Grateful for Binder Clips

Today I look at a small baggie I keep on my desk that has binder clips in it. These binder clips are various sizes and colors. They were chosen at random. I use these binder clips often. I have a note posted to remember the binder clips. Moreso than a normal man I think about these binder clips. These binder clips have unlocked power and glory for me.

These binder clips give me a claim to being one of the strongest guys in the gym.

These binder clips have earned me respect of strangers.

These binder clips have saved me humiliation.

Now is time for the big reveal, what is so special about these binder clips? There is nothing special about these binder clips. They are simply a tool I can use to do a finger exercise. These finger exercises allow my hands to be more strong and hold onto deadlifts in the past I would have dropped. Binder clips are just a small tool.

I had always had trouble holding deadlifts and not dropping them. It was a recurring theme. I had seen Dave Tate and Ed Coan talk in videos about finger training, they said to just close binder clips like you would hand grippers. So I gave it a try and it worked. Since getting going with the binder clips I haven’t had a grip problem.

This makes me grateful for binder clips, they have allowed me to deadlift heavier weights and have more fun in the gym. The finger training I do with them amounts to under five minutes total a week, but that is all I need to have a good grip. I’m grateful sometimes there are simple solutions out there.

The Gift of Energy

It is possible for a person to walk into a room and the mood instantly change. We know people that are positive or negative and they can just change a room fast. Science may not be able to explain it, but certain people have certain energies.

Too often we feel the negative energies that people can put out there. One bad attitude ripples, and ripples. Soon because one person is having a bad day, everyone is having a bad day. I wonder if the path of negativity is just the easier road to take and that is why this happens. I don’t know why, but it seems often the default energy to throw around is a negative energy. While I think the default to most people is negative energy, we can make a shift to a more positive place.

No one needs to know that we are having a bad day. It does not serve us, or anyone else to let people know we’re having a bad day. In fact sharing this state and energy likely just perpetuates the bad day. What if we just consciously decide to only put out good energy?

I think a good person is conscious of the ripples they create. I think its good to create good ripples. With enough work and positive energy we can create powerful shifts. I think that is a cool thing to do. I’ve done it before. The energy doesn’t come back though, it has to be a gift.

I am in a place where I try to give this gift. I spend most of my time in the gym either working out or training others. I try very hard to give this gift around the gym. It does come back to me, but I won’t know how. I try and give good energy and lift up the room. I do want it to lead to more clients, I’m not an entirely altruistic being. I also give for the sake of giving.

I would like this giving to be selfless. It would be a beautiful thing to live in such a way. Living in a beautiful way is reward enough.

What is this gift I’m talking about? It is an energy. It is a shared passion. It is a gift of love and vision. I would like to better define what I try and give. I just have this thing I keep giving away, and it’s awesome, even if I don’t know the secret sauce to it.

I have true joy and passion, I can share that. I think these traits are too rare.

If we think about the energy and vibes we create, we can create the ones we want to. I think this is easy enough to do, we just have to think a little and have some self-awareness. I think it’s a good thing to walk into a room with the intention to fire the place up! Most people can probably manage to do this now and then. It’s like a fun game to play, “Let’s just make everyone happy in here!”

“A rising tide raises all ships.” I simply seek to be the tide.

Deadlift Contest Recap

On April 29^th 2023 the gym I train clients out of had a deadlift contest. I participated and dipped my toe back into the competitive waters for the first time in a long time. The last time I had competed in a sports related thing was back in high school, approximately 20 years ago. Waking up the competitive fires again was fun. It was fun enough I am doing a full powerlifting meet coming up in June. However fun this whole process has been I still screwed a lot of things up at the deadlift contest and learned a lot.

First off I need to come into new competitions in better shape. I got very tired during the contest between lifting myself, setting up for the event, and loading for other lifters. I just need to be in better shape to not have fatigue be at all an issue in the future. More GPP seems to be the answer to this.

My second flaw was that I needed to slow down and concentrate. Everything that happened when I stepped up to lift my weights was a blur. I got excited and stopped thinking. In fact I reached down to grab the bar at one point using a mixed grip. I have not used a mixed grip in years for the deadlift, but for whatever reason I grabbed the bar that way on that attempt. I corrected myself quickly, so thankfully no torn bicep that day. For my next contest though I will be concentrating more on my setup. This should keep me from just being scatterbrained.

