C.S. Sloan's - Life Lessons Learned From Lifting

[Prediction...Pain]

I posted this essay on OS but nobody gave a shit. I think its an awesome read and think he really hits the nail on the head. Make it a great year boys
http://cssloanstrength.blogspot.com/201 ... fting.html

[Deserter]

Thanks for sharing as it's a good read (didn't spot it on the O/S forum). It's good timing as well as I had a surreal experience last night. Easiest to reprint what I wrote to a PT friend of mine:

Had a weird training experience tonight - haven't trained over the past week or so and inevitably ended up eating crap over Christmas. I then have a terrible night's sleep last night as bodyclock out, missed lunch due to work commitments and then didn't get out of work till after 8pm - forced myself to go to Fitness 24 even though I didn't feel like it and just decided to have a light run-through on my CV circuit (1,000 skips, 50 clean and press with 16kg kettlebell - 25 each arm -, 50 deck squats, 2.5km run, 50 snatches with 16kg kettlebell and 1,000 battling ropes to finish). Start off and start to feel OK so keep trying to push it, fully expecting to run out of gas at any point, yet the 'bonk' never comes and I ended up recording a PB of 38:32 - beating the previous by nearly 3 mins. Work that one out!

Bodyclock was out as I'd just flown back from the UK the previous day by the way, but given that, you can understand why the article struck a chord with me!
Having said that, the one element I'd struggle to reconcile with what he's saying is the fact that most top trainers will say the most under-rated training element is the importance of rest and that you should listen to your body. I've definitely been in circumstances before where I've felt run-down and just decided to train anyway, and it's been detrimental rather than beneficial. Would be interested to know where he draws the line....

[EddieShredder]

I took the whole of december off from heavy training and lifting because of my shoulder (been fvcked for the last 6 months), and ate shit food for most of the month (had been very strict with diet for the previous 11months).... and just did a bit of rolling every now and then. Prior to that, I hadn't back squatted for the whole period i've been injured. Anytime we trained squats, I always substituted with front squats, as couldn't rotate my arm/shoulder back far enough to support the bar with any real weight on it for back squats.

Anyway.. first session back - PB'd my back squat by 12.5kgs (singled 110kg). My deads were the same as they ever were (160 for 3). I was amazed... I was concerned the whole time I was off that any gains I'd made over the previous year would be lost, but apparently not. My actual fitness is obviously worse and I've put on about 4kgs, but I know I can get that back fairly quickly. My rolling isn't as tight as it was, but again, getting back on the mat regularly will fix that in no time.

Strange - but I'm certainly not complaining.

[Deserter]

I hadn't back squatted for the whole period i've been injured. Anytime we trained squats, I always substituted with front squats.

Suspect that's the reason for your gain right there Eddie - I'm just working on pistols at the moment, but when I was squatting with the bar I found gains in front squat would directly translate into improved back squatting, even if I wasn't doing any back squatting for long periods.

[Prediction...Pain]

Good stuff boys. The body is a crazy machine, eh. I just started Bikram Yoga again and it is great. Not the hardest form of yoga, pose wise but the heat and sweat make for a good stretch. My shoulders and hips are incredibly tight and its very good for them. Good stuff.