Beast over Burden powered by Barbell Logic

Niki & Gillian discuss the concept of small wins and their value in nutrition (and training). Big goals can be scary and overwhelming, and--regardless of the enormity of the goal--little actions, small decisions, and changes of habit accumulate to make the goal accomplishment a reality. We have to ensure we have a way of seeing and acknowledging these small wins. If we're moving close to our goals and improving, these wins are happening. It's important to ensure we have a way to see the progress, acknowledge the progress, and celebrate the progress. Having objective, reality-based metrics (and they don't necessarily have to be scale weight) helps provide an easy way to see progress while not allowing subjective feelings to overwhelm us when we feel we have not improved. This concept becomes especially important during rough patches, when life's difficulties mount and a win might not be "Instagram-worthy," but simply NOT binging or NOT drinking large amounts of alcohol. A win might be not succumbing to self-destructive behavior or even simply limiting this behavior (e.g. we overeat, but not as much as we would have months prior in a similar situation). Another time this matters is as we age and potentially accumulate aches and injuries, or simply our ability to gain strength diminishes. There comes a day when all of our absolute PRs are historical, so we have to celebrate our capabilities and redefine PRs. Identifying and enjoying small wins is another way of saying we celebrate PRs. We may have to redefine PRs away from simply weight on the bar (PRs after 40 or 50 or 60) or enjoying new modified lifts (e.g. box squats) and celebrating what we CAN do. Some common small wins Gillian and her clients see include (but are definitely not limited to): food preparation portion control limiting sweets or alcohol trying a new, healthy recipe growing awareness taking the time to think preventing "emergency situations" (e.g. binging) taking control of your eating--and feeling empowered less guilt around food choices (is the guilt improving your decisions & ultimately your health?) how we react after a bad decision or food choice So, find ways to measure and identify, acknowledge and celebrate your small wins toward your big goals. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt & CJ answer your coaching questions, including ACL tears, improving vertical jump, coaching blind lifters, and coaching obese lifters. 0:00 Introduction 2:51 Nutrition Questions from Strength Clients -what is your professional scope? know it, can refer out, and admit if you can't answer the question -if you offer paid nutrition coaching, say that as part of the answer 9:15 Friendships & Clients -need to address issues early on if it's an issue (it will only get worse if you don't) 18:09 ACL Tears -ligaments cannot be healed from physical therapy (require surgery) -seems to have some correlation with hamstring weakness 28:25 Low Bar Squat Pain -high bar not causing an issue, keep doing that -could test low bar occasionally to see it it persists over time 36:15 Building At Home Coaching Clientele -have to establish local connections -need to have your gym look nice -"I take this serious" 44:12 Elbow Tendinitis & Injuries -build trust & have open communication 53:08 Vertical Jump -losing weight can really help -there is a big genetic component -increasing force development helps (strength) -practice the power development 59:00 Training Untrained Obese -meet clients where they are, but assume they can't train--they can -what CAN they do, how can you add stress to that 1:06:05 Coaching Blind Lifters -meet them where they are--they can still hear you -they can feel things better GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram Podcast Webpage Barbell Logic on Facebook Or email [email protected]

Matt Reynolds, founder & CEO of Barbell Logic, takes a minute to reflect on not only what he is thankful this Thanksgiving but--as Barbell Logic turns 5 years old--he reflects & lays out Barbell Logic's core values and his commitment to them. We help you improve your quality of life by experiencing strength. We meet you where you are and help you drive progress using Minimum Effective Dose measured by PRs. We deliver programming solutions that are simple, hard, & effective. Wow you with world-class service and personal, professional coaching. Coach you with models informed by science but applied practically to your real life. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Scott & Matt discuss recovery and how you can improve your recovery, because though most people don't give themselves enough stress others may go too far in the other direction and now recover enough, which ultimately holds them back from the gains they desire. Recovery is the opposite or absence of stress. The top two sources of recovery are rest and food. Let's discuss these. A huge area of rest that people often fall short of ideal is sleep. Here are some sleep tips: 8 hours Same wake & bed time every day (including the weekend) No electronics or light (especially blue light ) right before bed Use your CPAP is you have one If you can't get 8 hours of sleep, try to nap Food and nutrition depends on your goals and bodyfat, but here are some eneral tips: Prioritize protein: 150g for females & 200g for males every day (and there are outliers) Adequate calories (gaining weight--surplus; losing weight, small deficit) Carbohydrates: enough and--if attempting to lose weight--consume before your workout A glass of whole milk can be a good way to add calories to your meal and get in a surplus if you're looking to gain weight In addition to food and sleep, ensure you're resting long enough between sets (depending on available time, at least 5 minutes for lower body exercises). Allow yourself to do smaller weight jumps--at least 2.5lb jumps, especially for the upper body. Lastly, consider your total stress. This might be other exercise or physical activity. This might be life stress (relationships, work, etc.). Your total stress affects your ability to recover from lifting stress, so limit it insofar as you can. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Dr. Jonathan Sullivan joins Matt & Scott to discuss what we know about how strength training benefits the joins and how it affects joint health. You can find Sully's YouTube channel here and his Greysteel's website here. Running actually puts more force on the knee joint than squatting below depth, so the idea that squatting below depth is bad for children (whereas people have no opposition to a child running) does not make sense. He also discusses the idea of arthritis as a "wear & tear" disease not only being wrong but this concept leading to bad, counterproductive, unhealthy recommendations from much of the medical community. They also discuss different types of joint replacements. It is always a good time when Sully joins the podcast! GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Scott & Matt discuss their training and nutrition at a specific point of time. Scott is adjusting to having sold Data Storage, and training and nutrition are in flux. Scott has lost some weight from his highest weight ever, but training is not his top priority. Matt has been intermittent fasting in the morning, which he has found complementary to his daily schedule at this point in time. Both Matt & Scott HATE squatting. Matt has bad hips, and Scott has to bend over until his back is darn-near parallel to the ground because of his anthropometry. This episode really is a discussion for what happens when life prevent training & nutrition from being your focus, you're not hitting PRs, and you might be having tough workouts regularly--how do you react to maintain the habit. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