Going into this contest I had some low back problems. This did not help me at all. In fact post contest I was using a broom to sweep a floor and the rotation made my back twinge a little. I feel like I need to build a more robust lower back and physique so that I am just more healthy overall. I am starting to get more 3 dimensional with my training and train in odd positions. This includes some rotational work and things like sideways farmer’s walks. I just want to be more robust overall to mitigate injuries as much as possible. My lower back definitely limited me on competition day and there is no excuse for that. I’ll be committed to being well rounded going forward.

I feel like I need to bring up some muscles to really help out my lower back. I think I can improve my lats, obliques, abs, and glutes. This sounds like “hey I need to be better at everything!” and it might be that way. I want to do what I can to get better at these areas to take as much pressure off the lower back during lifts as I can. This work should help my squats and deadlifts both.

Overall the deadlift contest was a good experience and a learned a little bit. I found some weaknesses to fix and its full steam ahead working on those. I am doing what I can before my next competition to address these problems. I know I don’t have a lot of time before the June 24^th contest so there will not be a large change. After the competition though I will be deciding if this powerlifting thing is a one time thing or something that I want to repeat. If I decide to compete more then I’ll have a good list of weaknesses to bring up before the next contest.

The Useful Strong Stuff Journal Vol. 37

The Most Important Exercises

The most important exercises in the gym are the ones you need. These needs are a mixture of your goals, your ability and your experience. The most important exercises for two people will rarely be the same. There are most definitely exercises that will overlap. An exercise like a squat will be important for most people. These common exercises will give you a good list of things to do often. You could probably get a good “Top Ten Exercises” list out of these. The next ten exercises will be where the magic and art of training happen.

It may not be obvious what these second-tier type exercises should be for an individual. These exercises should address something that is important to the individual. Some of these exercises should address your goals. If your goal is to bench press 400 pounds, you are going to need big strong triceps. You will need to do a lot more triceps exercises than a normal person just wanting to be “fit.” These exercises will be very important to your progress, when to your friend they won’t matter much at all. Other exercises will be important to you because they address your weaknesses.

At some point to get better in the gym you will need to proactively address your weaknesses. I personally have a naturally weaker back. I must constantly be training my spinal erectors to keep them performing up to my standards. You will have your own weaknesses to address. This is where injury prevention comes into play as well. If you are more susceptible to a specific injury than it would be wise and important to add exercises to mitigate this risk. Neck training exercises are very important for football players, I can’t say there is a lot of benefit for a cross country runner doing them. These concepts are not too hard to understand but the practice of finding these important exercises is a little harder at times.

Finding the right exercises is a mental exercise itself. It will not always be obvious what your weak point is. Sometimes you can be stuck at a plateau until you find the right exercise to add in to get moving again. That exercise whatever it is, that is an important exercise. In time you will become good at finding these exercises. Actively engaging in this mental process will only enhance your training.

Useful Links

I am constantly on the search for new ways to get stronger, healthier and more awesome. Here are some of the best things I have found lately.

Another good Table Talk Podcast from Dave Tate. Worth a listen for the training and thoughts on life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR7LETkZyJM&t=123s

Great look here at assessing bench press weakness and solutions. https://www.elitefts.com/education/movement-tiers-for-bench-press-weakness/

This was a good video discussing butt wink if you have that problem squatting. Even if you don’t have that problem, it is worth a watch just for the discussion of anatomy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWxLb-iYlg

Training made simple in this article. This is a good intro to training type article. https://www.elitefts.com/education/simple-does-not-mean-easy/

Training Week Ended 4/24/22 Review

This is week 1 of what should be a 26 week conjugate program with the intention to peak the powerlifts.

4/18/22 Max Effort Lower

Close Stance Safety Squat Bar Squat
405×1

Safety Squat Bar Good Morning
65×10
85×10
85×10
85×10

Walking Lunges
2 trips

Goblet Squat
30×12
40×10
40×12

Pull Throughs
50×10
50×10
50×10

Reverse Hypers
230×12 for 4 sets.

