10 Training Mistakes (30 Years of Lifting)

f4iguy

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I thought it might be helpful to post up some of my training mistakes from 30 years of lifting. I've had a lot of success with reaching my goals (510 bench at 198, 20" arms, 6 minute mile, 32 pull up, 650 deadlift, etc.) but also a lot of failures that could have been avoided. In no particular order if I started over here are things I would adjust from the beginning.

1. Limiting training to a man made calendar (Chest and bis every Monday with the rest of the world)
2. Thinking my small calves wouldn't grow any more after 20 years. Wrong. I began focusing on TUT and full ROM and they grew again.
3. Not eating enough food to gain size.
4. Not tracking macros and relying on cardio for fat loss. I can get lean with the right macros and no cardio. Add cardio and I get ripped.
5. Training when my body needed rest due to tendinitis or other injuries. I stopped all pressing for 2 years to heal a rotator cuff and came back stronger. Bench went from low 400s to 510lbs when I was fully recovered and very slowly added weight to the bar.
6. Not tracking workouts with a journal. The journal saves time knowing what weight to select and helps recover from injury by knowing which exercises cause discomfort.
7. Skipping warm ups. I could get away with it from age 15 to 30. In my 30s that led to injury. Get blood moving around the joints before hitting the muscles hard.
8. Overthinking and basing everything on studies. Research is great but don't forget to be your own scientist in the gym. Try novel technique we're not all the same.
9. Sleep. 7-8 hours if possible. When I get proper sleep I progress faster. So many positive things for growth occur during sleep. When I don't get enough my training volume needs to be cut back to avoid illness from CNS fatigue.
10. Not addressing muscle imbalances. My hamstrings and adductor muscles specifically. Dedicated more time to developing these muscles improving squats and deadlifts. Heavier squats and deadlifts led to more size and overall strength.

Have you made any of these mistakes? Any others to add to the list?

Here's a video I made that talks about the adjustments made that led to progress.




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Hyde

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Mistakes I made for a long time were:

-Not focusing on strengthening my abs directly.

-Not realizing the importance of general conditioning/being in shape enough to train as much as you need to actually improve. You don’t need to be able to run a marathon, but you need to develop the stamina to finish all the necessary work.

Some things I have continued to improve upon for a long time, that really make/break performance, are:

-Sufficient warmup/activation/mobility for the day’s training. This should only be as long as necessary & EVERYTHING should have a very good purpose for you specifically. Do what you need to be optimal, and nothing else. You often see extremes; people either don’t even break a sweat before starting loaded compounds, or spend longer than 30 minutes without touching a weight.

-Properly hydrating for the work ahead. The demands will change with the temperature and length/intensity of your training, but you should learn fundamentals of hydration so you can be your best & safest. Getting enough water and salt are the primary keys, generally.
 
KvanH

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So I 'ear marked' this thread, when I saw this and wanted to give my list. Great idea for a thread, imo. It was quite difficult actually to think of 10 things to list, but with stealing the last one from @Hyde I got the 10, lol.
 
Dustin07

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-Not realizing the importance of general conditioning/being in shape enough to train as much as you need to actually improve. You don’t need to be able to run a marathon, but you need to develop the stamina to finish all the necessary work.

ahhh good call there. When 5 reps leaves me winded like I just finished a 5k I know I need to be upping my conditioning lol.
 
KvanH

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1. Getting too fat when bulking.
2. Working out muscle groups only once a week.
3. Not understanding the power of systematic progressive overload.
4. Starting cutting phases with too big of a calorie deficit.
5. Not implementing maintenance phases.
6. Not doing deloads (often enough).
7. Fearing of total breaks from lifting.
8. Not focusing on mind-muscle connection and to make sure to use the target muscles of an excercise as well as possible.
9. Thinking machines are worthless.
10. Not maintaining/improving cardio performance. (Stole this one from Hyde's post lol, but it is really an important one).


1. Getting too fat when bulking.

I used to be a skinny kid and doing a lot of sports and being active, I could not eat enough to grow out of being skinny. So when I put other sports on hold and started doing only lifting and eating, I was happy everytime the scale moved up. 9 months and ~40 lbs later, I realised I'm not jacked, I'm fat. Also it turns out I hate cutting, lol. And I feel like that fat has come back on easier, after the initial weight gain.