In this re-release, Matt & Scott discuss strategies for programing your press--practical tips as well as the underlying principles. The press typically stalls before the other lifts. Fewer muscles contribute to the press and the smallest deviations from an ideal bar path will cause missing reps. Unlike the other lifts, we also have more choices here in terms of form--strict, hip movement, arm movement, Olympic press, etc. Because the press stalls first, MED changes are used first. Here are the typical MED changes for the press. Microloading (2.5 or potentially even smaller weight jumps) 3x5 to 5x3 Move to 4-day split Intensity day & volume day Change in form: hip throw, Olympic press, bar dip Supplemental lift: for press, especially pin press or press lockouts The press reacts to programming more like an Olympic lift. The press requires practice, especially if a hip throw or Olympic style is used. Heavy triples, doubles, and singles can help. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Jordan Harbinger, hugely successful podcaster and fascinating character in his own right, talks to Matt and Niki about his journey through involuntary hardship that he underwent a few years ago. A few years ago, Jordan was on a different large podcast that was not his own. During his time on the podcast, he matured and over time felt he needed a way to exit from this podcast. He had negotiated an amicable exit, but ultimately booted unceremoniously and had to deal with losing his podcast and--ultimately--his identity, as he had built up an identity as part of the old venture. Matt and Jordan linked up soon after this, as Brett McKay connected them, knowing that Matt had undergone a similar struggle being kicked out of an organization that he had identified with. Before this, he had felt like he couldn't leave. As he worked through the process, he found that getting booted was a gift. He had both the freedom and responsibility of his own brand and his own podcast. He found that those around him believed in him more than he did--a weird experience, as entrepreneurs often believe in their ventures more than anyone else. He had to both mourn the loss of his old project and identity while pushing forward, even when he didn't necessarily believe in his new project. He decided to focus on his own podcast as opposed to spending money, time, and emotionality of fighting through lawfare. He had to consider what is good for him, his new venture, and those he cared about, and that was NOT with lawsuits and bitterness. Ultimately, he summed up the whole episode with a pithy expression many of us can relate to: "wading through the crap to get to where we are now." GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Niki & Gillian pick up from Episode 381 Knowing & Remembering Your Whys to address the approach to successful sustainable nutrition with practical steps and actions meet your goals. Gillian first address her approach to nutrition coaching (and this applies if you're acting as your own coach) with Consequences, Accountability, and Trust (CAT). Consequences help dictate your motivation and aggressiveness. High consequences usually are time-bound: preparing for a bodybuilding competition, cutting weight to meet a weight class, losing weight for a military bodyweight screening. We understand that some people do react severely to consuming certain foods, whether it be because of autoimmune diseases or allergies. Who is holding you accountable? Building accountability into your plan matters. Having a coach helps, but also being public with your goals, actions, and progress. Share all your steps along the way with your loved ones and social media. You can have a diet bet. Lastly, you need to trust in the process, yourself, and your coach. Nutrition progress is not linear, and you'll have to contend with stagnant metrics, setbacks, and a desire to constantly change things up. Gillian then discusses her Seven Steps to Successful Sustainable Nutrition Tell the Truth Non-Negotiables Triage Plan Ahead Plan Ahead Measure and Celebrate Your Results Mindset Tell the truth to yourself, your coach, those around you. Don't lie. If you pour a half of a bottle of wine into a glass, that's not really "one glass of wine with dinner." If you track using a food-tracking app, don't pick something with substantially fewer calories than what the food probably has. Track everything. Don't hide things. You can't properly create and adjust actions, heck you can't even identify problems, if you're not acknowledging and recording your behaviors accurately. Identify and incorporate your non-negotiables. These change, but they are the things that matter to you, you find value from, and that need to be incorporated into your diet plan. This might be eating out, alcohol, or dessert. This doesn't mean that you get to eat as much of you want, but it means that these need to be included--and you might adjust other behaviors to include them. One you understand non-negotiables and someone's behaviors (or your own) and know the person's goals, you can identify the biggest obstacles to progress. What are the changes you can make that will result in the biggest returns on investment with the least time, effort, etc. Regardless of your plan, planning ahead matters. Bad decisions occur without planning & preparation. It gives you confidence--you know you have something waiting for you at home, so you don't go through the drive through. It helps prevent you from feeling overwhelmed. Mastery of the small changes means turning actions into habits through repetition. This means that something that at first was a big change and potentially hard goes on auto-pilot, with minimal effort to sustain. Measure your results and celebrate them. This not only includes metrics, but also all the recipes, skills, knowledge, and habits you have accumulated through the process. Lastly, master your mindset--make it positive. Trust matters here. Acknowledging that setbacks, stagnation, and challenges will occur. Be able to come back after you stray from the plan--jump back, without guilt and rumination. Following these actions can help you successfully develop and follow a sustainable approach to nutrition, where you meet your goals and then maintain at a place you are happy with. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Niki Sims and Gillian Ward discuss why nutrition compliance trends so much lower than training compliance, why this is, and how you--as someone who has nutrition goals--might combat this and succeed toward or past your goals. Nutrition coaching is quite different than strength or training coaching. With training, you prescribe a certain number of exercises, and the lifter does or does not do them. If the lifter successfully does them with enough compliance, the lifter sees the results. They can hit PRs for every workout, completing the workout in and of itself is success, and the lifter often feels better afterwards--physically and emotionally. With lifting, there is a feeling of deprivation and taking away. You're never done--you not only have however many meals or snacks you take as times you can fail or succeed, but literally at any point of time you are awake you may fail to follow the prescription. You also don't see the benefits of your hard work for a long time, and often progress stalls for long periods of time. For a nutrition coach, there is less clarity and it can often be less rewarding and more frustrating. You can feel as if you're failing. You have to work to boost compliance and work to modify behavior. For the nutrition client, it can be hard to continue if you don't see progress, and it can be easy to slide into screw it mode, where you not only fail to follow the plan but you eat and maybe drink with reckless abandon. It is critical that the nutrition client understand his whys: why did he sign up for coaching, why did he state the goals he stated, why do the goals matter, why is he willing to suffer to meet these goals? Has he dug deep enough and really understood why he is doing this. A good idea is to write down these whys and keep them with you. If you're struggling or think you might stray from the path, look at these whys so you can remember them. Define and celebrate the small wins. A successful meal, snack, day, or week is a big deal. Also consider the near misses--someone brought in the donuts to work and you almost grabbed one, but you decided to not eat it and stuck to the plan. Find ways to enjoy the process--daily, weekly, monthly--and increase your awareness of how good you feel when you eat and drink in a way that supports your goals and nourishes your body. Lastly, Niki & Gillian share their whys with the audience, which might help you create yours. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt & Scott discuss the myth of maintenance and how this doesn't really apply for people, despite what people often claim. Sometimes life prevents strength training from being a high priority, so you do your best. Work, injuries, vacation, etc. can prevent improvement in the gym. When these things are not preventing improvements in the gym, then do your best to improve in the gym. The day will come when you won't hit any more PRs and you will train to stave off strength and for your health. People tend to think that they've reached a point where they're strong enough and they don't need to get any stronger. Now, if your goals change--you want to pursue some other athletic endeavors--that's fine, but you still train and training requires at least some attempt to either get stronger or stave off weakness the best you can. There are also drawbacks and real costs to getting to elite levels of strength. This level of strength does not increase your health. It's not enjoyable. You're putting strength above everything else in your life, and we're not calling for that. That being said, for most people, they're not even close to strong enough. They haven't put in the time, effort, energy to pursue fitness, strength, and health. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt & Scott discuss how to behave properly in a gym, because to many don't respect the equipment or the people around them. Don't be that guy (or gal). Take care of the equipment and put it back where you got it. Treat the equipment with the respect it's due. Wipe down your bench and similar equipment. Put the weights away properly (right location, and lips out on the weight tree). If you're in a big box gym, don't give others unsolicited advice. If they ask for advice, give it--if you're a coach, this person might become a client. If you receive advice, don't act like you want it. You can be polite, but if that person gives it the second time, that person needs to know you don't want or need your advice. Headphones can be a useful tool in gyms like this to tell people you're not interested in talking to them. If there is a chance of good coaching, however--if you're in a good gym--then don't wear the headphones. Enjoy the fact that you're in a gym where you can receive excellent coaching. Don't break up the blocks of chalk--they should be block. Don't use baby powder. Act like a professional in the gym. You know what you're doing. You know why you're there. Act like it. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt and Scott discuss how you can save time in the gym, because we know (with rare exception) you lift to live not live to lift. LP workouts shouldn't take that long. Early workouts should realistically take about 45 minutes. This will increase to 60 minutes as you rest more and the weights go up. They should NOT take more than 90 minutes. If you're in a hurry, warm up for your next exercise between work sets. Also, start with short rest periods (2 minutes). This can increase, but upper body exercises require less rest and lower require more, but if you're pressed for time you don't need to rest more than 5 minutes. If you have the time, by all means rest longer, but WHO CARES if you're NOT DOING THE PROGRAM perfectly because you can't rest 12 minutes between squat sets. If you're even more pressed for time, you can use the 4-day split for LP, with 2 exercises (squat & deadlift one day, press and bench press the other). This results in shorter workouts. You can also do 1 lift a day if you're in a huge rush. Having a home gym helps as well. This eliminates the commute time. Lastly, lots of people are "busy" doing BS. Think about how you can reduce or eliminate some of that BS. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt and Scott discuss why we warm up and how to properly warm up. Warm ups--like much with lifting--can come with lots of confusion and misinformation. First, why do we warm up? We warm up to warm up the tissues, so this is the general purpose of warm up. We also warm up to practice the movement and prepare our neuromuscular system for the work sets, including the fact that as we add weight the center of mass shifts closer to the barbell, so the correct performance of the lift actually qualitatively changes. So, how do we warm up? Warming up should be done relatively quickly. The heavier the weight, the longer it will take to warm up. You should roughly use 5 warm ups, but if you're in a cold environment you might need more. Also, as you progress through the workout your tissue is warm, so the purpose of the warm up shifts more toward the practice and preparation. Fewer warm ups can be done for exercises later in the workout. You also don't need to be precise with warm up weight. If some app tells you to warm up at 88 pounds, just do 95. For the most part, stick with 25lb and 45lb plates, unless your work set weights might be relatively low. You don't need to warm up between warm ups, especially the early ones. You might rest about 1 minute between the last couple warm ups, and definitely before the work set. You also can warm up for the next lift in between work sets. Unless you're an exception (extremely small or extremely big and strong) start with 45lbs for the press, bench press, and squat and with 135lbs for the deadlift. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt and Scott discuss the master cue, a cue developed based on a basic understanding of biomechanics that can be used for many lifters. You cannot perform a squat correctly if the center of mass of the barbell-lifter system is not directly over the center of balance (your midfoot). The midfoot really means, however, that weight is balanced between the balls of your feet and your heels. Because it can be hard for people to think about keeping the bar over the midfoot, we tend to draw the attention to the foot. As a coach, the foot is a helpful point to focus on to determine what is going on with a squat. As a lifter, paying attention to where you feel the pressure on your foot helps tell you if you're properly balance or too far back on your heels or forward on the balls of your feet. Because of this, the foot serves as a diagnostic tool for the squat. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt and Scott discuss whether you should get hyped for a lift. They tend to say no, unless you've practiced getting hype and your form is good. If your form isn't locked in, don't hype. Also, there is an importance for regularity before lifts. Because of this, you shouldn't act completely differently for PR attempts than lighter attempts. Do the same thing. If you're an advanced lifter, you might have a pre-PR attempt rituatual that is slightly different than a normal attempt. For Matt, this doesn't bring hype but rather focus. You need to be intensely focused and present for these attempts. For many lifters, having the one cue that you should focus on can help. Your coach and you develop the one cue for you to focus your technical focus (might be KNEES OUT for the squat on the way up, for example). Lastly, consider the differences between the meet and lifting in your garage and gym and practice for those differences (practice squatting and pressing looking into an open room as opposed to close to a wall). GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt and Scott discuss how to train older clients. Barbell Logic's age demographics tend to skew older, so the company and its coaches have lots of experience coaching older clients. Depending on the age, almost everyone can deadlift. Many can squat, bench press, and press. Some lifts may have to be modified, but an exercise similar to the lifts can be executed for most older clients. Older people can and should train hard. For older people, this means intensity. Intensity is what older clients are missing from their life. Grabbing the groceries, for example, is a low-intensity exercise, so they need to lift heavy and add muscle mass as a type of insurance. Volume, however, wrecks older people. Use less volume than you might program for younger clients. Frequency--number of workouts in a week--might also be less. 4-day splits for the very old are not recommended. You might do a 4-day split over 3 days or even have them only train twice a week with full-body sessions. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Dr. Jonathan Sullivan joins Matt and Scott to discuss the merits and drawbacks of including the power clean in someone's program. Who should perform it, and how do we evaluate if someone should or should not perform the power clean? Sully has 3 criteria for assessing whether someone should perform the power clean: Want to do it Aptitude to do it Tolerate it For those who meet the above criteria, it can be beneficial. Sully believes the power clean develops and trains power. It is an accessory pulling exercise. It also introduces the lifter to Olympic weightlifting, a whole other arena in the strength and barbell world that that lifter might be interested in. The power clean also helps the lifter learn how to commit to a movement pattern. You can't hesitate with the clean. This carries over to other lifts, like the squat, in committing to the execution of the lift. Matt, Scott, and Sully agree that to be a good, well-rounded barbell coach a coach should be able to coach the power clean and power snatch. One thing they also agree on is that the power clean is not appropriate for a novice's linear progression program. Lastly, there are the limitations and realities of the coaching session. In a 2-hour out-of-town session, there's not enough time to coach the power clean and the other 4 lifts. Because of this, the power clean is best for clients who you see multiple times a week in-person (though it can be coached online, especially with some in-person additional coaching and the client being able to commit to filming and looking at his own lifts). GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Scott and Matt discuss what is a cue and why good coaches give cues. You should only have to teach a lifter a lift once, but you will have to correct that person's execution of the lift. Because we can't as coaches lift the weight for the lifter, we have to deliver information to the lifter as they lift to get them lifting more in line with the model. We do this with a cue. Cues can be visual, tactile, or verbal. Verbal cues need to be loud, clear, and short. The lifter has to hear the cue, understand the cue, and use the cue. Visual is pointing or in some other way (for example, showing a lifter a relatively horizontal yet diagonal forearm to emphasize that they need to lean over in the low bar squat). A tactile cue is touching the lifter. A coach may physically put the lifter in the right position (grab the elbows in the press to bring them up and forward) or touching the low back in the deadlift to emphasize lumbar extension. Cues don't need to be correct. The point of the cue is to provide the thing the lifter needs to move more correctly during or between the performance of the lift (between is necessary for online coaching). GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt and Scott discuss common pitfalls that novices make as they begin their strength journey. First and foremost, many people lift with horrific form. You need to get your form right or pretty close. This either requires a coach or your needing to spend the time educating yourself and filming, watching, and analyzing your own lifts. Many people don't get shoes, and proper shoes make a huge difference, especially on the squat and press. Too many people don't eat properly. This may be food quality (whole foods). This may be not eating enough. This may mean eating way too much crappy food. Protein needs to be higher for most people. Finally, too many people quit when it gets hard. They don't know how to grind. You don't have to grind every workout of every day--and you shouldn't. But, if you can't grind, you're leaving LOTS of weight on the bar and holding your own development of grit back. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Scott & Matt discuss what you have to have, what you should have, and what is nice to have in the world of strength training. First--it's nice to have a home gym. It provides flexibility and convenience, though it admittedly takes an initial investment of money to get a functional gym. If you're working to create a home gym, this is what you should have: Get a 20kg or 45lb bar of relatively high quality--you can get a used one. They discuss all the details here. Get 500+ pounds of weight, including 8x45lb, 2x25lb, 2x5lb, 2x2.5lb, 2x1.25lb plates (2" holes). Olympic bumper plates are really nice. Iron is economical. Consider what you'll be lifting on--if you're lifting on a well-made platform, bumper plates are not necessary if you don't plan to do lots of Olympic lifting. A power rack is better than a squat stand. This has 4 upright, safety pins or catches, j-hooks. It often can also come with attachments (pulley attachments, dip attachments, pull up bar, etc.). You want 1" spacing around the bench press height. Regardless of if you lift in a public or home gym, you need shoes. This is the first thing you need. Don't get a CrossFit trainer. They discuss lots of good options. A belt is the next thing. You can get really strong without a belt, but most people end up getting a belt, as it adds weight to the bar and you want to get stronger. Dominion belts are great. Chalk is necessary as your pulls (deadlift, row, clean) get heavy. You probably want blocks of chalk to paint your hand. If your gym doesn't allow chalk, that's a good indication that your gym stinks and you should look elsewhere. Finally, here are nice-to-haves: wrist wraps, wrist straps, knee sleeves, squat shirt. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Gillian and Niki answer your nutrition questions, including hunger & recipes, small wins & gastric distress. 0:00 Introduction & Gillian is Human -what do you do if you get off the rails? -hydrate & drink lots of water -get back to your normal: don't overreact, but get back to the routine that makes you feel good -do the things you need to do to get back (shop, food prep, etc.) 9:30 Hunger Signals -depends on your food choices (empty calories versus protein- & fiber-dense meal) -what do you mean by hungry? what does that feel like? -think about all the distinction between painfully full to truly hungry and needing food--there's lots of difference between those two extremes 14:37 Novice, Intermediate, Advanced Nutrition Clients -what defines these levels? -knowledge, skill-levels, compliance all matter 17:55 Examples of Small Wins -making changes that are different than their norms that bring them closer to their goals -think about the meal, the day, the week, the month -also, think about the small wins versus the guilt and mistakes 21:28 Gastric Distress & Nutrition -can the nutrition coach help them identify a cause (are certain foods causing this)? -might recommend seeing a doctor to see if it's something more serious (after tracking with a visual food diary) -there can be things like bubbly water or medication that might be causing a problem (so let's look at non-calorie items too) 24:53 FODMAPs -short-chain carbohydrate or sugar -tend to cause problems for people with IBS -identify what the person is sensitive to 29:45 Blood Markers -these matter, but it's really more important to focus on the behaviors -how will this data change our actions? -don't fixate on a number 34:26 Training on Low Carb Diet -understand why the person wants to follow this diet 38:37 Go-To Recipes -chicken salsa verde -has been going off what the grocery store has -instant pot healthy recipes 41:35 Losing Weight with Non-Supportive Family -need to talk to each other -might have to lead by example 45:55 Becoming a Nutrition Coach -nutrition coach versus registered dietitian (cannot prescribe a diet) -behavior-based 56:24 Nutrition Plans & Monthly Cycles -building an awareness is helpful GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