Pulldown Abs
60×25
60×25
60×22

Pulldowns
4×12
Weight used doesn’t matter, just getting lat volume in.

4/20/22 Max Effort Upper

Close Grip Floor Press
225 x 1

Pushups
15,10,10

1 arm DB Row
60×10 for 4 sets

DB Shoulder Press
30×12
30×12

Flat DB Bench
30×10
40×10
50×10
60×10

Triceps Pushdowns
40×10
50×10
60×10
60×10

Close Grip Pulldowns
4×10

Hanging Leg Raise
10,5,6

Need to get used to having the heavy weight in my hands for bench.

4/22/22 Dynamic Effort Lower

Safety Squat Bar Dynamic Effort Squats
205×2 – 8 Sets

Speed Deadlifts, Conventional Stance
250 for 8 reps. 4 doubles.
335×1
385×1
435×1

Reverse Hypers
235 x 12 – 4 sets.

Pull Throughs
3×20
Did this light for motion.

Leg Curls
3×10

Pulldown Abs
70×15
70×15
70×15

Seated Calf Raises
3×12

DB Shrugs
55×10
80×10
80×10
80×10

Need to practice getting tight in bottom of deadlift

4/24/24 Dynamic Effort Upper

Dynamic Effort Bench Press
135×3 – 6 sets
185×1

Incline Tate Press
15×8 – 4 sets.

Barbell Bent Over Rows
135×10
135×10
155×10
155×10
155×10

Cable Rows
3×10

Band Facepulls
4×12

Chest Press Machine
3×12

Side Raises
3×10

DB Curls
Some

Leg Raises
10

Something popped in left elbow while benching. Survived rest of workout best I could.

The Useful Strong Stuff Journal Vol. 36 Learning to Try

“They don’t even know how to try.” I said this about a group of high school kids that were in gym one day. The kids were trying to get a workout in, it didn’t appear to be all that useful to my experienced eye. To give these kids credit they were trying to do the right thing. They just don’t know how to try, how to really work out hard, how to do what they are doing with intention.

None of this is their fault. They are learning how to do these things. I think us adults screw up, we tell these kids to try but we don’t teach them enough how to try.

Trying in the gym comes down to a lot of things.

Trying is not just trying at the thing you’re doing part of it is trying at all the things around the thing. You can try hard at the exam to get a good grade. Did you really try if you didn’t study hard a few days before the exam? The things around the thing matter. Warmups matter. Sleeping the night before a workout matters. If you don’t try at these things did you even really try?

Intention can come into play in weird ways. As you develop, you have to learn how to apply some intention to what you are doing. I use very light weight on a chest press machine at the gym. Almost all my clients use more weight on that machine than I do. I can bench press more than double what any of them can lift. Why do I use less weight than them? I have learned how to move weight with intention. I can use this machine with a level of focus that allows me to concentrate on the muscles I want to work. I really feel this machine in my chest where I want to. This intention matters a lot.

Working out with intention is a form of elevating your state. You are moving in a different way than others, it is not a normal movement. This is an elevated state. An experienced athlete knows how to elevate their state. I know many people that are a completely different human being in the gym than they are outside the gym. They elevate their state in the gym to do amazing things. This is not how they are their everyday lives.

This is all part of trying. You have learn how to do these things. This takes time. Few of us are born with the ability to just do all these things. As a trainer its an amazing thing when I get to see a client start to learn these things. You can guide them but they have to figure it out for themselves. The good news is that you don’t need a guide, you can figure it out.

I suspect there is similar lessons out there about being a parent, being a business owner and any number of things. I however am just a dumb weight lifter, so I can speak about that.

Useful Links

I am constantly on the search for new ways to get stronger, healthier and more awesome. Here are some of the best things I have found lately.

Strength And Conditioning

This article shows some options for cycling max effort exercises if that’s your kind of thing. There are some real fun ideas here to play with. https://www.elitefts.com/education/5-max-effort-cycles-to-break-your-next-pr/

Upper body positioning pointers for the squat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=204r-KMg7a8

Training Week Ended 3.19.22 Review

My workouts, analysis at end.

