The love of training

Over the past couple of weeks I had the same conversation with a couple of people about getting back to the love of training.

This may seem strange, as most of us say we love training.  We're in the gym clangin' and bangin' multiple times a week, thinking about hitting that next PR, working on our routine or programming, or our diet.  We're always focused on trying to get better, bigger, stronger, leaner, etc.

And then without realizing it, we get so caught up in percentages and days per week, and trying to accomplish certain things, that we don't realize we don't "love" training like we used to.  Training just becomes a means to an end.  It's what we HAVE to do in order to achieve certain things.

We don't go in the gym, hit some weights, get a pump, and recapture those days of when lifting was just something we did to make us feel awesome.  We become fixated.  We become fixated about weight on the bar, or how we're behind where we think we should be.

We get far more depressed about shitty workouts than we really should.  We ruminate far too long on the negatives, and lose sight of we brought us to the gym in the first place, and kept us there for so long.  All we can talk about is hitting a certain total or being better than someone else.

It wasn't always like this though.

There was a time when we went to the gym because it was one of the best parts of our day.  The environment, the people, the sound of the weights slapping together at the top of a squat.  Didn't matter if it was 225 or 315 or 705.  We didn't think about what percentage it was of our 1RM.  No one talked about dynamic work or max effort work.  No one gave a shit.  We were just there to train because it was fun.  A bad day was a bad day.  We shrugged it off.  We'd train tomorrow because hey, it was a day that ended in "Y" and we trained on those days.  Why?  Because it was fun.

We did arms a lot because big fucking arms were cool.  We didn't read a million articles on the net telling us as powerlifters we didn't need biceps.  We benched a lot because everyone wanted to know how much you benched.  And we'd always lie when asked.  You knew someone was lying because their answer would always start with "about".

"How much you bench?"

"About...."

See.  That's a lie about to happen.

We didn't talk about "weak points" or shit like that because we were weak everywhere and knew it.  So we trained everything, and just wanted to get stronger.  "Stronger" being relative of course.  If we didn't beat our reps from last week, fuck it.  "I'll get your ass next week!"  But it wasn't a grudge.  It was us against our "friend".  Not our enemy.  The weights were like a great friend then.  One that we were happy to see each day.  A friend that challenged us to get better, but never made it easy.  Not an enemy that was standing in our way.  There was no negative connotation with the weights.

We knew everyone in the gym, and often knew their goals and trained alongside each other.  We weren't training "partners".  Just peers that shared the same passion.  We had friendly competitions, and if we won we gloated and they laughed.  If we lost, we did the same, but vowed to win the next one.

We told each other "lookin huge, dude" or "looking ripped" and it was reciprocated when appropriate.  Compliments were genuine and no one felt insecure about saying those things because they had been brainwashed by some asshole on the net telling us saying that shit "is gay".

The gym was isolation from the rest of the world, and our brothers in iron shared that feeling.  Everything outside of that space didn't exist while we were there.  We weren't checking text messages or looking at our phones.  Shit, we didn't have any.  We weren't worried about our girlfriend being pissed off at us, because that would still be there when we left.  We encouraged each other when we started our sets, and people asked if you needed a spot.  Even if you weren't female!

We carried a workout diary that had all of our workouts in it, and the numbers we did last time.  We'd check it to see what we needed to do to be a little better on this day.  Sometimes we did more sets, and sometimes we did less.  If we felt awesome we trained until we limped out of the gym.  If we felt like shit, we'd do what we could.  

We didn't a flying fuck about gluten or paleo or shit like that.  We knew how to eat to get big, and how to eat to get leaner.  We didn't need a study or some research telling us what worked and what didn't work in a fucking lab.  We found those things out because we tried them, and made our own assessments.  I see guys today that wouldn't let their girl blow them unless they had a study telling them they would like it.

We didn't always lift with the best form in the world.  But you didn't always across the monkey bars one ring at a time or slide down the slide feet first either, did you?

We didn't know what a fucking "deload" was.  We just knew when we needed a little time off from the gym and took it.  We didn't sweat losing our gains if we wanted to party in Panama City for the week to party with friends.  We didn't call around to see if the hotel had a well equipped gym, because life was bigger than that.  The gym would be there when we got back.

When you love something like that, things seem far less complicated.  When you make it more complicated, you tend to focus less on the love for that thing, and more on the details.  And when all the details become the focus, then our passion gets diluted.

