If you take ten minutes check out any of the major fitness/strength training/bodybuilding forums, you will quickly see hundreds of posts with one core questions-”What program should i use?” There will be pages and pages of answers to this question.
If you are a continuing poster on a forum, you will see the same person post the same question week after week-This is happening with thousands of people. What is the problem here?
One very famous strength coach serves up the answer nicely-”The best program is the one your not doing” For the weekend warriors, nothing comes fast enough, nothing works well enough. There are too many distractions, page after page of magazines, article after article on the internet. So what is the problem?
The problem is dedication. People are not willing to pay out 6 months to something, and thats why they do not reap the same benefits dedicated people do. A classic example- The 5×5 power training schedule. Simple 5 working sets of progressively heavier weights, using 5 total lifts, done three days a week. At least three of these should be big lifts; Squats, Deads, cleans, jerks, press, bench press, dip, pull up, zercher. two of them can be any particular lift you want. This format has build thousands of strongmen (and women) through out the last 100 years.
Why are so many people looking for an edge over this? How many of the people who declared “it doesnt work” really did it right? I say say NONE OF THEM, because if they did, they would have reported great gains.
I will also take time to single out another group of people who i grow sick of hearing complain- the supposed “hardgainers” What does the hard gainer say “I have tried everything!” Exactly, you rotated drills with your socks and never make gains. chain yourself to the squat rack and lets talk in 2 years.
2 years, not 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months. If someone thinks strength, size, power, speed, or endurance can be built in less than that, I will show you a person who has none of the above.
So what is a smart program? The one you stick to.
{ 4 comments }
Great post. Having been a ‘hardgainer’ I now understand the correct term may also be ‘under-eater’.
Jordan
I trained a guy last year who proclaimed himself a “hardgainer” and he should have also labelled himself “Under eater” and “Afraid of the deadlifting platform”
6 months of deadlifts, dumbbell jerks, and heavy shrugs left him “Strong” and “big” thats what i am talking about.
I think sticking to even a crappy routine is better than no routine. I would rather someone work the stupid machine circuits in a commerical gym that change daily-at least that is consistant
adam-
that’s exactly what i was thinking. just start with anything, it doesn’t have to be perfect. it gives you material to go off of and a little bit of knowledge about yourself and how you move rather than depending solely on the advice/suggestion of another person.
how did you get hooked up with the lion’s club? did you just call them? i’m thinking of starting a kettlebell business on the side.
thanks,
sean
Sean
A friend of mine who works at Farmers Union invited me out to speak with them. The local chapter here is decent sized, but i would like to see their membership increase over the next year. they do amazing things for both the local and internation community and it is an organization i fully endorse.