Are You A Master Or A Martyr? Challenging The Myth of “Hard Work”

“Dinosaurs build muscle and strength the old fashion way. They EARN it. Dinosaurs work HARD when they train…Dinosaurs train hard because hard work is the only way to substantially increase your muscular size and strength. Nothing less than tremendous hard work will build muscle. Period.”

Brooks Kubik, author of “Dinosaur training”

In the mythology of American action movies, the martyr to master story rules all. Nearly every great action movie starts with a hero who is beaten to a pulp, only to later return to glory by changing everything they did, beating the bad guys and winning the girl. The epicenter of this story is hard work. 

Since the roast is on, I figure I should start with a belief system I brought to many of you years ago. I purchased “Dinosaur training” when I was 15 years old, and trained with it for several years. During those years I worked HARD. I worked so hard no one else wanted to lift with me. They couldn’t keep up. If another student in my class wanted to “work in” it meant for the next week they were so sore they wouldn’t even train again.

Hmmmm, what does that mean? Did that make them a better athlete? What about a better man? I believe the answer is found right there in the question. If you train one time, and are unable to train again for a week, is that a good thing?

I used to be a martyr for hard work. I worked hard because no one around me would. I worked hard because I felt “someone needs to” I worked hard to win the approval of some stranger who wrote a book, who would never meet me and certainly never offer anything in the way of a thank you.

Well I am not sorry to say I don’t work very hard anymore. In fact Josh commented last week at the workshop “I KNOW Adam doesn’t work hard, not even a little bit”

What would have been fighting words 10 years ago is now a sugar sweet compliment.

I don’t work hard. Some days I don’t even break a sweat. I bend steel bars which require 600+ pounds of force to move, no sweat. I can tear any deck of cards faster than I can get them out of the package, no sweat. I squat upwards to 50,000 lbs in volume in under an hour, never out of breath, typically talking shit with my clients and friends the whole time.

PR every day. My favorite thing to write. I don’t work hard and I PR every day. I am bigger and leaner(240lbs@6’3″) stronger, faster, smoother moving, with more endurance, and no pain. Think I am going to apologize? Attention martyrs, this cow is about to be slaughtered

So in this piece, a former martyr is going to share his thoughts on why the sacred cow of hard work must be slain and roasted.

When someone says “I work hard” they mean they are using a lot of effort in their training. They are sweating, they are breathing hard, and they use a lot of tension. They expend all of their energy. They may throw up, they may “feel wasted, but in a good way!” whatever that means. This also means the next day they are painfully sore, and unusually tired. Sounds awesome.

This is the way of the martyr, do the most. Do the most work, sweat the most, take the most abuse, deal with the most pain, always out working everyone…but does the martyr out perform others? Martyrs struggle to OUT WORK other martyrs. In life, we do not measure worth and value by “work” we measure by performance.

Is there another way?

Let’s examine the Master. He makes the hardest things look effortless. He is always effective and always efficient. The master never does more than needed. In fact, he does so little but accomplishes so much he seams mystical and mysterious.

“Pai Mei made it look easy”

We are going to tell you how to become the master.

Before we start, I want to show you a small clip of my pursuit of mastery with a particular feat of strength, card tearing.

The model from Dinosaur Training is more or less a “do or die” training model. In fact Dinosaur training is the “how to be a martyr” handbook. You survive the workout, so you carve some progress. You are encouraged and expected to push to muscular failure, because you are told it is “The only way!” You may get hurt, you are expected to dreg on. You may be sore; you are expected to get over it. You will be so beat down; you have to reduce training frequency to only a handful of days a month. This model expects you to “be tough” This is the classic martyr. Even though the book frequently looks back to iron masters, it does not encourage you to train like them. This model did not improve my movement; it did not improve my skill. I am glad I found my way out of this model without serious injury. While the “do or die” is very macho and tough sounding, it promises only loses when put to practice. I believe this model survives because so few people actually practice what they preach, it is a safe bet it will continue…but not for too much longer.

Enter the Russian model, training frequently but do not to failure. This provided me far greater progress, while allowing greater skill work because of better practice time. This model came to view in America by work of trainers such as Pavel and Scott Sonnon. There have been some elements lost in translation here, but for most part this was a huge step forward over Do or Die 20 rep deadlifting sets. I have written many articles and many forum posts explaining why I believed you should train this way. When put in a light of comparison- This or DT, I will say this model is far better every time. I reserve the right to always get better, and I will offer you the same.

Where I am now, enter the Gym Movement model. Do not train to failure; avoid the associated precursors of failure.

• Let us examine the associated signs of a failed rep:
• first you begin to excessively strain to accomplish the movement, and display inappropriate tension through out the body.
• As you continue to strain your breathing pattern changes.
• Continue to push and your alignment shifts as you attempt to find new leverage.
• Finally if you continue to work you may feel pain.

Excessive tension, erratic breathing, suboptimal alignment and posture- Does this sound like the movement of a master? Watch me tear that first deck of cards again; from that you wouldn’t label me a master of card tearing. That looked hard, and my positioning and breathing certainly did not make it any easier. Now watch the second part of the video, relaxed, smooth breathing, easy tear. It looks so easy it may lead you believe tearing and quartering a brand new deck of Bicycle brand poker cards is a walk in the park.

I now work to make every lift, every movement as easy as possible. I want everything I do to be smooth and effortless. The more I train this way, the more effortless everything becomes. I have bested my times in the 10 minute snatch test, I have deadlifted, squatted and pressed more weight, easier than every before. I bend bigger tougher steel. I do everything better.

Does this make me a heretic to modern strength training? If it does than try and crucify me, if you can. It would be incredibly unethical for me to continue to push a method which is not best. How do I know what is best? I test it. You can test it for yourself, in fact it is absolutely critical you take this article and use it to motivate and challenge you to test out the sacred cow of hard work.

In the end it is your choice, martyr or master. You cannot become a master until you train like a master. You may not survive long enough to become a master if you insist upon staying a martyr.

Adam T Glass, former martyr of high intensity training

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Tagged as: articles, perpetual progress