2. Working out muscle groups only once a week.

Not so much a mistake, as just finding a better way of training, at least for me. Working out muscle groups more, than once a week is probably the most significant single improvement I've done in my ~15 years of lifting weights. Haven't trained muscle groups only once a week in many years anymore.

3. Not understanding the power of systematic progressive overload.

Used to think that you have to go to failure every WO and the only beneficial progression is when you lift more, than you could lift the last time. (Now, there are programs and training methods, when this actually does have to happen, like DC for example, which I consider a good way of training as well and I will still train like that from time to time. But just progressing on weights/reps/sets, and going harder week to week does stimulate growth and especially strenght, without going all in every time.)

4. Starting cutting phases with too big of a calorie deficit.

Starting a cut eating well under maintenance (500 kcal and more) has resulted in some rough time and to not so successful cuts. Better to substract a little less calories in the beginning and to substract more calories, as the cut gets deeper.

5. Not implementing maintenance phases.

Not knowing about maintenance phases and going straight from bulk to cut - to bulk to cut, has definitely led to some unnecessary fat gain. I'm not really sure, if and how much not having maintenance phases have effected muscle/strenght gains. This is the most recent thing I've learned and I'm still working on how to implement those phases for myself and in different situations.

6. Not doing deloads (often enough).

In the beginning, I didn't even know about deload weeks/time periods, before reading about them from a BB magazine. And it took some time to find out and learn how to sense the right time for them. Today, probably due to aging and 'mileage', I have to deload quite more frequently, than in the past.

7. Fearing of total breaks from lifting.

I didn't 'allow myself' even a week off of lifting, in I don't remember for how many years (this is partially mental - feels weird to not go to the gym and even weirder not doing any sports at all). But having suffered some injuries, that have forced me to not being able to lift, has sometimes been a blessing in disguise and when gotten back to lifting, had a good momentum with muscle memory and rested body and all that and riding the momentum all the way past former fitness level.

8. Not focusing on mind-muscle connection and to make sure to use the target muscles of an excercise as well as possible.

Pretty self-explanatory. Used to kind of just lift the weights for lifting weights in the beginning.

9. Thinking machines are worthless.

While I believe, that compound lifts are the core of the best WO programs, the machines do have their place. I've always had a hard time activating my lats and I do my best lat WO's using different machines.

10. Not maintaining/improving cardio performance. (Stole this one from Hyde's post lol, but it is really an important one).

I used to do a lot of different sports when I was younger and at a pretty serious level and so I've always had great cardio. When switching to just lifting, I completely left out all cardio work. Later on added in long(er) distance running and interval sprinting and that elevated my WO capacity and WO's to another level. Luckily the base I have enables me to increase my cardio performance pretty quick and semi easily.
 
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f4iguy

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Wow some really excellent information being shared. Hyde you hit on two things that I wish I began doing much sooner. Focused ab work and mobility/activation drills. I got to compete with top level world record holding powerlifters and they ALL do this. John Haack hit abs directly 2x weekly and tons of mobility/activation work. Those two things helped so much with compound lifts. I'll never forget how weak and wobbly my core felt when I started working at 80%+ on high bar squats. Targeted ab work and activation/mobility work made a huge difference. Solid core and glutes firing properly during squats enabled me to add a lot of weight and walk out confidently.
 
Smont

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Anabolic window and meal timing. Turned out to be all BS.
Absolutely not bs, someone eating there carbs around there workouts will have far better workouts and make more progress then someone who doesn't.

And someone eating 4-6 meals a day will have far greater results then someone eating 1 meal a day.

So while you may not need to slam a shake 20min post workout or eat your meals evenly spaced out every day. Peri workout nutrition (anabolic window around the workout) and having a sufficient supply of nutrients and amino acids in your blood (meal timing) will give you far better results.
 
Smont

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These are some mistakes I think many ppl make, I've made plenty myself.

There scared of overtraining when in fact they don't train hard enough or often enough.