Can't the same be said about life?  When we love anything the details don't seem to matter as much to us, not because we don't pay attention to them, but because we see something as whole, rather than in parts.  When we look at a painting we love, we may not notice the minuscule flaws in it because the whole picture is more important.  When we hear a song we love, we don't tear apart every flaw in the vocals or musicianship.  Why?  Because we just fucking love it.

 I'm not saying to cast aside every goal you have, or dismiss things you badly want to achieve.  But constantly focusing on those things can eventually tear away the simplistic nature of the love we had for training.

Getting back to that can be just as rewarding and fulfilling.  Try to remember to make time just to love training, and have fun with it.  Those are the things that probably kept us in it for such a long period of time to begin with.  And will keep you there long after you're done chasing dragons.

The sliding scale of training variables

There are a myriad of variables involved in a productive training methodology.

Each one is somewhat dependent on the other for efficiency to bet met. Generally the key variables are frequency, volume, intensity, and recovery.

There is a sliding scale in regards to each other these things, and when one area slides to far in one direction, training efficiency is usually lost.

For example, if you plan on training 5-6 days a week then you will be operating at a higher frequency level. So the scale slides away from recovery. In order to compensate for this "slide", volume and intensity must account for that. In other words, training at a high intensity threshold (a percentage of your 1RM) isn't ideal if volume is going to be higher. It has to be regulated on a downward scale. If you don't, eventually you start overreaching within a few weeks, and you will likely see progress stall, or even go backwards.

A great example of this is when you see guys run a squat specialization cycle like Smolov, and program their max too high. Because the frequency, volume, AND intensity is all at max threshold, they generally stall out, or can't make the proper weights for sets and reps the cycle calls for.

 

In this case, if a lower max is entered into the equation, the cycle tends to be far more productive.

This is a reason many methods have a "deload" week built into them after X amount of weeks. To take recovery into account because the other variables in the training program have intentionally been moved to the upper end of the spectrum.

This works well for a peaking cycle before a competition because supercompensation comes into play. But if you're in the offseason, being able to train for a longer period of time without deloading, is more efficient in my opinion. The longer you can train without taking time off, the more bricks you lay down for the "base". Then the higher the base level of strength becomes.

Then when it's time to "overreach" the peak off of that base is much higher, because indeed, the base has been raised.

You can't be at 100% peak strength year around. Not only does training that way become counterproductive, but it doesn't allow a lot of room for working on things like body composition, or shoring up weak musculature involved in the lift. The offseason should be the time you spend working on those things. Not trying to be a youtube or gym hero.

The second part of that is, the connective tissue and joints can and will take a server beating if the scale slides to heavily to the intensity/volume/frequency side of things. And anyone that has had achy elbows, hips, knees, etc knows that it's virtually impossible to train hard when you're beat to shit. 

 

The other variable is often not an issue with highly competitive strength athletes, or athletes in general. And that is, when the scale slides too heavily into the "recovery zone" or the lower end of intensity. An example of this is the person that comes into the gym once or twice a week, lifts very light weights for very little volume, then leaves. Then they wonder why their "gym time" isn't result producing. 

Finding the right balance among all of these variables is really the key to sustained progress. Knowing when to back off, and when to push the envelope is critical. You can't have your engine in the red all the time, nor can you be too lax. Efficient training takes all of the variables into account, and balances them out so that you train often enough, heavy enough, and with enough volume to stimulate strength and growth, but allow for enough recovery to let the process take place.

At times you may need more of one than the other. But keep in mind when you add in more of one thing, something else has to be accounted for in some fashion. Otherwise, you tip the scales too heavily to one side, and progress will come to a halt.

Training - Press

Bodyweight - 270

Press Behind the Neck -
barx40,40
135x15
155x5
185x4
225x3
275x2

315x4

225 x 10,10,8,8

Meadows Shrugs - 4 x 12
Curls and Triceps - 4 sets of each

Notes - Could have easily done the 5th rep today but I wanted to save it in the tank and not grind it out at all.  The 4 reps felt really smooth so I was perfectly happy with that for now.

Down 17 pounds in 3 weeks.  My energy levels were really, really good today.  The goal is 255 by July 28th I believe.

