Wolf Pack Strength

NEW BLOG POST

“The gym won't solve the other problems in your life. It won't mend broken relationships. It won't solve financial burdens. It won't delay deadlines. It won’t heal wounds from the past.

Yet, many of us have turned to the gym during hard times. Why is it we do this? I think it is to remind ourselves that we are strong…”

Continue the rest on RebuildStrongerOnline.com/blog

Most of the aches and pain we experience in our day to day and weekly training can be easily managed in the gym.

You can do an extra warmup, take weight off the bar, alter the exercise, and be back to normal or better within a month.

But some pain persists longer.

Some pain makes you work with weights well below your strength.

Some pain lasts for months or years.

Some pain becomes reoccurring every time you go into prep.

This post isn’t a solution, it’s simply a reality. That’s not to say these things can’t be solved or managed, but rather to say that it could be longer than a month in some cases.

It can make it hard to be appreciative of training. But even if you’re only working with 25% bar weight, it’s still better than not. Even if you take a light gimme lift in a meet, it’s still putting up a total.

It’s hard to accept these things when the goal of strength sports is to get stronger. But you give yourself a better shot at actually being stronger by finding those ways to keep training. And you’ll be happier for it.

Lifting heavy doesn’t need to be reserved for only competition lifts.

In fact, we have quite a bit of support that variation increases learning. So only ever lifting heavy with the competition lifts may not produce as good results as lifting heavy with other variations.

But what does it look like?

Well look at accessories you already do and instead of always doing them for 6+ reps, transition them to a main lift for a block and push them into that 5 and under rep range.

That could be high bar or front squats, stance changes, Larsen press, Swiss bar bench, opposite stance deadlift, stiff leg, etc.

Whatever things you already use to build your competition lifts can also be done heavy. And doing so will improve your skill with heavy weights and make you more well rounded.

Here are my personal favorites:
Beltless & sleeveless work
Most any pause work
Most any band or chain work
High bar, front, ssb squats
Wide stance squats
Close and wide grip bench
Low-moderate incline bench
Pin, block, Spoto bench
Overhead press
Opposite stance deadlift
Deficit deadlift

Tell me your favorites in the comments!

When making decisions about programming you need to ask yourself,

“Am I training a movement or building a movement with this exercise?”

Both are needed in training, but only training a movement has limitations

How many Olympic sprinters only do sprints? How many football practices are only running plays? How many boxers only train sparing?

The same is true of powerlifting. You take the goal (single rep maxes or squat bench and deadlift) and divide that goal into different parts.

Good powerlifters train the comp lifts. Good powerlifters also train speed and power, hypertrophy, eccentrics, isometrics, concentric, unilateral, different planes of motion, single joint, different joint angles, do you want me to keep going?

They train other exercises to build and add to the competition lifts. And you should too. It will make you a better powerlifter, it will make your training more enjoyable, it will help you be more well rounded, and it will help you avoid burnout.

Think of it this way. Training a movement builds the pyramid taller, but it’s hard to build taller when you have a narrow base. So build your base to allow for more growth.

If you want this type of guidance every week DM me “Join the Pack”!

Most of the time lifters gain some momentum and they use that to validate pushing harder… but then they overshoot, get upset, and all that momentum disappear. That’s not to say never push, but just to remember that training is linear. Just because you broke your PR last week doesn’t mean you’re going to do it again this week.

Less often, but still sometimes, lifters don’t believe how strong they are. When things start going well they pull back, or go searching for injury. Don’t be afraid of getting stronger. Have confidence and trust yourself to do hard things.

In short, if training is going well don’t change things up. Stay the course and do the work.

“We are always looking to change training. And most of you are probably looking to add more to training. We always seem to want to do more, but that's not always the right answer.”

Read the rest on the website or click the link in my bio!

Motivation is bu****it.

I said that to an athlete yesterday. Why?

Because motivation is temporary. It’s all too easily affected by emotions, pain, soreness, gym environment, your job, your home life, sleep, diet, life in general.

You can’t rely on motivation in the long term, there has to be discipline. There has to be something that gets you in the gym when you don’t want to.

Ask any “older” strength athlete and they’ll agree, the days that suck, the days when you don’t want to lift, are the most important training sessions.

Now I’m not trying to be all hardcore and say you have to train 6x a week at the exact same time and never miss a session. Life happens. Some days it is genuinely inappropriate to go train. Your 10 hour shift got extended to 12, you gotta go home and cook for the family, pack your kid’s lunch, or whatever it is, is a valid reason. (And that’s also why you should adjust training to what’s compatible with your life).

But even with the best workout plan that fits your schedule, your recovery, and has all your favorite exercises, there will still be days you don’t want to lift.

When talking to athletes about this we use the “Why Exercise”.

Ask yourself “Why do I train?”

Whatever is your answer, ask “why?” again.

Repeat this process.

It’ll be frustrating, you might need a day or more to answer one of those why’s.

But that why is really important on those off days. And it can be applied to tasks outside of lifting.

Listen to episode 7 of the where .brentwoodbarbell and I talk all things motivation.

Deadlift tip: stop pulling your heavy singles with straps.

There are 2 main reasons for this.

1. Grip (obviously). If you plan to pull it in competition, then you should be able to hold onto it. While you can do most of your work with straps (I do and have no grip issues), there should still be some grip work.

2. Straps change your starting position to be a little more advantageous. While it’s not much, when trying to move hundreds of pounds after 8 previous heavy lifts, that little extra length can make a difference (probably more important for sumo since the floor is usually the hardest part).

Simply put the risk of gripping the bar for heavy sets is pretty damn low compared to the risk of excessively using straps.

Basically, pull strapless enough to be confident in your grip, but not so often that you’re constantly butchering your hands.

Let’s paint a picture.

It’s Monday, you’re excited to go in and squat heavy. You’re expecting to add another 5, heck maybe even 10 lbs to the bar because you’re feeling so good.

As you’re working up the bar is feeling a bit heavier than you expected. Your last warmup moves a bit slow. So you play it “conservative” and only add 5lbs to what you did last week.

You amp yourself up, blast the music, visualize moving fast… and then grind out an ugly squat.

Now your back off sets are rough and the rest of your session just feels off. 4 exercises later you leave the gym.

Now was this a good or a bad day?

This sounds like a bad day, it feels like a bad day, and it definitely wasn’t as good as last Monday, but ya know what, I think it’s still a good day.

To me any day in the gym is automatically a better day. To still lift heavy is part of a good day (even if it was an ugly rep). To get all your volume in at a lower weight is a good day.

There will always be days where your performance is below expectations. So don’t hold onto your expectations as strongly, understand that your performance will fluctuate even if you have the “perfect” sleep, nutrition, and stress management.

Train with people.

Even introverts like me benefit from training partners.

You push each other.

You hold each other accountable.

You create competition where you each want the other to do their best.

If you have the chance to train with people, do it. You’ll have more fun, and probably see a bit more progress than going in solo with headphones on and never talking to another soul.