They don't eat enough or eat accordingly to meet there goals.

They don't track food

They don't keep notes or a log book

They bulk when there already fat

They try to recomp

They think supplements and steroids do the work for you.

And hands down the biggest mistake I see is ppl worrying too much about what this person said or what this study says and they switch up everything all the time. They spend so much time looking for the new thing or the secret that they never spend enough time learning about themselves.



Every training program will work if you work hard at it.

There are no secrets

And studies don't prove anything, there just a small piece of information that may or may not be true. All the studies from the '90s got debunked in the early 2000s, all the studies from the early 2000s got debunked in the mid-2000s, all those studies have been debunked today and all of today's studies will be debunked 10 years from now. Rarely does any study prove something that holds up long term in real world application
 

sammpedd88

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Absolutely not bs, someone eating there carbs around there workouts will have far better workouts and make more progress then someone who doesn't.

And someone eating 4-6 meals a day will have far greater results then someone eating 1 meal a day.

So while you may not need to slam a shake 20min post workout or eat your meals evenly spaced out every day. Peri workout nutrition (anabolic window around the workout) and having a sufficient supply of nutrients and amino acids in your blood (meal timing) will give you far better results.
Agreed. John Meadows basically preached the same thing. He said in a video that it’s much better to have a preworkout meal or intra workout drink (EAA’s) vs a post workout shake as was preached years ago. He did believe that if you didn’t have a preworkout meal or intrawork out drink that it would be beneficial to drink a post workout shake.
 
Smont

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Agreed. John Meadows basically preached the same thing. He said in a video that it’s much better to have a preworkout meal or intra workout drink (EAA’s) vs a post workout shake as was preached years ago. He did believe that if you didn’t have a preworkout meal or intrawork out drink that it would be beneficial to drink a post workout shake.
Yep, when you workout fasted there are no amino acids in your blood, so basically your body will tear down its own muscle tissue to get the amino acids it needs. It's 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards
 
f4iguy

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Agreed. John Meadows basically preached the same thing. He said in a video that it’s much better to have a preworkout meal or intra workout drink (EAA’s) vs a post workout shake as was preached years ago. He did believe that if you didn’t have a preworkout meal or intrawork out drink that it would be beneficial to drink a post workout shake.
I watched that video. John put out so much quality information. I need to watch some of his earlier videos. His advice on keeping healthy shoulders by making small adjustments to popular exercises was excellent. He introduced me to my favorite chest building exercise, dumbbell flyes lying on the floor.
 
Smont

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I watched that video. John put out so much quality information. I need to watch some of his earlier videos. His advice on keeping healthy shoulders by making small adjustments to popular exercises was excellent. He introduced me to my favorite chest building exercise, dumbbell flyes lying on the floor.
Il try that fly variation next chest day. I liked how he tweaked things too, small inclines, hand positions, he also had lots of good tips to keep the elbows feeling good. He was a huge loss to the bodybuilding and fitness community
 

sammpedd88

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I watched that video. John put out so much quality information. I need to watch some of his earlier videos. His advice on keeping healthy shoulders by making small adjustments to popular exercises was excellent. He introduced me to my favorite chest building exercise, dumbbell flyes lying on the floor.
Yeah he was all about having healthy shoulders. In one of his shoulder videos he recommended high incline smith machine presses for shoulders. I did them last week and really liked the way they hit my delts. Very knowledgeable guy. Hate he’s gone.

I may try that floor fly also. Always looking for something else to through in the toolbox.
 

Foxx13

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1. Doing full body workouts 5 days a week…in a row. 20 years ago that’s how I trained I thought not trained ing would lead to instant muscle loss. I could never understand why Monday and Tuesday workouts were good and by Thursday I was complete dog crap in the gym

2. Never eating enough carbs. I was scared they would make me fat, I never realized the benefits of healthy carbs I workouts and could never u sweat and why I was t gaining weight/muscle

3. Thinking a supplement would be the answer to my prayers…enough said we all been there

4. Not using higher reps especially in compound exercises. I would rarely go above 6 reps, 7-8 reps were considered endurance. That’s all different now, I havea love hate for higher rep squats and deads.

