Student - Teacher

I really like the concept of consolidating one's strengths before expanding - like instead of rapidly progressing and hitting a wall, I stay in a particular range till I have mastered it in such a way that I can do it any day of the week, like how I can Deadlifts 405 on any day of the week - it's no longer a 1RM on a GOOD day - it's a 1RM on ANY day. I know this was your plan and I am really appreciating it now. I remember all those times when I was in the 200's that I was complaining to myself and asking why am I not just going to 300 when I can - now all that makes much more sense to me.

Absolutely. I was kind of rambling with that last PM but you've seen exactly what I was getting at. The thing is if I hadn't had you progress like that you would be appreciating right now just how illusory preparedness can be.

But you also must realize that there will be a time when you get toward your upper most strength ceiling that "doing it any day of the week may be out". In other words if you hit 625 one day you can't really expect to be able to hit 625 consistently all the time any day of the week, etc..and so on. BUT when you are at a point where you HIT that you can do it without getting hurt and that is BECAUSE OF the fact of what you can do any day of the week right now and for the forseeable future. Being able to hit 495 and then later on beyond that consistently comes with a lot of injury buffering.

Actually, Kane and me were talking about a similar thing and this is the difference between going in the gym and "just getting it done" and paying your dues and getting it done, slowly, surely, and rightly. JUST GETTING IT done doesn't work in the long run.

Are you referring to my width being in my hips? hahaha….Is it really supposed to be easier? If this is easy I shudder to think whats difficult, sir. I was always under the impression that the skinnier you are the easier it is for you to deadlift. I consider myself a fatty so I presumed I have the odds stacked up against me.

I was referring to your skeletal frame, lol, not your fat layer. You have to just think logically about a "robust" skeletal frame as compared to a "slight" skeletal frame and ask yourself what those two different frames are good at. Anything "slight" is not going to be as good at absolute strength as something "robust" lol.

This particular exchange of pm's and your words of wisdom E have really made me all the more grateful for being taken under your wing: there are no words that will do justice to how thankful I am to have you guiding me.

I apprecitate that.

The thing is I want you and everybody else I help to far exceed anything I can do or will ever do. It's funny when you ask me about what I lift and all that because in my mind I don't think of you maybe lifting as much as me on deadlifts (for instance). I see you surpassing me like I have no business being in the gym. I feel, and I have always felt that the student SHOULD surpass the teacher and that that is the best testament to the teacher.

Jack of all trades and Master of none

My squat isn't that impressive. You must realize that these are "moments in the sun" for me. I am not a guy who can consistently pull off shit and that is one reason why my philsophy towards strength training has changed. My problem has been that I seem to progress on the big three by a sort threshold adaptation. Basically it's as if I'm in a war zone and I get the job done and then I fall to pieces with injuries and take two steps back.

So what I've done is just focus on being really good at a lot of things but not being great at any one thing, lol. That is actually, in a way, a good approach to avoiding injuries. Having to do with the "law of repetitive motion" and all that, right? Not to exxagerate it, though.

But if you think about the old days when I and everyone else were always telling people to "milk it for everything it's worth". Well, that's how I make the best strides in the big three but ALSO how I get my ass in a sling, lol. So in the long run I became more concerned with being able to CONTINUE doing what I love. Funny thing is..I'm having so much more fun and I feel so much more free.

I don't know if you remember but my best benching "moment" was a few years back after milking the hell out of 5x5's for a while and then my shoulder just wen't completely to hell. Now that is a phenomenom that I hate. Bad training can be so stressful on the body that it's if you go into "survival mode". Your body makes accomodations just to get the job done. You think you're "progressing" because your loading the bar. But then as soon as you step out of that stressful environment and do other things with different ranges of motions, etc…those accomodations become injuries. So that is an example where lifting a heavier barbell is NOT always PROGRESS. In that you are not getting BETTER or more PREPARED you are just accomodating to an agressive loading situation.

For deadlifting I took a concerted effort to bring it past like the 480 range and it was a HELL of a ride. But every time I approach a milestone my back just crys out and it was very hit and miss. The good news for that kind of strength level is that you don't have to worry about trying to hit that all the time. If you can stay within 30 to 50 pounds of that and keep your endurance up…you will be able to work back up to it fairly easy. In fact..it's the work capacity that is most important to keep up. The weight…think about it..30 to 50 pounds, sort of moving up and down toward the max..and your never further than 10 percent off it….

