Training doesn’t have to have a concrete gym type goal of aesthetics or performance in mind. You can just do something that makes you feel good.

Nowhere near the type of thing that wipes you out, or breaks you down.

Just. Feel. Good.

I recommend something I call “muscular cardio”. You want the muscular activation, the pump, and the out of breath cardio effect.

A combination of calisthenics, light high rep lifting, and cardio fit the bill.

One set of high rep set of overhead squats gives me a leg pump and muscular activation in my back. A minute or so after I find myself out of breath, the oxygen debt catching up to me.

My nightly set of pushups gets the stimuli to my push muscles, and another hit of out of breath.

Twice a day I work significant amounts of muscles, and get out of breath. That’s two dopamine hits every day.

I also do some grip, ab, and neck work, and am looking forward to more cardio when the ground is free of snow.

On paper this shouldn’t get you strong, yet in reality you do get stronger, though the bigger results come in conditioning.

Training like this isn’t gym training, it’s more like what your ancestors did, and puts training where it belongs ; as a small part of and a healthy addition to your life.

Natty or Not?

When you don’t have proof of steroid usage you can always assume…

NATTY!
(Not not)

I’m different than most. I choose to assume “natty” whenever possible.

If I don’t have proof (generally verbal from those who are honest, it’s happened a couple times) I assume that they are 100% bonafide natural.

(Oddly this only applies to males, I’ll assume steroids for the yoked up, big armed, narrow hipped, deep voiced, and masculine faced female bodybuilder. I’d bet this is because if a female is “natty or not” in no way affects my own perception of my own physical potential. Though I’ve also assumed NATTY! for this hot jacked & stacked (technically MILF) female bodybuilder with huge biceps, but not narrow hips, nor a masculine voice or face. I took her having a few kids as proof that steroids were unlikely. Can a woman become pregnant on gear?)

You see a guy 275+lbs ripped to shit and you think what’s he on, while I’m thinking dude must’ve put in some work over the years, when will I reach that point?

Performance enhancing drug usage never enters the equation in my mind.

I’ve never seen a steroid, to get hands on them seemingly is some voodoo shit (though I have had one dealer feel me out as a prospective buyer). “If I don’t see them they can’t either”.

It comes down to that I prefer to live in a reality full of human potential. I don’t want to think that shit is only possible with some synthetic hormones, and though I have suspicions I generally haven’t been impressed by those of whom most would say “not natty” about.

Just assume natty.

It’s a far simpler, and more open to physical possibility reality to just assume natty.

It’s a mindset thing.

Dude I knew who constantly said he was natty to everyone on the gym floor, who 1-2x weekly squatted 5×10-15 with 495 at 6’3″ 235lbs. NATTY! (He opened my 19/20 year old eyes to what was possible in the weight room. Seeing him lift put certain abilities out of the internet and into the real world for me. I still remember as a goof him pulling my top set mixed grip deadlift double overhand cold that day.)

“Man, I’m telling you he’s on. You can tell because ____.” Nah, bro. NATTY!

Just assume natty, and continue your training with an expanded reality of possibility. You will go further this way.

It’s a mindset.

More possibility. More potential. Less excuses.

Persistence & Tenacity

Is a 405 bench possible without any benching?

Looking back I got myself to a 315 bench by weighing over 200lbs and doing lots of pushups. While my benching wasn’t ZERO, I know I could’ve got to this level without the specific work. Other than t-rex length arms I did everything “wrong”, including benching 315 cold soon after first hitting 3 plates.

(315 cold…by powerlifting reasoning I should be good for 405 right now.)

Lots of vanilla pushups for years, and a large amount even with very little range of motion.

Somewhere online Glenn Pendlay talks of his CalStrength lifters having a bench off and stopping them once a bunch were in the 405-455 range…weights they can jerk.

I personally found that increasing my 225 jerk for reps led to my 225 bench for reps improving.

I’m coming to believe anything you can jerk you can bench.

My getting to 315 on the bench without really benching likely means I could improve my bench by getting stronger on variations of the pushup that I’m not strong at.

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve done weighted pushups, I may have roughly a decade of daily pushups, but it’s 99.99999% vanilla (including the phase of super short reps).

The last few days for example I’ve been doing a sorta “pike” press up, and making it very tricep heavy after having done some regular reps.

I know from experience that 1 arm pushups do carry over. If I get up to 20 a hand again my bench would increase. (I’m not sure how I’d add weight to these.)

I also lift my barbell in the yard. All the overhead work will carryover.

It’s possible that my military press equals roughly ⅔ of my bench, so

405x.66=267

Bringing my press from the low 200s to the high 200s may get me there.

I know I will power clean and jerk 405 at some point. My clean needs work, but anything I can shoulder I can put to arms length overhead. Getting to the jerk via continental may be a way for me personally to bench heavier.

Lord knows I have the build to bench 405 already, even if I’ve yet to do it, and lack the equipment.

