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Returning to the Gym After a Long Break - Beast Over Burden - #595 Oct 15, 2024

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Struggling to get back into the gym after a long break? Learn how to overcome mental and physical challenges and restart your fitness journey with our beginner's guide.

Returning to the Gym After a Long Break: Shift Your Mental Mindset

You went on a vacation, got sick, had a baby, were injured, or had your gym closed down. How do you get back to working out regularly?

Niki and Andrew first, of course, recommend that you probably want to avoid this situation if you can. Even if it's just some light bodyweight exercises, this is significantly better than no exercise.

The hardest aspect of this is in your head.

Once you take a break longer than about 3-5 days, you will find a significant decrease in performance. Because of this, you will have to deal address your expectations for what your body can do based on its past performance versus its current performance.

Focus on the habit of training and identify yourself as a lifter - you are someone who strength trains.

Lastly, remember that you are moving toward your goal, but that it will likely take longer than you would like (but in the grand scheme of things it will not take that long).

Returning to the Gym After a Long Break: Soreness & Other Physical Challenges

As you have to adjust your mindset, you also need to adjust the weight and volume. Begin with lower volume and lower weight. It is much better to err on the side of too light than too heavy. It will help you ease back into the program, build confidence, and enjoy the quick gains from the lower weight as opposed to quickly missing reps because you tried to begin as close to your limit as possible.

Expect that your second workout or second day at the gym will be harder than the first. Especially with the squat, you will experience soreness.

Remember that movement will help with soreness. Enjoy the shock to your system.

Beginning your strength training routine after a break should not be scary. Take it easy, adjust your mindset, and get back in the gym!

Share your experience with returning to the gym after a long break.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Should I Lift If I'm Tired? - Beast Over Burden - #593 Oct 08, 2024

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Should I lift if I'm tired? It depends, on your tendencies, goals, experience, normal state, and more. We help you answer for yourself if you should lift today.

Should I Train if I'm Tired? Experience & Tendencies

You're going to feel tired sometimes. What do you do if you feel tired? Should you train?

It depends.

Niki recently felt tired and ended up taking a nap instead of training. She has learned, over years and decades of training, that this occurs regularly, she knows she will train the next day. Niki loves training and knows she will train the next day.

You may begin to find similar patterns. Remember, though, most people seek to avoid training, so know your tendencies.

Andrew shares a different experience, where for a long period of time he was sleep-deprived and always tired. He has had to learn, over time, that he would feel better after training, but he also had to reduce the expectations. If he never trained when he was tired, he would never exercise. Expecting the weight to go up every workout, however, is creates a loop of disappointment, guilt, and can lead to missed training.

Should I Train if I'm Tired? Take Ownership of Your Training

Regardless of your decision, you have to own your decision and your training. If you skip today, own it, know why you did it, and do not let it break your training habit.

If you train, own that as well. Expecting PRs or the prescribed weight and volume may be counterproductive. Rather, aim to maintain the habit.

This is about behaviors and patterns that contribute to your quality of life and long-term goals. This is not about hacks, short cuts, or other snake oil. You have to put in the work over the long haul.

Should I train if I am tired? Find out!

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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How to Get Your Back Back - Beast Over Burden - #591 Oct 01, 2024

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Learn how to get your back back after a chronic injury. It takes patience, focus on recovery, and a focus on what is truly important.

How to Get Your Back Back: What Is Your Goal?

You have to remember what your goal is. What matters most to you?

Niki had an emotional attachment, built over years with baked-in assumptions she had to reevaluate, about the need for the weight on the bar to go up on a few lifts in a limited rep range.

She had to ditch this as the metric that mattered.

What she REALLY wanted was to build muscle mass, enjoy the gym, and limit or eliminate pain. Dreading the gym and waking up in pain every morning was not working.

Do you HAVE to deadlift to build muscle mass? No you do not. We love the deadlift, but if the deadlift is causing you to hate your workouts and be in pain all the time, then it is not moving you closer to your goals and you should ditch the deadlift.