5. Not realizing the potential my body had to grow when I was 20-30. Not so much of a mistake as a lack of education and realization. Is almost 40 what I wouldn’t do to go back. BUT I figure I got another 10 good years to keep inthe up and up.

6. Avoiding bench press till literally 6-weeks ago. It’s two fold, I just don’t enjoy it that much and I never saw the benefits. I’m giving it a go and see what happens.

A few things I did right:

Keeping a log since day 1 I have literally 20 years of workout logs.

Always using full range of motion, inmy opinion this is far superior to the crap I see at commercial gyms

Consistency, longest I have ever missed is 2-weeks in 20 years.

Training hard, I’ve always trained pretty hard. At times harder than others but I was never a go through the motions guy

Doing the big compound exercises as the base of my training

Consistent with healthy eating, timing, etc…

Whatever program I am doing or write for myself I do it in full, I don’t cut it short

Learning learning and learning more
 
Smont

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1. Doing full body workouts 5 days a week…in a row. 20 years ago that’s how I trained I thought not trained ing would lead to instant muscle loss. I could never understand why Monday and Tuesday workouts were good and by Thursday I was complete dog crap in the gym

2. Never eating enough carbs. I was scared they would make me fat, I never realized the benefits of healthy carbs I workouts and could never u sweat and why I was t gaining weight/muscle

3. Thinking a supplement would be the answer to my prayers…enough said we all been there

4. Not using higher reps especially in compound exercises. I would rarely go above 6 reps, 7-8 reps were considered endurance. That’s all different now, I havea love hate for higher rep squats and deads.

5. Not realizing the potential my body had to grow when I was 20-30. Not so much of a mistake as a lack of education and realization. Is almost 40 what I wouldn’t do to go back. BUT I figure I got another 10 good years to keep inthe up and up.

6. Avoiding bench press till literally 6-weeks ago. It’s two fold, I just don’t enjoy it that much and I never saw the benefits. I’m giving it a go and see what happens.

A few things I did right:

Keeping a log since day 1 I have literally 20 years of workout logs.

Always using full range of motion, inmy opinion this is far superior to the crap I see at commercial gyms

Consistency, longest I have ever missed is 2-weeks in 20 years.

Training hard, I’ve always trained pretty hard. At times harder than others but I was never a go through the motions guy

Doing the big compound exercises as the base of my training

Consistent with healthy eating, timing, etc…

Whatever program I am doing or write for myself I do it in full, I don’t cut it short

Learning learning and learning more
Check out Paul over at anabolic bodybuilding on YouTube, he added 55lbs of bodybuilding competition stage weight, pure muscle 47 years old and he did it in one year between two contests. Well I know that's an extremely rare and damn near impossible thing to do some of it was muscle memory and some was just super glyogen loaded muscle, but he still added a shitload of new tissue. You still have untapped growth at your age, we all do, do yourself a favor and go check him out he's got lots of good info and a very sensible approach. There's no reason you can't pack on 8-10 lbs of new muscle a year for the next few years if you have the right diet and pharmacology
 
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botk1161

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Great thread. I can relate! At 55 and powerlifting, I find if focus on conditioning / weak points and core strength, I can handle big lifts. My body gets less beat up, tweaked and injured. If I put the big lifts before these, I break down. I need to deload sooner and, like mentioned, not be afraid and know that taking a couple of weeks off a couple of times a year will move me forward!!
 

Resolve10

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@Resolve10 got anything for us?
Feels like a loaded question, I didn't want to impose on someone else's thread when he was sharing what worked for him.

I definitely can't think of 10 off the top of my head and I'll definitely be forgetting things I learned along the way (things are weird in the sense that once new things are gained they feel like you've always known them at times!).

Maybe I'll come back and drop some things I've learned, but I can be long winded and opinionated so idk. ;)
 
f4iguy

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Feels like a loaded question, I didn't want to impose on someone else's thread when he was sharing what worked for him.

I definitely can't think of 10 off the top of my head and I'll definitely be forgetting things I learned along the way (things are weird in the sense that once new things are gained they feel like you've always known them at times!).