I’m a big strong guy, and I have a bunch of tools at my disposal.

Physical strength isn’t all that hard to attain. In fact it’s a natural thing to possess.

Work hard with what you have and you’ll get stronger.

I say yes, a 405 bench is attainable without any benching. Overhead work, and pushup variations will get me there.

-J

Persistence & Tenacity

Can you get an effective full body workout in with nothing but an unloaded 45lb barbell?

It’s a good question.

Consider the ability to do so as a test of your ability to train well with anything.

I say yes, one can get a good workout in with an empty barbell.

You simply have to get preconceived notions of how you “must” train out of your head, and understand how to make it work.

“Dummkopf! Ze bar is not too light!” says the Prussian officer about to PT you with that aforementioned empty bar.

(Never underestimate the effectiveness of imagining one of the Kaiser’s officers preceding over your exercises. “Are you thinking! Go PT!” Whoah he’s even clued into your head.)

Example (from yesterday) :

•Overhead Squat x 25
“You are not done yet!” – ze Prussian
•Super Slow Deep PC&Press x 3
“Slower! Bar to toe!” – you know who
•BTN Press x 30
•One Arm Press x 15 (each side)
•Bent Press x 1 (each side)
“Hold at ze bottom! Stand! Attention!” – he’s still here
•Press x 30

This isn’t a bad style of training session for anyone, it’s quite efficient, and effective.
Sure it’s harder for say a small female than a large male to complete but it’s doable. A man will be doing the one arm overhead work, a female with both hands on the bar. Overhead squats are quite the leveler of the playing field. They require useful full body flexibility. Don’t say what the high rep overhead squats won’t do until you’ve tried them. As I said they’re quite the leveler of the playing field. Only an athletic man or woman with sound flexibility and balanced strength development will be capable of doing them. Do them, you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and likely shocked with the discovery of just what strength they’ll give you.

I’ll likely be rehashing this in future posts on similar and related topics.

Go train (and picture the Prussian officer yelling while you do so “PT!“).

Persistence & Tenacity

I Just Lift To Lift

This post has been a long time coming, ah the reminiscing :

“I just lift to lift.”

Often I’d be asked what I was training for…

Powerlifting?

Do you intend to compete?

Unless I’m near a world record…I just lift to lift.

I like to lift.

I don’t give a damn about some referee’s or the internet’s opinion on my form, methodology, etc.

I like to lift, and I just lift to lift.

If I want to hit a certain number I very likely will mad dash towards it.

I may hit it, I may get bored and stop, goals will last as long as they last, and regardless I just lift to lift.

Whatever gym I walk into, commercial, powerlifting, bodybuilding, hole in the wall, planet fitness…I’m the odd ball, and why, because…I just lift to lift.

It’s not calisthenics, bodybuilding, powerliftering, weightlifting, or strongman…I just lift to lift

I’ll play…with whatever is there. A (real waterlogged) log in the water I’ll shoulder and try to push press, I’ll pick up the heavy kb and bottoms up press, I’ll balance on a bosu ball, walk while rolling a PVC pipe, max out the “bad girl” machine for sets of 50+, jump across that mat, try to one arm pushup, copy the guy doing standing ab wheel rollouts, or deadlift “cold”, to name a few. I play, and I just lift to lift.

It’s so unorthodox that it intrigues and simultaneously causes discomfort…

What are you training for!

“Dude, I’d like to train with you, but I can never actually tell what it is that you’re training” – a word for word quote

“I am the antitheses of bodybuilding”, a statement I once made hanging around talking at a gym one night, and you know what
…I just lift…to lift.

I’m not any of those groups, I may incorporate bits of all of them. I may improvise, or make it up.

It doesn’t need to make sense, though to me it does.

When I lift…I just lift to lift.

It’s terribly fun this way…my way.

I just lift to lift.

My number one piece of advice to a newbie lifter?

Alright here it goes :

I’m gonna assume that you’re kind of a nerd, getting into the most antisocial physical activity you can, and that you’re not here following your football coach’s advice, that you read up on how to train properly…for many many hours before you ever put a barbell on your neck or in your hands.

Here’s my #1 piece of advice to you…

The Number One Piece Of Advice For A Newbie Lifter :

Prove what you read wrong.

Everything you’ve read has told you the exact scientific way to do things, and now you’re stumped…

How the fuck do you find a one rep max and train based off of it!

Will those percentages actually make you stronger?

You must use a bodypart split, but bodypart splits aren’t functional!

You have to train everything once every 5 or 7, or is it 10 days?

Can you do cardio? Do you forgo cardio? Do you have to program it too!

How many meals to eat? 3 squares, 6 meals, 2 meals?

Whatever they’ve said you have to do…prove them wrong.

Train every day. You remember how sports make you do so (you played sports right?), so why would the weight room be any different?

The weight room is just another physical activity. It’s not a part of some alternate dimension where everything works differently.

