Out of all the emails I received this past week, there are a few that stand out to me. They stood out so much that I decided I wanted to share them with you all. Of course I will change their names for anonymity and will do some slight editing for reading purposes. The first email is from a newbie I am currently working closely with. The second email is from a girl I converse with weekly.
Joe wrote:
I cleaned up today @ the gym like a bad ass mutha f*****.
I benched 160lb 3×5.
After the first set I nearly started crying. Not even kidding. Most weight I’ve ever benched for the most reps ever. My old record was 155 1×3.
Squatted 145lb like I had been doing it all my life.
Deadlifted 155lb and it didn’t even feel that weird like it usually does.
Chins 3 sets for reps of 11-9-7, which I think beats last weeks 10-10-5.
OK, before you judge this guy. He is a newb and he has to start somewhere. I expect his strength stats to continue climbing and this is only his 3rd week since we have been working together. I set him up on a basic Starting Strength set up with slight adjustments as per my recommendations. So far he has added anywhere from 15-30lbs on most of his lifts. Joe was a chunky kid growing up and he recently lost a good amount of weight after following Lyle McDonalds Rapid Fat Loss plan for a few months. So needless to say, he is a bit anal about consciously eating over maintenance in order to deliberately gain weight. I can relate to being the chubby kid as I was overweight throughout preadolescence.
I have only asked that he trust me as I walk him through this period of controlled force feeding. I have him eating a balanced diet with plenty of carbs and fats with a 500 calorie surplus. So far so good. I look forward to watching him progress even more throughout our time working together. My goal is to get him to a point where he is able to do this on his own. He already knows he is capable, but lacks the confidence to put all the pieces together. It will all come together in time.
What Can We Learn From Him?
The basics still work. Consistent training coupled with a sufficient diet will always yield positive results. Those results can be gained strength, added muscle and/or better body composition among other aesthetic benefits. Something else we can learn is the importance of having someone more experienced guide you through a process you may be unfamiliar with. I owe much of what I know about training to my former athletic coaches and to a mentor who set me straight a few years ago. I owe much of what I know about nutrition to Lyle McDonald and Martin Berkhan among many other smart people on monkey island. In short, everyone should have someone they can learn from.
Jane wrote:
I think I have been over training.
TOOOO much cardio.
booo to that.
So I chat with this girl a lot. It’s obvious she realizes that her exercise habits as of late are a bit over the top. I met her on a fitness forum and have had many conversations with her ever since. Jane is very athletic and active. She is also really smart and conscious when it comes to training and diet. I recently learned that she doesn’t even count calories and maintains her weight very easily, which is hard for many to do. It is almost natural for her to eat out of necessity and hunger as opposed to boredom.
What Can We Learn From Her?
No matter how sensible we may be, we are always susceptible to over doing it now and then. I emailed her with a reminder to cut back her cardio to a few times per week and to keep weight training to 3 times per week. While we may be able to get away with over exercising for a period of time, it will always catch up with us. When it does we usually get injured or very unmotivated. So how do we fix this? We should never do what we wouldn’t recommend to someone else. That is something I always ask myself when setting up my own programming. I ask “would I prescribe this protocol to another person?” If I cannot answer yes to myself, I know that it probably wouldn’t be smart for me to try either.
@James:
yea, I used to run a lot too. I don’t think I will ever do that again.
@Lauren:
yes, it WILL catch up with a everyone, it’s only a matter of time.
Cardio every day on top of tough weight training can result in overtraining in mere mortals/non-endurance athletes/non-marathoners…been there.
Overtraining from too much cardio! lol, that’s gotta be hard to achieve. Though I used to run every day once upon a time and ended up with really sore shins. I cut back to once every two days and my shins were fine then!