[Checkmat]

(02-09-2014 09:12 PM)Hades Wrote:  

There might come a time when you've been training for several years only to run into a guy who's been training for three months and yet has the same or better numbers than you do. Wouldn't you feel shame at having wasted all that time in the gym? Does anybody go into an endeavor wondering how they can spend years doing the same shit and yet make no progress beyond that which is attainable for any newb within a few months?

No, because the person I am today is 10x stronger than the person I was when I started. That person you're comparing yourself to would be stronger than you either way. There will always be people that are naturally good at certain things.

There is a guy I train with at BJJ who is a former pro athlete and has taken to jiu-jitsu like a fish to water. He's only been training for a year but tools guys with 4+ years experience. He's insanely good for such little time investment.

How the fuck does that effect me and my training? Should I feel bad because he's so good at something with ease? Should I just quit jiu-jitsu because there are naturals and phenoms in the world?

Working hard at getting strong or getting proficient in any skill builds character. As far as "opportunity costs" you mentioned, getting strong does not take a huge time investment. Three to four hours per week is all you need to get to an advanced level of strength. People spend 10x that amount playing video games or watching tv.

[Nascimento]

Just hit a new max for deadlift today. The last time I hit a max was over a month ago, and I wanted to give it another go today. Hit the same max, added 5 pounds a side, did one rep, another 5 pounds a side, and achieved a new max; 20 pounds higher than before.

I'm on a rush right now.

My only worry with lifting very heavy weights is potential injuries. I'm working to minimize that by being very strict on form, warming up properly, and always putting in the assistance exercise work to build the intricate parts of muscles so that they are stronger when they contribute as a group to big compound movements.

I find it absolutely crucial with the deadlift to squeeze and activate your entire core and contract everything, just before that heavy rep. I want to protect my lower back as much as possible.

[The Lizard of Oz]

Nascimento, a great exercise to protect your lower back is weighted hyperextensions. Go for sets of about 15, nice and even, slow but not super slow. Start with a very low weight or even naked to warm up, and never go too heavy -- the idea is to do it for reps and strengthen and protect your lower back.

This is a decent demo, but you want to go slower than this dude does, and no straps:

Do a few of these sets a couple of times a week and you'll go a long way towards reducing your chances of getting a lower back injury on deads (of course you still need to have great form on deads but that goes without saying).

[Nascimento]

Ya, can't hurt to add some more lower back work. If there's any area that should be considered most important to strengthen in terms of functional mobility in general would be the lower back.

[Teutatis]

(02-08-2014 03:50 PM)SpecialEd Wrote:  

...

Ok, it might be different in the rest of the US but at least in Miami half of the guys in any gym are on gear and they're not competing for anything and you think top level athletes are clean? They're ALL on gear, all of them. I love Oly Lifting but to think those guys are clean is naive to put it mildly. Klokov is an absolute beast, but yeah, he's not clean for sure.

I agree that being strong is extremely important, every man should thrive to achieve the best he can be, but in my case, after years of squatting, deadlifting, and other lifts, now at 36 and after several injuries I'm much more concerned with being healthy and injury free than impressing some guy on the gym, especially because you really don't impress anyone, there's always plenty of guys much stronger or plenty of guys who look much more "jacked" than you.

Besides, strength is just part of overall fitness. Like Scorpion said, a guy that bench presses 500lbs is not necessarily the superior athlete against a guy that bench presses 250lbs (I know BP is far from being a good gauge of athletic ability, just using it as an example). You have explosiveness, speed, endurance, agility, who's tougher and can take more punishment, who has more heart, etc. Again, strength IS important and the stronger guy has an advantage, but there is much more than just that.

Besides, if you just want to look good naked you don't even have to go to extremes (even though strength helps on the pursuit of a good looking body as well).

Nowadays I just try to maintain some decent strength levels, though much lower than what they were years ago, try to maintain a pleasantly looking body that is both strong and agile and just be healthy in general.

I definitely agree that being physically fit is extremely important, but at my age there's more that you start worrying about than squat PRs or big biceps. Money, career, pursuit of knowledge and so on become more and more important and you don't have time to dedicate yourself to everything.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should try to be as strong as possible while training smart, keeping yourself free from injuries, listen to your body (I wish I did when I should have) but you don't need a 600lbs squat to do have a good, healthy, agile, and strong body.