3/13/22 Dynamic Effort Lower Body

5 20 yard sprints at 50% Effort

10 box jumps at 20 inches.

Speed Squats With Safety Squat Bar
205 x 2 for 10 Sets
Work up sets:
245 x 1
295 x 1

Speed Deadlift – Conventional
230 x 2 – 5 sets.
Worked Up Sets:
315 x 1
435 x 1
Need to take smaller jumps here. 120 pounds was a bit of a jump for me.

Reverse Hyper
205 x 12 – 4 sets.

Pull Throughs
60 x 10 – 3 sets

Hip Thrust Machine
50 x 10
50 x 10

Walking Lunges
1 trip

Pulldown abs
60 x 20
60 x 20
60 x 20

Laying Leg Curls – Some

Seated Hip Abduction – Some

3/14/22 Dynamic Effort Upper

This was more of a rep effort day than a real dynamic day, but whatever.

Barbell Rows
135 x 5
185 x 5
235 x 5
185 x 10

Incline DB Bench
30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 5
60 x 5
80 x 5

Pushups
11, 11, 11, 11

Tate Presses
50 x 5
50 x 6

Scap Pullups
5, 5, 6

Cable Rows – Some

Tri Pushdowns – Slower eccentrics
3 sets

Db curls – Some

Leg Raises
15, 15

3/16/22 Max Effort Lower

Close Stance Squat
315 x 1

Squat
135 x 4
Fell backwards with 135 and called it quits because everything is messed up.

Promptly went into more of an offseason type training after this

3/17/22 Back and Bis

Wide Grip Rack Pulls
135 x 10
225 x 5
225 x 8
225 x 5

TRX Rows for Scap Movement
10, 10, 10

Lat Pulldowns – Some

Scap Pullups
5, 5

DB Curls

3/18/22 Pressing Stuff

DB Bench
20 x 5
30 x 5
40 x 5
50 x 5
60 x 5
75 x 5

Pushups
15, 15

Close Grip Bench Press With shoulder Saver Pad
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5

DB Flys
15 x 8
15 x 10

DB Shoulder Press
15 x 10
20 x 10
30 x 10
40 x 8
50 x 8

Band Pull aparts – Some

Cable Pushdowns – Some

DB SkullCrushers
20 x 5
20 x 5
20 x 5

It was had to pack my shoulders for more than 2 reps of anything.

Analysis and Thoughts

This was a week where my workouts really went off the rails. I just am getting too tired and not recovering. This is showing up by me being tired all the time. I am also becoming very clumsy in my everyday life. Falling backwards a step with 135 on my back for squats was the final straw. I am taking the next several weeks to just refresh my body and start cleaning up all the small problems I can find. My body needs to chill out a bit so that is what I am doing now.

Training Week Ended 3.12.22 Review

This week was a deload week for me. I mostly just cut the volume back and chilled out in the gym. I had my trashy shoulder checked out by an athletic trainer this week too. These are the workouts I did this week with analysis.

3/6/22 Dynamic Effort Lower – DELOAD Mode

Speed Squat with SSB
115 x 1
175 x 1
175 x 1
225 x 1
265 x 1
315 x 1
I just warmed up some and did singles on these I just wanted to get a little work in without much volume.

Speed Deadlifts – Conventional
245 x 1
335 x 1
425 x 1
These we reasonably quick, just did a few good reps to keep it all going.

Low Box Goblet Squat
15 x 8
25 x 8
40 x 8
Doing these to work on hitting depth better and using quads more.

Reverse Hypers
195 x 12 – 4 sets

Hip Thrust Machine
25 x 10
50 x 10
50 x 10

Seated Hip Abduction Machine
Did Some

Walking Lunges
Did 1 trip across gym.

Laying Leg Curls
Did a few light sets.

Leg Raises
12, 12

3/7/22 Dynamic Effort Upper – DELOAD Mode

Incline DB Bench
20 x 10
30 x 10
40 x 8
50 x 8
70 x 6 (Lost tightness in back so quit here)

Pushups
4 sets of 10 reps.
These really help my shoulders as far as serratus anterior health.