Niki also decided to stop BJJ. While she enjoyed it, she was underrecovered and it was not bringing her closer to her most important goals.

How to Get Your Back Back: Patience

Instead of lifting heavy, Niki had to reduce stress and prioritize recovery. This first looked like lighter bodyweight and light implement movements. Then it moved onto machines. For Niki, the jump to machines was huge, because she was able to train hard without making her back worse.

Ironically, the crooked path toward her goal has brought her closer to PRs than the path of beating her head (or maybe her back) against the wall of pain, frustration, and trying to do the program.

She had to train curious and see if the exercise hurt, be ready to modify the weight or range of motion. She had to emotionally detach from weight on the bar. She had to rather focus on other things - did she wake up in pain. Did her back hurt during the workout?

Waking up without pain was a win aligned with her goals that was worth celebrating.

Learn how to get your back back.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Prioritizing Your Health - Beast Over Burden - #589 Sep 24, 2024

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Prioritizing your health helps boost all other priorities in your life. Respect yourself and your boundaries and learn how to prioritize your health, no matter what.

How to Prioritize Your Health: Set & Protect Boundaries

Do not allow work travel or other obligations cause you to abandon your priorities. If you lose your health your work and those other responsibilities will suffer.

Prioritizing your health means understanding this is important to you and putting time and effort into it, even when time and effort is severely limited.

When you fail to prioritize your health, not only does your work suffer, but you will likely feel growing resentment, as you have failed to defend your goals and have your actions reflect your core values.

Prioritizing Your Health During Travel & Difficult Times

For Andrew and Niki, investing in health during travel looks like consistently getting to the gym, maintaining a habit of walking, and picking better food choices.

This does not mean two hour workouts or the same diet one might eat during a strenuous cut.

It means, however, ensuring you maintaining the habit of exercise and working toward your goals. It means attempting to get 10,000 steps. It means looking for healthier food options, prioritizing protein and fiber insofar as you can.

You cannot completely let your guard down. You cannot relax your standards with reckless abandon. This is not how you accomplish your goals long-term.

This is especially important and true if you travel regularly.

Prioritizing your health means respecting yourself, your goals, and your boundaries.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Powerlifting Meet: Performance Under Pressure - Beast Over Burden - #587 Sep 17, 2024

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A powerlifting meet gives lifters and coaches an opportunity for performance under pressure. Learn the whys, hows, and whats of powerlifting meets. Learn about this and the exciting new International Barbell Federation (IBF).

Powerlifting Meets for Everyday Lifters

You don't have to be a 700 lb deadlifter to benefit from a strengthlifting meet.

People of all ages and backgrounds have found the purpose-organizing power of signing up for and preparing for a meet.

Putting the meet on the calendar gives a time and place where you need to perform. It helps you organize your training, eating, even vacations and such around this.

Sometimes, this is not appropriate. You might not want to schedule this when life is throwing you severe involuntary hardship.

Still, novices and experienced lifters, young and elderly, the painfully average or elite can benefit from adding this to their training. As a coach, the best way to get better at helping lifters at meets is to have your lifters go through meets. Second best way is going through a meet yourself.

Powerlifting Meet: The Power of the Platform

Beyond the training-organizing function, the environment of a meet - especially an in-person meet - is powerful.

People regularly experience PRs as they get cheered on.

On the other hand, the unique elements of a meet can throw people curve balls. You have judges and an open platform (as opposed to staring at a wall). You have less control over when you lift and have weird equipment and clothing. Judges may give you commands. You have to handle emotions.

With all this, it is certainly an experience worth having under your belt as a lifter and coach.

Try a powerlifting meet or strengthlifting meet, so you can perform under pressure.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Barbell Competition: Benefits & Tips - Beast Over Burden - #585 Sep 10, 2024

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Why participate in barbell competition, and if you decide to compete how do you approach it. Learn about this and the exciting new International Barbell Federation (IBF).