Maybe I'll come back and drop some things I've learned, but I can be long winded and opinionated so idk. ;)
I would appreciate anything you share if it's one or however many things from your experience. I randomly chose 10. One thing I think I did right from the beginning was befriending people in the gym who were 30+ years older, still training hard and maintaining awesome physiques. Those people saved me from a lot of mistakes that could have led to injury or wasted time. I began lifting at 12. 30 years later I'm still learning and finding little bits of progress here and there.
 
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Ironsaint

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Absolutely not bs, someone eating there carbs around there workouts will have far better workouts and make more progress then someone who doesn't.

And someone eating 4-6 meals a day will have far greater results then someone eating 1 meal a day.

So while you may not need to slam a shake 20min post workout or eat your meals evenly spaced out every day. Peri workout nutrition (anabolic window around the workout) and having a sufficient supply of nutrients and amino acids in your blood (meal timing) will give you far better results.
To me it is. I saw no difference eating carbs around my work out or not. I still performed awesome. There's a thing called keto. People train with little carbs all the tiime. Some even report better workouts.

The amount of meals you eat in the day mean nothing. It's all about total macro for the day. Many people do OMAD and have no problem performining in the gym. One guy that comes to mind is Hershel Walker. He was beast.

Again I saw no difference eating around my workouts or not. It's more about total macros for the day that make a bigger difference.
 
KvanH

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Feels like a loaded question, I didn't want to impose on someone else's thread when he was sharing what worked for him.

I definitely can't think of 10 off the top of my head and I'll definitely be forgetting things I learned along the way (things are weird in the sense that once new things are gained they feel like you've always known them at times!).

Maybe I'll come back and drop some things I've learned, but I can be long winded and opinionated so idk. ;)
If I'm interpreting the "loaded question" correctly (had to Google the meaning), then no, in no way negatively at least. I just felt like this would've been something you might have some good input on, as I've seen you post detailed training related stuff in the past. And while OP's list is great and that made a great thread by itself already, I also got the impression, that he was looking for others to share theirs. And I wasn't of course expecting you or anyone else to list 10 things or anything like that (or anyting at all, if not felt like it). I personally saw it as a positive challenge, and so wanted to try to get the 10 myself.

So anyway the tag was done in a positive manner and the thread was quiet for like over a week, before any posts after the OP and I was also just trying to give it more traction. As you can see, I tend to get pretty long winded as well, so no judcement there, lol. Hopefully this didn't result in to too much unrelated derail, just wanted to clear that out.
 
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Resolve10

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If I'm interpreting the "loaded question" correctly (had to Google the meaning), then no, in no way negatively at least. I just felt like this would've been something you might have some good input on, as I've seen you post detailed training related stuff in the past. And while OP's list is great and that made a great thread by itself already, I also got the impression, that he was looking for others to share theirs. And I wasn't of course expecting you or anyone else to list 10 things or anything like that (or anyting at all, if not felt like it). I personally saw it as a positive challenge, and so wanted to try to get the 10 myself.

So anyway the tag was done in a positive manner and the thread was quiet for like over a week, before any posts after the OP and I was also just trying to give it more traction. As you can see, I tend to get pretty long winded as well, so no judcement there, lol. Hopefully this didn't result in to too much unrelated derail, just wanted to clear that out.
I just didn't want to take away or tack on to someone else's thread, but I may type some stuff up, I was being in a joking mood didn't mean anything negative. (y)
 
Hyde

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Always try to talk to/ask questions of older guys who have achieved what I’m after, what they felt helped X the most and what they would do differently or advice they’d give me in retrospect.

Just making the effort to pan for gold from those who have been wherever you’d like to go, that’s something that’s always served me well. Most people are happy to talk about themselves and flattered to teach, so it’s often a great conversation.
 
match

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My only thing to add here (and I can't remember if someone else already effectively said this or not) is the slogan that I stole from some other bodybuilding site:

Dedication > Motivation

That was my mantra early on last year, but eventually it got to the point where I no longer needed it.

