Uhhhhhh, huh?

Posted on July 23, 2012 by tosabarbell

Beyond the blue pull-up he’s wearing…WTF!

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Don’t Jump!

Posted on July 23, 2012 by tosabarbell

I’ve had enough conversations on jumping the last few weeks that it seems worth mentioning. No, not the very cool (that I’ll never do) cliff jumping into beautiful, welcoming waters. But program jumping in strength training.

Look people, you need to find a program and stay the course. The Iron can be boring. Day in, day out, a few pounds more here, a few pounds less there. Some days you feel strong, some days you don’t. Smelly knee sleeves; favorite training shirt almost torn to shreds; shorts that have yet to burst from your ever swelling squat ass; squat shoes that have been resoled at least three times…glamorous we ain’t.

But we are consistent. We all share the goal, get stronger. Be Strongest. But that takes years, not months. It takes a dedication to a program; it takes a dedication to being a beginner…for a while. A long while. Someone placed the redunkulous notion out there that gains come quickly. You flip a tire in boot camp? Whell clearly you’re ready for a strongman contest. You’ve done one powerlifting meet? Whell clearly you’re ready for a new program for the next one.

Ever wonder why people listen to folks like Rip, Wendler, Dan John, or Tommy Suggs? Because the knowledge they’ve accrued has taken them YEARS. Get it? Not a couple, but decades. Agree or disagree with their programming, I don’t care. That’s not the point. The point is that they’ve tweaked their program with years and years of experience watching others succeed (or not) using them over (say it with me ) YEARS, not weeks or months. I’ve just read on someone’s training log how their squats have not progressed in over a year. Looking back at the log, you can see how they’ve switched lifting styles; programming; diet; lack of diet; and anything else vital to an effective strength program. Well DUH! OH! They’ve also jumped coaches, at least four in a year. Huh. Guess what moron, your results reflect exactly what you’ve put into your training.

Find a program, eek out every ounce of strength you can from it. When it’s time to switch things up, pay a few bucks to someone with enough knowledge to recognize that you MUST STAY THE COURSE. As antsy as you are to try the next fad, stay the course. You’ll save years of wasted training.

Or not. At least you’ll have something to bitch about on your training log.

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Friday Jams

Posted on July 20, 2012 by tosabarbell

I was on the tail end of a minor road trip, made longer by road construction when this gem popped up on the radio. It brought me as far as my turn off home which was helpful.

Primus-Shake Hands With Beef.

Happy weekend.

P.S. I dreamt last night that I dumped Bigg for Dave Grohl. Yes, he’s way too skinny, but he is THE Foo after all. I Lulz’d when I woke up…kinda. Heeeeeeee.

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But can he COACH?

Posted on July 18, 2012 by tosabarbell

I ran across an interesting line in a blog the other day. The writer was praising the skills of a former D1 decathlete while he talked about his (very nice) black iron gym. I don’t know the writer, I don’t know the person he was discussing; all I know is that one line caught my eye. The gym owner believes ‘a good lifter can easily become a good coach’ but he believed a coach struggled more becoming a good lifter.

Uhhhh…whatnow?

Walk into ANY  gym and watch trainers/strength coaches who’ve watched redunkulous videos on the internet or trained in the past in the most ineffective, unsafe way and you’ll see them repeating the exact same thing! Do they get a pass because they were a D1 athlete or (worse) played sports in high school and haven’t competed since? Any coach worth muster understands the fact that even if someone has an uncanny ability to DO, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have the ability to TEACH. Duh.

It’s even likely that the higher ability of an athlete who learns quickly, visually, and is extremely coachable may have a harder time being able to understand how to simply break down movements to a novice who does not pick things up quickly. I’ve seen it. It’s painful to watch. I’ve even had other coaches ask me, “Why aren’t they getting it!?” with a LOT of frustration. Because coaches who are worth a shit understand that this stuff takes time, patience, and the ability to COACH.

I know. I’m hard on the coaches of the world. Deal. There are so many useless coaches/trainers and many of you become their victims based solely on the fact that they once (or even now) compete(d) at a high level. Are ALL high level athletes useless? Of course not. I personally know some very talented coaches who compete at a high level (higher than I ever will) and have aquaintance with a few others. It could be that the person mentioned above is one of the good guys/gals. I dunno. That’s not the point.

The point is: it may be fun to be trained by Captain America, but only because he’s an excellent coach, not because he is Captain America. Duh!

BTW…Friday.

“The Batman can’t die. He feeds on evil like yours.”

Batman

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