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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. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Take action and train because time & strength wait for no one. Get the most out of your training, & don't spend any more time without barbell training. Take Action and Train: Time & Strength Waits for No One Time is our most valuable asset because we can never earn more of it. We can make changes to make more money. We cannot make changes to earn more time (though we can make changes to spend our time in more valuable ways). You do not want to spend another year, month, week, or even day without moving toward your health and fitness goals. You do not want to be ten years older having not trained. Not only will you be no closer to your goals, you may be further away. Furthermore, you will have lost ten years' time to train and reap those benefits. But there is no better time to begin training than now. Make the change now. If you're short on time, that is no problem: spend time with simple, hard, effective training that delivers the minimum effective dose for maximum return on investment. Take Action and Train: MED Strength Training for Maximum Value You get no better return on your investment of time and effort than using compound barbell movements, such as the squat, press, deadlift, and bench press. Too many people - especially template peddlers - know because all they are selling is a program, they need to show off by including complexity and many exercise. Because of this, these programs often take 2-3 hours and have needless complexity, as it looks like you received more value with the longer, more complex workouts. Simple, hard, effective is the way. If you're extremely limited on time, you may even simply perform one exercise a day. You don't know how much benefit you can get from how little time. It is not easy, but it is simple. It is brutally simple and brutally effective. Take action and train today. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Tackling tweaks can be terrifying. You're lifting and suddenly - OUCH - pain. We discuss how to handle these tweaks. Tackling Tweaks: Don't Catastrophize You're lifting, all is going well, then suddenly you feel pain. What do you do? How do you handle this? Why me, why now!? It can be easy to catastrophize, to immediately assume the worst. The reality is, your workout may be over, it may not be, you may be able to do something. You want to do what you can do, and most tweaks may affect one or two workouts but will have a quick return to normal. Tackling Tweaks: Step-by-Step Andrew & Niki break down how Niki dealt with a recent adductor tweak and how this can apply to similar situations for you. Evaluate for red flags Calm down Check for range of motion Incrementally start loading it The first two steps may be interchangeable, but first check in with your body. Do you feel tingling? Is there bruising or swelling? Is it unilateral or bilateral? If you feel tingling or see bruising or swelling, it is more than a tweak. Depending on how you are feeling, you may need to calm down. This may involve sitting or walking around. Check for range of motion. Move into a position of discomfort and see if it gets better or worse. Stop if it gets worse. Then, assuming you encounter no red flags, begin to load incrementally. It is probably a good idea to do the movement slow and controlled - maybe a tempo variation with a pause. You may adjust the movement to limit the involvement of the muscle that hurts. Winning may look like getting some movement done - it will likely not look like getting the programmed workout done. Tackling tweaks does not have to be terrifying. Learn how. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

How does consistency help us reach our goals? We explore the fundamental but undervalued lynchpin to success that is consistency. Consistency: Lynchpin for Success Repeated action brings you toward your goal. Obviously, if you want to learn Latin, you need to study Latin regularly - studying Mandarin Chinese will not help. That being said, a mediocre plan that you consistently follow is better than the "perfect" plan followed sporadically. Fitness influencers like to argue about the perfect program, the best exercises, the proper technique, and many other things. None of these things matter if you do not train regularly. The difficult part of this is that you have to put in the effort for a long time before seeing the results you want. Consistency: Compliance & Technique This is about actions, not outcome, though the actions bring you to your desired outcome. Compliance - following the actions that bring you toward your goal - does not mean following a rigid plan perfectly without any possibility or flexibility for deviation. Rather, it means regularly performing actions that bring you toward your goal no matter what. You train whether you are motivated or not. That may mean bodyweight exercises, shorter workouts, fewer workouts, but it means you do not "go dark" for periods of time. Consistency of technique, as it relates to strength pursuits, is also undervalued. Having a repeatable way to perform an exercise helps provide a clear measuring stick, let's you know if you completed a repetition or not, helps prevent injury, and targets the muscle groups as desired. Pursue consistency, because nothing matters as much as this. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn how to get beyond the sticking points, where failure and quitting too often arise but opportunity and long-term success await those who intelligently persevere. Minimum Effective Action: Where is the Progress? PRs have stopped, you're not feeling as good as you had been, you'll not looking forward to your time in the gym like you had been. Sometimes it takes longer to realize than you would think, but suddenly you realize things are not going as you would like them to go (and as they had been before). What do you do? Because recovery is the limiting factor, it is helpful to think through different areas of your life that contribute to recovery and where you might be falling short or missing the mark: sleep (quality & quantity) eating (quality, quantity, consistency) alcohol protein routine (do you have one right now?) stress You will likely identify an area or multiple where you are not doing as well as you can. For example, maybe you've fallen out of your normal routine during the summer, partly by drinking more. The drinking has reduced your sleep quality and quantity and also your protein and fiber. Tightening things up, reducing alcohol, and reestablishing your routine can help. Minimum Effective Action: Consistency & Path of Least Resistance Identifying the path forward when you want to make changes can be hard. Really, the simple, hard, effective way is the way forward. Focus on one or two things, and do them consistently. The change needs to be something you can see yourself doing indefinitely. IT needs to become a habit, so that when you do not have discipline OR motivation, it is the easy thing to do. For example, for Andrew and Niki they feel bad when they do not work or they eat bad food. It has become easy for them to eat healthier and train because otherwise they very quickly identify they feel bad and see the negative consequences. Take the minimum effective action to reach your goals. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn how to get beyond the sticking points, where failure and quitting too often arise but opportunity and long-term success await those who intelligently persevere. Get Beyond the Sticking Points: Frustration, Failure, & Quitting There is a time around 6 weeks into an attempted habit implementation, new diet, or workout routine, where people tend to quit. The early, easy gains end; the long-term changes the person wants have not really been seen; and the path forward remains unclear. This is when most people quit. They build a habit of quitting, not knowing how to get beyond this common sticking points. If approached with wisdom and perseverance, these times are actually doors to long-term success. Get Beyond the Sticking Points: Perseverance & Long-Term Success These times are great times to ask for help or dig deeper. For lifting, signing up for online coaching can be great (real online coaching where you get technique feedback and personalized programming) or go in for an in-person technique check up with a professional coach. If you cannot afford this or, for some reason, do not want to seek a coach, you have to educate yourself and become a coach. Piling more stress on in and of itself typically does not work. Pulling the stress back often does not work. The stress-recovery-adaptation period must be elongated, no longer one stress event with time afterword, but rather a period of time where you stress yourself, build up fatigue where fitness decreases, and then allow for recovery to allow fatigue to go down, fitness to come up, and ultimately cause more performance (hopefully a PR). Getting through these sticking points, however, is really the key to long-term success. You have to be able to handle unexpected bad times, keep going, but keep going intelligently so you do not burn out. Get beyond the sticking points. Learn how to build life-long health and fitness habits. Strength is for everyone. Strength is for life. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

How do we confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves, not get bogged down in negativity, and move toward our goals. Uncomfortable Truths: Coming to Terms with Your Shortcomings You set a goal. Inherent is this is that you do not like what you are doing now. Something must change. You have probably intertwined your identity with the actions that you need to change. The potential pitfall is wallowing in negativity and neuroticism. You may adopt a victim mentality. Clear this hurdle. Uncomfortable Truths: Move Toward Your Goals Niki and Andrew share common and personal examples. One that happens that is less obvious is coming to terms with the slowing improvement toward the end of LP or early intermediate training. You may have not reached the goals you expected or desired. You may have wrapped up your identity in the daily and weekly PRs, and now are trying to accept you have to do more work to get fewer PRs in less time. Niki struggled with the process of gaining weight. She found having structure and guidelines around the process and metrics helped her have confidence in the process and her coach. Andrew has confronted that he has accomplished much reacting to his emotions. Now, to reach further levels of professional development, he has to overcome this inclination. Learn how to confront uncomfortable truths. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We investigate accessory lifts: what's the point? Why do auxiliary lifts and how should you think about incorporating them into your training? Accessory Lifts: What's the Point? It's that time of year, where people begin to go on vacation and either take breaks from lifting or ask to do hotel workouts (which they often do not do). What may cause, in part, the low compliance with hotel training is not understanding the point of the accessory lifts that, because of the limited equipment and weight, have to be used for these workouts. So, what purpose do these lifts serve? The provide additional volume for muscle groups that cannot be adequately stressed by solely using the main lifts. We love the main lifts, they are fantastic tools and over time they should go up. As you advance, though, you will almost certainly need to incorporate more of these auxiliary lifts that train muscle groups like the deltoids, triceps, biceps, hamstrings, calves, and more. Adding Accessory Lifts to Your Training As always, you first need to know the why? We explained the general why, but the personal why - why do you as a lifter need them now? You have to consider your time, equipment, preference, goals, and desired muscle groups to target. The benefits of home gyms are huge, but this is one area where home gyms tend to be more limited. You may have to get creative or invest in things such as adjustable dumbbells or pulley attachments. These need to be performed strictly and for difficult sets. In fact, these can be more productively trained at higher RPEs than deadlifts and squats because they provide less systemic fatigue to the body. You want to bar speed to slow down for the last rep or two and for them to be challenging. Program them for reps below 20, typically, because you do not want to stop because "you're tired." Consider adding accessory lifts to your program if you want more training stress and hypertrophy. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We have questions for Niki Sims (and she has answers)! Learn more about Niki, her thoughts on training and life, and her goals. Questions for Niki Sims: Training, Success, & Motivation Andrew asks Niki an assortment of questions. What is a particularly memorable success story from one of your clients? A story that stands out (and there are more, but this one jump into her head) is a daughter of a client who started to lift. Her family lifts, and so she started to lift. Niki could tell something was off, but her client was not talkative. Finally, the client told Niki her back was hurting. Niki change the training and let her know training should not hurt or be something you don't look forward to. Now, she loves training, she is into it, and you can see the different in her videos. How do you stay motivated to train consistently and what advice do you give to those struggling with motivation to train? For Niki, this has become the favorite part of her day. She has tailored the time and space to what she wants. She has removed things she does not want. If a lift is painful, she takes it out. She has her own home gym she loves. This time is a time without work (except work against gravity). You should make this as fun and enjoyable and comfortable as you can - this includes the exercises you are doing but also the space, music, and more. Questions for Niki Sims: Goals, Mentors, & the Future Niki and Andrew continue. What are your personal fitness goals and how are you working toward them? Niki is working on her chin-ups, both 1RM and AMRAP. Besides this, she wants to consistently train four days a week with fun training sessions to get more meat on her body. Additionally, she learning how to eat to support this. Who are some of your mentors in the fitness industry? Matt Reynolds has helped, but especially when it comes to learning about the business side of the industry. Niki las learned much from Andrew Jackson on how to organize work to be more effective and efficient. Gillian Ward, Niki's coach, has been a huge mentor, from whom Niki has learned a ton. Lastly, Niki loved to see how Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions infused passion into the everyday work of the team. Where do you see the industry heading in the next 5-10 years? Gyms will get better and better, especially in terms of equipment. AI programming will mean less manual input but more data. You will be able to go into a gym with your program and not have to enter anything manually. You will know exactly what is available in the gym in your App. These are questions for Niki Sims. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Gauging nutrition progress can be hard, as weight & waist may fluctuate or not change quickly (or as quickly as we'd like). Learn how to better gauge progress on nutrition. Niki and Andrew discuss how you can better gauge nutrition progress and advance in the realm of nutrition. Gauging Nutrition Progress: Subjective Feelings Tracking nutrition progress can be frustrating. The amount of work that goes into changing behaviors, even in a relatively short few day period, with no or little measurable change to metrics such as weight or waist, can cause people to quit. What can become important, not just in these first few days but in general to become someone who builds some mastery in the realm of self-control and nutrition, is observing the feelings associated with feeling bad and feeling good. How do you feel during training? Do you feel depleted, bloated, or energetic? Are you full, satisfied, or hungry? What do these actually feel like (e.g. how do you feel after eating an appropriately portioned healthy meal versus overeating versus undereating). Observing these sensations and associating them with behaviors that connect to certain outcomes can help you see that you are on the right track or need to make adjustments. Some of these feelings are longer-term feelings (e.g. tight pants, the seat belt test) others you can experience soon after a meal or after a day or a couple days of behavior changes. Really, what you are learning to do is trust in the process by knowing the sensations that come from behaviors that will lead you toward your goals. Gauging Nutrition Progress: Objective, Quantifiable Behaviors Beyond this growing self-awareness, tracking behaviors that will lead you to your goals can be helpful. For example, tracking glasses of water, servings or grams of protein, servings or grams of fiber can help you track habits that will lead you toward your goal and, importantly, that you can control. This helps provide a quantifiable metric that comes before the weight, waist, and appearance progress and is much easier to observe than the subjective feelings. Gauging nutrition progress can be hard. Learn how to observe your subjective feelings associated with moving toward or away from your goals and create quantifiable metrics with healthy behaviors so you can better track your progress. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

It's time to conquer your limiting beliefs to finally achieve that goal you've had for years or decades. Conquer Your Limiting Beliefs: What is Possible One of the biggest limiting beliefs is failing to understand what is possible, especially over a longer period of time. People tend to overestimate how much change they can make in a short period of time but underestimate how much they can change over months and years. The short change bias is why so many diets fail and why many media outlets develop the "8 weeks to abs" and similar things. Seeing "normal" people perform things you think is impossible, though, is powerful. Watching people who don't look like Ronnie Coleman or Ed Coan deadlift 500 or bench press 315 makes a big impact. How did they achieve these goals? Through consistent training over years. Conquer Your Limiting Beliefs: Feeling Stuck We love what Barbell Logic offers because Barbell Logic coaches help clients get unstuck. Barbell Logic clients tend to fall into this general boat: ready to change, ready to work to change, ready to pay some money to change, but unsure of what to do. Getting unstuck is possible. Achieving a physique or strength level you thought impossible is likely possible. It won't happen in eight weeks. It might happen in eight years. See what happens with consistent training over months and years. Experience strength with Barbell Logic. Conquer your limiting beliefs and crush your goals. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn the similarities between building wealth and muscle and how we can learn principles from both to improve both. Similarities Between Building Wealth and Muscle Andrew and Niki have been reading The Psychology of Money, a book that, as its title suggests, delves into how we approach money based on the inner workings of our mind. They really realized, reading this book, how similar building muscle and building wealth are. So many principles of success (or paths to failure) overlap. Some of the ideas that overlap include: Less ego, more wealth Humility when things are going well; compassion when going poorly Importance of planning and knowing personal preferences Avoid the extremes Don't worry about "optimum" There is a lot more there, including maybe the obvious but important idea that there is no get rich or get jacked quick scheme. You have to build behaviors consistently over time to achieve strength or a muscular physique or wealth. Also, shout out to YNAB, which is a company we appreciate that can help you on your path to your financial goals. Look more into the similarities between building wealth and muscle. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Invest in a home gym for peace of mind. Having training equipment available & close underpins training success, providing reliability, convenience, & peace of mind you can't have with a commercial gym. Home Gym for Peace of Mind - Reliability In 2020 we learned that access to gyms and restaurants (and toilet paper) was not guaranteed. For those who had home gyms, however, it may have been one of the best stretches of training they had ever had. Commercial gym goers, however, had to use what they had at home and try to buy equipment as prices and demand skyrocketed. Beyond those black swan events, gyms can close, hours can change, new clients can come take equipment we want to use during our normal training hour. With a home gym, your equipment is available for you when you want to use it. Home Gym for Peace of Mind - Convenience & Control The reliability that brings peace of mind may be the most important aspect of this, but beyond this, convenience and control matter. Listen to the music you want to listen to. Arrange and complete obnoxious circuits with multiple pieces of equipment. Do curls in the squat rack. No one cares. Lift at 2 o'clock in the morning or go lift during your work day in jeans. Wear what you want. Chalk your hands. Home Gym for Peace of Mind - Getting Started The bare minimum to start is a barbell and plates. We recommend an Olympic barbell with 2" sleeves and 2" plates. The one thing to not skimp on is the barbell, though you can get a quality barbell from Rogue that does not cost too much. Garage Gym Reviews has great reviews of equipment at different prices and a general guide on getting started on your home gym. Don't do the strength equivalent of buying a treadmill and not using it. Get what you know you will use and continue to get more as needed. Invest in a home gym for peace of mind, convenience, reliability, and control. Invest in a home gym for the gains so you can be a lifter for life. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We discuss how to lift forever. This is a mindset and approach to become and remain a lifelong lifter. How to Lift Forever: Why It Matters Lifting for quality of life is a habit that can last for years and decade. We hope you lift as long as you can. We've discussed the benefits of strength and voluntary hardship, and how accumulating hard sets and building muscle contributes to health and longevity. This is why it matters. You can't lift in your 20s and expect to benefit in your 50s and 60s. You need to build and maintain a habit that stays with you through your many phases of life, including the valleys. How to Lift Forever: Attributes Niki really see a tripartite time division with lifters who lift for the long haul and how they think about and approach the past, present, and future. Lifters who maintain the habit over years and decades plan ahead. They think about how they will train this week, month, year, and even five years. They invest time and money into their training. Looking whether there is a gym close by your travel location, for example, or incorporating hotel gym workouts or even bodyweight workouts helps maintain the habit. Looking at the past means being able to appreciate the past and be proud of the work and progress you've put in. The past, however, really becomes most important in terms of how it manifests and informs how you think about the present. You have to be okay with being where you are at. It doesn't mean you are happy with it or you don't have a goal to improve, but you do not beat yourself up. How to Lift Forever: A Mental Model Thinking about the past and the present may be the most critical element. You find yourself where you are. You have a goal for the future. You understand you have made past decisions that have brought you to your present situation. A question Niki asks is "What got me to this moment I'm not liking?" You may find you're okay with your decisions. For example, after a vacation, you might be a bit more bloated with clothes fitting more tightly. Did you enjoy the vacation? How important was the vacation? You might find you don't regret your decisions. If you do regret your decisions, think about how you can adjust travel arrangements in the future so history does not repeat itself. Don't beat yourself up or find yourself falling into dividing your expectations and reality. Then, visualize your future. Think about where you want to be at a certain point of time (e.g. at the end of the year). Decide what actions will move you to that point and then execute. Learn how to lift forever. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We discuss why and how lifters should do cardio: what is most effective and why include it in your program at all? We answer these questions and more. Why and How Lifters Should Do Cardio: What is Cardio? Cardio is the term for those activities that raise your heart rate and stress your cardiovascular system. Another term - the term we prefer - is conditioning. Conditioning tends to come more with the idea of a purpose, like training versus exercise. Cardio is more something you should do to get out of breath and sweaty. There are three general reasons people do cardio. Weight loss: Cardio is not a great way to lose weight or get leaner. Rather, focus on nutrition, lift to create a signal for muscle growth, and generally be active. Performance: Conditioning helps you perform your sport or activity. For most clients, this means not feeling so out of breath when they play with their kids, go for a hike, or perform other physical activities then enjoy. Health: You may perform cardio to be generally more healthy, especially your cardiovascular system. Why and How Lifters Should Do Cardio: Energy Systems Cardio encompasses three energy systems. Aerobic: This is low-intensity, long duration. You are almost certainly primarily using your aerobic energy system now. This encompasses normal life along with low-intensity exercise, such as walking or an easy jog. You oxidize fat and carbohydrates. Glycolytic: Medium-intensity, medium duration (~10s - 2 minutes). You use this for things such as running intervals. You break down carbohydrates. Phosphagen: High-intensity, short duration (~10s or less time). You use this for short bursts, such as a 50m sprint, a jump, or a 1RM effort. This uses ATP readily available in your muscles. Conditioning for lifters will typically stress the aerobic and glycolytic energy systems, as lifting stresses the phosphagen system (and the glycolytic as well). Why and How Lifters Should Do Cardio: Conditioning for Strength Athletes Most lifters will want to incorporate some easy aerobic activity and then high-intensity interval training (HIIT). For the aerobic activity, things that simply get you active suffice. This can mean walks. If you enjoy other activities, such as swimming, running, or biking, by all means do those in Zone 2. To include intervals, you should perform low-impact, low-skill activities for relatively short durations repeatedly a few times a week. This can look like accessory circuits at the end of your workouts, hill sprints, prowler pushes, or some type of machine intervals (bike, rower, elliptical, etc.). Why and how lifters should do cardio depends, but there are some general principles and best practices that make sense for your performance and health. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We discuss recovery as the limiting factor. How addressing what you do outside the gym affects what you do in the gym and your movement toward your goals. Recovery as the Limiting Factor (Toward Adaptation / Your Goals) The stress-recovery-adaptation cycle underpins the process of training. You stress yourself (the workout), spend time not stressing yourself (recovery), and hopefully move toward your goal (adaptation). The stress you apply needs to be specific, based on the specific adaptation to imposed demand (SAID) principle. If you want to improve your run time, you should run, not follow a powerlifting routine. For many people, following the workout program is relatively easy. What often becomes harder is changing habits outside the gym, which can be developed over years and decades. How much protein are you eating? Are you willing to eat consistently in a caloric surplus? What does your sleep look like each night? These and other factors limit your adaptation, and so addressing them can help you move toward your goal. Failing to deal with them means you may fail to meet your goal. Recovery as the Limiting Factor: Maximizing Recovery As you age, stressful events occur in your life (even if they're positive, like having a baby), and your priorities change, your recovery (and thus your adaptation) capacity changes. To move toward your goal and stay healthy, maximizing recovery may make sense. This area, though, often comes with harder-to-crack psychological underpinnings. On some level, you like to and are used to your habits (even if you are unhappy with where they have led you). Ensuring you get enough protein and consistently eat high quality foods matters. Prioritize sleep (which comes with a host of habits you can build around sleep). Limit alcohol. Don't pursue the unimportant and non-urgent in your life. A new approach to training, especially in more stressful times of life, may need to occur. Building in some autoregulation and not beating yourself up if you don't do what is programmed (the planned stress) matters. For example, Niki and her sister were on vacation. They went to the gym and Niki's sister did her last warm up and it was way heavier than expected. Niki decided to decrease the weight. The win was completing the workout, not beating themselves up about the weight on the bar, and not grinding out reps unnecessarily. Recovery as the limiting factor is an important topic that needs more serious consideration. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We share our go to healthy recipes. These are tasty, healthy, and enjoyable and help you crush your goals (without suffering). Go To Healthy Recipes: Consistency, High Protein, Veggies Before we go on to discuss some of Andrew and Niki's go-to recipes, let's discuss some principles for how the find, make, or purchase these. Find ways to get as high protein as possible (from natural foods). 2:1 protein to fat is good. This tends to mean, looking for lean beef, chicken, eggs, or Greek yogurt (there are, of course, other options, but these are readily available high protein options). Seek ways to strip unnecessary fats out of your diet. Think about things that minimize suffering. Some examples include reducing cooking oils, removing or reducing cheese in salads, replacing high fat dairy with lower fat dairy, and using some egg whites with whole eggs. Eating the same foods consistently is helpful. These meals provide stability. You know how you will feel after them. Unless other big changes have occurred in life, you know how much to cook, it's easy to know your calories and macros, and you know how full you will feel and for how long. Go To Healthy Recipes Andrew and Niki both like the Made In Blue Carbon Steel frying pan. It cooks eggs well. Niki loves a high protein and veggie breakfast. She cooks some onions, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, and bok choy. Add some salt (not until the end!) and then some Boar's Head pastrami turkey (about 50 grams). Cook some eggs and back, put all of it in a low carb tortilla and you have a healthy breakfast that is under 400 calories. Andrew will often go to Starbucks. When eating out, look for options that have high protein to calories ratios. Greek yogurt with fruit (fresh or frozen), sugar free jello, and maybe grape nuts is super tasty and high in protein. Whipped cottage cheese is similar. Andrew also has a chicken breast meal with potatoes. Cut the chicken breast in half (to make it thinner). Salt ahead of time (could even salt and leave in the fridge over night). Cook some baby potatoes in the oven (don't salt until the end)! Enjoy. Lastly, a rice hack. Forget about the rice button on your instapot. Rinse the rice, add your water or chicken stock, some salt, and (optional) pat of butter or oil. Cook it for 3 minutes, do NOT have the keep warm function come on afterwards, then immediately start dishing out. These are some of your go to healthy recipes. What are yours? Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Swing for the fences! Don't leave anything on the table, give it your best shot, and go full bore ahead. Swing for the Fences! - Aggressively Pursue the Urgent & Important A single decision or event can change the course of your life. Regardless of life, philosophy, or religion, this is true. When presented with a big opportunity, you need to swing for the fences. Hyperfocus your life and efforts on this. This is when urgent and important overlap. This is when you put your sleep, family life, and other things on the backburner to aggressively pursue the opportunity. You don't get the outcome if you don't swing for the fences. You don't even get to swing for the fences if you don't swing at all - if you fail to show up. Swing for the Fences Regardless of the Outcome This does not mean you succeed. You may fail. You will fail often. Another opportunity will come. Work hard, prepare yourself for those opportunities, and be ready to show up and wing for the fences when the opportunity falls in your lap. Don't leave life with regrets about what you did not seek, what you failed to try. Swing for the fences! This podcast is brought to you by TurnKey Coach. Enhance your coaching effectiveness and efficiency with TurnKey Coach. You can learn more by going HERE. Check out Coaching 101 - the new Academy course designed to cover the basics of coaching. It's leaner and tighter than our other offerings (and cheaper). Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Are more sets better? We dive into a new study and an associated article and headline. Are More Sets Better? Evidence-Based & Nuanced We're talking about muscles and hypertrophy today. Outside Magazine recently featured an article that discussed adding more sets for building muscle, which argued that you should add more sets to build muscle. Andrew and Niki are here to be your funnel of truth. Are More Sets Better? Let's Dig Deeper When we look at scientific studies, it's important to avoid the seemingly easy route of reading a headline or even a news article. If you read the study itself, don't assume that the study title or abstract will match the data necessarily. News media exist to sell their product, and weak headlines don't sell. These incentives exist for scientific magazines and scientists as well - no results or another study confirming what we would expect to find do not dazzle. That being said, studies and scientific literature are not worthless. What Andrew & Niki find is that the headline overstates the findings. Remember, we all have models of how the world works. Ideally, your model has been built according to investigation and astute observation. Studies can and should inform that model, and if a piece of data disagrees with your model you should confront it. That being said, upturning your model because of one study is not recommended. Are more sets better? Maybe, it depends, as adding sets is certainly a tool to use. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn about the good news - the gospel of hard. Hard things done intelligently and consistently create good results. The Gospel of Hard: Voluntary Hardship We at Barbell Logic have been spreading the good news of voluntary hardship for years. Truly, if you expose yourself to hard things, intelligently, consistently, good things will happen. Truth be told, even if you do this somewhat poorly, the persistent hard work often produces results. Hard does not feel good, especially at first. But if you repeatedly expose yourself to hard things and overcome them, you will learn to associate hard with opportunity, and build a lifelong habit of pursuing challenges and the fruits of these obstacles. The Gospel of Hard: Physical & Psychological Benefits This is Barbell Logic, so clearly we love the physical benefits from strength training. That being said, the psychological changes matter and may be bigger. Completing hard tasks builds confidence. It builds a pathway that you can apply in other areas of your life. A heavy set of squats can help you become a better father or employee or friend. We obviously love barbell and strength training, but we highly encourage you to pursue something hard regularly, especially in the physical realm. See the fruits of your efforts. If you're looking to begin, but are stuck, look for a coach. Look for someone who can help you with technique and programming, but also connects well with you. Experience the gospel of hard. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

