George writes:

“A long, agonizing series of failures and awkward moments hasn’t completely destroyed my self-confidence or belief that I’m a normal person”
Brent,
I feel that I am working towards this but am not quite there yet. Any tips for getting to that next level?

Nothing kills your will to live more than to hope. It is the most fragile thing in existence and is the basis for most, if not all, the things we care about the most. Hope for things and watch them not happen, watch them go away, realize they never existed to begin with. Parts of you will die. If you are strong enough or give enough fucks you’ll mob those parts of you and stop hoping and start working. They still may not happen. It’ll be fine. Pain is a construct of the mind. Do you feel your faith waning? Is it worth believing in? Talk to me, George. What do you believe in?

Friday I snatch pulled to above the knee + snatched 225lbs, which I have been trying to do for like 3 weeks it’s fucking fine. C+Jed up to like 275lbs? Made a run at 295lbs and missed the jerk. Back squat 415lbs x 2 I think.

On Saturday I snatched and c+jed like shit, didn’t snatch anything meaningful, c+jed up to 275lbs, cleaned 295lbs.

High-bar back squat 415lbs x 2, pulled 425lbs x 2 with a hook grip + 2 more singles, attempted 435lbs and got it about 2 inches off the floor it’s fine. I could deadlift more. Though I think it’s official that I can pull all my worksets/competition attempts with the hook grip now. Not that it fucking matters if it’s fucking less than 500lbs what the fuck is this shit.

I did some GHRs after this along with some db delt raises (front and lateral) and some curls. Honestly? Honestly? Honestly? The curls were the best part of the workout because I got 105lbs x 10 and 115lbs x like 8 with the strictest form I’ve ever done those weights and reps. This is not to say they were very strict sets. Get fucked please. But the curls were the only thing that I did today that didn’t make me want to fucking quit lifting forever and pick up sudoku or maybe collecting stamps.

Best writes:

Brent,
I max out everyday. Thought you might like to know that.
It’s really a great day in Newport Beach today, lots of chicks out in bikinis, people drinking having a good time in the sun, 77°; how’s Texas?

I wouldn’t know, I didn’t leave the apartment this weekend.

hamburgerfan writes:

I just benched 265 for a paused double. Couldn’t make it a triple. I weigh like 60 lbs more than you. How do I stop being such a dickless mormon at benching? Wait, why am I even asking you this?

Dunno.

My bench started getting a lot better when I started doing dips, tacked-and-stretched my distal tris, cleaned up my shoulder extension, and took care of some soft-tissue grittiness in my pecs. Since then I’ve made some pretty consistent progress.

The db delt work may contribute a little as well? I want to say that my humeral abduction feels a lot more solid in the bench, and the db delt work seems like it might benefit that kind of movement.

To be fair, the PL community would think my bench is a fucking joke anyway. Oh you /just/ now got within range of a 300lbs competition bench? Age 18 called, it wants you to know you’re a fucking never-was. The has-beens beat you to it.

My bench won’t make me want to fucking kill myself when it’s like 160kg/352lbs @ 77kg/170lbs bw maybe.

Tom writes:

The log says Shrug Thug on the 70′s Big website, but the guy who writes it weighs 156lbs and never does shrugs. I feel so used and upset.

I just want to be sure that everyone knows that I gave myself the nickname to mock myself, and then a lot of the people in the community loved it and thought it was the greatest thing ever. This wasn’t the effect I was going for, I just wanted to make some single-serving dick head joke.

Broseph writes:

Brent, what song is this?

Since you already found out, let me recommend this one as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPbbVfTxEQY

also

if you’re into nihilistic cinema

What the fuck other kind of cinema do you think I’m going to be in?

becky writes:

so i was doing my weighted pull ups at the UNT gym tonight and i was working in with a pretty nice guy. well, we got talking and he told me i need to get some gloves to protect my hands. it all happened so quickly that i wasn’t able to conceal my gut reaction. i don’t know exactly what the face looked like that i gave him or how harsh the shoulder shrug looked or what exact interpretation he took out of my “well, ummmm…”
…but after that he didn’t really talk to me anymore.
i’m guessing the way he felt was similar to something that you avoid when you decide not to bother trying to approach girls in the first place. i mean, he tried…and it didn’t go so well. so i guess now i can see why someone would hesitate and/or back out altogether. he must have been miserable in that moment.

All pain is transient. Everything he feels now won’t matter in a year. Or he’ll have killed himself. Either way – he’ll be fine. This, too, shall come to pass. If these are concepts he doesn’t believe in, he won’t survive.

I strongly support your reaction, not because I dislike the guy for recommending gloves, just because I know that the next time he does pull ups he’ll PR by 5 reps or +10lbs, gloves or not. You did the right thing. You’re making him better. He should thank you for hurting his feelings, assuming he gave a fucking shit. Hopefully he didn’t. Hopefully he goes home to someone who likes his personality and entertains the idea of staying with him for a while. Hopefully he is pursuing something he believes in with passion and doesn’t have time to care about every slight. Hopefully he goes to bed with a smile on his face and wakes up full of hope for the day. Hopefully his heart is not so bloodied that he has to blog about it to strangers who popcorn.gif the fuck out of his rapidly accelerating descent into utter and complete despair.

Karibot writes:

Oh, girl. Confession time: I’ve said some pretty bitchy things to dudes who have made similar “suggestions”. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether they’re just being douchey or they’re trying to flirt.
Becky: I think it’s safe to say that you crushed this man. I mean: he was working in with a lady doing WEIGHTED PULL-UPS. But he told you to get gloves! GLOVES! What are we supposed to DO in situations like these?

I’ve flirted with girls in the gym before, always crashed and burned real fucking hard. One time I thought I did well but she ignored me the next time I talked to her. I’ll tell this story in the next post, you guys need to be sure to remind me.