Category: Lifting Mindset

Gym Rituals + Shenanigans

It’s laughable to go to any gym and observe the shenanigans and rituals going on everywhere.

You have the people near the entrance and in the locker room practically snorting their preworkouts. By the water fountain and bathroom sinks you have the people obsessing over their choices of protein powders, and from time to time you get to see the stereotype (thanks Planet Fitness) of the big guy (or even not big guy) carrying around a jug of ominous yellow liquid (comes in red also, most likely BCAAs) in it’s natural habitat…. The gym floor.

(Update : I had to link it, can’t believe I didn’t last year.)

You’ll see elaborate warm up rituals that to your best judgement seem to be part of some long lost and possibly failed mating ritual (foam rolling 20+ minutes, entirely on the ass and hips), or such pleasantries as the gangly fucker walking so slowly on the treadmill texting that a snail would hold it’s own in a race with said gangly fucker.

I’m getting aside from the topic, I can rant about the rest another time.

Today we will focus on the first mentioned:

The methheads dudes using preworkouts.

Dependence On Pre-Workouts

I’ve noticed among the male under 30 crowd that 90% seem to be unable to lift without their preworkout substances in them.

It’s absolutely laughable, completely psychological, and from time to time it seems that they are close to O.D.ing.

The tolerances they’ve developed to their preworkout of choice is often somewhat scary. Doses are routinely doubled and often enough tripled.

It’s a shit ton of stimulants in the system.

I highly doubt that it’s good for you to artificially get UP that much, and that frequently. You should not need that much to get amped.

Getting Amped Naturally

Getting amped can be done mentally. Thoughts, focused breathing, they’ll both work. We can release the chemicals to get amped through more natural ways.

Fuming and pacing should be able to do it for you. Getting into the music playing ie headbanging to metal, or even singing along can work. A fun one is deciding to put on a show for the cute chick staring at you (whether she is or not), or to prove some shithead wrong (whether shit head actually thinks you can’t do it is irrelevant, it helps if shithead is a goof, or someone you actually don’t like though the shithead doesn’t even need to be a shithead, it can be entirely a mental construct of yours).

If you really need a stimulant in you a cup or two of coffee should be enough to do it. I am not saying to drink a gallon of coffee. Milk maybe, I love that shit, but not coffee.

Preworkout Stories:

1. Of the few times I’ve used a preworkout (1/2 dose) I ALWAYS PR on front squats. My sessions using them involve:
   • Shit my brains out.
   • Proceed to squat rack.
   • Turn into a squirrel.
   • Re-swallow lung, and wonder what that feeling is. It worries me, but I can never place it.
   • Sweat balls just thinking of lifting
   • Hit at most 3 warm up singles. (Note: always wear cotton, synthetic allows bar to slip even more than soaked cotton. Heed my warning.)
   • (Optional) Pull a “Not now chief I’m in the fucking zone”
   • PR
   • Sit down because even breathing too hard may cause death, I am that amped, and sweating that much.
2. Once to mock my buddy I asked him when he intended to start using meth preworkout. He didn’t find it funny, but that was probably because after having taken roughly 6 servings that day he was puking his brains out roadside on our way back from the gym.

I’m not kidding.  He’d routinely triple the dose. That particular day we did a double session, and in the morning he took 2 or 2 1/2 servings while in the afternoon he took 3 1/2 servings because he “needed” it to be able to lift again. I could only laugh seeing this. In fact getting him to use the Prowler as a finisher may have been evil, unintentional, but still evil.

That shits not healthy, and while my buddy is an outlier on one side of the spectrum with me on the other (I drink maybe 12 cups of coffee a year), most young guys fall far closer to him than I.

It’s All In Your Head

The need for preworkout is not real,you can lift with out it, it’s just a mental want.

Everything it does for you can be done without it.

Overpriced stimulant powder that tastes like ass (oddly tasty in a way that you don’t want to admit cotton candy flavored ass) is not necessary to a good session.

Get your head right. Don’t allow your preworkout to become a training crutch.

Kill It!

-J

 

 

While it can be great to lift to your own music, quite often we are using our headphones as a crutch.

“Hold on a minute, I need the right song”

We can be and should be able to lift to whatever music is there be it the latest of pop (even ads, and yes I’ve heard them) at your local commercial gym chain,or Snoop Doggy Who Doggy What Doggy Dog at the gym you lift at.

The radio shouldn’t matter in the least, nor should your music.

Ideal is either silence or your own music (depending upon mood), but you should be able to always lift just fine without either.

At the old commercial gym I went to I’d trained myself to lift without music and to ignore the pop radio.

I’ve fallen out of this habit over the past year.

Lately I’ve been allowing my music to distract me . Picking the song, waiting for the right moment to go, fumbling with the wire (an issue in olys+deadlifts and weighted dips/chins)

The main use of headphones often is to simply get in the way.

Get used to no or non-ideal music.

