House flooded. Standby.

1. Here is an interesting article that will be useful for a very small percentage of you. I’ll explain why in a later post, but it’s an interesting read.

2. I’ve explained this in a comment, but not everyone reads all of the comments.
I’m not hurting for writing ideas. When I write something for the site, I’ll write out my draft, then go back through it at least once and edit it to make it more concise and vigorous. The process of writing a simple post takes, at the minimum, 30 minutes for a useful and entertaining article (the average time would be over an hour). There are times when I a) don’t want to spend my night writing a post, b) don’t have time to spend my night writing a post, and c) am not in the mood to be moderately entertaining in the post. Hardly any of you care when I write about something in a dry manner (although its application is very useful for you — example). The two posts with the highest page views and individual visitors are this and this. The first post is me in a speedo and the second is Rachel in a sports bra. That’s totally fine with me (I’m amused by the former), but the reality is that hardly any of you will give a hoot unless I’m thoroughly entertaining.

If one of the above reasons occurs and I’m not planning on writing a proper article, then I’ll usually post a video, picture, or story as a filler. I’ll remind you that this website has posted five days a week for over a year, and I don’t have much compensation aside from the fact that I’m helping a lot of people. I’m not asking for anything, I’m just pointing out that it’s a variable in deciding whether or not I’m going to spend an hour or two out of my day providing daily content.

Luckily you can do something about this. You can send me videos, pictures, stories, questions, testimonials, and the like that have anything to do with 70’s Big (literal or allegorical), strength training, food, conditioning, fitness, women who train, etc. This will give me “filler” content in between posts where I actually do write out an original article/post.

3.

I got an e-mail from Aaron and the subject was, “I owe you an apology”. ‘Well, it’s about time,” I thought, not knowing what he was talking about.

I’ve read all of your posts about wearing a belt while training, and each time I’ve kinda rolled my eyes like a douche-nozzle and told myself that I don’t have any need for a belt.

However, this past Friday (deadlift Friday, a holy day of obligation for my friends and I) my friend asked if I wanted to try out a belt, for shits and giggles. I agreed because I saw no harm in using one. Sure enough, I take my 90’s small previous 1RM of 275 and pull it for an easy 5 reps. Despite being exhausted from my previous work sets, I knew that a jump to 300 was an absolute must. I strained for several seconds as my head filled with blood, but I got that son of a bitch off the floor and all the way up.

Despite the fact that the belt was way too big and I had no prior experience with a belt, I got a 25 lb PR. As much as I hate to admit wrongdoing, you are absolutely correct about weight belts and anyone who doesn’t use one is wrong.

It’s also worth mentioning that since I started reading your site I’ve gained 20 lbs, increased my PR’s on every lift, AND taken 1:30 off my Marine Corps PFT run time. Increased size and strength does not always mean a slower runner.

Respectfully,
Aaron

These are Aaron’s PFT improvements.
Crunches — 26 to 67
Pull-ups — 8 to 13
3 mile run — 22:30 to 21:00

Aaron also told me that his PFT score doesn’t do justice to his overall physical improvement, saying, “I also play club hockey for my University and my speed, endurance, and strength along the boards have all gone through the roof.” Nice job, Aaron.

How has strength benefited you lately?
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Random video: The mother of all training montages.

Just like the last one.

Post results in comments by Sunday October 3. That gives you three weeks.

Heaviest single in one session of snatch, clean & jerk, squat, bench press, deadlift. For rules and posting results, go here.

Ask questions in the comments of this thread (after reading the other page).