. As a side note she is also pound for pound the strongest female ever to lift at the gym. Follow her bobsled adventures here: @LaurynCwilliams
Focus
In a typical gym you often see more people talking or texting than training. These same people wonder why they put so much time in at the gym and make so little progress. If you want to treat the gym like a social club that is fine but don’t complain about your lack of progress. If you have a one minute rest between sets this doesn’t mean rest one minute then respond to a text then do your set. If you are halfway serious about improving then focus on your workout. Get it done then socialize. It has gotten to the point where people seem offended if you don’t want to talk to them while you are working out. If this is you, remember that they aren’t being rude if they came to a gym to workout. You are being rude assuming that they want to talk.
Next time you are working out, try giving yourself specific rest periods between sets and exercises. Put your phone on airplane mode and use it only as a stopwatch. If you are training with someone tell them to save their stories until before or after you workout. See how much faster and harder your workout is.
Someone’s workout for the day
Am and Pm session
Have to be in super condition for this one.
AM:
Standing broad jump
4x20M
Bounds
4x20m
Sprint
40m x5
100m x3
20M sprint and jog back 5 times
X2
Jog 1 mile
PM:
A. Barbell Complex
Hang Clean, jerk, BSQ, GM
4×6
Stepper 5 min hard
B. Burpee
70 total
Treadmill
5 min build up
2 min come down
X3
C1. Overhead Lunge
4×8
C2. Incline situp
4×12
Rope
8 min
D. Complex II
Hang Snatch, OHS, BSQ, OHS,
4×6
elliptical machine 10 min high intensity
Women can be strong
This is Anastasia Begunova squatting 180KG (396lbs) at a body weight of 63kg (138lbs). Don’t be afraid to push yourselves ladies. Tiny pink dumbells aren’t helping you.
Warm Up
For most workouts a general warm up shouldn’t take that long. It should be efficient regarding the training you are doing and include movements to address your individual needs. However, if you lack flexibility or have some kind of tissue restriction then it may take you longer to warm up. Fixing these issues should be a priority so you may need to dedicate a portion of your workout to increasing mobility and general physical preparedness. There is no point in squatting if you can’t physically squat correctly.
A warm up should include movements to literally warm up the tissue, take the joints through a range of motion, and stimulate the central nervous system. Just riding the bike for 10 minutes isn’t enough. Most people sit for too long during the day so if you are training the lower body you need to spend the time reminding it how it is supposed to move. If you find yourself constantly needed 45 minutes to warm up then you have other issues at play. Yes, for a period of time this may be necessary but you should be able to overcome those issues that are making an extended warm up requisite.
Someone’s workout for the day
Extensive warm up due to beat up body
Snatch (light for form)
4×3
Squat
Up to heavy single (not max)
Deadlift
Up to heavy single (not max)
Front squat
4×3 (70% of max)
Starting out
It can be intimidating and overwhelming to start working out if you haven’t before. These days there is too much information that can be accessed but few answers. Remember the following to keep your head clear.
- There is no right way
- Everyone progresses at different rates
- Keep your program simple and basic
- Don’t worry about supplements
- Pay attention to how your body moves
- Don’t try complicated exercises (cleans for example) before you can perform their components (front squat, clean deadlift, jump and land without knees wobbling)
- The big guy in the gym doesn’t always know best
- Lifting hard and heavy will not make female super muscular. Man looking female bodybuilders take drugs.
- Take your time. It is a slow process.
Don’t wait until you have some perfect plan. Take action now. You might feel stupid at times in a gym where people seem to know what they are doing but trust me, most people only THINK they know what they are doing.