Barbell Competition Benefits

Andrew interviews Jordan Stanton, owner of Next Level Barbell and the Strength Union, both in or around Portland, OR, as well as former owner of the United States Strengthlifting Federation (USSF). As a gym owner, in-person coach, online coach, lifting federation owner, and competitive lifter, he has experienced barbell competition in all its aspects.

Why compete?

Competition focuses lifters' training, organizing it around a purpose connected to time. It also provides some motivation, not only mentally because the meet is on the calendar, but also to train hard and take recovery seriously.

Consider participating in an online or in-person meet, regardless of your training level.

Barbell Competition Tips & General Approach

Generally, you want to taper before a meet and practice heavy singles. You definitely need to be familiar with the rules of the meet. Having a coach can really help here.

For many, though, the most important thing is not stressing about the meet or how you do but simply experiencing the meet. Lift heavy as people cheer you on. See how all the different rules and aspects of a meet change your lifting and your training leading up to your programming.

Barbell Competition Online

The USSF went online during Covid. Now, the USSF has been reflagged and is the International Barbell Federation (IBF).

If you're seeing this before or in October 2024, sign up for the online meet from October 9-20, 2024.

You can do a powerlifting version (squat, bench press, deadlift) or strengthlifting version (squat, overhead press, deadlift).

Make sure you read the rules and ensure you execute accordingly the day you lift.

An online meet is a great lower stress way to compete in your normal environment, not having to take a day out to go somewhere and spend most of the day competing.

Consider participating in barbell competition as part of your overall training approach, even if just one time.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Unshakeable Confidence - Beast Over Burden - #583 Sep 03, 2024

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When you know you have a good product, service, or solution, you have unshakeable confidence. How do you develop this? Learn what this is and how you develop it!

Unshakeable Confidence: Is It Possible & What Is It?

Andrew saw a video of someone handing out bags of money and reacting to people accepting or not accepting it.

Seems pretty crazy, to turn a bag of money, right!?

Now, in a big city, we can acknowledge that people might not fully understand what is going on, might be skeptical, and other reasons may exist. But in a situation this obvious - do you want free money? - the person handing it out is not insulted if you turn it down.

Why? Well, because this person is delivering such obvious value.

Andrew realized that when you know you have a good product, good service, good solution, this is how you react to rejection. You don't get incredibly defensive or emotional. You might take it as a learning opportunity.

While you want to spread the word about the good thing you have, your emotions are not so wrapped up in defending the value because you know, deep down, this thing has value.

Unshakeable Confidence: How to Develop It

Be honest with yourself and invest in ability, integrity, and benevolence. If the product needs work, be honest with yourself. That might be part of your pitch and you should charge accordingly.

For example, if you are trying to become a coach, you might initially charge nothing or very little and pitch it as something that will likely provide them value while allowing you to improve your coaching. If they receive value, request a testimonial.

Pick something that keeps you curious, and grow and expand your limits within that thing. Improve your craft. Improvement requires honesty, because you have to acknowledge your deficiencies and work to improve those areas.

When it comes to sales, this will look like not being obsessed with closing the sale, but rather offering a service where you help the other make a decision. Occasionally, it will not be a good fit. That's okay. Do not force something bad when it does not make sense.

Develop unshakeable confidence and then deliver.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Stronger Means Harder to Kill - Beast Over Burden - #581 Aug 27, 2024

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Stronger means harder to kill, more able to fulfill your work and domestic obligations, and more useful overall.

Listen to Matt's talk to the Tactical Response alumni. This group of people cares about being prepared, protecting themselves and their loved ones, and more capable overall. If they are weak, however, they have a gap, and they need to be stronger. This applies to you too.

Stronger Means Harder to Kill

Would you like to be harder to kill, more resilient, healthier, and more useful overall or softer, easier to kill, more susceptible to death and sickness, and a burden on others?

If you're weak, you have a gap that needs to be addressed. You need to get stronger.

Getting stronger is brutally simple. Eschew complication, follow the simple, hard, effective way. Receive the greatest return investment for your time and effort by following basic barbell movements such as the squat, bench press, deadlift, and press.

