Strength Coach, former Little League MVP. Link below for more thoughful, longer form articles on Substack
Joined September 2017
- Tweets23.3K
- Following509
- Followers11K
- Likes16K
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
Guys, sometimes shit hurts just because. Every ache and pain isn’t an indication of a catastrophic injury about to happen. If it feels better as you warm up, you’ll probably be fine. Cowboy tf up.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
In a world of constant distraction, shooting and weightlifting are two of the rare places where you can still be completely present. And its wonderful.
To outsiders, shooting probably seems like the least serene activity imaginable. You have this loud, deadly device in your hands. It explodes inches from your face, kicks back against you, and sends a projectile screaming downrange.
But once you get over all that, shooting becomes unbelievably peaceful.
At the range, your world becomes now. You settle your breathing. You watch the sights move and learn not to fight every tiny movement. You feel your grip, your stance, the pressure of the trigger. You let the sights settle, press the shot without disturbing the gun, then stay with them through recoil and recovery.
All of it demands that you be in the present, and that is incredibly calming.
There is no past. There is no future. There is no work BS, no notifications, no argument you had yesterday, no problem waiting for you tomorrow. There is only this breath, this sight picture, this trigger press, this shot.
You are just trying to put the bullet exactly where you want it, as cleanly and efficiently as you can.
Heavy weightlifting puts you in the same place. I mean getting underneath a heavy compound lift for five or fewer heavy reps.
You put your hands on the bar and immediately the world contracts again. This is going to be heavy. And once heavy becomes normal, there is something peaceful about that too.
There is nothing abstract about a heavy weight. You feel the knurling dig into your hands, the bar across your back, the pressure through your feet. You brace. You breathe. Every bit of force and concentration becomes clean and simple because it has one purpose.
Grug do full ugga. Rock goes up.
For those few seconds, nothing else exists. You cannot really worry about some BS tomorrow in the middle of a heavy lift. The load does not allow multitasking. There is no abstraction when full ugga and rock go up. The moment demands everything you have right now.
Then you lock it out. You got it. You rack the weight.
There is this wonderful little moment afterward when you realize you gave something your complete focus and hit the target, whether that target was a weight or a spot on a paper target at the range.
Maybe that is why both activities feel so satisfying these days. Modern life constantly fractures your attention. Shooting and lifting refuse to let it.
For a little while, you are not thinking about your life, planning your life, worrying about your life, or abstracting your life.
You are just livin' it, man.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
The high handle trap bar is for sissies
Use a barbell like a real man
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
This is what Men Who Lift Weights looked like before they invented the pendulum squat
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
Take 2 groups of 16 year old boys and have 1 group train with machines and the other train like powerlifters.
Then check back in with them two years later.
The powerlifting group will be significantly more muscular and stronger than the machine group.
I’ve seen it happen dozens of times.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
350 x 5 on back squat.
No brag. But I am proud of how far I’ve come in 18 months. Most I’ve ever done for fahve.
Structured strength training works.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
Here’s a good test: Perform what you deem to be a repetition maximum on a given exercise. Medium rep range is good - let’s say between 5-8 reps. Rest 5 minutes. Go back and try that weight again. If you do the same number of reps or exceed that number of reps - you probably won’t do well with 1-2 worksets. You don’t have the mental or physical capacity yet to generate enough fatigue to get away with very low volume work. If you have fairly significant degradation in performance (ie drop from 8 reps to 4-5 reps) then something like a top set and a back off set will work well for you.
Since my last one sparked some decent conversation, let's see if this one can do the same.
Hot Take of the Day:
The majority of people (not ALL) who are training with 2 working sets per exercise have no business doing so. They meed more volume and have no sense of what failure actually feels like. The have fallen for the science based nerd speak that will keep them small.
Until you have demonstrated the ability to work in proximity to failure, you would be better served doing more working sets.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
Here’s the reality.
I spent well over a decade plus nailing the barbell lifts.
Squatting 4/5 plates for reps.
Deadlifting 5/6 plates for reps.
Bench pressing 3 plates for reps.
A lot of my muscle tissue has been built off this stuff.
Made everything else easier in comparison.
The ability to strain and push hard is built.
Now we’re fine tuning even more as we become more advanced trying to milk out those final few percents.
Don’t sniff your nose up at the barbell lifts.
They work…tremendously well.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
For decades many recreational lifters along with hardcore competitive bodybuilders and powerlifters would simply do the Big Barbell Lift first for whatever body part they were training, taking their time, not rushing, and lifting as heavy as possible
Then the rest of the workout was fast-paced bodybuilding “I-go-you-go” type training
It still makes perfect sense to do
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
I’m all in favor of “work harder not smarter” & not making urself suffer needlessly, believe me. BUT I do think there is utility in doing physical things that scare u a little. It builds a confidence & mental fortitude that makes u better prepared to deal with hard things. You learn about urself. You discover the resiliency & capability of the human body. You know what 300 lbs feels like. It forces u to believe in urself. There is no other lift or machine that consistently challenges me & scares me like the barbell squat
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
If your favorite influencer says all you need is cardio, he's wrong.
If he says all you need is strength training, he's also wrong.
You need both.
But lifting weights builds the foundation that cardiovascular fitness is built on.
Lift first then add cardio.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
If the senators had cojones, they would've said sorry, this is a public truth emergency. We don't look at this as a liberties thing, but a public truth thing. You'll get your 5th amendment rights back when you are no longer infectious with an epidemic of lies. Video, April 2021.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
Modern life is designed to remove discomfort.
Food arrives at your door. Entertainment never ends. Work requires little physical effort.
Convenient? Yes.
But a life built around avoiding discomfort will make you fragile.
Choose some hard things before hard things choose you.
Deep Squats, Shallow Thoughts retweeted
I herniated my disc years ago (or so my doctor said) I could barely walk, was told by my doctor if never lift more than 40lbs and was in pain for 3 months before discovering starting strength, decided to squat and deadlift (very light at first) progressed, and healed!