How can I look like Jake Gyllenhaal? If you've asked yourself or your coach this, we discuss what this looks like (really). How Can I Look Like Jake Gyllenhaal? The Goal A popular movie comes out with a young actor who takes his shirt off and shows his shredded mid-section. What comes next? The onslaught of requests and goals to look like him. Articles explaining his training routine, diet, and more. Shred your abs with this Roadhouse routine. Andrew and Niki explore what this process might look like (really). How Can I Look Like Jake Gyllenhaal? The Process It's going to take a long time and, contrary to many people's expectations and desires, you will almost certainly have to gain weight before you cut. For many, they are unwilling to add weight. Second, the cut is going to be rough. It may begin easy enough, with sustainable nutrition practices, but you will end feeling (and being) weak and lethargic. Realize that Jake approached this like a bodybuilder for a show. This is the peaked, temporary appearance of someone who underwent a long process and was not walking around like this for a long period of time. It is inherently unsustainable. How Can I Look Like Jake Gyllenhaal? The Mindset Third, it will take a lot of consistent, hard training over a long period of time (some of which you will feel and be weak). Lastly, and not unimportantly, you will have to deal with the hunger and what comes next. You will have extremely low energy near the end, not want to train, not want to work, and think about food most of your day. You got shredded, took the picture, posted it to Instagram. Now what? It will be hard to not compare yourself unforgivingly against this temporary success. If you want to look like Jake Gyllenhaal, you need to envision the life around the body and be prepared to dedicate the sacrifice this will entail. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We talk about the evolution of training expectations as you move from novice to intermediate to advanced lifter. How you you manage your mindset, so you can train for life? The Evolution of Training Expectations: Managing Your Mindset PRs measure progress, encourage buy-in and consistency, and help make training fun for novice, intermediate, and early-advanced lifters. This slows or ends. You want to keep training for the rest of your life, though. The driving force for keeping you training cannot be PRs. You cannot expect to drive up weight on the bar consistently. Failing programmed reps is not actually failure, in the scheme of your goals to train consistently and grow and maintain strength, vitality, and health over time. If you are overly wedded to today's workout - if there is a hyper focus on today - you are, really, falling into an exercise (not training) mindset. Now, it's true that training involves following a plan. But our bodies do not always cooperate - even the best coach in the world cannot perfectly predict your performance that day. Things need to change. The Evolution of Training Expectations: Accumulate Hard Sets Accumulate heavy but doable sets over time. This is the way to build strength and muscle over time. As you progress, great flexibility will likely need to be built into your program. You will not be able to grind away RPE 9.5-10 sets. You need to enjoy training. Picking a specific exercise to drive up, as opposed to everything, may make sense. Focusing on consistency (even if it's one lift a day) can help. Play with different supplemental lifts and different rep schemes. Take the PRs when they are there, and enjoy them. You may think about maximizing recovery. It will take longer and longer to get PRs (and one day they will stop). Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Tips for Training While Traveling: Whys Why train while traveling? While, in part, it depends on how often you travel, your goals, the length of travel, and how consistent you are outside of travel. For those who are extremely consistent and rarely travel, it might make sense to take the week off. If you travel for business, you need to train. You will feel better if you train. The workout might not feel good, especially to start, but you will feel better afterwards. You might even feel better during the workout (e.g. initial warm ups feel terrible, then the heavier warm ups and work sets move well and feel good). It also helps provide structure to your days, which on vacation can often lack structure. Additionally, it gives you some short amount of you time, and, importantly, healthy you time. Tips for Training While Traveling: Hows Incorporate your gym seeking into your travel planning. Checkout the hotel gym and nearby gyms. You can often find a serviceable gym that has a guest policy. You might need to call the gym to check the visitor policy. Pack and prioritize some equipment. Belts and other bulky items are not needed. Having a pair of shoes that you can both lift and do cardio with makes sense. You might pack some small things like liquid chalk, straps, or knee sleeves. Plan your workout ahead of time. Intend to do at least something hard - get into that "worth it" zone. Depending on the number of times you will train and decide whether you will do full body and a split. Fewer times means full body makes more sense. Besides that, Niki and Andrew have some general tips and approaches they take: Mentally let go of the weight on the bar AMRAPs supersets (antagonistic or similar) burn out sets drop sets hard exercises that don't require tons of weight (e.g. bulgarian split squats) bend these joints: knees, shoulders, elbows, hips Try out these tips for training while traveling. A couple links for helping you train while traveling can be found here & here. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We really need to talk about menopause. What to expect, how you make changes to lifting, nutrition, expectations, and more. Menopause: Causes & Expectations Menopause is about a 10-year period of life for women where estrogen decreases, causing other changes to a woman's biology. Some changes include the end of the menstrual cycle, decrease in energy levels and trouble sleeping, increased difficulty trying to retain muscle mass, hot flashes, and sex drive changes. Let's face it, it does not sound all that fun. But it happens, so it makes sense to understand it, prepare for it, and undergo it in a way that matches our goals and values. Menopause: Approaching & Undergoing It Intentionally Really, what you do in the weight room and kitchen do not change. You need to eat protein and lift heavy weights. That does not change. Managing expectations is important. Adaptations cannot occur as quickly. You will not be able to handle as big of a dose of stress, and you will take longer to recover. This is why Niki recommends, for those who are in a position to do so, to put on the muscle mass while it's easier to do so before menopause. Building the habit now and understanding how to enjoy training, over years and decades, is important. This may not be the most fun time to train, but it is important to continue to train. We really need to talk about menopause. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn how to better your bench with proper technique and good equipment. Improper gear and form means less weight on the bar. Bench more. Learn the way. Better Your Bench with Good Equipment For anyone who has tried to bench heavy in a commercial gym, they typically find that the experience is frustrating. Weights are harder than expected and may even come with missed reps. Bad equipment is often to blame. Whether it is slippery bars with nearly no knurl to those bench-rack combinations that have the bar far too low or too high to slick benches that prevent you from digging into the bench and freezing your scapulae, these gear problems abound in commercial gyms. You can, typically, make a bad situation worse. You can better your bench. Wearing a bar grip shirt helps your shoulder blades stick better to the bench. You may want to bench in a squat rack, which typically has smaller jumps between holes, then in those bench-rack combos. Having a spotter so you don't have to shrug the bar 4 inches off the j-hooks can help. You may need to put plates underneath your feet so you can get a better arch. At home, getting a monolift is a good investment, especially if you tend to experience shoulder pain. Also, you may need to lower expectations. This can be a good situation for autoregulation. Better Your Bench with Correct Technique Technique matters too. You want to have the maximum amount of stability for the longest duration possible. You should not be wiggling after the bar is unracked. Don't do it! Build tension as you set up. Your legs should drive up the bench into your shoulders into an arch. You should use the weight of the bar to help pin your shoulders down into the bench. You should squeeze the bar hard. Another consideration is breathing. If you can do it efficiently, complete 2-3 reps on one breath. If not, focus on maintaining scapula position between breaths. Better your bench with proper equipment and good technique. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Programming Difficulties for New Dads Having a newborn changes your life, and training has to change as well. For a dad, the change is different than for a mom. For the mom, she undergoes physical changes for 9-10 months leading up to the birth, so her training has to change prior to birth. For fathers, however, their changing (mostly) does not change before the birth. At birth it changes drastically. This is an especially busy time for fathers, and part of it is the lack of predictability. When will the baby sleep (when will mom sleep). You might think you were going to train and then mom falls asleep and you're watching the kid. Flexibility is required in your training for these programming difficulties for new dads. Programming Solutions for New Dads If you have a coach, it's important to talk to your coach prior to the birth about what is likely realistic (this will change). Lower your expectations for how long training will be. You might also have to cut training sessions short. Both Andrew and Niki have seen many clients train with their babies in the gym. This is fine. Something like a one life a day program is probably what is called for. It helps if you have a home gym or at least some equipment at home. If you don't have a home gym, you need to make your gym as convenient as possible. Something that is on the way to work and open early so you can workout early is likely ideal. Working out before bed affects sleep. Overcoming programming difficulties for new dads also tends to involve more autoregulation and lifter control. The client might decrease the weight and volume a bit if they're exhausted. If they're feeling good, they might go for extra reps or an extra set. Aim for at least 3 workouts a week. Think about getting in a training session over a series of workouts, as opposed to one longer workout. Mindset Shift for New Dads How you define training and training sessions and how you identify that will have to change. 4 sessions of 90 minutes a week is probably over. Uninterrupted training sessions and full body training sessions are probably on hold for a bit. Productive, useful training, however, does not have to look like that. Planning, preparing, and completing something each week is massively better than taking weeks or months off. Here are some thoughts on overcoming programming difficulties for new dads. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Niki and Andrew interview Melissa MacGregor, wife of BLOC coach Mac and BLOC client, and her coach Joel Rasmussen. Melissa suffered a stroke but, with patience, perseverance, and strength training, was able to return to physical activities she never thought she could do again. Healing Through Strength Training: Perseverance & Experimentation Melissa saw her husband benefit from strength training and decided to give it a try herself. Joel, her coach, tried many creative ways to help her focus on what she could do. They experimented and pushed into the pain. Pain was feedback that, in her case, was positive because it was a sensation. Joel also had to get creative for new ways to feel her body during lifting, as she did not have the normal sensations and proprioception that others have. Over time, with patience and hard work, she has regained not only the ability to complete certain lifts "normally," but has also been able to return to activities such as biking and skiing, that she never thought she would be able to do again. Listen to this heartwarming and motivating story of patience, perseverance, grit, and healing through strength training. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We explore professionalism and why it's hard to be professional. Professionalism is difficult, but deliver values and sets you apart. Professionalism: Competence, Integrity, Benevolence Andrew has delivered, through podcast and in-person talks, a deep dive on how competence, integrity, and benevolence make up a professionalism value equation. Matt also has also delved into this here. This framework or model to conceptualizing your coaching or business really helps you think more intelligently about where to improve. Professionalism Sets You Apart When you have built yourself some expertise and are above the level of amateur, you should respect yourself, expect a high value of yourself and ask a relatively high price of your customer (the price should be less than the perceived value). Then, you need to deliver a high level of service consistently across the competence, benevolence, and integrity. Plenty of people are delivering online coaching. Personal trainers and coaches abound. Professionalism sets you apart. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What does joyful self-improvement look like (and is it possible)? Today, we explore solutions sans suffering. Joyful Self-Improvement: Struggling & Floundering People really struggle to make important changes in their lives (that they at least ostensibly want) such as to lose weight or gain more muscle. Reasons abound for the difficulty. People hear and see conflicting, extreme solutions or short-term, impossible solutions (e.g. 6 weeks to six-pack). Furthermore, every person is different. People have different goals, preferences, body types, and reactions to training stimulus (e.g. you cannot become faster than Usain Bolt simply by trying really hard, though you will certainly fail if you do not try). Joyful self-improvement also confronts the reality that change takes a long time. It took you a long time to reach the point where you have decided it's time to make a difference. The positive changes you desire will also take a long time. Joyful Self-Improvement: Solutions Sans Suffering Whatever solutions you (or a coach) decides on, they have to be sustainable. Can you really go the rest of your life only eating meat (or some other extreme diet). Note that many of the people who follow a strict diet have quick feedback regarding when they eat a certain food (such as celiac disease). Niki and Andrew recommend getting to a baseline before making changes. When you make changes, don't through the kitchen sink at your problems, but try one (or a couple) small changes. Consistently eating a couple hundred calories less than you have can make a BIG impact. For joyful self-improvement, lean into what you like and embrace the long path to change. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What is the goal of long-term strength training or barbell training? Muscle is the motive. It's your health & capability 401k. Niki & Andrew explore their changing mindset and training. The Motive is Muscle - Shifting the Goal The measurement that is most correlated with force production (strength) is the cross sectional area of muscle mass. Basically, more muscle means you're stronger. Strength equates to more capability. At some point, though, if you only value force production, whether it be because of gyms closing or an injury or getting older, your PRs are behind you. What is the goal? You could say it's to keep your PRs as high as possible, but for many, that's is pretty unmotivating. Muscle is the motive. Aim to accumulate hard sets each workout, each week, and increase stress over time. As you get older, it gets harder to add muscle mass (but not impossible - it's never to late to start training!). Aim to build muscle and keep training. Muscle is the Motive - Shifting the Mindset This changing goal requires a changed mental approach. We have stressed PRs for year - and we still celebrate PRs. Especially when someone begins to train, PRs help motivate as well as measure progress. Gaining muscle mass and focusing on hypertrophy is harder to change. It takes awhile to measure progress, and it's even harder than with strength training to remember the goal of each training session because there is not necessarily a scheduled PR attempt lurking days, weeks, or months off. Really, because at some point - whether it be a permanent shift or temporary period of life - you have to train knowing PRs aren't coming. Hopefully, at this point, you've built up the habit. Try to ensure you enjoy training (understanding you won't enjoy every rep, set, or workout). And, worse case, take your medicine, because it's good for you. Muscle is the motive. Gaining muscle mass is the goal. Go get it. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Andrew & Niki talk sleep strategies & fluff updates: how snapping back after the holidays improves sleep, health markers, appearance, how you feel, and more. Sleep Strategies & Fluff Updates It's January, post-Holiday period, and time to snap back. Andrew & Niki share their fluff updates and tips and tricks for improving sleep. Niki has had a 19-day period thus far, which has included weighing and measuring, no alcohol, and reduced sugar. She is not trying to lose tons of weight, as she wants to support training. She wants to look good for an upcoming television appearance and feel good. From this period, she has seen improvements to sleep (especially deep sleep each night) and improve resting heart rate. Andrew has similarly snapped back with 3 (no 4) drinks. The biggest thing he has noted has been improved sleep, especially deep sleep. Sleep Strategies & Deep Sleep Andrew has even had some drinks and still seen improved sleep. Andrew and Niki have both seen magnesium supplementation before sleep helping sleep. Andrew stumbled on the benefits of sodium before bed after eating popcorn and noticing he did not get up to go to the bathroom. Stan Efferding has actually recommended this (not eating popcorn but just the sodium) as well. Andrew has also began to read before bed, not on his phone, and this has helped with his pre-sleep routine. Let us know if you have any questions on sleep strategies! Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Looking to 2024, we predict, hope, and share our thoughts on what you can expect from BLOC and what we are looking forward to. Looking to 2024 - Smell What BLOC is Cooking Matt, Niki, and Andrew share their predictions and goals for 2024 - fitness, fashion, and more. Fashion Predictions Matt: traditional, classic forms of clothing (feminine dresses & masculine suits and outfits) Niki: onesies & swapping of normal gender styles Andrew: 2000s are coming back, with belly buttons Goals Matt shared his here Niki: journaling every day; and being able to quickly return to the body she wants (after periods of more relaxed food & drink) Andrew: being more present & intentional (while acknowledging that these terms have become common, but that doesn't mean they're not admirable things to strive for) Business Predictions Matt: First $2M quarter Niki: strength for life catching on and bolstering BLOC & TKC Andrew: another step-function increase in the organization of Barbell Logic Looking to 2024? We share out thoughts, predictions, and hopes. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Enjoy us look back on 2023 with BLOC Wrapped - the BLOCies. We share the best of our coaches & clients, fitness trends, & more. BLOC Wrapped - Coaches & Clients Our clients and coaches are amazing. We've got the stats to prove it. Matt joins Andrew & Niki to discuss clients who lifted the most tonnage, hit the biggest lifts, and more. They also discuss which coaches has the best on-time feedback and which lifts were the most programmed. We love celebrating our clients and coaches. What these stats reflect is a dedication and work that is reflected in the progress. The process creates the progress. BLOC Wrapped - Fitness Trends & Lifts Matt, Andrew, & Niki share their favorite and least favorite lifts and favorite and least favorite fitness trends of 2023. Niki loved the pendulum leg press (though they are incredibly rare). Matt enjoyed both the incline dumbbell press or Bulgarian split squat, and Andrew agreed about incline pressing. Matt's least favorite exercise was the incline barbell press (seems to cause shoulder issues for some people). Andrew wasn't crazy about the overhead press. Niki has avoided deficit deadlifts because of her observation that they seemed correlated with injury (personally and for clients). Matt sung the praises of GLP1 drugs, which have helped him lose weight. Andrew has enjoyed the shift in the fitness and nutrition sector of focusing on quality of life, as opposed to suffering and restricting. Niki loves all the women strength training in the gyms. Stanley water cups (that don't even fit in cup holders) tick Matt off. Andrew is not crazy about broccoli hair and red plaid pajama pants. Niki can't stand fitness influencers using photoshop. That is BLOC wrapped. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What the fluff!? What do you do when you suddenly realize you feel bad, aren't happy with you look, and want to get rid of the fluff? What the Fluff!? It's January 2nd (or maybe later). You pull the belt across you on the plane, you get into your pants, you look in the mirror...what the fluff!? You may have eaten normally for most of the holiday period. For many people who find themselves gaining weight, it doesn't come from the decisions they're making for lunch on Wednesday, it's the "abnormal" days. Many who fail to lose fat do well on the week days but then overeat far too much on the weekends, negating any caloric deficit they may have created during the week. During the holiday periods or similar times like vacations, "abnormal" days increase, further increasing the caloric surplus. What can you do? Snap back to health by resetting your baseline. What the Fluff!? Snap Back Strategies Before you begin addressing the problem, consider your approach. Don't catastrophize. This may be a long habit of unhealthy decisions that you've decided to stop, or you may generally feel pretty good about your nutrition habits and just need a quick course correction. Either way, don't expect to fix this in a couple days. For big changes, you need to think about 6 to 12 months. When it comes to metrics, know yourself. For some, recording your weight each day will drive you crazy. For others, it's useful information that helps inform their decisions without causing overreactions. In terms of approaches, starving yourself is not a good approach. It may be useful, however, to have a short period where you're strict with no alcohol, no added sugar, and focus on having as many single-ingredient foods as possible. This resets your baseline and will, actually, have you feeling better after a couple days. You'll find that the bloat is gone and you come to begin appreciating healthier foods. Weighing and measuring for a period of time may also help. Why? Because it helps prevent a slide into hidden calories ("that's close enough"). It also, if you have not done it, helps inform you of just how many calories peanut butter, whiskey, and cooking oils have. Filling your plate with more veggies really helps too. What the fluff!? Don't freak out, snap back to health with these strategies. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Niki and Andrew answer your lifting and lifestyle questions on BJJ, nutrition, blown-out pants, and more! Approaching BJJ as You Age Don't train as if you have to prove yourself or go RPE 10 each time. Rather, focus on picking up the basics, because that foundation of basics will result in deep, impressive skill as you potentially move to your purple, brown, and black belts. Pay attention to the details in the basics. Don't try to skip ahead, but understand the small, subtle details of basic moves. When it comes to competition, these details and foundation will cause you to be able to follow your intuitions, and you may surprise yourself when it matters. Nutrition Strategies for Truck Drivers Truck driving presents the combined challenges of limited food options and lots of time being completely sedentary (and the incentive to not stop too often, so not drinking too many liquids). You do not need to count macros, necessarily, but you need a strategy to consume adequate protein and limit calories (unless you're focusing, for some amount of time, on gaining strength and getting bigger). If you're focused on getting bigger, it's a bit easier, but simply ensure you're getting adequate protein. If you want to maintain or get leaner, preparation is key. Andrew recommends either packing heated pre-made meals in Thermoses (so you can eat hot, high-quality food for your first couple meals). Alternatively, bring a cooler with some healthy options. When looking at food options in a truck stop or gas station, Andrew has the following macronutrient general guidelines: at least 20-30g protein 40-60g carbohydrates no more than 10-20g fat You don't have to count calories, but these are good numbers to aim for when selecting a snack or meal when you can read the labels. Blowing Out Your Pants Andrew has a history of blowing out his pants. He says he has blown out at least twelve. He shares two stories. First, he blew out some pants at a wedding when he was dancing (he goes hard on the dance floor). The next day, when looking at the pants with the blown-out crotch, he discovered that he had been sweating so hard that there was encrusted salt on the black pants. Second, when he was a 280-pound lifter in a corporate setting, with the other executives being endurance athletes, he had just eaten a whole rotisserie chicken and, sitting in a chair, both broke the chair and fell over (and blew out his pants). The things we do for strength sometimes. Training & Marketing without Dogmas Niki's training objective is to gain as much muscle mass without injuring herself. Andrew's training is boring but consistent. Niki shares the difficulty in marketing her approach or the BLOC approach after she and BLOC has really moved away from dogmas. While we coach with principles, coaching is more applied to the clients' individual circumstances. Talking to others businesses, it's hard to be heard if you're not beating a dogmatic drum. Effective Communication & Storytelling (Emotions) Andrew shares that he has really learned the importance of emotions in communication (especially with disagreements or arguments). The details or what was said does not matter so much, but how the person was or is feeling. It is important to acknowledge those emotions. It actually relates to how Matt tells stories. He says, essentially, that he shares how he felt, what he did, and then how he felt after he did the thing. We relate to the emotion. As a coach, it is important to pay attention to your client's emotions. Not doing so can erode trust. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Do hard things. Valuable pursuits are difficult - embrace these challenges to grow, improve, and crush your goals. Do Hard Things - Valuable Pursuits are Difficult Nothing worthwhile is easy. Maybe we'll be surprised by how easy it is (maybe we built up a certain pursuit or task that we have inflated its difficulty). Building habits of sustainable nutrition is difficult. Creating a training plan you stick too is challenging. Pursuing anything with regularity - which is what is required to achieve excellent or even competence in any area - is hard. You have to make decisions every day that move you closer to that goal. You have to get in the gym or study the flashcards or write the words when you don't want to. Additionally, you'll have to stop doing something, as if you have decided to spend more time doing something, that time will have to come from other activities you engage in. Doing hard things feels good, if not in the moment, and leads to true happiness. Do Hard Things - The Value of a Coach We all have blind spots. These are patterns of behavior that we are unaware of for whatever reason that are producing the undesired outcomes we are trying to overcome. It is challenging to be objective with ourself. This is the value of a coach. A good coach can see things you cannot (or wish not) to see. A good coach can also help implement practical, realistic, sustainable solutions. This is necessary because a common pitfall comes from going too hard and then yo-yoing between too hard and not enough. Progress toward your goal comes from sustainable habits every day. Do the hard things, which require vulnerability, time, and effort. The hard things bring value and happiness. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Niki & Andrew answer common beginner questions. Whether you're curious about equipment or protein, cardio or warming up, or wondering how long LP lasts, we give you the answers. Common Beginner Questions - Equipment You can't lift weights without weight to lift, and you need to wear appropriate clothes. Even running, while it seems the simplest of activities, comes with appropriate footwear and clothing (don't run in a 3-piece suit and oxfords). The first thing you should buy is shoes. Look for something around 0.58" heel with a solid sole. 1" is too high. Next, you need a belt. If they were to recommend one beginner belt, it would be a 3", single prong, leather belt at 10mm thickness. 4" is better for taller people (especially if you have a longer torso). We especially love Dominion. Chalk is also a must for the deadlift, though both Andrew & Niki recommend straps for more and more clients, because they are not interested in competing. You still need to work your grip, but straps for work sets is just fine. Niki & Andrew move on to other common beginner questions, looking at nice-to-have-but-not-necessary equipment. Lastly, you need 1.25lb plates. They're not expensive, and we love MicroGainz. Many people love knee sleeves, especially if they lift in a cold area. Wrist wraps also help keep the wrists extended on pressing movements. Lastly, a deadlift jack of some type makes loading and unloading weight for the deadlift and other lifts off the floor much easier. Common Beginner Questions - Protein & Programming Niki & Andrew now address other common questions, regarding nutrition and cardio. Can beginner lifters continue to do cardio if they already have a cardio practice? Yes, novice linear progression, while important, is not worth sacrificing conditioning and other healthy habits for. It may be a time you prioritize strength, but not eliminate all other physical practices. Andrew recommends 1g per pound of bodyweight for beginner lifters, mostly because it is easy to remember. If you weigh more or are more advanced, this can go down closer to 0.7g per pound. While most people don't eat enough protein, people can push protein too far, sacrificing fibrous veggies and workout-fueling carbohydrates to consume more than 1g per pound of bodyweight. Other common beginner questions include how to warm up and how long LP lasts. Warming up depends on which lift it is in the workout and whether you're in a warm or cold environment, but generally 5 warm up sets is enough. It depends, though. You should feel prepared to work. You should NEVER just load up the work set weight without warming up. Just as with protein, you can overdo it. Lastly, how long does LP last? It depends, but generally at least 2 months. Someone who eats more, is younger, stays consistent, is willing to grind on weights, and has more testosterone can definitely push this longer. We hope these answers to common beginner questions helps you and your lifting. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Learn about managing morbidity - staying active, vigorous, and capable to have as much of a human life as possible for as long as you can. You need to dance with your granddaughter, care for your chickens, and farm your fields. Managing Morbidity: Memento Mori We all die, and as lifters this means we all complete our last PRs. There is a day, and you may have reached it or may reach it soon (you will reach it at some point) when you won't hit any more PRs. This is okay. This is part of the deal. At some point, the strength curves bends and then comes down. For Karl, he still thought he might be able to hit some PRs. He moved to a more rural location, felt the heaviness of his 258 pounds, but he still thought maybe if he hit a good stretch of training he could hit another PR. Then he had a stroke. He had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). The word transient is key - he hasn't experience long-term, permanent effects from the stroke. The stroke occurred due a congenital issue - patent foramen ovale (PFO) - an open oval hole in the wall of the heart. Migraines are common for people with this issue. He confronted the reality that he will never hit another PR again. Managing Morbidity: Staying Active & Vigorous We don't strength train, though, to just stave off death or sickness or even compress morbidity into the smallest possible portion of our lives. We train FOR something (or multiple things). We train for health. We train to dance with out granddaughter. We train to take care of our chickens. Some train for glory, others to take their medicine, others to compete. It's really a remarkable thing, to walk into a gym multiple times a week, year-after-year-, and fight against iron and gravity. While Karl, now walking around 50 pounds lighter, misses looking like he lifts when he walks around. But everyday activities are easier. Certain things open up to him - such as getting clothes that fit easily or may even - gasp - going for a run. Managing Morbidity: Training as an Athlete of Aging Okay, PRs are behind you. What do you do now? Sully and Noah had a great podcast series discussing this in greater detail. Right now, Karl is completing LP and seeing where that ends. He might spend some time pursuing hypertrophy. He might go for a run. He'll definitely attend to his field to grow food and tend his chickens. You need to accumulate hard sets. That's what strength training boils down to. It's not that the reps, sets, technique, or exercise selection don't matter. It's just that, at the end of the day, you need to accumulate hard sets consistently over time. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We share holiday training strategies so you don't lose all your gains. Learn the tips and tricks to keep training & gaining during the holidays. Holiday Training Strategies - Expectations & Mindset When it comes to holiday training, expectations need to match reality. For many people, they confront more variability which does not lend itself to normal consistency of training in more regular times. Travel, changes in gyms and equipment, different food and alcohol, time off work, time with family - these variables mean that our normal recovery capacities won't be there for us. Understand that weights that you may have missed reps or harder-than-expected reps. Plan and prepare to have flexibility built into your workouts. When it comes to mindset, don't lose heart because of lower performance. Andrew also recommends training curious. This means that you should probably try the planned work weight, barring some extremely challenging or missed warm ups. You may also find that you can hit an unexpected PR during this time. Look to enjoy training and keep up the habit. Plan and prepare to train, but be ready to adjust. Holiday Training Strategies - Expectations & Mindset Before you even get to the gym, you need to find the gym. Where are you going to train? What equipment do they have? What equipment can you pack (shoe, belt, wrist wraps, chalk, etc.)? Andrew straps his shoes to his carry-on backpack. Niki has her case the perimeter of the suitcase (as opposed to the belt cinnamon roll). Make training a part of your holiday plans before the holidays begin. Holiday Training Strategies - Training Adjustments Matt, Andrew, Niki, Scott, and CJ have discussed ways to adjust training to reality over the years, and the holidays are similar to any other times where training likely takes a backseat but needs to remain as part of the plan. Here are some strategies that may apply to your holiday situation: shorter workouts longer, less frequent workouts change the exercise (e.g. RDLs not deadlifts) autoregulation train curious The bottom line is, you need to prioritize training, but prioritizing training during the holiday probably doesn't look like a 5-day-a-week super advanced plan, but rather finding a gym, scheduling lifts on days that make sense, packing necessary equipment, training with curiosity, flexibility, & long-term progress in mind. We hope these holiday training strategies help! Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Managing nutrition through the holidays can be tough. Follow these (or develop your own) simple, effective strategies for sustainable holiday nutrition. Managing Nutrition Through the Holidays - Big Picture It's Thanksgiving week, which for many begins the longer holiday period where they find themselves standing on a scale come January unhappy with the changes to their body over the past weeks. Where would you like to be standing come January? What's realistic? What does a holiday period look like where you step onto the scale in January content with where you are? Consider this. If you maintain your weight for the remainder of the year but increase your weight during the holiday period, that spells over years and decades a higher weight and increasing waist line. This time period is meant to be enjoyed, so realistic goals probably do not look like losing a significant amount of weight during this period. Effective strategies likely do not look like only eating turkey breast and greens on Thanksgiving day with water. Managing Nutrition Through the Holidays - Effective Strategies Developing strategies to limit calories during this important is important. This might look like only allowing yourself one plate of food. It could look like waiting 15 minutes to see if you're still actually hungry before going for seconds. Maybe you cap the alcoholic drinks or the calories from alcohol. This means you're aiming for somewhere in between your most aggressive nutrition periods and reckless abandon. Niki and Andrew recommend against fasting for most people. For some, this may work, but a better strategy is likely eating an extremely high-quality meal the morning of Thanksgiving. Focus on protein and fibrous vegetables. For many, alcohol is an important area to address. Alcohol comes with many calories, it negatively affects sleep, it does not lead to satiety, and it affects your decision-making abilities. Managing nutrition through the holidays is possible and important. Hope is not a strategy. We encourage you to set some realistic goals and intelligent strategies as part of your overall sustainable nutrition approach. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Deadlifts: Eat Your Spine. Is this the perfect cue or the reality of a dangerous lift? Andrew & Niki delve into the depths of the deadlift. Do Deadlifts Eat Your Spine!? Do deadlifts, in fact, eat your spine? It certainly feels like it sometimes. Deadlifts train the muscles of the hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors, abs, spinal erectors, lats, and more. Because the weight of the bar is trying to round your back, you strengthen the muscles of the back by maintaining a rigid spine despite the urgings of gravity. The deadlift, as Andrew points out, is the only one of the main barbell lifts where the center of mass changes during the lift. At first, it's only the lifter's body. Then, as the weight of the barbell and plates moves up off the ground, the weight of the bar gradually (it might take less than a second) gets added to the COM equation. Unlike the other lifts, the bar starts from a dead stop and that's part of the point. The press is somewhat similar, but lifters often add a dip or hip whip to get the bar moving on rep 1. Deadlifts: Eat Your Spine Instead of describing what the deadlift does to your spine, this "eat your spine" is a cue to conceptualize what happens in the setting of the back in the bottom of the deadlift. Typical cues involve "lifting the chest" or "arching the back" or something similar. Too often, this results in overextension. You don't want overextension but simple, normal anatomical extension. You won't be able to maintain overextension. Andrew's cue brings to mind that the spine is not only controlled by muscles of the back but is surround by muscle (including on the anterior side). Wrap the spine with muscle or eat your spine. Another important component of the deadlift is feeling the weight in your whole foot. The weight should be felt evenly on the balls of your feet and heels. One other aspect they discuss is the difficulties for those with long torsos and short arms (we're sorry - enjoy the squat!). For these lifters, they may need a lower hip position than is often considered correct. Deadlifts: eat your spine. This is the cue you didn't realize you needed. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Mac McGregor and Niel Marr join Niki and Andrew to discuss strength for golf. Niel is a golf instructor, and shares how strength has improved his life and his golf game. Strength for Golf: Longer Drive & Better Stability for Putting As Tiger Woods' career demonstrated, strength does not destroy one's swing or ruin one's golf game. It actually helps it. Too many unfounded claims or ideas like this float around, despite the contrary reality. Strength helps produce a faster golf swing, which means the ball can go farther. It also helps with stability for fine-tuned skills such as putting. Beyond this, strength helps create stronger, more resilient, healthier golfers. Ultimately, golfers must continue to practice the skills involved in golfing (e.g. putting and driving) while improving their ability to produce force. Strength for Golf: Coaching is Coaching Neil Marr, a golf instructor, also explains how as he's decided to start pursuing barbell coaching, he's been able to use the skills he's developed as a golf instructor. He has developed a coaching eye for golf, which can translate to a better coaching eye for the barbell lifts. He also has experience identifying errors and communicating so people can move correctly. Strength for golf and help is a boon. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

We discuss 3 lifter pathways: competing, just training (thriving), and recovering. How do these looks, who might find themselves in one of these pathways (and why)? Andrew & Niki explore this. 3 Lifter Pathways - Competing This pathway involves a state of life where life can support training. For these lifters, training is a high priority. Nutrition supports training, lifters likely give up other pursuits to support training. Obviously, life needs to cooperate (and sometimes it does not), but insofar as you can prioritize training you do. 6 months out from the competition, the training can remain fairly general, though the more advanced the lifter is the earlier the training has to be more specific. As the meet approaches, training will incorporate more heavy singles and doubles. The competition lift will be practiced. The lifter may perform a mock meet. Lastly, the lifter will peak, letting build up fatigue dissipate and allowing performance to increase (it's easy to screw the timing up here). 3 Lifter Pathways - Just Training This is really where most people should be most of the time. Training is a priority, but not the top priority. Training is a tool for their deep goals of health and fitness, and nutrition and sleep can support that. Ultimately, though, if you want to go for a run or a hike, you don't sacrifice this or other physical pursuits for your training. The volume slot in a training week is the primary stress and needs to be productive. For the intensity slot, it's more akin to practice or skill work. It is heavy, but not scary or grindy. 3 Lifter Pathways - Recovering For these lifters, training has to take a back seat. This could be due to an injury or major life setback. It could be, however, a phase of life where time and recovery ability is limited. The lifter wants to continue lifting, but it cannot be as high a priority as the other two pathways. Metrics may need to reflect the shift in focus. This could be going for rep PRs. It could be consistency. It could be pain (looking for less pain). It could be enjoyment of time in the gym. 3 lifter pathways exist, and they reflect different stages and phases of life. If you train long enough, you'll experience all of these. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Metrics aren't your master. Don't sacrifice important pursuits to the altar of strength (unless you're specializing). Metrics Aren't Your Master - What Matters to You? Want to get strong, add some muscle, become more capable, and improve your quality of life and general health and fitness? This is where many of our clients live. Want to get fat, give up all other physical pursuits, and become less healthy so you can squat more? If so, that's awesome - seriously, some people seek the single-minded pursuit of excellence, such as elite powerlifting. For most of us, though, this makes no sense. You don't need to gain 50 pounds for the benefit of your squat 1RM. We recommend you don't give up all conditioning so your novice linear progression can last longer. Remember, metrics aren't your master. For many of us at Barbell Logic, we have stood in the position of deciding not to go for the hike or the bike ride because we needed to go for a 5RM on Monday or do a hard 5x5. The weight must go up! No, it doesn't have to go up. Seriously, who made this rule? What terrible consequence are we trying to avoid by sacrificing a social life and physical health so Monday's 5x5 goes up five pounds? Metrics Aren't Your Master - Know the Rules, Break the Rules Going for the hike or bike ride or Turkey Trot will likely take weight off the bar in your lifts - you do not have infinite recovery capacity. For most people, though, that's a sacrifice they're willing to make. Will you some day be lying on your death bed thinking "oh no, I left 25 pounds on my squat because I biked." No, no you won't. This is where having a coach to help guide your programming really comes in handy. You go for a long hike over the weekend, your Monday 5x5 cannot go up 5 pounds. This is okay, but it also complicates how you approach programming over time. Many have run into the wall of not knowing what to do once simply adding weight to the bar stops. We love metrics, but metrics aren't your master. Rather, they serve you and your goals. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

People build strong families through strength training. We're, of course, not simply talking about physical strength, but emotionally and spiritually strong families, who witness each other overcome hard things and help each other out through life's difficulties. Strong Families through Strength Training Mac started his fitness journey as a young lad preparing for the hurdles of the Royal Air Force. He deployed multiple times, and felt lucky to be able to complete certain extremely challenging training. He means lucky. What he noticed, looking back on this training, is people succumbed to injuries when heavy things needed to be carried. Despite being young, lean, and "fit," people who ran a bunch and completed many callisthenic exercises and circuit training were unprepared to carry heavy things over long distance. No one really considered strength training. Mac and his wife had shared running together. In the middle of a deployment, Mac had his wife smoke him on a 10k run after he had been unable to run for a long period. They enjoyed the shared activity of physically difficult things. Then, hardship struck the McGregor family. Mac face ulcerative colitis (UC) and his wife had a stroke. He face medical retirement as the provider for his family. Involuntary hardship reared its head. Strong Families through Voluntary Hardship Mac had decided to sign up for strength training with Barbell Logic and had seen positive benefits to his health and fitness. Mac tried to coach his wife, but it did not work. Ultimately, Joel Rasmussen, a Barbell Logic coach from Australia, became her coach and remained her coach since 2019. His wife has been able to return to physical activities she never thought she would do again. While the progress has been anything but linear, she has regained capabilities. Furthermore, their children witness them both lifting and doing hard things. They seem their mom and dad getting under the bar, overcoming gravity, and getting stronger and more capable. Strength training has provided a source of physical, emotional, and spiritual strength. For many people, like the McGregors, they can become strong families through strength training. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Lots of squat thoughts & new cues. Andrew & Niki discuss what cues they've found useful on squats and how they've improved their squats and squat coaching. Lots of Thoughts on Squats Andrew & Niki discuss some squat thoughts - things they've been noodling over, observing, and applying in their lifting and coaching. They both have been thinking more about what it means to effect and maintain a rigid torso (as opposed to just extending your back). Too often, the focus here can be only on the back, to the detriment of your front side. Lifters need to ensure all the muscles around the spine are working - and working roughly the same. This includes the abdominal muscles and muscles around the hip. Applying these squat thoughts, Andrew has been able to overcome his squat mornings or good morning squats and rather drive up with hip and knees extending together, as they should. Any deviation from this means inefficient force production with less weight on the bar. It also just simply won't feel as good. Squat Thoughts & New Cues Andrew and Niki take all this and share some cues they've found themselves delivering more. Andrew has said "wrap your spine in muscle" or similar to this, really emphasizing the contribution of all the muscles around the spine working to maintain spinal extension (not simply extending your back or lifting up your chest). He has also been using more often "balance on your full foot," which is really the master cue for the squat. Too often, though, people aim to have the bar moving straight up and down over the middle of the foot as opposed to realizing that the center of mass needs to move over the midfoot, not the barbell itself. Let's keep the squat thoughts coming. Niki cues people to "maintain the distance across the front of your body." She could draw the attention specifically to the nipple line and belt line. These two lines should not move farther apart or come closer but should maintain their separation. Another cue Niki has been giving is "when you inhale don't get taller." This corrects an idea of back extension (or hyperextension) where people don't crunch down on their abs. We hope you've enjoyed these squat thoughts. If you want a Barbell Logic coach to check out your squats, go to THIS LINK and we'll jump on a video call with you and checkout your squat (and other lift) form for free. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Snapping back to your Goldilocks zone after you fall short of the actions you know will lead to your goals is a must. Whether this occurs after a vacation, a holiday, a weekend with friends or family, or simply a slow slipping of standards, this is an important skill for sustainable nutrition. Learn how to do it without overreacting. Snapping Back to Your Goldilocks Zone - Falling Short What is the Goldilocks zone? This is that golden mean where you're eating and training enough but not too much. You're looking, feeling, and performing good and are moving toward your goals. For most people, they fall short by moving toward the vices of sloth or gluttony. Most people don't tend to train more than they should or underfeed themselves (though these people exist). Many opportunities to turn away from the path toward your goals exist. You may go on vacation, enjoy a few too many desserts over the holiday period, indulge in too much beer during the summer, or have a long weekend with friends of family. You can likely think of more occasions. No matter how or why you find yourself not moving toward your goals, symptoms arise. What happens to those who move away from healthy habits for too long is their senses are dulled. They essentially cannot realize that they feel bad because it's their normal state of being. What does overindulgence look and feel like? For Andrew, it's feeling like a "turd sandwich." For Niki, it tends to result in bloat, feeling less comfortable, getting less high-quality sleep. Let's examine what the Goldilocks zone looks and feels like. Snapping Back to Your Goldilocks Zone - What's Normal The Goldilocks zone feels good. The bloat goes away. You're getting good sleep, training regularly (but not overdoing it), and eating at maintenance (or at a small deficit). Niki feels comfortable in her clothes and generally feels good. For her, it takes a couple weeks to slide back into this. Her recommendations for how to get back on track include the following: Drink plenty of water Cut out the alcohol Eliminate processed foods Add in veggies (lots of colors & fiber) For Andrew, it's a return to baseline. He tends to eat the same meals for breakfast, lunch, and snack. Not only does he know what he will eat but how much. He also knows which things he can adjust to reduce calories further, if needed. For example, he can add walnuts to his yogurt, or not. He can reduce the oatmeal portion for breakfast or, potentially, even remove it. It's takes practice, observation, and time to see if you're back on path, not doing quite enough, or, if you're overdoing it. Let's look at what overreaction looks like. Snapping Back to Your Goldilocks Zone - Don't Overreact Overreaction for many likely comes from either a place of fear, guilt, ignorance, or some combination thereof. You may fear the results from the recent behaviors, and instead of returning to actions you know that work, you think you have to swing the pendulum back hard. Acting out of guilt looks similar. Because you overindulged, you feel you must almost punish yourself. Lastly, you may simply not have a well-established baseline, so you swing the pendulum back strongly because you're not sure what else you can do. When it comes to training, it likely looks to trying to burn yourself into a calorie deficit through cardio. Healthy nutrition is sustainable nutrition. Effective training builds toward goals and can be done for the long haul. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Is it time to change programs when your frustrated and want to blow up your current program? Niki & Andrew how to approach this logically when reason is the furthest thing from your mind. I Want Something Different - NOW! You miss a PR, tweak your back, or can't fit into your favorite jeans. You're ready to blow up your program. But is it time to change programs? Maybe, but it's first time to think about things. Don't react in emotion and make your life harder. Wait before you send that angry message to your coach. Hold off before you decide to change everything and go off in a completely different direction. Try to detach and observe yourself. Identify and allow the emotions and thoughts that naturally arise. Consider the circumstances that created the current situation. Next, it's time to think. Is It Time to Change Programs - Actually? Let's talk tradeoffs. You can't have it all. Many times a client, dejected by a bad workout, will request a big change. Once she realizes what that shift would involve, she decides it's not worth it. Niki discusses trying to identify where the locus of the problem is. Is it a "me" thing. A "me" problem might be that she did more work than the coach prescribed, so she wasn't as recovered as she might have been. Or, did circumstances create the bad workout, This means things out of the control of you and your coach. Examples abound, but include deaths, divorce, new kids, new job, move, major illness, and more. Lastly, it could be a programming thing. As the coach, you need to dig into what led to the missed rep. Even if circumstances and the lifter affected the miss, can you do a better job accounting for these? You probably can. Niki thinks about categorizing things into resources and outcome here. The outcome, in the workout, was a missed rep. Do you actually want your outcome to change? So, is it time to change programs? Maybe, but not after some deliberation. It might make more sense to just make an MED change. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

What keeps you training after the easy PRs, injuries, years or decades of workouts. Why do you keep exercising? Niki and Andrew discuss training motivation over the long haul. What Keeps You Training? Why continue to lift, run, track macros after you've hit your goal? How do Andrew and Niki find motivation after decades training? It different from person to person, but over time the process of working out and doing hard things becomes a habit and something you derive joy from. This doesn't mean you're feeling pleasure every second of training, but you your enjoy the process and the results and you identify as someone who trains. As Arnold says, it's like brushing your teeth: you just do it every day. You don't stop because the PRs are gone - there are no toothbrushing PRs. There is some interplay of discipline and motivation. Motivation waxes and wanes. The discipline needed to continue should (generally) go down. This isn't the case when you hit those rough patches and you have to really dig down and think about what you want out of training. Training Motivation Andrew mentions the fear of soreness from squatting after a week without squats (those who know, know). Try not squatting for a week and then come back and squat and see how you feel the next day. More importantly, Andrew talks about how he feels terrible after a few days without exercising. You grow used to the habit, to the point where not training leads to you feeling bad. This applies to nutrition too. If you eat consistently healthy over a long period, you will feel bad eating large doses of processed foods. Niki enjoys being a superjacked women and identifying as that. As Niki has been unable to set 1RM PRs on the squat and deadlift like she used to enjoy doing, she had to look toward the tonnage going up. Beyond that, though, seeking hard workouts has helped. While a hard workout does not equal a training plan, training has to be hard for progress. You can take this idea too far, but our tagline is simple, hard, effective for a reason. So, what keeps you training? Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Too busy to train!? Not any more! Learn ways to get more done in less time so you can continue to remain consistent & work toward your goals. Too Busy to Train!? - How it Happens How does someone get so busy that they can no longer train? This happens for different reasons for different people. Some may come from new life challenges, but sometimes this arises from reasons within the gym. Toward the end of LP or during advanced training, lifters may creep the time between reps, intentionally or otherwise. Lifters may deliberately decide to increase the rest, having heard that this is what serious lifters do. You're not doing the program if you're unwilling to rest at 8, 10, or even 12 minutes. The lifter then gets emotionally connected to driving the weight up on the bar, but if he or she shortens the rest time, the weight must come down. This can lead to 2+ hour workouts. Too Busy to Train!? - Not Any More If lengthening rest times have have caused workouts to grow, then rest times need shortened. This may mean reducing weight on the bar. This comes with a changed mindset - have to realize that the price of the PRs is too high, and that the extra-long workouts are unsustainable. Don't let the perception of the workout be what keeps you from doing it. Lifters will need to be strict about the rest times, using a timer and not going down cell phone wormholes. Workouts may need time caps as well. For example, Niki sometimes commits to 45 minutes of focused effort, but at 45 minutes she stops the workout. Get some meat and potatoes main lifts done, then complete as much accessory or conditioning work as you can in the remaining time. Lifters may need to stick to one or two lifts per workout. Or, fewer, longer, full body workouts may be needed. Giving lifters options to do more if they feel good allows more ambitious days on those days where the lifters are feeling good and have more time. Keeping lifts simple to reduce setup time is important too. This isn't the time for bands, chains, or maybe even pins - keep things simple and look for how you can reduce time that is not critical to adding more stress in less time. Check out the Barbell Logic podcast landing page. Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now: https://store.barbell-logic.com/match/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Andrew on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]