Basically, it doesn't matter if I feel like working out, if I'm scheduled to work out: I do it. This isn't to say that I haven't done some deload weeks, or gone easier on an exercise because I don't want to make an injury worse, but I always get in the gym on the days that it's on the schedule.

Because I'm dedicated to this lifestyle.
 
RegisterJr

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Such a great thread.

Most beneficial things I’ve learned for myself:

1. Fasted strength training sucks and was holding me back. I swore by it for about 10 years.

2. Don’t do fad diets such as intermittent fasting and keto. They won’t give you the same results as meal timing.

3. Meal timing. Carbs are energy and fuel. Use them for your benefit. Your body isn’t going to utilize the same calories or carbs at any given time, especially not in bulk, so strategically place them throughout your day.

4. Progressive overload and consistency. You don’t have to change things up every week to make progress.

5. Don’t ego lift.

6. You aren’t too old to squat or deadlift. I thought I was at 30.

7. Listen to your body regarding rest, food, and reduced volume (or Deload). I still struggle with this.

8. Don’t be scared to evaluate and treat testosterone deficiencies.

9. Adjust your routines to give focus to strength imbalances.

10. Put a damn gym on your property and stop getting pissed at commercial gyms.
 

Resolve10

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Going to try and keep this short, if anyone wants extra input on any I can expand.

-Understand your psychology. Took me a bit to realize I just need a more relaxed and methodical approach to and in my training. You have to do what will keep you interested to keep going in the long haul and balance that with what gives you results. Some people may need to get more hyped up for sessions, others may need a different approach, all these approaches may effect you often you need to deload or the length of training cycles, etc.

-Punch the clock mentality. The memes and over confident motivational posts are a lie. You can't just always summon up motivation for every single session, exercise, etc. (at least not when you train for the long haul). There are days I don't want to train, but I have a mentality of just going in and getting the work done and following the plan. Last few years have definitely been "tougher" to stick to things, but 5 years on my current app show I'm over 1600 completed workouts, consistency counts.

-Emerging Strategies. Not always a fan of buzz words and phrases, but this probably encompasses the biggest shift in my training philosophies over the years. Following a bottom up versus a top down approach to training. I linked probably the initial (?) or one of the better videos on this approach as far as it goes for powerlifting, but this system can go beyond just that, so you can probably find a ton more with some Googling.

-Don't over consume protein. This one I had to fight with myself awhile, I would tell people they didn't need as much, but then I'd just pound some protein myself. Not saying it isn't important, but some of the excessive (2g/lbs) numbers that used to be tossed around just ended up with me eating too much that led to decreasing my ability to get enough calories (generally carbs in my case) to help support improved performance and gains.

-Don't be afraid to push your carbs/fats when it is called for. During one of my hardest training cycles I was eating (with some struggle I might add, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows trying to eat a ton all the time) 600g carbs on my hard training days. I am not a "big" guy so this seemed like so much, but getting over the mental hurdle that too much would just turn to fat helped me keep my training humming along.

-Injury prevention is unique. Again not sure how I wanted to put this, but I've done a few things over the years that maybe don't initially fall inline with accepted thinking as far as what has helped my joints feel the best. I don't do tons of traditional "rowing" or horizontal rowing movements in my training (although I still prescribe quite a bit with others), which goes against the 1:1 or 2:1 row to pressing recommendations I see talked about a lot. Tons of overhead pressing, heavy pull ups, handstand push ups, and ring work fixed my shoulders more than anything else (but probably due to a ton of improved scapular mobility and stability in my case). My knees hips and back also have never felt better than when I regularly have a solid block each year or HEAVY (like over 200lbs for moderate reps) single leg work like rear foot elevated split squats and lunge variations.

-Things change. This goes for nutrition, training, goals, enjoyment, etc. What once worked may not and things that you once couldn't are now possible. Examples: I couldn't train with the volume intensity I do now at the start and I couldn't eat as many carbs as I can now, don't be held back by your past and understand when you much adapt based on what you need to keep going.

