The Useful Strong Stuff Journal Vol. 25. The Thing I Know Most About

A week ago I took an exam.  This exam was to become certified as a personal trainer.  I passed and can now say I am a personal trainer.  I did this for a long list of reasons.  One of the biggest reason is that because when it comes to lifting weights… “I know about these things.”

For over 20 years I have been obsessed with exercise and all sorts of gym stuff.  In my free time I read about working out, and watch Youtube videos about it.  I also have only once since around the age of 13, taken any time away from the gym other than for injury reasons.  Between my general nerdiness about lifting, and my practical experience, I know a thing or two.

Despite knowing a thing or two about lifting, I really never put it to any good use.  Through struggles with unemployment and career woes, I couldn’t use this knowledge and experience base I had.  The thing I knew the most about was sitting there but I couldn’t use it.

Without a certification, it would be hard to get insurance, a job, or have any credibility to use this workout knowledge I had.  However if you asked me what in this world did I know more about than anything else, it would be lifting weights. 

This summer I did something about that though.  I spent the whole summer studying to become a certified trainer.  Now I can get liability insurance, now I can entice clients, now I can do all the things it takes to be a trainer.  This really isn’t that big of a deal.  A lot of people do this.  What the big deal to me is, I took my biggest career asset off the shelf and got to a place where I could use it. 

I don’t know where this training thing will take me.  I may not help any clients, I may not get any jobs.  I have mobilized my greatest base of experience though.  Instead of sitting on a potential goldmine I am now mining.  Too often we sit on good things and don’t mobilize them.

I sat on this fitness knowledge for years.  I have now though fully mobilized this knowledge.  I wasted time but am not wasting it anymore.  I think we should all ask ourselves what goldmines we’re sitting on.  What resources are we not mobilizing?  Are we even using our BIGGEST asset?  For me the answer was no. but not anymore.

Every week I spend a lot of time reading and looking for new ways to get stronger, healthier and more awesome.  Here are some of the best things I have found this week.

Strength and Conditioning

Pullup tips and ideas for larger folks.  Not everyone is 5’6” and 145 pounds, this article is for people that got some mass and height.  https://www.t-nation.com/training/pull-ups-for-big-guys

A good article with some mobility exercises that are easy for people who don’t like doing mobility stuff.  https://www.t-nation.com/training/best-mobility-exercises-for-lifters/

Some good ideas around the concept of “bad exercises” and which ones might be bad, and when.  https://www.nfpt.com/blog/are-there-bad-exercises

Mental Fitness

I listened to this podcast about peak performance while on a good long walk.  It had a lot of interesting ideas for setting up flow in it.  https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-672-how-to-do-the-impossible-this-year/