Barbell Rows
135 x 5
135 x 5
225 x 5
245 x 5

Close Grip Pulldowns
Did some.

Cable Rows with scapular movement.
Did some.

DB Shrugs
50 x 12
Elbow was not liking these, so cut it here.

3/9/22 Max Effort Lower Deload Mode

Close Stance Squat with Safety Squat Bar with Mini Bands
115 x 2
175 x 1
175 x 1
225 x 1
265 x 1
315 x 1

Safety Squat Bar Good Mornings
115 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 4

Reverse Hypers
200 x 12 – 4 sets.

Belt Squats
90 x 8

90 x 8
90 x 8

TRX Squats for Range of Motion
15 reps

Leg Raises
15, 15

Still working on quads, I think in time I will get them brought up and heavier squats will happen easier. My legs still just don’t want to bend.

3/10/22 Max Effort Upper Deload

Bench Press
185 x 1
Did this pain free, which was the goal. Cut it here because I don’t want to push things with all the rotator cuff work I have been doing.

Chest Press Machine
Some

Inverted Rows on TRX
Some

Pulldowns
Some.

Pushups
15

I was tired, so I treated this like a real deload day and just barely did anything. I just got the body moving a bit.

Analysis

This week was a deload week to cut back on the fatigue I have been feeling. I am now running all my training in 3 week cycles. This means I can stick a deload week in between these cycles if I want to. I can also stack them back to back. I don’t know if this is optimal for gains in the gym, but I can make progress doing this. I do know it gives me a bit more energy to do other things outside the gym, which is the priority at the moment.

On my max effort day this week I played with attaching mini bands to the bar while squatting. This proved to be rather fun and provided some needed variety. My brain likes variety in training so bands might be a way in the future for me to get that. I only get about 50 pounds of tension in the top with these so its just a bit of tension to have fun with. Sooner or later I’m sure I’ll jump into stronger bands.

The big thing that happened on the training front this week is that I went to go see the athletic trainer folks at the facility I work at. I work at a combo physical rehab and gym center so I have free access to athletic trainers at times. I had them check out my shoulders. My rotator cuffs might have some small tears or weakness. This might explain the pain I have had in all pressing exercises lately. They gave me some exercises to help with this. It is my hope that this means I can put together a good run of healthy benching and take a run at some big numbers. Until I get these exercises going well I’ll be taking it more chill on the bench training. I think until my rotator cuffs get stronger it would be a bit silly to push the limits.

Training Week Ended 3.5.22 Review

This week had some good sessions and a lot of disasters in the gym. Lots of lessons were learned and progress was made. Scroll to the end to read about the lessons, my analysis and more. First however, the workouts.

2/27/22 Dynamic Effort Lower

Safety Squat Bar Speed Squat
245 x 2 – 10 sets

Speed Deadlifts Conventional
225 x 2 – 5 sets
Worked up to:
335 x 1
405 x 1

Belt Squat
180 x 3
180 x 4

Reverse Hypers
185 x 12 – 4 sets

Deep Box Squats
Did these with bodyweight for 3 sets of 6.

Light Laying Leg Curls -Did Some.

Pulldown Abs
60 x 15
60 x 15
60 x 15

My quads really didn’t feel like I could fire them during this workout. Quads will need a lot of work.

2/28/22 Dynamic Effort Upper

DB Incline Bench
60 x 5
70 x 8

Speed Bench Press
175 x 3 – 8 Sets. (This felt too heavy and was moving slow)
Work up singles.
205 x 1
225 x 1

Tate Press
45 x 8
45 x 6

Pulldowns – Did a lot.

DB Shoulder Press
30 x 10
55 x 4 (Lat Popped here)

Lateral Raises – Some

Facepulls – Some

Cable Rows – Some

Hammer Curls – Some

Leg Raises
12, 10

Was hard to set up tight on bench. Back was really spent from lower body day on prior day.

