5 lifting lessons you can avoid to learn the hard way
In the free weight section of the room, you can either learn everything yourself and waste a tonne of time or read these five pieces of wisdom I learned after spending ten years in the gym on and off training for strength and martial arts.
Use Safety pins
Safety pins are your friends for the squat and bench press. You can usually use them for free in any gym and they take a minute to be set up. They protect you from being decapitated, folded in half, breaking your spine, ripping off your Achilles tendon, getting knocked out, losing your teeth and other rather unfortunate events which will drive your insurance policy up. Use them to avoid pain.
Go to a gym with more than one power rack
A gym with 200 treadmills and one power rack is a great place to go when you want to run inside in the same spot for hours. If you want to build muscle and have a life make sure that you attend this gym during school time. Otherwise hone your skills in useful techniques like phone hacking, building a scary physique or shamelessly farting near groups of unknown people. I opted to go to a gym where the number of available power racks exceeds the average number of people who want to squat heavy to be at work in time in the morning.
Work on your mobility
If you intend to be able to move a certain amount of weight in the same direction all the time, every time works for 80% of 100% of the time that is more than most people reach for and I applaud you for that. Still, you also might like to be able to do breath-taking everyday activities such as brushing your teeth, taking a shit, pick up your phone from the ground, getting out of your car, take off your t-shirt, and jumping higher than two inches without breaking a sweat. It is unfortunate to realise after a decade of hard training in the weight room that these activities will lead you to sweat like a pig because you neglected your mobility. Take proactive measures in time by stretching.
Use water instead of Supplement shakes
Supplement shakes are a lot tastier than water. Therefore, they also cost a lot more than water and probably have things in them that make them taste nicer. Supplements are also only needed if you train harder than your body can sustain. If you don’t train like an insane person, you do not have to put stuff in your body like an insane person. The food industry usually uses certain forms of sugar with fancy names or chemicals which make your cells mutate to achieve this better taste in a repeatable, cheap way until a regulation points out that this potentially makes people more likely to die. If you want to decrease your risk of likelihood to die for free drink water instead of supplements and eat a lot of unprocessed meat.
One repetition maximum
In physics, you learned that mass and speed have something to do with how much force you need to move or stop a certain object. Your teacher might also have pointed the law of diminishing returns to you at some stage. Once you combine these two with a bit of anatomy and what it takes to break a bone or rip a tendon and sprinkle some economic basics of risk assessment on top you know why you generally should stay away from your actual one repetition maximum and base all your calculations of 90% of that. You should think “Hospital” when you expose your own system to the risk of failing at 105% of capability.
Further reading
On the deadlift
- 7 simple ways to gain on the deadlift
- 72 deadlift dynamite quotes which will make you pull more
- Best deadlift dynamite review which will make you pull more
- Can kettlebell swings replace deadlifts?
- Can you use
smolov for the deadlift? - Try this deadlift thing to get strong like bull
- Selected quotes from deadlift dynamite that will make you stronger
- Which is harder bench press
oder deadlift? - Why are there only 1x5 deadlifts in Stronglifts 5x5
On the squat
- Are you sure about wearing the right shoes for squatting
- Bench press or squat first
- Bench press in a squat rack
- Better breathing makes your squat stronger
- Breathing Squat
- Can kettlebells swings replace squats
- Can you squat and deadlift on the same day
- Challenge, Sore
toda , Strong tomorrow - Confidential: Get rid of the machines and hire the squat
- Detailed Smolov squat routine review
- Eager to know about wearing the right suit for squatting
- How to perform a back squat for
crossfit for beginners - How years of quality cossack squats easily help your fitness
- Overcome these sins of the squat
- Squat: How many reps
- Squat: How to improve
- Squat: When to inhale and exhale
- Squat without pads
- Squat Calculator [Free Downloads]
- The Truth squat or lunges?
- Ultimate 30 day squat challenge that
tighten and tone - What squat is best
- Why are there so many squats in Stronglifts 5x5
On the bench press
- 6 common mistakes when you bench press for strength
- An easy guide to bench press like a powerlifter for any age
- Bench press or floor press
- Bench Press or Military Press
- Eliminate these mistakes with the bench press
- How accurate are bench press calculators
- How to bench press 300 pounds or 140kg
- How to bench press for Stronglifts
- How to bench press more weight quick
- How to do the bench press properly
- How to increase your bench press
- The reasons why you need to bench press
- What are bench press boards
- What does the bench press target
- When you should bench press with dumbbells
- Which bench press is best for chest
- Who can bench press 1000 pounds
- Why bench press with bands
- Why bench press with chains
- Why is the bench press so popular
- Why use a bench press shirt