-You don't need fancy stuff. Now this isn't to say these things can't have a place or help, but most are just tools. I used to gear up in the coolest shoes, sleeves, belt, etc. and I've trained at the gyms top bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlifters and crossfitters have been at with top of the line equipment. I've also trained in a barn with no power (those winters were brutal), a power rack, a bar, and a crap ton of weights. I made progress in all places. I've used top of the line cutting edge training devices and I've trained with nothing. Everything has its place, but I can't blame lack of anything on a productive session or training cycle.

-Paradigm Shifts. Not sure a simpler way to state this, but coming to an acceptance with how to approach how things are always ever marching forward with progress. This goes way beyond just training and nutrition, but fitting this concept together to help understand and be cognizant about when and how to go about creating and accepting change in various fields. I linked probably the initial reading into that subject I had for anyone interested in non-training related reading (but again it parallels tons of things you'll see with training and nutrition).

I hope that helps some people. Not super concise and it was kind of hard to distill some of those points down, so I'm always glad to expand. Left some things off too, but these are what kind of stuck out to me and were more positive assessments. I had to cut myself off though I am thinking of some more even as I type this. 😐
 
Dustin07

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I loved 2 hour sessions when I was competing in CrossFit events 5-10 years ago. My "fitness" was fantastic. I worked out 5-6 days a week. and honestly, probably 2hrs each day. Saturday would be my 'vanity' day, just lifting, no cardio. Now I'm 40 and my strength numbers are about the same as back then, but going up the fastest they ever have:

back then:
1hr+ of lifting + 30+ minutes of WOD's. HIIT lifting, rope climbing, oly, rowing, running, wallballs, all of it.

now:
1hr of lifting + 15-30min of LISS Mon/Tues and Thurs. Weds is only cardio (30mins liss) and friday is my "vanity" bonus day to get extra bench and squat work in.

back then:
crash diet, slash calories, get absolutely shredded down to 172-176lbs

now:
adding calories, holding far more mass as I lean out at 184lbs

back then:
volume volume volume.

today:
heavy sets of 2-5 reps.

back then:
periodic injuries as body weight dipped below 180lbs. sore joints.

today:
injury free, joints are happy, and I have more interesting muscle soreness which I think is from more effective sessions.
 

Stacks1

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9. Thinking machines are worthless.
When I started lifting 20+ years ago all I did was free weights. Over time I incorporated some machines but I mostly focused on free weights. Fast forward to today and it's probably 50/50 for a normal routine. I am glad I started on free weights as it helped learn form, stabilize the weight, workout muscles evenly, etc. but I can't go back anymore. After a couple decades and a few injuries I don't even deadlift anymore. I still squat but will only do it when I'm pre or post exhausted.

I will occasionally do all machine workouts. Like I'll do something like Mike Mentzer's HIT. And you know what? I love it. Don't tell me you cannot get an amazing workout from all machines because you can. Having said that, we always come back to free weights because there is just something about them. But machines have become a huge part of my routines.
 
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When I started lifting 20+ years ago all I did was free weights. Over time I incorporated some machines but I mostly focused on free weights. Fast forward to today and it's probably 50/50 for a normal routine. I am glad I started on free weights as it helped learn form, stabilize the weight, workout muscles evenly, etc. but I can't go back anymore. After a couple decades and a few injuries I don't even deadlift anymore. I still squat but will only do it when I'm pre or post exhausted.

I will occasionally do all machine workouts. Like I'll do something like Mike Mentzer's HIT. And you know what? I love it. Don't tell me you cannot get an amazing workout from all machines because you can. Having said that, we always come back to free weights because there is just something about them. But machines have become a huge part of my routines.
Most guys who build a nice solid base from heavy freeweight exercises will find themselves as they get older getting much better progress switching over to higher reps and machines. It's a new stimulus with less wear and tear on your joints.

At the end of the day, your muscle doesn't know how heavy 50 lb is or what a free weight exercise is versus a machine.

Apply a stimulus that's greater then the previous one and you will make progress
 

Stacks1

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Most guys who build a nice solid base from heavy freeweight exercises will find themselves as they get older getting much better progress switching over to higher reps and machines. It's a new stimulus with less wear and tear on your joints.