3/2/22 Max Effort Lower

Sumo Deadlift
445 x 1
500 x 1 (Lifetime Deadlift PR)

Close Stance Lift
225 x 3
225 x 5
225 x 5

Walking lunges – 1 long trip

Reverse Hypers
190 x 12 – 4 sets

Pulldown Abs
60 x 15
60 x 15
60 x 15

Laying Leg Curls – Some

Seated Hip Abduction With Band – Some.

3/4/22 Max Effort Upper

Shoulder and Triceps are all jacked up.

Shoulder Saver Pad Bench Press
185 x 1
205 x 1 (quit here and was smart)

Pushups
10, 10

Barbell Rows
135 x 8
225 x 7
225 x 5

Chest Support Row Machine
180 x 8
90 x 10
90 x 10
90 x 10

Cable Rows – Some (focused on scapular movement on these)

DB Shrugs
60 x 10
60 x 10
60 x 10

Facepulls- Lots

Trouble setting shoulders again on bench. Need to work posture and remove fatigue.

Analysis

My upper body training felt like garbage this week. My tendonitis issues in the right triceps have creeped back in. My shoulder has also been giving me pain. I feel as though I am reaching a point with my training that if I can keep healthy then my strength will be there. Not getting beat up has become the number one priority with my upper body training. I have tactics to keep healthy I must now simply prioritize them.

Once cause of these junky shoulders is that my back muscles have not kept pace with my chest and delts. My shoulders have rolled far more forward than is optimal. This is a problem I can fix. I have figured out a simple plan for this.

Do more pushups. These train the serratus and really help with my shoulder health. In general the more of these I work in the healthier I feel.
I should start doing targeted rotator cuff work. I usually just throw this stuff in for a couple sets here and there. I think short extra workouts for these might be the way to go in the future. I am already in the gym all the time anyways so throwing this stuff in in a 10 minute workout shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
I think I am going to start pushing barbell rows and other back exercises harder and get stronger at them.
I am working to remove overall fatigue more to be able to better contract my lats on pressing exercises. Currently I have been digging myself into a real fatigue hole. I can fix that.

My hope is that these measures will improve my shoulder health enough to keep training the bench press moderately hard. I don’t want to have to escalate to talking to doctors about this. As weird as the bench press and upper body training is going for me, my lower body training is going good.

This week I hit my first 500 pound deadlift. So it was a good training week alone off of that alone. I hit that lift on March 2^nd. On December 31^st my max deadlift was 430 pounds. I bring that up because the 430 was a lifetime PR, and two months later I have added 70 pounds to a lifetime PR. This is a really good rate of improvement, especially given my age and how long I have been training. This merits a bit of analysis, because I think there are some takeaways here. So what do I credit with this fast improvement?

I have been taking a few more heavy deadlifts in training. Training specificity does matter and I have been working up to heavier deadlifts more often in my training. I feel like this is definitely improving my comfort level with the heavy weights. I have just been sprinkling a few more heavy lifts into my training and I think this is helping. This is not what I believe is the biggest reason though for my improvement.

The biggest reason for my improvement is that I can tell is that I have been hitting the reverse hyper machine very hard. I have been doing 4 hard reverse hyper sets as part of most leg workouts. I also use reverse hypers for around 3-4 sets as warmup for a lot of my workouts. I just have been doing a lot of reverse hypers. This is making my back very strong and helping with my overall bracing. I really credit this focus on posterior chain development as bringing up my deadlift so fast. I didn’t have a reverse hyper until now and am obviously benefiting from it.

This fact does bring up a point of criticism with my own training. I have been using the reverse hyper to bring up my posterior chain. This machine has made it very easy for me to do so. Before I had this machine though, I should have been finding a way to bring up my posterior chain. I had a lot of tools to get this job done. I was not diligent enough with my pursuit of strength though. A mixture of Romanian deadlifts, pull throughs, back raises and other exercises could have gotten this job done. This would have taken some thought to get the mix right though. The Reverse Hyper Machine has been easy though, I just hop on it and do some work. This has gotten me results, but also exposed how lazy I can be about my training. I wasn’t stuck with a deadlift before, I was stuck in my ways of thinking. I really wasn’t thinking at all to be honest.