Strength is about overcoming cancer, staying out of a nursing home, becoming a better father or mother. It is about building the confidence to regularly do hard things, and to be more prepared when involuntary hardship comes.

Act now! Exercise today and work toward training to get stronger and harder to kill.

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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2024 Olympics Wrap-Up - Beast Over Burden - #579 Aug 20, 2024

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We cover the good, the bad, and the ugly in the recent games in this 2024 Olympics Wrap-Up. 2024 Olympics Wrap-Up: the Impressive & the Controversial

You have to admit it, Olympians' performances are impressive.

The amount of work over years and decades is immense. Genetic gifts abound, but so do mindset and work ethic abilities.

Olympians' RPE 10 is not the same as our RPE 10.

We value voluntary hardship and appreciate what the human body can do. We stand in awe of the excellence on display in the Olympics, but rather than demotivate us it inspires us. In some small way, we get to participate in the same pursuit to not accept mediocrity and burdening others, but improving ourselves.

Enjoy this 2024 Olympics Wrap-Up!

PS - If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out here.

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Back Pain: Causes, Treatments, & Red Flags for Lifters - Beast Over Burden - #577 Aug 13, 2024

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Back pain for lifters can be scary & frustrating & varies in severity. Learn the causes, treatments, approaches, & red flags as a lifter and coach.

Rebekah Krieg, Exclusive Coach & former long-time physical therapist, discusses back pain, how to approach it as a lifter and coach, and red flags contraindicate training.

Back Pain for Lifters: Part of the Human Experience

Back pain happens.

Whether an MRI of your back would look "normal" or "bad," back pain seems to be part of the human experience for those who exercise and train and those who do not.

It is better, all things being equal, to train and strengthen your low back. A strong back is a resilient low back.

Back pain comes in many intensities and durations, from the short-term tweaks, to the multi-month or year variety, to chronic back pain.

As lifters and coaches, we have to approach back pain with some flexibility but basic principles, an openness to refer out, active listening to our clients.

Back Pain for Lifters: Treatments & Approaches

The general approach is to focus on what you can do.

If a lifter experiences a tweak during the workout, a general approach is to do the following:

reduce load first
next, reduce range of motion
next, vary the exercise selection
be prepared to end the workout

As a coach, do not encourage or support client catastrophizing. Training curious, see what works. Even if the workout has to be ended, most likely the client will feel better after a day or two and with something easy movements like bending over at the waist to get blood flowing into the back.

Motion is lotion.

For someone with new back that comes in, encourage them to see how the back feels after a warm up (and likely a slower, longer warm up). If they are still not feeling good, than follow the steps above. Often times, though, they will feel better after a warm up.

If someone comes in with chronic back pain, they are used to back pain. Focus on excellent technique and be more conservative with them. Ensure that the back pain does not get worse, and see if it gets better. Communication will be critical, and you may include a back pain metric that helps you and the client ensure pain monitoring is a regular part of the coaching process.

If the back pain is bad and normal enough, they might never do the conventional deadlift. Focus on what they can do. If the conventional deadlift or low bar squat causes significant pain or things to get worse, it does not make sense to force them into these movement patterns.

Back Pain for Lifters: Red Flags that Contraindicate Training

Sometimes, clients should not even warm up. If the client reports any sudden loss of function since the back pain, this contraindicates training. Below is a longer list:

lack of bowel control
sexual dysfunction
bilateral pain
loss of motor function (e.g. foot drop)

Do NOT let them warm up. They need to go to the doctor.

Bekah even has said that she has had to fire a client who would not follow her recommendations and guidelines for lifting and would not see a doctor. This may be the kindest thing you can do to them.

What type of glaring signal might it send to someone that a coach will no longer take their money unless they change their behaviors?

Back pain for lifters and coaches can be frustrating and scary. Do not catastrophize, follow some basic steps and principles, and do not be afraid to refer out to another healthcare professional.

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