More Base Building testimonials

This testimonial is pretty cool, but it's what I've been seeing across the board.  Not only with my clients but people just following the method.  That is, former 1 rep maxes turning into an every day max.

Check er out.....


Hi Paul


Im a 35 year old male 5"10 and around 205lbs I have been using your basebuilding method for the last 9 weeks or so phase 1 for the Squat and Bench press and Phase 2 for the deadlift (I pull over 500).
Over the past 9 weeks I have got faster on the working sets and decreased the time between sets also I have increased my weights on the assistance work.

My previous best 1 rep maxes are a 125K bench, 182.5K squat, and 240k for the deadlift.

Last week I worked up to my EDM's for 180 kilos on the squat 120 kilos for the bench press and 240 kilos for the deadlift, they were not easy but I definitely could have lifted more for every lift, to me this shows the basebuilding is working and has made me stronger.
This is the first time I have really used sub maximal style training and apart from making me stronger it is really nice not feeling totally destroyed after lifting and on the days after, what you have said about getting stronger without killing yourself is true :-)
Im now moving onto phase 2 for the squat and bench and am going to milk the BBM for as long as I can
Thanks for a great method and keep up the good work with the blog and your books.

============================================

If your training has been in the shitter for a while and you have no plan, and are frustrated I recommend you giving base building a try.

http://www.e-junkie.com/263269

Thoughts about life, crap, training, and stuff.

There are a few principles I adhere to in regards to life that I have yet to find a flaw with.

 The first one is about priorities, and what is important.  Generally speaking, either you or someone you know can easily identify what is truly important by the level of effort behind something.  If something is important, there will usually be a great level of effort given to that idea, hobby, relationship, etc whatever.

I define it simply as...

1.  Priorities
2.  Level of effort
3.  #2 will tell you everything you need to know about #1.

This simple ideology will tell you not only a lot about what is important to you, but what is important to the people you keep in your circle.

Generally speaking, people will find excuses to dismiss things that are unimportant, and put very little thought into applying energy to them.

"I'd love to workout, but I just don't have time."  Excuse.  Lazy and doesn't really care.

"I would have called but I was just so busy."  Excuse.  When someone is important you find a way.

Most people use excuses to lie to themselves, or to the other person.  They believe it serves as a cushion to soften the blow of what they are really saying.

"I want you to feel this is important, but in all reality it's not.  So I will try to let you down gently."

Sure, there will be circumstances that put people at a disadvantage they can't help sometimes.  Maybe the phone really did die.  Or maybe at this moment they really are too busy to get to the gym because of a new baby, a new job, taking care of a sick relative, etc.

But over the course of time you'll figure out what is important and what is not.  Because the scales will generally most often tip towards what matters to them, and tip away from what does not.

Whereas with things people deem important, they will find reasons to constantly put them at the forefront, and give a significant amount of effort, and go above and beyond to see them through.  No excuses are ever made as to why they can't make them happen.

You get up at 5 to get to the gym because it's a priority in your life.

You drive hours on end to see your friend, because that friendship means something to you.

You study for hours on end each evening because doing well in school matters.

You will suffer for the things that you want and desire, and you will dismiss the things you don't.

Life tends to be governed, in terms of applied effort, by these rules.

Most of the time people are self aware enough to know what really matters to them.  But then question their own importance in someone else's life.

"Does what I want even matter?"

"Am I really important to this person?"

If over time, their energy isn't directed towards you or giving you the things you need, then those things aren't a very big priority in their life.  And if that's what you need, then your best option is to find someone that places your needs at a higher priority.  Trying to make someone else put you at the top of the totem pole is a very counterproductive way to spend your time.

This can be a hard and painful lesson to learn.  But knowing it can save you a lot of time wasted on the wrong things, and the wrong people.

The second thing I've really figured out is everything you accomplish or work for in life will give you something, and also take something away.  The vice-versa holds true as well.  Anytime there is loss, there is something gained as well.

They aren't always equal in nature, mind you.  And it's possible you're not even aware of what was lost or gained most of the time.  Often it takes time for these things to manifest themselves, or for the fog to be lifted in order for you to see things more clearly.

In the show "House of Cards", Frank manipulated, lied, and back-stabbed his way up the political ladder.  When he became Vice President, he went out on his back patio to have a smoke and a secret service agent escorted him.  Befuddled, he asked why they had to escort him onto his own back patio.  He was told it was mandatory.