This is the NEW interview with Dominion Strength Training. Niki talks to Blake & Katie about their journey as entrepeneurs as their business has grown and they've expanded the products they offer. You can follow Dominion Strength Training on Instagram. Niki actually met Blake & Katie before Dominion Strength Training started, as they came to Atlanta Barbell to receive coaching. They were CrossFitters but learned to love strength training, and as they turned to purchase their belt they realized there was no high-quality belt they could get quickly. Initially, they received equipment from overseas, but production and quality issues led them to realize that they could offer a better product with less problems if they built the belts themselves, so they began to build the belts themselves. Because they control everything that goes into the belt, they create the highest quality belt on the market. They can ship the belts to you quickly because they don't customize but rather have belts in stock that can be yours within days. They have grown and offer more products now, including straps, different sizes and types of belts, and dip belts. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

This is a new interview with Mike Reed from MicroGainz . Mike & Matt really focus on entrepreneurship and creating a successful business. Also, Mike and his wife recently attended the 2021 BLOC Party, had a blast, was able to meet many of the coaches and clients, and brought gear to sell (without shipping). You can follow MicroGainz on Instagram here. MicroGainz offers fractional plates (now up to 10 lbs), dumbbell fractional plates, gym pins for machines, and now Barbell Logic engraved micro plates. The equipment is made in Pennsylvania, USA. You can always use cold "LOGIC" to get 10% off. Mike discovered the problem of not being able to make smaller jumps when he completed LP, and realized there weren't many options on Amazon. Plates he found were cheap and poorly made and not made in the USA. He decided to fix this problem himself and worked to make his first fractional plates. Not only does this go to show that successful business solves a problem, but it was actually a problem Mike faced himself. He had an N of 1 that this was a real problem, and he also understood the importance of this problem and how he could help his clients. People have lots of misconceptions about what entrepreneurs or business owners do. They think it's glamorous and easy, but it's really about grinding for years and maybe even decades. Mike worked 2 jobs for 4 years before he was finally able to quit his day job. Matt similarly had to work 2 jobs when he initially began coaching. For both of them, there came a point where they realized that not only could they quit their day job but they needed to if the new business would succeed. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

This is the episode Matt & Mike recorded the day before Thanksgiving 2020 and aired that Black Friday. Matt & Mike discuss MicroGainz and the opportunities and challenges that COVID created for their businesses. You can follow MicroGainz on Instagram here. MicroGainz offers fractional plates (now up to 10 lbs), dumbbell fractional plates, gym pins for machines, and now Barbell Logic engraved micro plates. The equipment is made in Pennsylvania, USA. You can always use cold "LOGIC" to get 10% off. 2020 has been a hard year for many people, though good professionally and personally for Matt (and he's thankful for that). MicroGainz benefited from supply issues because he was able to produce plates when others could not. The great part about his products is that they can be used whether you train at a gym--they fit easily and lightly in your gym bag--or at your house. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Jordan Stanton, owner of Next Level Barbell, joins Matt & Scott to discuss his story of frugality, risk taking, and self-determination. He went to college to become a nurse, but realized this was not a career he wanted to stick with long term. He began to train lifters and came to a point where he had to decide if he was going to really pursue it or not, and he ultimately did. He paid off his bad debt with frugality and even though his initial gym was in a garage, he provided a clean space with high-quality lifting equipment and offered excellent coaching. Although Jordan discusses going All in, he didn't really go all in. He pushed hard, but he didn't buy a huge warehouse and hope customers would come. If you want to start a gym, start in your garage and get a rack. Maybe move to a larger garage or get more equipment. You might eventually consider renting a small space. You don't get an expensive space without knowing there is a customer base for you. Jordan also realized the importance of the subscription model. He didn't have clients pay monthly but rather had them pay monthly. This ensured regular pay. He also offered discounts for people who came regularly as opposed to coming in for one session. Lastly, he found a huge element to creating a successful gym was building the community. The community keeps people coming and makes it harder for them to cancel, because their friends lift at the gym. This is large element to the success of CrossFit, because group classes create a social element. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