That is something you need to keep in mind now that your strength levels have come this far. I've noticed you get paranoid about "losing strength" but you're talking about 5 pounds! You know what 5 pounds is when you lift 495 or so? It's ONE percent, lol.

Having that robustness in your hips and stuff will make it much easier for you. It IS much easier for you. I have an "athletic" frame.

For reading, you know, there is just no magic formula. You have got to seek information from as wide a net as possilbe. You are getting better at seperating out the muck. But every one source of information is going to have cons with the pros.

You look at Eric Cressey and compare him to Mike Robertson. Technically Eric Cressey had more knowledge. But Mike Robertson is more mature and is able to step outside his box a bit more. That's very important.

To give you a for instance, I've learned a lot of technical stuff from both Cressey and Robertson but Robertson has probably influenced my training more than Cressey because he deals in modes of thought more. You know that is something that I always harp on..that the way you THINK about your training is just as important as what you do.

Strength Training

That's pretty close if you're talking a "powerlifting" squat, i.e. a low bar wide stance one. I'd have to be one bad mofo to pull that off with my bread and butter LOW squat. You know, my frame is pretty damn small. Most of my width is in my upper body.

I can't really say for sure because I stopped really tracking it and haven't done a regular squat for months, to be honest. As for bench, my bench dropped off because of my shoulder/scapula problems and I haven't really been able to work it back up. It was always up and down but this time it's just DOWN, lol.

Deadlift is around 540 at my max but I haven't hit that in a little while.

Here's the thing..it become boring as hell laboring just to bring up a handful of "core" movements for years on end. All the people writing articles about that may love doing competitions and so love training for 3 movements. But if you don't care about competition after a while that obsession takes the joy out of strength trianing. There are all sorts of fun and interesting things to do in terms of strength but if you are always worried about losing strength on your "big three" (like you are) you will never really discover those things. I am probably having a lot more fun now than I did 3 years ago even though my total has gone down, lol. But you know my attitudes have changed drastically over the last three years.

Strength for me has become a completely different pursuit and exept for deadlifts I don't think about the numbers too much. I'd estimate around 1400 if I were to give it a good head start and go for maxes. But as of right now having two weeks detraining I don't think so, lol.

I doubt I will ever get a bigger total than that and I don't care. I'm old and I have been plagued with health problems for years and I still have managed to do what I've done so I don't feel I have anything to prove to myself anymore. I think most people I help will be able to exceed what I have done no problem. Between all the injury I did to myself before I ever got started with strength training and the Sarcoidosis I am glad I've gotten as far as I have.

I say maybe because my heyday was probably over a year ago now and the only thing I really care about number-wise is deadlifting. I've been concentrating more on things like heavy pistols and pullups.

I also really want to bring up my overhead squats which have not been going so great for me lately. Not nearly as good for me as for you, as a matter of fact because of my shoulders. Which may make it a pipe dream.

My weight has dropped off consderably the more I've really gotten away from the bodybuilding thing. I'm around 190 to 200 consistently and that is fine with me. Same thing with the scale..It gets pretty damn watching the scale when you are happy with your body in the first place. Actually you asking about my bodyweight sort of dredged up a lot of bad "bodybuilding" memories, lol. It almost surprises me that I was ever into that and at this point I couldn't tell you why I was.

Squats & Short Term Goals

Actually that rant sort of brings out a point that will help you.

You said "i don't know the point of small term goals".

Well small term goals are EVERYTHING.

Long term goals are nebulous and and somewhat abstract. It's hard to really imagine doing them and they tend to change as our training reveals things to us.

I've made this analogy before and it's the best one I have. If you were walking across a desert and all you ever thought about was reaching the end you'd never make it. But if you set small term goals..the next hill, the next plant..you'd slowly but surely get to the end.

But also think about how even small term goals should not be the end. Your goal may be that hill in the distance but then as you make your way toward it you realize that what seems like a straight shot is full of ups and down and detours.

So make daily goals as well but DON'T always think about numbers. Think about getting better. Think better first and then look at numbers.

When you think numbers first you look at what you did this time or time before last but when you think better first you are able to look back and see the upward trend.

You know good and well that strength gain is measured in months and years. 260 compared to 265 is insignificant in the scheme of things.

But really we're all subject to this same frustration. It's how you deal with it that matters. Does it shut you down or drive you forward…

Anyway..I hate squats too. But you know the difference is I've ALWAYS hated them. There was never a time when I was great at them and made great progress as compared to pulling. And yet I've steadily improved over the years. If I can stick at something that I consistently suck at then you can stick at something that you intermittently suck at :)