Frank worked tirelessly to do everything he could to gain power.  And in that gain, he lost some simple pleasures in life that he may have taken for granted before.  It doesn't seem like much, but I can't imagine not being able to walk outside and enjoy the freedom of just being alone in my thoughts.

Not only that, his "secrets" were brought directly into the public eye.  His wife smeared, and his reputation scrutinized in minute detail.  Maybe his character felt that those things were just part of the gig, and he knew those things were come to the forefront once he was placed into a greater position of power.  And maybe he was ok with that.  Who knows.

What I do know is, gaining that much power meant losing a lot of things.  Giving up a lot of privacy.

These particular examples are pretty easy to see in terms of the ratio of gain versus loss.

Other examples aren't always so clear.  Loss of a relationship, loss of loved ones, loss of physical abilities, losing your job, or your house.

Initially, there may appear to be no upside, or nothing gained.  But over time life seems to establish equilibrium, and bring things back to center.

I often think of the good, the bad, and the very bad times we go through as seasons in our life.  People always feel like the good times won't last, and the bad ones will last forever.  But neither are permanent.  Nothing ever lasts.  Even the bad shit.

How we weather these times are important.  It's hard not to get too "up" when the sun is shining and everything feels lined up so perfectly in our life.  And it's hard not to feel like you just injected a full syringe of depression when things come crashing down on top of you.

It's difficult to be optimistic in the face of adversity, and at times, even more difficult to let go of loss so we can grow and resume marching forward.

There's no "one size fits all" method that will work for everyone in this regard.  Some scars are deeper than others, and some wounds take longer to heal.  Life, in a metaphorical sense, is about battles fought.  Sometimes we find victory on the other side, and sometimes we find defeat.  Getting lost in the drunken joy of victory is easy.  Pulling yourself out of the depths of defeat is what is hard.  That is what will test who you are, and what you're made of.  And I tell you, there will be times where you simply are not up to the task.  That you just can't find the strength stand up at the moment, and take that first step.  But on a long enough timeline, it will happen.  You'll eventually get past it, scars and all, and move forward.

It will be slow at first.  Agonizingly slow.  But the further you get from what pains you, the easier it becomes to move with haste.  And eventually you'll find the sun again, and shit will be rosy.

Without those depths, you'll never learn to appreciate what it means to find joy again.  Without the shadows cast upon us, we'll never truly appreciate the warmth of the light.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, did...Cybergenics

If you picked up a single muscle rag in the 90's at some point you most definitely would have come across a one or even two page ad displaying many before and after photos by a company called Cybergenics, claiming all sorts of ridiculous shit in the way of muscle gains that not even a stack of tren and dbol could accomplish in such a short period of time.

For those that were fortunate enough to have avoided this shit, Cybergenics was basically a program that came with a box of seven supplements (six bottles of pills and one bottle of a sub-lingual), a video (VHS baby), and a training manual.

Let's just skip all the foreplay here and get right to plowing shit sideways.

Cybergenics called their program a "steroid replacement system."

That's right bitches.  Get your balls shrunk right here!

I'm not sure where to start with that.

You were on steroids, and decided you needed a replacement system for it?  Or were not on steroids, and decided this was a viable replacement?

Their spokesperson was a bodybuilder by the name of Franco Santoriello.  Some bodybuilder who had graced the covers of most of the muscle rags that I bought each month.  Even better, Franco attributed his bodybuilding success to that of this particular kit.

Fresh off a spaghetti binge

How could I doubt him?  The Cybergenic ads had about 14 before and after photos of him throughout his "Cybergenics journey" where he went from a fat sack of shit to that of a pro bodybuilder level physique.

I couldn't find the ingredients for all the bottles, and I don't remember reading words like "Methandrostenolone" as being part of the ingredients.  But basically, it was just a bunch of various vitamins and minerals with some herbs thrown in that made your piss turn into Luke Skywalker's light saber.

Being the young and gullible schmuck that I was (am?...just not young), I was mesmerized by these ads claiming that I could drop bodyfat and gain lean mass at an astounding rate.  Not only that, there were tons of pictures of regular dudes that had done this very thing while using this kit!

Fantabulous!

Still.....I was skeptical.  Ok so I probably wasn't because I was a dreamer god dammit, and it was always more fun to get lost in the dream of something working than being a skeptic.