This is the original Dominion Strength Training interview. Blake & Katie join Matt & Scott to discuss the creation of Dominion Strength Training. You can find their website here and follow them on Instagram here. Blake identified the possibility for creating a belt company when--as a novice lifter--he saw a gap between poorly made, cheap belts that you could get quickly and expensive, high-quality belts that took months to get to you. He realized that lifters needed a high-quality belt they could receive quickly. They initially sourced from Pakistan, but ran into quality issues and were forced to repair belts with their own hardware before a large pre-Christmas order, which led them to work toward producing the belts themselves. This led them to create the belts themselves to avoid these problems. This gave them more control of the quality of the belt, and ultimately improved the quality of the belt. They moved from Atlanta to Florida to build their business. Lots of people have good ideas, some attempt to pursue them, but few persevere through the difficulties and succeed in creating a successful business. By the way, Dominion sells more products than listed in this episode...stay tuned for episode 6 for an update from them. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt & Scott share their business books that have provided them value and insight as business owners themselves. The E Myth Revisited (Matt) This book discusses business systems. There are owners, managers, and technicians in every business. If you're a great technician, you might not be a great manager or owner (e.g. if you're a great coach, it doesn't meat you'd be great at running a gym). Scott's Initial Recommendations He recommended reading the Wall Street Journal daily for a few years--stick to the business stuff. The Harvard Business Review is another good source. Lots of new business books are just repackaged old ideas. Scott got much out of My Years with General Motors. Poor Charlie's Almanac (Matt) There are some great nuggets in this book. Another great resource are the Berkshire Hathaway letters. Both also recommend the Intelligent Investor. The 4 Steps to the Epiphany (Scott) This book is about creating a start up. The Effective Executive (Matt) This book discusses time management and how to best focus your efforts. It really can apply to anyone who runs anything (a household or family, for example). Some Newer Options The Everything Store about Amazon and Jeff Bezos is a good book. Delivering Happiness is the book about Zappos. Creating a Company Culture & Expertise This is difficult to do. Also, you ultimately have to do and get over the expertise hurdle. Keep learning, get after it, and ask questions. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin This book delivers great productivity, work ethic, and living good life tips. Crucial Conversations This book discusses how to have difficult but necessary conversations. This applies to business, but also normal human interactions in any relationship. The Business of Business Business is hard. People glamorize it, but it comes with challenges and the probability of failure and failure's consequences. Plus some rapidfire book recommendations that didn't quite make the top cut. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Who are we, and how did we get here? Matt addresses these in his 2021 BLOC Party State of the Union. This is Matt's address to the Barbell Logic coaches and staff at the 2021 BLOC Party. Matt delivers these roughly quarterly to the staff, and he initially intended to keep this internal as past state of the unions have been. Ultimately, though, at the prompting at some of his staff, he realized this is a good address to release. It's a good overview of how much Barbell Logic has grown and changed over the past 2 years. He touches at the staff of Barbell Logic who work to deliver the high standard of service, oversee and run operations, deliver content, create and improve the Academy, market our services, and grow the company. We hope you enjoy this, and it helps you better understand who we are, and how we got here. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt & CJ Gotcher answer your questions about the Academy and coaching, including when you should fire a client, how Matt's coaching practice has changed, the PBC process, and how to know if coaching is NOT right for you. CJ Gotcher is a staff coach for Barbell Logic and the Academy Director. 0:00 Introduction 1:57 Firing a Client As a coach--or really anyone in the service industry--you will eventually come across a client who you no longer wish to serve. Often, this comes from repeatedly crossing boundaries. Often the coach is not a good fit for that person--it doesn't mean that the client is a bad person. How could I do this better? Often, that client needs a different coach who can better serve them. This is a great aspect of Barbell Logic, that we can usually find a different coach to better serve that client. Occasionally, a client may habitually cross boundaries--the term "malevolent" pops up--and you should not feel like you need to protect yourself from the client. That is a sign you might need to fire a client. 7:02 How Has Matt's Coaching Practice Changed? We've moved from strength at all costs to strength as a tool to improve quality of life. There are other things important beyond strength training. We still value barbells and think barbells are a fantastic tool to improve quality of life. What is the client life-cycle? Matt has hit big squat and deadlift PRs, but he's okay with the idea that he never will again. He recognizes the sacrifices it would take to hit another PR, and he doesn't want to make them. 11:32 Credibility in Coaching - Clients' Wants vs Needs Have to realize that a new client has not necessarily bought in fully to your training paradigm, that you have to build credibility. For whatever reason, they've come to you, but you were likely one of multiple options. What really matters--to you and the client? For example, if the client wants to compete in powerlifting and won't squat, that's a problem. If, however, the client wants to sumo deadlift and you think the conventional deadlift is better, how important is that to you? Can the client still accomplish his or her goals? For example, Matt now has Gillian Ward coaching him for strength (already a nutrition client). Matt is beat up from years of Strong Man & Powerlifting. Gillian has been asking how exercises feel, if they hurt, if they do hurt, where and how much? She is building trust and problem-solving and not pushing Matt into a cookie-cutter program. 16:26 Is Coaching NOT For Me? Just because you love to lift, doesn't mean you'll love coaching or be a great coach. If you don't really care about people, that's a red flag. Really ask yourself if you enjoy it? If you feel some resistance, which aspects of coaching might you not enjoy (because you will always not enjoy SOMETHING about a certain job or profession). There are lots of different demographics and types of coaching, so experiment and see if a different demographic or type is better. 23:33 Training Older Men Can I find guard rails where they can push themselves (maybe a super heavy low bar squat can't be pushed, but what about some accessories or box squats or stressing the deadlift). Educate them on why you're doing what you're doing. A huge trust-builder here is to be more right about their experience than they are (eg they hammer themselves on Wednesday with extra volume after you've pushed less volume, have a discussion with them after they bonk on Friday--not an "I told you so" but a moment for education). 27:43 How Frequent is the Academy? It's at your own pace in an online learning environment. There are optional events, but you complete it when and where you want. Also, there is the Advanced where you can deep dive into a subject you need to focus on. 30:26 Long-Legged Athletes-Squatting & Pulling They're going to look more bent over, but can also be too bent over. CJ finds himself using overcorrection cues "overcues." Most people aren't made to squat AND pull well. So, there are tradeoffs (Kirk Karwoski versus Ed Coan). 33:42 Beginning to Charge Clients Money It really should be as early as possible, because the money--even if it's not much--gives the client skin in the game. The flipside is you need to know that you can provide value to them. How Not to Totally Suck as a Coach is a good article to Read. Make the exchange explicit--it might not be monetary. 38:56 In-Person & Online Coaching Hybrid Model? It depends on your situation, but it can definitely work. The general model might look like an introductory session or sessions and then go to a cheaper, online model that stresses accountability, programming, and just technique tweaks & reminders. 40:55 Coaching as a Side Gig? Is coaching worthwhile as a side gig? It depends. You have to enjoy and be good at coaching. You can certainly MED your way into coaching. It's DEFINITELY better than quitting your accounting job and going "all in" on coaching and "swing for the fences." 46:27 Best Way to Work at BLOC

Enjoy the panel Q&A that ended the 2021 BLOC Party. Listen to Dr. Puder, Matt Reynolds, Gillian Ward, Niki Sims, Andrew Jackson, & CJ Gotcher answer questions from the BLOC Party attendees. Topics include nutrition post-vacation, finding clients in a new location, training to looked more jacked, and countering the effects of sitting. 0:00 Introduction 2:20 Finding Clients in New Location Deliberately seek out communities and meet people. Go to the same places and talk to people and get to know them well. Build relationships. Talk to your barber or stylist and have them help spread the word. Don't spread yourself thin, but rather seek out the places where the type of clients you want to coach will be. Social media can also help. Make it super easy for people to find you and sign up for your coaching on social media and search engines. Lastly, the people who are asking you questions about lifting & coaching are potential clients. 5:47 Identifying & Helping Clients with Suicidality or Depression Some people may be chronically suicidal. If you find out that that person has a plan, you may want to escort that person or ensure he or she gets help. Lifting and training will help them feel better, but it might need to be easier and meet them where they are. For depression, you might see change of appetite, loss of interest in things, express guilt or shame about just about everything they do. 9:19 Missing a Week on 3-Week Program For something like this, can usually do the previous week over. When you come back, you should probably lift heavier weights than you think but less volume than you think. 10:33 Psychological Hurdles to Training & Healthy Habits People can develop just about anything to avoid discomfort. You might just need to get people walking. Dr. Puder specifically is very repetitive and will discuss movement, exercise, and moving toward training. It's about little wins. It helps to have them identify as a lifter and see themselves as a lifter. Also, what is the meaning people ascribe to what they are doing? Also, as a lifter, Dr. Puder has noticed that Matt is great at giving Dr. Puder positivity when he needs it. He has a bad workout or a miss and Matt is positive, and that has been refreshing and encouraging. 17:18 Getting Back on Track after Vacation Don't go deprive yourself and starve yourself. Get on track with the normal plan as opposed to swinging the pendulum hard in the other direction. Guilt serves no purpose. Enjoy the vacation, and then return to the plan. Don't try to make up for the caloric surplus immediately. 20:02 Introducing Supplemental Exercises Start lighter, want them to learn the exercise. The stress is the novelty of the exercise. 24:48 Looking More Jacked? Talk to your coach, if you have a coach, but the huge contributor here is nutrition. 25:45 Mentorship Program? Your starting point is your coach if you have a coach. Your coach is your initial mentor. Obviously, if you've signed up for the Academy you can also reach out to CJ and the instructors. Also, they discuss the PBC process and how nice it is to submit a platform evaluation video. Why? Because the evaluating coach can show exactly what they saw and also the coach getting evaluating is coaching in his or her environment, as opposed to having to yell over other coaches. 33:46 Countering the Effects of Sitting Moving during the day can certainly help. It's a big change if you've been active. Also, are there reasons your posture stinks (for example, you're breaking down videos and have to be hunched over to talk into a microphone). 38:53 Why the Change to Discord? It's newer, better, and it stores old conversations. 42:09 Templates in the BLOC App It's surprisingly difficult to get this working, so it's a high priority and should happen soon...but, on promised timeframe. 50:41 Helpful Informational Source for You Lots of different and interesting answers...probably not what you'd expect. 55:30 Smart MED Programming on the App? Easy MED changes at the end of novice LP. It's not some complex programming system, but a way to plan the machine-learning programming needs as LP stops working. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