Having our own is often a training​ crutch just like any of the supportive gear we use (wraps,straps, belts,etc). It’s entirely possible to not need them (music or the aforementioned) one iota and still get it just fine.

Get your mind right and just lift.

You know that somewhere out there a dude is getting jacked in far less comfortable circumstance than you without access to a boom box or ipod, or often even equipment.

Don’t be so obsessed with your gym music​. Focus on the work.

I’m not sure how long I’m going to hold myself to this, but for at least the monrh of June I will not bring my iPod (or mp3 player) to the gym.

There’s a month challenge right there. No bringing music to the gym. (I’m still allowing myself to switch the boom box there from Kendrick Lamar back to Rob Zombie, lol. We can’t be listening to that skinny jean hip hop shit,but really even that doesn’t matter)

IPod and mp3 player will stay home.

-J

You may hate hearing this, but….

Gym Rules

Train long enough and all the rules can go right out the window.

Macros

Macros can be thrown to hell.As you read this there is a mason tender out there eating a dozen McDonald’s dollar burgers and downing it with PBR while being far more jacked, far leaner,possessing  a higher work capacity, and a higher deadlift than you.

Right now a prisoner is eating his 3 squares from the chow hall, as much commissary Ramen, Tuna, and Honeybuns he can get his hands on, and to your surprise can do hundreds of pushups, pullups, and jog or burpee all day long. Somehow he’s more  jacked than you with an hour of yard time, no weights, and macros that scream morbidly obese diabetic.

Warm Ups and Overtraining

I’m sure you’ve seen people who forgo the warmups and just get to it.

Just 3 months after my first 315 bench I’ve hit it cold, no warmups, nothing other than taking my pre-workout shit( I don’t mean a preworkout, I literally mean taking a shit). On an earlier occasion I’ve done a no warmup total, all 3 lifts over 90% 1rm to prove a point to a buddy.

I know construction workers who after shift bodybuild for 2-3 hrs daily. Isn’t that 10-16 hours of activity daily? Too much, ha.

A buddy growing up often walk/ran/jogged 20 miles daily in High School in addition to pushups, crunches,lunges and track practice. He lived far,never learned to ride a bike, had no car in the household, and moved often enough that he never was assigned to a school bus. He had decent wiry strength, and could jog just about forever.

Momentum + Cheat Form

Often times for back you load up the hammer strength machine , dumbbells  or  meadows rows, add heave and get a WAY better pump, and DOMS than if you’d used perfect form,  slow and controlled like the “experts” say. You actually can feel having worked the muscle in addition to actually making gains.

Cheat curls are a demigod. They build stupid wrestler style strength. Think Hercules. (similar stimuli to heaving a sandbag to shoulder)

Shrugs strapped up with heave,body english, and momentum are Zeus,or  Odin. I’d put money on them being Odin as Norse legend is far more awesome than the Greek’s version.

On the flipside you can also get lots of out light curls and shrugs with perfect form, and lots of squeeze.

Anything Can Work!

Its the mentality behind it!

 

Be A Man. Do It Right, Or Quit

If you’re worrying about your macros, and/or your split maybe you should just quit already. Your head is obviously not in the right place.

Train already GOD DAMN IT,and simply eat like a man.

If your diet is Grandfather or mountain men approved your diet it probably on point.

If your Grandma, the USDA food pyramid, your average American, or a Vegan approves of  your diet it is probably shit.

Imagine Teddy Roosevelt’s ghost sitting across the table from you. Is he trying to join in on the feast(but unable, ghosts can’t eat) or is he pushing away from the table in disgust? Visualize his ghost, and it’s response. This will never fail you.

Yet remember: You can get away with dietary murder as a young beginner or as an intermediate/advanced who trains very hard.

The metabolism will adjust to your demands. The mind itself can play a strong role in how you uptake nutrition. Choose not to be a fat fuck or limp wrist weakling, and it’ll be amazing how you’ll still make gains as a man.

I was talking with a buddy from outside the gym, and we came to a valid point. Men don’t worry if they missed their 1g+/lb of protein, they eat and train. The gym obsession with macros is quite effeminate. Women worry + piss and moan about such things. Men eat. Real food (preferably), and don’t stress over such shit. Would a hillbilly or trucker laugh at your meal? Would Chuck Norris give his nod of approval?

Overtraining + Injury

Overtraining is like the tooth fairy. It may exist but its highly unlikely you’ll ever meet it. Quit dreaming that you suck that much, and if you do stop (sucking that much).

Assuming you don’t suck, and are not a total retard you wont visit “Snap City” .

Although I’ve found retards to often be stupid strong despite doing almost naught but sit around. They’ve never thought themselves into sucking physically. There’s a lesson here.

Just Train

Fuck Your Excuses, Fuck Your Worry.

Train Motherfucker!

Break the rules, choose to be a strong motherfucker, and don’t be a bitch.

The gains will come…naturally.

-J