Harder

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Getting stronger is a process that demands that you get smarter by learning from mistakes. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? You just go to the gym, have a “workout”, get strong, occasionally mess up, but fix it and keep “working out”…right?

No, sir. The process of training is grueling. It can be fun when training with friends, pumping loud music, having a grand ol’ time. But for most of us, we don’t get that luxury. We’re in a gym, a garage, or a “fitness adventure”…alone with our thoughts. There isn’t anyone there to encourage crushing the first set of squats or to hit a sixth snatch in a row. Each set, each rep requires that you make a decision: “Do I give it my all here?” Doing it on every rep isn’t easy.

It would be pretty easy to not try. It would be easy to slack on some reps, to not bounce the hell out of a squat or not finish the pull on your cleans. Sure, it’d be easy. It’d be so easy to quit. It’s much easier to quit than do something hard, so why bother?

Fuck. That. Never avoid doing something that’s hard. Avoiding “hard” makes you a coward, and you can never experience or learn anything by being a coward. By convincing yourself to do something that’s hard when you don’t want to, you won’t just grow physically. You display a quality of strength that correlates and resonates far beyond the barbell. By overcoming the difficult, that process sets you up for success. Your thoughts formulate your feelings, your feelings compose your emotions, your emotions are exhibited through your actions, and your actions define who you are. By structuring your thoughts to tackle difficult challenges, to strive towards success regardless of the obstacle, you formulate into a better person. You manifest into 70’s Big.

Happy PR Friday (post PR’s to comments)


34 thoughts on “Harder”

  1. Justin,

    How do you feel about heavy squat lockouts? Are they a useful exercises for raw lifters?

    I don’t see the utility other than time under tension and working all the isometric supportive structures. I consider regular lifting and progressive overload to do the job just fine. But I don’t program them, haven’t used them myself, and don’t have anyone do them that I’ve coached (Mike has 551 comp squat, Chris 644, AC 534 I think (he barely missed 551 cause he closed his eyes, he’ll get that and more at the next meet methinks) — all raw and un-drugged). I don’t like them from the bottom position on the squat since it eliminates the important and useful stretch reflex. Jacob Tsypkin has played around with them, but if they are done I think it’s important to progress into them (as with anything). It’s easy to stress the back weird by doing them.

    –Justin

  2. Jake,

    i do them every day

    helps if you do them 3″ above parallel with briefs on, warm up with the suit on but straps down, don’t put the straps up until your 2nd or 3rd single past 85%, after that do 3-5 negatives only with around 130% over your best 1rm to get the groove down

    finish up with anadrol immediately after

  4. Jake,

    I use squat ‘walkouts’ leading up to a meet to get a feel for a really heavy barbell on my back. I feel it helps me from getting freaked out when going for a new max. Usually load the bar up to 50lbs over what i’m hoping to do at the meet, and hold it for 10 or 15 seconds.

  7. PR’s…

    300lb 5×5 squat
    425 1 rep DL
    And managed to somehow hurt my should trying to bench a 185lb warmup set… pisses me off. Gonna have to lay off dips and bench for a couple of workouts.

  9. 280lbs 3×5 squats.
    Still no fucking camera though. ha.
    I dunno what the issues were before to be honest… Maybe it’s just the fact I’ve got no useful pals and have to hang around at the Y and watch sprayed-on-tanned troglodytes do Bicep curls. Less than inspiring. Anyways, Brent weighs near the same as me (I of course have no where near the level of experience he does) and if a 165 pound person can lift what he does, I’ve got to get under the bar and make it happen. Plain and simple.

  10. @Abzstrak
    bummer. I benched for the first time last week since my power meet in Feb and my right shoulder hasn’t felt as good as before benching since.

  11. @Calfofwar You’ll get there if you try as hard as him (use at least as much Test). One of these times now, he’ll get a random drugtest from usapl and have his state squat records stripped.

    I lol’d at this. If Brent actually takes test/drugs like he threatens, he’ll be like Bolo, or whatever that Asian guy in Blood Sport is named.

    –Justin

  12. PRs:
    Squat: 390.5 lbs
    Bench: 286 lbs
    Deadlift: 412.5 lbs
    Other: Competed in my first powerlifting meet and took the bronze in my
    weight class (198).

    Clothing: After ripping through all of my suits I bought three new ones
    yesterday. In two years I’ve gone from jacket size 38 to 46 and from pants
    size 32 to 42. Of course the waist of the pants is way too big but I had to
    get that size to accommodate my hips and legs. I was hoping to buy “athletic
    cut” suits (wider chest, slimmer waist, bigger legs) that I’ve heard about
    before, but the salesman informed me that those were phased out 15 or 20
    years ago. I assume to accommodate the 90s small populace.