This podcast is a recording from the 2021 BLOC Party. It was the first presentation on Saturday, August 7th that Matt & Niki gave to the staff, coaches, client, friends, and family of Barbell Logic. It comes from a emerging idea that Matt and other staff and coaches at Barbell Logic have been developing, which is that STRENGTH CANNOT COME AT ALL COSTS. We have to consider and balance all facets of health. Sometimes and for some people, that means chasing PRs. But for lots of people, that does not mean chasing PRs. It doesn't mean we don't value strength or barbell training--we do--but we understand we need to improve quality of life. Most people would probably rather not get fat and get sleep apnea just to drive their squat and deadlift up. A useful value can be asking yourself why five times, as this can help you identify your values. You might not know, but it can help you identify why you want to lift, why you want to gain or lose weight, why you're pursuing certain things. Why have you set the goals you've set. Strength training gives us the most bang for our buck compared to training other physical attributes. We haven't abandoned this. We know, however, that if we add 100 pounds to a client's deadlift but that client can't meet his Army physical requirements, doesn't have time to pursue other hobbies, or health depreciates we have not helped that client meet his goals. We understand that health has many different aspects. We have to ensure we tend to mental health, financial health, social/relational health, and physical health. Barbell training is an important tool to improve our health, often across multiple domains of health and fitness, but we cannot and do not advocate strength improvements and chasing PRs regardless of the costs. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Thomas Frank, popular YouTuber on productivity and related tips, joins Matt to discuss his journey as a Barbell Logic Online Coaching client as he just recently achieved a 1000-lb powerlifting total. You can learn more about Thomas Frank at his YouTube channel. Thomas is publishing a video on his channel documenting his journey. Thomas & Matt met at a conference and Thomas mentioned to Matt that he wanted to do a video on accountability. Matt pitched to Thomas to let him be his coach. Shortly thereafter, COVID hit and suddenly Thomas had no access to gyms and had little equipment. Matt worked with him to develop a program using a chin up bar, a kettlebell, and some sandbags. Despite the equipment limitations, Thomas completed the workouts and slowly got stronger until the gyms opened back up. Since then, Thomas has been able to train properly with barbells and joined Matt as his house to achieve the 1000-lb total. Thomas discusses the criticality of accountability. Without Beminder--and app the creates accountability for whatever task you want to complete--he would not be the successful YouTuber he is today. For some reason, however, he never applied this principle to working out. Thomas stressed the importance of having a coach for accountability. It's easy to lower the intensity or cut the volume if you don't have a coach. It's easy to miss workouts. Having a coach increases compliance which helps ensure results, which means meeting the goals you want to achieve. Learn about Thomas' story and the importance accountability has played to his recent 1000-lb total and his success. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

John Welbourn joins Scott & Matt to discuss his journey from skinny kid to NFL athlete to fitness figure trying to share the benefits of strength & fitness. John Welbourn enjoyed a long career in the NFL, in part because of his dedication in the gym and in the kitchen. He ate healthy foods, being an early adopter of the paleo diet, and saw the benefits on the field from getting strong in the gym. He also got a degree in rhetoric, of all things, certainly flying in the face of the typical big, strong guy stereotype. As he transitioned out of the NFL, he found CrossFit and initially bought into the idea of metabolic fitness serving as the base to build a well-rounded general fitness, but quickly realized that strength offers a better base upon which to add metabolic conditioning (think of someone with a 405 clean & jerk doing Grace--30 135lb clean & jerks--versus someone with a 185 clean & jerk, regardless of if the weaker person is better conditioned). Despite John's elite performance, he has a lot of practical wisdom and ultimately decided to use his knowledge and skills to help everyday people, not just act like the elite strength plans should be followed by novices. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Jordan Stanton, the President of the United States Strengthlifting Federation (USSF) joins Matt & Scott to discuss the differences between USSF & other federations. 3 things stand out with USSF: weigh-outs vs weigh-ins, press not bench press, and no judging commands. Immediately following your third deadlift attempt, you are escorted by someone of the same-sex to a private room where they take your weight. You are not allowed to use the bathroom until after the weight is recorded. This prevents huge weight drops (Jordan discuss dropping nearly 50 pounds for one of his meets), both making the meets safer and shorter. USSF primarily involves the press, not the bench press. The USSF now has instituted bench press competitions with rules that do not require commands, but the press is the USSF's bread and butter. Lastly, and also a huge deal, is that the USSF does not have the judges give commands. Clear rules are posted and the lifters are expected to understand the rules, but the judges judge the lifts. This prevents the judges from affecting the performance of a lift with bad commands. Some of the other details are that the attempts are in kilograms and go up in 1 kilogram increments and you get 3 attempts per lift. You can take a second attempt at the same weight, but you cannot decrease the weight once you've set the weight. The USSF, also, has many online competitions. This allows greater competition, cheaper entry, and also prevents some travel and gathering concerns with COVID. So, if you're looking for a meet to organize your training, sign up for a USSF meet, whether it be in person or online. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

We understand that some people don't train strength just for general health or quality of life, but to improve their performance in a sport or physical activity. How do you both train strength and improve sports performance? Right now, hyper-specific training is in fashion. For example, throwing an extra heavy shot or doing half squats with a narrow stance because it mimicks the football player's stance. This type of training neither offers productive training nor productive practice. Training prepares the athletes physically for the sport. This can be structural or metabolic (basically, strength or conditioning). Practice improves the performance of skills (eg throwing or kicking a ball). While physical stress comes from both of them, strength acquisition comes from strength training. Strength training improves the athletes' ability to produce force, which they can then apply on the field of play. A common confounding factor with sports is that while we know that strength and conditioning is important for sports performance, world-class athletes are genetic freaks and will remain world-class despite sub-par programming. Despite this, people too often look to the best athletes for their routines, when we really should look at average and below average athletes and see what works for them. How do you take, for example, the typical high school football player who might start squatting 135 on day 1 and get them to squat 405? People have a limited time and limited ability to recover from stress. The bulk of an athletes strength training should focus on multi-joint exercises that train the most muscle mass over the longest effective range of motion with the most weight. This of course means that athletes should squat, deadlift, bench press, and press. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Despite the fact that meets are fun and help give more purpose to our training, they can be a long, stressful day, and we recommend having a coach or handler who can worry about the administrative and logistical things (when are you up, get you food and drinks, etc.). There are many common pitfalls that people tend to do their first meet. Don't stay amped the whole day. Relax when it's time to relax. Don't get amped up until you're going for the final attempts, and, really, you shouldn't get really amped until that final deadlift attempt. Don't stress about form. You might have that 1 cue in your mind you need to think of, but don't second guess or overthink it. Have a cue in mind and lift the darn weight. Don't warm up too much or too early. Eat and drink. If you're nervous, you're likely to undereat, which can harm your performance. Have salt, carbs, and water. Don't eat things you're not used to eating. Speaking of not eating things you're not used to eating, don't do anything new or for the first time. If you'd like to try something (deadlift slippers, singlet, a food or drink), test it out during at least one normal workout. Ensure you prepare correctly: have enough of everything. Have extra socks, extra food, extra shoes, etc. And, remember, it's about setting PRs. Go out there and have some fun. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