Eat like you’ve stumbled upon a feast just as you were nearly starved to death. Why…Yes! I’ll have another gallon of milk and side of beef!

Prove what you’ve read wrong.
Instinct is superior to the reading, so prove what you’ve read wrong.

Do it your way, it is an individual endeavour afterall.

Decide what you’re going to prove wrong, and do so.

The best advice for a beginner to weight training is go out, and prove what you’ve read wrong.

Persistence & Tenacity

It’s impressive to see how badly the average person moves, and by extension is built.

Even the fit are functionally retarded.

(And just how do the swamp creatures waddling around walmart get so far gone?)

Does anyone escape this fate?

Step outside, hopefully there is nature close by in some capacity. Now watch how the animals move…

Animals move to a degree so far past the human’s ability that for one, say a squirrel, to be as dysfunctional as any given human would result in a dead animal.

Announcer voice : “Leaping from tree to tree”
Goofy noise : “awwhhowhowhowho”
Sound effect : “Splat”

Darwin culling the herd. Get the picture?

Animals in nature are goddamn elite athletes.

No matter how athletic you are you most likely don’t move well.

This isn’t damnation.

Fix yourself.

It seems a common assumption that bodyweight training can work for the upper body, but not for the lower body. It’s often said that bodyweight isn’t enough for the legs. That’s flawed reasoning, I can tell you it is, bodyweight training builds the legs.

To those who say it can’t I wonder many things :

Have they never done peak contraction bodyweight squats? Have they never done very high rep bodyweight squats? How about hindu squats?

Did they forget about glute bridges, and hip thrusts?

Are they incapable of finding space to lunge walk, or better yet do the same with swamp lunges?

Do they not know how to flex?

Are they sprinting? What jumping do they do?

Do they not realize the best quad exercise is the sissy squat, and the best hamstring exercise is the leg curl using an exercise ball?
(Those both work the muscle hard.)

Do they not do the step up, likely the exercise that develops the legs in the most muscularly balanced manner aside from sprinting itself?
Is there no park bench or similar that they can use to do these for high reps?

Have they pumped up then stretched the muscle with a nice deep stretch? The DC training quad stretch is fantastic.

Have they never held a horse stance, wall sit, warrior pose, wrestler’s bridge, or deep lunge split like they used to do in weightlifting?

Surely they must have tried stomping, and kicking.

Have they done high reps of shiko, the sumo wrestler leg lift, stomp, and squat?

Have they attempted pistol squats? (You can use hand balance to allow the legs to work.)

Could they possibly not be doing high rep calf raises?

If they can’t get a solid leg stimulus, enough to grow on out of bodyweight only…clearly they aren’t trying.

Maintenance level exercise, when necessary, has a very low required amount.

Under 5 minutes of calisthenics a day can, and does act sufficiently to keep you from ever regressing.

You simply need to hit a little for most or all of the body.

•25 pushups
•10-15 bodyweight squats
•3 pullups
•Flexing

That’s guidelines, it’s not set in stone. Divide the body into push/pull/legs, and just get it in.

5 minutes or less, able to be done everywhere, and you’ll never backtrack on ability.

Fitness is easily maintained when you keep a PT mindset.

The internet is misguided on what amount of reps can build strength…

It’s commonly accepted that strength is 1-5 reps per set, some will say up to 12…in reality strength is built by getting stronger…this can be at any rep range, or even with holds, carries, poses, etc.

Low reps and high reps can both build strength. They can both build mental toughness, but in different ways.

The low rep exercise done to max will activate a fear of hurting yourself, it builds balls. High reps are more likely to mentally drain you, you’ll be hesitant to get under the bar and slog it out til the sets over, they build determination.

Notice how both can build strength, both mental, and physical.

However, I say it’d be more beneficial to almost everyone to get REALLY FUCKING strong at higher rep ranges.

Why not approach the bar with the goal of hitting for 50 reps what most would be content to hit for 1, 3, 5 reps?

It’s a whole different world, and while you won’t hit a powerlifting world record level weight for 50 you can get damn heavy weights on high rep ranges with consistent effort.

I’d argue the higher rep range is superior, especially for those training at home and/or alone due to a couple factors.

• Safety-less likely to need a spotter.
• Less Equipment-with a higher rep range you don’t need as much weight, ergo less equipment is required.

A 300lb weightset is often thought of as not enough weight. That’s looking at it wrong.

Can you deadlift and squat that set for 50 reps?

Can you power clean that set and press it for reps…cold?

Add in another 200lbs, make it a 500lb set and ask those questions again.

See how the high reps can make you diesel yet?

It’s not being content to train halfheartedly for high reps like the majority of commercial gym goers (I have an exact person in mind as I write this), but to take that high rep range and attempt to hit other’s 1 rep maxes for those same high reps.

A whole different world, one usually only discovered by bodybuilders, you too can enter it, and reap it’s rewards.