That being said I have the intention to just ride this reverse hyper wave as far as I can. I know I can get a lot stronger at them in the coming months. I am eager to see if that will drive my deadlift up even more. This experiment will be fun and teach me even more about training. I can do more weight but I had to back off because I was accumulating too much fatigue by improving too fast them.

I was increasing my reverse hypers workload so fast that in like a 2 week period I more than doubled my workload. This lead to some massive fatigue issues. I have backed off though and planning to add more volume in slowly in the future. I have gotten good results from the current training volume I am doing but I got very greedy. I thought I could just push the volume and get gains even more faster, this was a mistake and really messed me up from a fatigue standpoint. As I stated before I’ve been making very good progress. I should have been happy with that and just rode that out, but I got stupid. I would encourage you not to get stupid like that.

So that was my week of training. Next up is a bit of a deload and plotting how to go onwards and upwards.

The Useful Strong Stuff Journal Vol. 35 A Case For Offseasons

Right now I am in an offseason from lifting weights hard. I find it hard to even call it an offseason because I don’t even have a season to be honest. I am an adult, I just workout. Even without an actual season I think an offseason now and then is a good idea. There are a lot of benefits to having an “offseason” phase to your workouts where you just chill out a bit.

An offseason is a time to be less strict. If you are dedicated to your workouts that is a good thing. Mentally it can be nice though to just have some fun and be less strict. This lets you do things like move workouts around to go do fun things or focus on work priorities.

The offseason is a good time to try new stuff. If you are caught up in churning forward towards goals it can make it hard to try new stuff. If you have a program that is working, why would you change it up to try a new exercise? You probably won’t want to change what is working. In the offseason you get a chance to just try new stuff. If it doesn’t work, it really doesn’t matter. You might find something that works well and then you can work that back into your base program. Experimentation is a lot of fun, and the offseason is probably the best time for this kind of thing.

I don’t worry a lot about hitting certain numbers during an offseason period of workouts. I just relax and take what is there for the day and move on with life. This is a lot less stressful than trying to do something specific in a workout. There can be a lot of stress associated with trying to hit a certain number in the gym. Getting a break from that can be very healthy.

The offseason is a great time to get healthy too. If you are always pushing hard you are going to start to accumulate nagging injuries. These might be minor injuries but they start to have an impact over time. In an offseason you can often rest and let things heal. This lets you come back to training in a way that you can properly train instead of just dancing around injuries.

Sometimes an offseason in your workouts can also be good just so you can focus on your real life. The gym is a fun hobby, and good for health. However it starts to take a bit of energy out of most of us at some times. It can be good to have an offseason to just focus on other things.

Thinking about having an offseason is something most of us have to do proactively to some degree. If you are working out for fitness and not competing in any way there is not really a natural offseason. All the days, weeks, and months tend to just blur together. It can be a trap to fall into just moving along at our workouts without much change in intensity for a very long time. Over the long term adding in offseasons will probably lead to greater results from our workouts. Changing pace now and then is a good, there is a reason athletes and coaches insist on doing it.

Going one step further there are likely other aspects of our lives that could benefit from an offseason. A break from social media is kind of an offseason. A break from big projects can be an offseason. A break from professional develop can be an offseason and recharge batteries. Professors have utilized sabbaticals for decades to work on other projects, that is just an offseason from the university. Your offseasons will be your own, they have a lot to do with your goals and responsibilities. If you can find space to have an offseason though you might just find yourself revitalized, fresh, and further along than you would otherwise be. Grinding forever is hard, and there is no reason to do things the hard way if we don’t have to.

Useful Links

I am constantly on the search for new ways to get stronger, healthier and more awesome. Here are some of the best things I have found lately.

Strength and Conditioning

Good video on foot pronation in the squat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Udfnd84eo

A nice article on the merits of direct oblique training, it is worth consideration because you don’t see a lot of people training obliques with much intention in the gym. https://www.elitefts.com/culture/coaching-logs/oblique-training/

This training program seems like a rather reasonable approach for people that are burnt out and wanting to back off training for a bit. https://www.elitefts.com/education/8-week-reset-program-for-the-stressed-lifter/

Mindset

I like this approach to adding in new habits to life. https://zenhabits.net/perfectionism/