    After 4 months without missing a training session and competing, I took a
    week off this week. Next week I’ll get back on TM+2 conditioning
    workouts/week.

  14. I got 310 for 5 reps on bench press and it felt light. 3 plates next week. On another note I missed my 5th rep on my 360 squat. I’m fucking pissed. I’m gonna kill that bitch next week, but at this rate my bench is going to surpass my squat. Keep on keeping on.

  15. Moving to a new house with a 3 car garage. Stoked to have more room. Not stoked that the ceilings are lower and overhead work from a 2 1/4″ platform is going to put the weight through the ceiling. I wish I wasn’t 6’5″ for the first time in my life. Gonna have to get creative or go outside and annoy the neighbors.

  18. Thanks for the kick in the butt Justin! Decided to try 3x5x315 today instead of the scheduled LP 3x5x305 and made it without much difficulty.

  20. I took a two week break from lifting, and today was my first day back.

    squat: warmup
    130kg: 3×5
    142.5kg: 5×2
    I’m still working on finding a comfortable bar position. 130 was not easy, and the 2nd rep of all of the sets w/142 weren’t much fun either.

    DL: warmup
    130kg: 1×5
    142.5kg: 5×2

    Felt pretty good, was really trying to keep form acceptable. Had to hook grip the last 3 sets w/142.

    conditioning: Prowler+100kg:11x25m

    I haven’t do anything for conditioning in a few months…not fun.

  21. Bodyweight: up to 196. Most I’ve weighed in a long time.

    I’ve dropped the weights in order to do as well as I can on the S&CP and milk the gains for as much as possible. This is what I did this week:

    Squat: 250x5x3 sets
    Press: 130x5x3
    Power clean: 145x3x5
    Bench: 195x5x3
    Deadlift: 335×5

    Power cleans feeling a lot better form-wise, and I think I’m getting used to deadlifting in my belt, thanks to some advice from Justin. Trying to figure out how to get some lifting shoes and milk for cheap. The shoes here cost $230-ish for a pair of asics, and 1 liter of milk (roughly a quarter gallon) costs about $2. Don’t think that I’ll be able to afford GOMAD for a long time :(

  23. PR’s this week
    Squat 115k x 7
    Bench 82.5 x 7
    Press 52.5 x 8
    Deads 137.5 x 7

    Good work on competing Maslow, did you find lifting on the platform to be an adrenalin rush? Congrats on the bronze

  25. I needed this post, as I’ve been in a training slump for the past few weeks. This involved me feeling sorry for myself for no good reason and crying when I missed a front squat. Good times.

    To be positive, my neck feels great, and I’ve been seeing a lot of progress with the mobility work that I’ve been doing.

    I pulled 240 lbs yesterday double overhand, no hook. That’s not a deadlift PR, but it’s definitely a PR pulling double overhand.

    Also, everyone should get ready to come to Asheville soon, as my gym will be open in the next 6-8 weeks, and I will be hosting a 70’s Big workshop there.

  26. This Weeks PRs

    Squat 445 3×5
    Bench 305 3×5
    Press 190 3×5

    Squat felt way too easy. So victories considering I got my ass kicked trying to PR on Snatch and Clean but failed miserably. If anyone has advice on how to not suck at them I’m open to suggestions.

  28. PRs:

    Bench: 275X5, 260X3X5

    Did full snatch and full clean for the first time, getting 75kg and 115kg. They’re technically PRs since before this week they were zero and zero.

  29. Hey Adam from Japan,

    If milk is so expensive why not eat more trout or salmon. Fish is cheap over there, right? Maybe some Korean BBQ? Is anything cheap over there?

  34. DL’d 4 wheels for the first time on Thursday, and Squatted 3 wheels for the first time today. Had a couple more lbs in the tank for the Squat I think, and definitely a few more on the DL. I just can’t seem to get that 245 Bench for some reason, though. All of this is for 1 rep, btw.

    It’s probably not the most conducive to progress (I think I mentioned this on PR Friday last week), but I’ll be doing more maxing over the next week…really want a 1k total before I turn 18 on May 4th. Probably looking at Squat and Bench later this week (looking for ~325 and 245), and DL on Tues. the 3rd (gonna go for whatever I need to make 1k, so probably 430)…gonna be tough!

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