At the end of the day, your muscle doesn't know how heavy 50 lb is or what a free weight exercise is versus a machine.

Apply a stimulus that's greater then the previous one and you will make progress
I agree 100%. And while it was fun to load up the barbell back in the day to do deadlifts and squats the risk vs reward just isn't there for me anymore. Like I said, I still do squats but I already exhaust my legs before doing them, so I couldn't even tell you what my 1RM is.... and I kind of don't care. Training this way hasn't stopped my growth or progress at all so I see no need to revert back. As a matter of fact, it has helped. But like you said, I was more focused on lower reps and higher volume back in the day. Today I am more in the 8 - 12 rep range and focused more on higher intensity.
 
Dustin07

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Most guys who build a nice solid base from heavy freeweight exercises will find themselves as they get older getting much better progress switching over to higher reps and machines. It's a new stimulus with less wear and tear on your joints.

At the end of the day, your muscle doesn't know how heavy 50 lb is or what a free weight exercise is versus a machine.

Apply a stimulus that's greater then the previous one and you will make progress
I also like the TUT from like a cable curl vs db curl and a tri cable extension vs db extension. sometimes machines let me hit things in more creative ways whereas the free weights might put me at an angle of injury risk doing the similar movement (like flies)
 

sammpedd88

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I also like the TUT from like a cable curl vs db curl and a tri cable extension vs db extension. sometimes machines let me hit things in more creative ways whereas the free weights might put me at an angle of injury risk doing the similar movement (like flies)
There’s a guy at my gym that’s 55 years old. When I first met him I watched him workout and I’ve never seen him do a full rep on anything. He’s done several body building shows through the years and won his weight class and his age division back in August. There’s something to TUT and he’s living proof.
 
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There’s a guy at my gym that’s 55 years old. When I first met him I watched him workout and I’ve never seen him do a full rep on anything. He’s done several body building shows through the years and won his weight class and his age division back in August. There’s something to TUT and he’s living proof.
He also could have spent years building his physique in a way that has nothing to do with how he trains now. He could be half repping and using tut now to maintain and work around injuries ect.

I don't mean anything by this post, all getting at is that the way he trains now is probably different then how he trained in his 20's or 30's.

It's just hard to male a assessment like that based off the limited information you have about the guy unless you been watching him for 20+ years.

I do utilize half reps with tut by the way, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I just don't think many people are building up there physique that way.
 

Jeremyk1

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He also could have spent years building his physique in a way that has nothing to do with how he trains now. He could be half repping and using tut now to maintain and work around injuries ect.

I don't mean anything by this post, all getting at is that the way he trains now is probably different then how he trained in his 20's or 30's.

It's just hard to male a assessment like that based off the limited information you have about the guy unless you been watching him for 20+ years.

I do utilize half reps with tut by the way, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I just don't think many people are building up there physique that way.
I heard once that’s kind of how Sergio Oliva trained. Not going through the full motion, just hitting the portion with the most tension.
 
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Speaking of which I did close grip bench like a week ago with 135x80+ reps doing a limited range with tut and some rest pause. I had a killer pump and got terrible muscle spasms in the pecs and triceps at the same time so it's definitely doing something lol
 
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I heard once that’s kind of how Sergio Oliva trained. Not going through the full motion, just hitting the portion with the most tension.
I once heard aliens met with Barack Obama at the white house
 
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I'm just busting balls, I've heard that too. There was a Asian guy mid 2000's that only trained that way too. Jason huh or something likevthat
 

sammpedd88

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He also could have spent years building his physique in a way that has nothing to do with how he trains now. He could be half repping and using tut now to maintain and work around injuries ect.

I don't mean anything by this post, all getting at is that the way he trains now is probably different then how he trained in his 20's or 30's.

It's just hard to male a assessment like that based off the limited information you have about the guy unless you been watching him for 20+ years.

I do utilize half reps with tut by the way, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I just don't think many people are building up there physique that way.
Oh I’m sure he didn’t start off like that 20 years ago but I do know that he’s been using TUT for about 8 years now. Some things work for some people and some it doesn’t.
 

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Just stumbled upon this thread. It was actually quite informative and helpful.
 

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