You signed up for your first meet: what do you do now? Scott & Matt discuss what to do now. A huge part of preparing for a meet is realizing the purpose of the meet. The purpose of the meet is to set PRs, give your training a purpose, have some fun, meet some people, and leave feeling encouraged about lifting. Nobody cares who wins. You should change as little as possible leading up to the meet if it's your first meet. If you're a novice, just keep doing LP. Maybe you can practice some singles and do a super short 2 week "peak," but that's not necessary. This applies to powerlifting meets and strengthlifting meets. Go set PRs. It doesn't really matter if the league doesn't enforce squat depth: squat to full depth. So, sign up for a meet, have some fun, set some PRs, and continue your lifting path. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Training while traveling presents challenges, whether your a frequent business traveler or someone who only travels to visit family or for vacation. Either way, we have to decide to train or not to train and then how to adjust training before, during, and after to best meet our goals. If you are someone who rarely travels and NEVER misses a workout and you finally go on a vacation, it's not important to your long term progress to miss a week or even two. Again, though, there aren't a huge number of people in this category. For more people, it will be important to both maintain the habit of training or at least exercise and the training can help destress or at least make you feel better if on a vacation. If you're a frequent business traveler, training while traveling is a must: you cannot progress if you don't train on the road, so you'll have to develop a strategy and habits to train on the road, to include what to pack, gyms to look for, and how you train on the road). Now, let's discuss some travel hacks for lifters Matt likes to train first thing upon arrival and before departure, as it helps make travels days feel more productive and he knows he accomplished training on those days. These aren't days to hit PRs, but to get some work done. A pro-trip here is if you train at a big gym they often have showers, so you can train and still shower before getting on a plane. This also helps as training the first couple days after travel tends to not feel great, so you will have trained on the last day of travel and not feel behind on your training. Niki recommends to search for "powerlifting" when you're looking for a gym, as this probably will help you find gyms that will have the equipment you'd like to have. Both Matt & Niki acknowledge, however, that even big globo gyms tend to have at least 1 squat rack. Some hacks for travel: have liquid chalk in a travel size so it can go on your carryon bag if you check a bag, use a hard shell case to help protect your gear (and potentially any whiskey you take home pack your A7 shirts, as you'll experience some terrible benches Niki likes to have a small draw string bag that goes in her suitcase with her gym equipment Matt uses his backpack, which is also his carryon consider packing cubes for clothes eBags are great backpacks if you travel frequently, have pre-packed toiletry bags know where you can get higher protein options in the airport, or pack some drink water frequently Lastly, how should you train while you travel? This depends on your goals and preferences, but in general, we can offer some ideas and tips: not a great time for PRs - get some work done & maintain the habit know thyself: will you want more frequent, super short workouts or fewer, longer workouts have flexibility with equipment and difficulty explore the space: try out new equipment and exercises you can't at your home gym or local gym front load stress prior to travel (go for PRs before the trip) communicate with your coach ahead of time so he or she can plan accordingly plan the training around your commitments and, for vacations, tell your family (don't go to the gym when your wife wants to go to a museum) So, there's lots to consider and ways to train during travel better or worse. How do you train while you travel? GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Noah Hayden continues his discussion with Niki & Matt, now laying out & discussing his proposed exercise selection criteria and programming criteria. Below are his proposed exercise selection criteria. train the most muscle mass in normal, predictable movement patterns requiring normal coordination when possible over the longest effective range of motion to lift the most weight that is structurally sustainable with exercises that have a wide therapeutic window What are we looking at when we discuss the longest effective range of motion? We're looking at the movement of the joint: how much the bones move around the joint. A good proxy for this, however, is the distance the barbell moves. We also need to think that it's not really a huge deal if someone is using a safety squat bar instead of a low bar back squat. The low bar squat is our default, but if they can't low bar squat we adjust and do the best we can. How do we take these exercises and create a program? Below are the programming criteria Noah proposed. train all major muscle groups with the least number of exercises as is practical that do not interfere with other adaptations any movement done to failure must be as low skill as possible in the minimum effective dose required to continue making progress This goes back to the discussion of goals in part 1, but if you're training for a sport, you can't train strength optimally as you have to prioritize the sport (you have a time budget and a recovery budget). Strength needs to help your sport performance, not take away from it. These criteria also help with choosing when we add accessories. Initially, the deadlift is enough stress for the muscles of the upper back. But at some point it isn't, so we need to add chin ups or barbell rows or pull ups or lat pull downs. Check out the Barbell Health Series, where Noah first pitched the beginnings of some of these ideas, and his article, where he discusses these in more detail. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Noah Hayden joins Matt & Niki to reexamine the exercise selection criteria. Noah first pitched these ideas in episode 3 of the Barbell Health Series & then Noah Hayden refined them in an article for Barbell Logic. As coaches, we likely love lifting, and this passion helped motivate us to pursue a career in helping others lift and experience the benefits of strength. Many of our clients, however, do not share the same passion, and while getting stronger will benefit them--and strength will likely get them closer to their goals--we cannot ignore their goals and prioritize strength about our clients' goals. Strength, in fact, is not the most important thing in life (nor the only thing). When it comes to programming, examining why we program a certain lift rather than another, we have to think about the why and then we can develop the how. A bit part of the why are the client's goals. We need to think about how we improve quality of life for the client? How do we help them meet their goals? We're Barbell Logic and we're strength coaches, so we understand the importance of strength and advocate that simple, hard, effective training should be a part of any fitness routine. If, however, we put 100 more pounds on a client's deadlift as their waistline increases when they wanted to get leaner, we failed to help the client meet their goals. In his article, Noah outlines what he considers the fitness attributes. While there are different lists, people tend to argue over whether two attributes should be combined or divided or whether there should be more that might fall under another. Below is his proposed list. strength endurance power mobility/flexibility agility/coordination precision/body awareness body composition lack of debilitating pain mental fortitude In the next episode, Noah, Matt, & Niki decide on how examining the client's goals, understanding the why, and understanding the fitness attributes helps leads to Noah's proposed Exercise Selection Criteria and Programming Criteria. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Time is your most valuable resource, and you don't know how much of it you have on this earth. Because of this, protecting time, being efficient, and knowing when to trade money for time is important. Its importance heightens if you find yourself in a situation where you make enough money that you can make more money on your work than completing a menial task, such as mowing the lawn or cleaning the house. You might actually make more money paying someone else to do this. This isn't the case for everyone, and there are times in people's lives where they simply have to lower expenses and be thrifty. If you find yourself in a situation where the more you work the more money you make, then you need to think about finding time blocks where you don't work and being efficient with your work. If you find yourself with a fixed amount of time at work (eg a 40 or 60 hour work week) then you need to figure out how to leverage the time you have outside of work for both enjoyment and to complete the other tasks in your life. Regardless of your situation, it helps to consider the money-time tradeoff and how some investments of money can lead to more money in the future (and, of course, how some investments of time can lead to money in the future). Thinking this way can help clarify what you should do yourself or hire out and help block off time for leisure and family and enjoyment. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Chris & Matt Reynolds like to wake up early and GET AFTER IT. If you don't, that's okay, but you might try before you write this off and it's super important to have a consistent sleep schedule regardless of when you go to bed and wake up. You can't make up for lack of sleep on the weekend, and your body will learn and adjust to a regular sleep schedule and be better off for it, as opposed to inconsistency. If you want to try this, give it a try for 3 weeks. If after 3 weeks you hate waking up early and going to bed early, that's okay: you're probably an evening person. You might then want to work on being more consistent with your sleep and how you still make time for leisure and family. One benefit that early sleep and wake provides is that many people have social activities in the evening. If you're an evening worker, you'll have to compete with these and find ways to work around these. It also can give a natural break to work and family life, and you can complete your work for the day (barring a true emergency) and then give your full attention to your family when they arrive. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Let's talk about focus. This is something people don't do well these days. Focus has atrophied due to smartphones, social media, the internet, TV, etc. Focus, however, is critical to productivity, success, happiness, and getting done deep work. Something that can help both improve focus but show you how hard it is to focus and how easily you get distracted is meditation. The practice of bringing your focus back to your breath or a mantra helps build the muscle of focus and helps you see your thoughts. Also, you can't multitask. You may move from one task to another relatively smoothly or quickly, but you can't actually do two things at once. Knowing what distracts you and blocking those things out helps. For many, distractions may be broken down into visual or auditory. Know which one distracts you and plan accordingly (noise-cancelling headphones, for example, if you're distracted easily by noises). More focus means more productivity, and if you value time with family and other activities, you can be more efficient with work and urgent tasks and then spend more time doing those things that are important and give you value. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt & Chris share a technique they use all the time, called the Pomodoro Technique. This technique is perfect for both knocking out urgent tasks or carving out time to dedicate to deeper, important work. The original approach is to dedicated 25 minutes to totally uninterrupted work followed by a 5 minute break. You can string together multiple blocks as you get better at this. Also, if you string together multiple blocks, you often need a longer break every so often. 25 minutes isn't set in stone. You may need to do longer or even shorter blocks. The principle, however, is totally uninterrupted time. If you get distracted, you QUICKLY jot down a super short note to clear your head but ensure that the task that popped up in your head (e.g. I need to take out the trash) gets accounted for. With one hand, simply jot down "trash," and then continue your work. Preparation can help here. There might be certain times of the day or locations where this isn't feasible because distractions will be inevitable. You also might need to do things to help prevent distractions: you may have to wear noise-cancelling headphones. You'll need to have your phone elsewhere and not have notifications turned on. You might need to notify your loved ones that you need 25 minutes uninterrupted time and explain the purpose. Ultimately, this is about getting the urgent things done so you can get the important things done, which include spending time with your family. You can, of course, apply this for important tasks, such as creative work. Try the Pomodoro technique to increase your efficiency with both urgent and important tasks. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

