In my time on earth and under a bar, I've noticed a few things about the "fitness industry" and its participants. There are many different types of fitness enthusiast but more often that not they share a similar trait of specified training. Staying inside their box while they judge the outsiders. I never fit that mold very well. I like to do too many different tings, sometimes simultaneously i.e. writing this and shitting.
I started or restarted my strength goals while watching worlds strongest man in my 20's, and wondering why I had let myself become such a weak pathetic tub of pig shit. Even then I knew I wasn't going to pick the bar back up and regain my late teens V-taper or boyish good looks, but I had to chip away at weakness a day and week at a time. Also, it was imperative that I grow a beard. More on that later.
I made a lot of mistakes early on. Diet was terrible, calories were low often times. Hell even today I still don't drink enough water. I did too much cardio, I didn't practice good form on lifts, and the lifts I chose weren't the core strength lifts, they were ez bar curls and calf raises.
Still, somehow I ended up with back muscles. I'll never figure that one out.
Then I fell into the trap. Not TRAP like the neckatles I walk around with. The YouTube trap.
I used to be a YouTube lifter, I used to compare myself with people across the country or globe and train "feats." What I mean by "feats" is a one time, holy shit I got it on camera, type of lift or movement. My first 70+ hub lift was a feat video, double overhand deadlifting a 2" axle for a one rep max was a feat, trying to bend a grade 5 bolt supersetted with a 405 front squat was a feat.
Being a YouTube lifter is easy. Create an account, search for videos of a feat you think you can almost do and then try like fuck to do it on camera until you make it. There are a lot of deleted video files on the path to YouTube Stardom. But keep it up, literally 10's of people are watching.
The problem is that I didn't "train." Instead, I made YouTube content the same way I THOUGHT others did, I'd warm up to a max attempt on something day after day and week after week. I wasn't putting in the work, no real volume. It was just one giant internet pissing contest between me and the world, and my bladder was exhausted.
The pitfall of constantly testing was stagnation. I plateaued and flat lined for a while. Once I started training for the future, instead of the here and now, gains began to roll in and pr's arrived.
10 week cycles became the norm. Prescribed reps and set schemes, programmed mock meets 2+ months away was laid before me. Written as a vague templates in ebooks (written by people waaaay stronger than me) for me to sharpen and mold to myself.
This type of training saw me the greatest results. It kept me in check, but kept me working hard at the same time. But the one thing I missed was the "test."
Not the hormone, trust me I've got that one covered (This is where the beard comes back into play.) I mean testing, actually seeing how good you have become.
It used to be ALL I did, literally. But to gamble a couple of 10 week cycles on a PR one day 4-5 months from now was a tough adaptation. It's probably a sign of my generation, wanting quick results. But I look at it like I would my wife baking a pumpkin pie. There's a reason why there's a glass window on the front of the oven. We don't just set the timer and hope for the best. We peek at that little fucker to make sure it isn't on fire.
Why?
cause we want to eat that fucker. Just like we want that PR.
For me, my oven window is the rep max or AMRAP set. A simple set that not only supports BUILDING strength, but also acts as a gauge as to probable strength levels.
This week, I'm 6 weeks into a 10 week cycle. It's tough to fight off that feeling of wanting to let a few singles fly after the boring rep work of the day. Instead, I tested an AMRAP at 80%. (Not 80% OF 90% like some ebooks suggest, I mean like 80% of the actual most I've ever lifted in a meet.)
Well guess what, got 9 reps on bench. That's a 2 rep PR. ...a PR, ...one that I can compare in the future to the past. A set that not only told me where I was at, but helped me to get where I'm headed.
That's roughly 4 1/2 reps PER TIT!!
This isn't a novel concept or one that I have in anyway helped to create. In fact some ebook templates even encourage or prescribe AMRAP sets. For me, AMRAP sets or REP PR sets help keep me engaged in the program and embolden my resolve to stay the course.
"They" say the best time to change a program is a month BEFORE you plateaued.
...well how the fuck would you KNOW?! Testing at the end of a normal 10 week cycle is like Christmas, all the presents at once for being good all cycle. But testing AMRAP's is like Hanukkah! PRESENTS OUT THE ASS...
It's good to check in and see where the fuck you're at every month or so. I used to be a YouTube lifter, now I'm a lifter with a YouTube account.
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