The Fundamental Training Rules

[Spartigus]

Hey guys!

A friend of mine sent me this article, and I think it sums up the most important concepts in lifting. I think every person, especially people starting out should internalize this.

Though most people here already live this

Part Animal, Part Machine

I get an inordinate amount of questions on the EFS Q/A, email, and Facebook. Most of them are pretty easy to answer and just need a push in the right direction. But there are many, MANY questions from people that go into great detail about their special situation; how they’d like to do “this” but can’t do “that” or are so misguided due to the massive amount of information out there. I admit it can all get a bit confusing.

But without an anchor in your training, you will do nothing but float out to sea – helpless and taking in water. Eventually you will submerge, tread water for a bit and either get eaten by sharks or just sink to the bottom. I’ve seen it for 2 decades now. But it’s time to take a stand for what YOU believe in.

Besides not having the Training Anchor, people are too focused on tomorrow and NOT on today. The best example I can give is the game of football, something of which I can speak on some authority. Every team would like to win. But in order to win the game, you have to win the play. This means doing the right thing NOW. Maybe it’s a cut block, plugging a gap or simply making sure you have contain.

If everyone does everything right EVERY PLAY, the game’s outcome is usually a win. Unfortunately, the eyes sometimes leave the grind of the ground and get too focused on the horizon. When this happens you lose sight of what is important – the play.

After much thought, here are the Training Rules of Being Awesome. You can make your own, using this template but make sure you have a reason and you believe in them. What I do ask for you is to stick to them for 5 years and see where you stand; if you are true to your rules, you will be part animal, part machine.

1. Your program will be based on 4 exercises: squat, bench press, deadlift and the press.

2. You will train in the weight room 2-4 days/week.

3. You will do some kind of “hard” conditioning 3 days/week. This consists of pushing the Prowler, running hills, running stadium steps or pushing a car. If it looks hard and awesome, do it. If your mom can do it, put it aside until you go through menopause.

4. You can do any kind of assistance work that you want provided that you do chin-ups/pull-ups and either barbell or dumbbell rows.

5. If you are fat and out of shape, you must do some kind of conditioning every day. If I were fat and out of shape, I’d be pushing a Prowler every day to combat the adipose.

6. You will not program jump and hop on the latest trend – your program should be flexible enough to adjust/tweak to include new ideas while maintaining the core principles and integrity of the program.

7. Diet –If you need to lose fat: eat good food, less crap and eat “right” 90% of the time. If you need to gain weight: eat more food. This is not a hard concept.

8. Your body is not different than anyone else but your attitude can be.

9. You will not be impatient; the grind is where character is made. Focus on what you have to do TODAY to make tomorrow better. This is a lifelong project.

10. Whenever you lose focus, consult this list to clear your head and get you back on track. And when in doubt, squat and run hills.

Taken from here T NATION | Training Lab LiVESPILL

[big_swede]

Wendlers hatebox on t-nation is great reading, read that same article a couple o days ago and it rocks.

[BendtheBar]

As I told Swede, that about sums up my personal philosophies. At least the lifting and eating parts.