We all have things we think are important, we want to get done, but we continue to put off. This occurs because of the difference between urgent tasks and important tasks and the 4 different types of actions that occur (as an action can be urgent & important, neither urgent nor important, urgent but not important, or not urgent but important). We tend to put off the important but not urgent things. If they're never urgent, there's never pressure to complete them. Ultimately, we need to put pressure on ourselves to complete them. This doesn't mean we ignore the urgent: the urgent has to get done. With the urgent, we have to find ways to be efficient or have others do these things (e.g. have the groceries delivered, have someone else mow the lawn). The important and urgent things have to get done. Items that are neither urgent nor important really need to be examined: how much value do you get, for example, scrolling through social media or binge watching Netflix. We need to eliminate or at least limit these activities. All this requires, of course, identifying what's important. This comes down to what provides us value. You decide what's important. This relates directly to strength training and dieting. Strength training is not urgent, though it's important. We can increase the urgency by having accountability and protecting the space. Over time, we impart urgency on strength training, "It's getting close to training time, I'll have to do this later." The same goes for food. If eating is always urgent, then you'll find yourself eating the most convenient items, which will usually be unhealthy. Preparation prevents food from being urgent, because you're prepared and have food ready. Lastly, completing the urgent is still important. If you have urgent things floating in your head when you're attempting to get your important work done, you'll be unable to focus and accomplish the important work you want to complete. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

As advocates of strength training, we encourage people to add strength training as a habit. Many of the most important things we need to do to live a more fulfilling, productive life, however, involve breaking bad habits. Bad habits don't have to be bad in a moral sense. They ultimately don't provide us value and bring us closer to our goals. They might waste time or money. They might prevent us from building positive habits. They might make us less healthy or happy. Stopping these habits can be difficult. The win of not doing these is often not enough. We can leverage the fact that as humans we dislike losing more than we like winning, so we need to devise punishments or negative consequences for doing the habit and have SOMEONE ELSE hold us accountable. A note here is that the consequence should not be related to the habit. So, for instance, if you want to stop eating after 7pm, doing extra cardio or depriving yourself of food is counterproductive and can lead to other issues. Making a bet or putting money on something is a potential option. If, for example, you don't stop the habit in a specific amount of time (and you'll likely need to quantify that) you give your friend a certain amount of money. Or, you could owe your spouse $5 anytime you do the habit. Whatever habit we've decided to break, we've already decided that there are long term consequences that we don't like. But when we continue these habits, the long term negativity is hard to think about. Adding a short term negative consequence means we create a short-term negative consequence to discourage us. The other idea to this is that ultimately we have to get through the initial difficult time with discipline and the motivation will catch up. We won't have the same urge to continue the habit and we'll see the benefits of having abstained. A couple books they recommend are The Power of Habit, Thinking in Bets, & Atomic Habits GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Scott & Matt share some of their productivity tips: what to do, what to not do, and what equipment or apps help them. When it comes to equipment and apps, both of them find having one huge monitor, 2 monitors, or 3 monitors helps, as one monitor simply adds time to tasks on the computer. Scott has also found value in having a scanner to digitize documents. He puts these on Evernote and finds this saves time, helps keep these organized, and saves space. Both Scott and Matt value a quality backpack and headphones, which can help prevent noises distracting you when you work. Much of productivity is organizing tasks and ensuring dedicated blocks to get both urgent and important tasks done. Preventing distractions--including notifications, family interruptions, and your phone going off is critical. Matt follows the Pomodoro technique, which recommends blocks of completely undistracted time to knock out tasks on your tasks list. The general recommendation is 25 minutes, as it's long enough you can complete plenty of tasks but short enough that you can fit a few into your day and it doesn't become too inconvenient for others around you. Scott has some tips as well. Ensure you don't put projects on your task list. If you find that something stays on your task list, there's a couple ways to deal with it. If it takes less than 3 minutes to do, just do it immediately, as it takes 3 minutes to put it off. If it's really a project, break up the projects into tasks and put those tasks onto the list. Finally, if the tasks are important but not urgent, create a Sunday Maybe list where you can put important tasks that are not urgent so you can both organize them, put a place for them, but not feel guilty because they've stayed on your to do list for weeks or months. One other note is to consider the trade off with time and money. There may be things that take up huge amounts of time and that you don't enjoy. If you can afford to spend the money and feel the trade off is worth it, have someone else do it for you (trade the money for the additional time and fill that time with important things, which--important--may end up making you more money). GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

We have a model for the proper performance of the lifts and we understand programming principles and how to drive progress over time, but we have to acknowledge that for lots of people lots of the time, they can't train optimally. And, honestly, at some point everyone--every single person--will be unable to train optimally. In these cases, we have to do the best we can. Life comes up and presents obstacles to consistent training: vacation, work, family, holidays, and injuries. Furthermore, some people can't perform the lifts as we tend to coach them. We have to deviate from the model intelligently. If, for example, you can't low bar squat, try thumbs around the bar. Try the high bar or front squat. You may have to specialize in the deadlift. And, over time, you may be able to low bar squat depending on your limitations. Though we advocate the low bar squat and a specific way to perform the lifts based on biomechanics, we know that squatting is better than not squatting at all because you can't low bar squat. If your gym closes, exercising is better than doing nothing. As an example of an intelligent deviation from optimal programming, Matt tore his pec. He now limits bench press intensity to 315. He won't ever hit a bench press intensity PR. Because of this, he prioritizes the press, he does higher volume at lower reps, and he--again--does the best he can. Time is one of the biggest limitations for people. You have to block out time and commit to training during that time. It might not be 3 or 4 times a week: it might be 5 super short workouts during lunch. It might be 2 workouts. You might have to shorten rest periods. You might have to do your warm ups for your next lift during your rest periods. That's okay: it's better than not training. A huge part of this is to stay in the habit and not get into a slump of not training. If you take long breaks from training, it gets harder to return. Maintaining a habit of exercise--even if it's something in a crappy hotel gym--is better than doing nothing. Finally, we have to acknowledge that there's not a huge number of people who can string together 6 weeks of optimal training. Though some of these could prioritize training and get it done, life gets in the way and that's okay. We maintain the habit, do the best we can, and continue to do hard things. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]

Matt & Niki discuss their pre-workout routines, from when they train, how they plan for training on the road, food, water, clothes: everything about how to properly prepare for training--physically & mentally. Rituals both help prepare us for training specifically (e.g. laying out our clothes the night before or making some overnight oats ensures our outfit or pre-workout nutrition are ready). Beyond this, however, doing something repeatedly before the same event primes our body & brain for the event. Training--and habits around training--also help provide a feeling of control during chaotic, challenging times in our lives. When it comes to preparation for a workout, it can begin far ahead of the workout. When do you plan your workouts? If you program your own workouts, you have to set aside this time. If you have a coach, you may need to communicate things such as vacations or other events that may affect training. You must consider packing clothes and equipment and what equipment the gym will have. For typical workouts, when do they occur during they day. What do you do prior to and after the workout. How do you ensure you are mentally and physically ready for the workout? To some degree, simply having a routine will help, as your body will know training will occur, though binging fast food probably is counterproductive. Matt trains in the morning after urgent work but before important work. He enjoys training and trains with his wife. He also has a list of items and actions that contribute to his routine. Niki does BJJ in the morning but trains as a way to end the work day. When she trains, she knows she has no more work to complete for the day. Because she has completed her work tasks, she can fully focus for training and not be thinking about work or something she needs to get done. She can take her time and enjoy it. GET STARTED with one-on-one online coaching FOR FREE! Get your FIRST MONTH FREE on all strength and nutrition coaching plans. No discount code needed and includes a 10-day, no obligation trial. https://bit.ly/2MKeOoh Special offers from BLOC and our partners: https://barbell-logic.com/offers/ Connect with the hosts Matt on Instagram Niki on Instagram Connect with the show Barbell Logic on Instagram The Website Barbell Logic on Facebook [email protected]