The biggest hump was that I was young, and didn't have a job other than the slave labor I did for my dad, and these kits cost around $140.  Mind you, this is late 80's and early 90's.  That's like a million dollars back then.

Somehow and someway, because my mom thought the sun rose and set in her baby boy, I managed to talk my parents into buying me this certified box of gonorrhea discharge.

I remember getting home and opening the box and slipping that video into the VCR and feeling all of my doubts and worry immediately subside.  That was because fucking doctor Stephen Crawford was on said video, erasing all fears about this validity of this program.  He told me, that this was giving me an alternative to the use of anabolic steroids, and that some jacked and swole was about to be all upon my ass in no time flat.  And he's a doctor.  He had on a stethoscope and everything.  Totally legit.  



Now let's examine that phrase for a minute.  No, not the one about jacked and swole being up on my ass.  The one before that.

"An alternative to the use of anabolic steroids."

This phrase could mean anything.

Drinking cat urine could be an alternative to taking anabolics.

"I don't want to take test and deca.  So I drink cat piss as an alternative."

Works.  Tell me it doesn't.  You can't.  Because it does.

"I don't want to destroy my prostate and liver.  So my alternative is pond water.  I drink pond water weekly, and get sick as fuck.  Same thing."

At this point in time however, I took it to mean that these pills and this liquid and this training program, was indeed as powerful as juice.

The real key to the Cybergenics program was really the training routine, and diet.

Cybergenics Training - 

I'm going to have to tap into the mental vault for this one but basically the training was based around these principles.

• You use isolation movements first to pre-exhaust the muscle.  So you'd do leg extensions before squats, flyes before bench, etc so forth and so on.
• You did supersets of the pre-exhaustion movements and the compound movements, going to complete failure on both movements.
• By complete failure, I mean you'd do flyes until you couldn't get another rep, then you would go to NEGATIVE failure.  Your partner would have to lift shit back into place, and then you'd lower until you couldn't lower the weight under control any longer.  
• THEN...you'd grab a lighter weight, and repeat the same thing.  You'd do this for three strip sets before moving on to the compound movement.  
• When you got to the compound movement, you'd do the same thing.  Go to failure, then negative failure, then strip weight off and repeat.  Then repeat that whole thing two more times.
• You would do 3 or 4 supersets like this.  
• If you think you've ever done brutally hard training before, then go try this.  And do this shit daily.  You will change your mind.

I believe you trained 6 days a week for the most part, and you also had to do fasted cardio in the morning, and then another cardio session in the evenings.  You couldn't eat before the first cardio session and couldn't eat carbs after the last one.  

I get exhausted just thinking about training that way right now, and feel an injury coming on from doing shit like "negative failure flyes".  Not only that, but doing all of this work on very low carbohydrates was brutally hard.

Now there are some good parts to the program here.  

For one, the program was mainly built around the diet and training.  And that's never a bad thing.  

You could probably do the diet and training and see "something" in the way of results (not sure what they would be though honestly) without ever taking any of the magic pixie dust.  

The main issue I had was with the marketing of it all.  It was obviously disingenuous in every way, and based around lies and bullshit.  Franco didn't get big and swole from Cybergenics.  Maybe his pocketbook did, but his body was built with all the same chemicals every other pro used.

I'm not sure if every "before and after" success story was bullshit either.  I'm sure some dudes did use the program and lost some fat, or possibly gained some mass (though I'm not sure how they would have survived the onslaught of that program for the entire duration).  But like most every company back then, they relied on appealing to the dreams of young men like myself, that wanted very badly to achieve something meaningful in the way of results.

If you scaled back the training intensity of the program a bit, it might be a viable option for a bodybuilder to use.  But it would take some serious massaging.  The supplements were nothing more than a Centrum broke out over several bottles with a few additives here and there.

Cybergenics later went on to make several other kinds of kits, and the ads and campaigns were of similar nature.

It was the 90's.  Hyperbole and clown pants were what sold.  And people bought in bunches.  

Training - Press

Bodyweight - 273

Incline Press -
barx50,50
135x15
185x5
225x4
275x3
315x3
365x2

405x4 PR

315 x 10,10,10,8

V-Bar Pulldowns - 4 sets of 8
Meadows Shrugs - 4 sets of 12

Notes - After yesterday's training version of "two girls one cup" I went back in today and had a nice little training session.