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

3 Lifter Pathways - Beast Over Burden - #496

Pain and setbacks can derail progress. Overcoming pain and setbacks requires addressing your why and acknowledging how you feel when you perform healthy habits. Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: Oh Snap!  A client finds himself making progress in all areas of fitness, at the lightest bodyweight in years and working toward specific barbell numbers. He has a week of stressful work, where sleep was out-of-whack, he sat more than normal, and his schedule was off. He returns to the gym and during his warm ups feels a tweak and hears a pop. Training has to change now. Right before he crested the mountain top, he was cutoff at the knees. Suddenly, he found himself letting nutrition, alcohol, and sleep slip too. After all, why was he training now that the clear goals were unachievable? Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: What is Your Why!?  This client's why had really become the weight on the bar. It is easy to get emotionally tied to seeing the numbers go up. The numbers cannot (and will not) always go up. It is critical to touch on your deeper whys for training. Even if you signed up for coaching or began training with specific numbers in mind - even if you are an elite lifter chasing numbers - you certainly actually have a deeper reason than seeing a larger amount of iron go up. Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: What Feels Good!?  Remembering how you feel when things are going well matters. Yes, the numbers were going up. That was fun. Did you feel good when you were eating healthy, drinking less, and ensuring you got sufficient high-quality sleep? How did it feel to check off your nutrition, fitness, and health tasks every day? When considering how you feel and how you felt, think about over a long period of time. Yes, staying up late with alcohol and processed food feels good in the moment. How do you feel that next morning? How does it feel to check your bodyweight on the scale? What do things look like after a couple weeks of these behaviors? Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: Think of February &amp; March!  Think about the future. You may think about running this process through your head - what will things look like if the sloppiness continues for weeks and months? You might also think about a specific time or place in your future. How do you feel in February after months of excess calories? How do you feel in March (or insert your time here) at that beach vacation? What feelings arise when someone who has not seen you in awhile sees you and you've gained weight? Overcoming Pain and Setbacks: Love the Process  Loving the results without loving the process will cause problems. Enjoy exposing yourself to discomfort through training. Maybe the weight on the bar is not challenging, but you get to feel a pump. Maybe you don't get a pump, but you have to complete high-repetition exercises you hate - this is voluntary hardship too!  Overcoming pain and setbacks is challenging, but you can do it.     PS&nbsp;- If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out&nbsp;.  Check out the&nbsp;.  Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now:&nbsp; &nbsp; Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Overcoming Pain & Setbacks - #600

Buy back your time with a professional coach. Coaching yourself means less progress in the gym and more time learning to become a coach. Buy Back Your Time: Grocery Delivery Example  You probably need to value your time more. Too often, people avoid certain purchases because they deem them as too expensive. Sometimes this is true, but often buying back your time - a non-renewable resource - is the best thing you can do. Grocery delivery for most people is a no-brainer. You spend little money to avoid the headaches and time needed to go to the grocery store. Mowing services for grass are another great example. If you do not enjoy doing these tasks and need more time, pay money to someone who will do it for you to earn back your time. Buy Back Your Time: Home Gym  Having a home gym is another great way to save time working out. In this case, you will probably also save money over a long-enough period of time. Don't wait for equipment, don't worry about the broccoli hair Zoomers, lift when you want at your house. Buy Back Your Time: Professional Coach  This is really the benefit of hiring a professional coach. An expert takes something off your plate, allowing you to not worry about it. That expert will move you to more progress than you otherwise would have gotten. Additionally, you do not have to learn some level of the expertise. Any time you decide to "do it yourself," you are taking on the burden of learning a certain skill that someone else is an expert or professional at. Sometimes, the task is quick, so it's fine. You should consider buying back your time, however, by hiring a professional online coach.    PS&nbsp;- If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out&nbsp;.  Check out the&nbsp;.  Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now:&nbsp; &nbsp; Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Buy Back Your Time with a Professional Coach - #601

Lift your way to a leaner you. Strength training is your secret weapon to leanness, despite the lingering weight loss myth that you should simply diet and do cardio. Debunking the Weight Loss Myth of Cardio &amp; Caloric Restriction  You go to the doctor and the doctor tells you that you need to lose a certain amount of weight for your health. He questions why you lift and recommends you perform regular cardiovascular exercise. What do you do? Lift your way to a leaner you (while ensuring you are in a slight caloric deficit). You acknowledge that you could be a bit leaner, but you've been lifting for awhile. You look better with more muscle on your frame and you enjoy strength training. More muscle increases your daily caloric expenditure, as it gives some of your incoming calories an additional place to go beyond fat gain. Lift Your Way to a Leaner You: Slow &amp; Steady Wins the Race  Slow and steady weight loss, with consistent lifting and a healthy, high protein diet help minimize muscle loss during your weight loss. Ultimately, you want to be leaner, you do not really care about the number on a scale. The doctor in the above scenario is a bit hyperfocused on BMI. Metrics, however, are supposed to measure progress. In this case, we are concerned about health and longevity. You want more muscle but you also want to be leaner. Abandoning strength training, reducing calories, and adding cardio is likely not going to produce the body you envision. It is certainly not going to help produce a muscular body. Lift Your Way to a Leaner You: Cardio for Cardiovascular Health  Conditioning or "cardio" is not really the best way to help increase the calories out part of the calorie equation. A better method would be to increase your daily low-level activity, such as increasing your steps. Regardless, conditioning is really about improving your performance for certain tasks and improving cardiovascular health. Lift your way to a leaner you.    PS&nbsp;- If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, check it out&nbsp;.  Check out the&nbsp;.  Get Matched with a Professional Strength Coach today for FREE! No contract with us, just commitment to yourself: Start experiencing strength now:&nbsp; &nbsp; Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Lift Your Way to a Leaner You: Debunking the Biggest Weight Loss Myth #602

Building a strong nutritional baseline is the key to sustainable, healthy holiday eating. Don't derail for your health &amp; fitness goals due to the holidays! How to Build a Nutrition Baseline  Building a nutritional baseline is the ultimate holiday eating hack that let's you truly enjoy special holidays meals and days without totally derailing from your health and fitness goals. What is a nutritional baseline and how do you build yours? A nutritional baseline is a normal, habitual way of eating that you do seven days a week that brings you toward your goals. You know how it feels and looks, you know which foods and in what quantities it consists of. Essentially, you can mindlessly return to this baseline because it is your nutritional normal or your nutritional north. Building a Nutritional Baseline: Fearless Feasting  How does this apply to holiday eating, though? Those truly special days that you want to enjoy and not track, you should do so. The surrounding days and really the vast majority of the days during the holiday period, however, you need to eat at your baseline. For some, the holiday season can go from before Halloween through the Super Bowl. That's getting close to half the year. You cannot eat sloppily for half the year. At the same time, however, you should be able to enjoy meals such as Thanksgiving or Christmas with family and friends. Andrew and Niki recommend not tracking on these days (unless you have super strict nutritional goals) but rather focusing on enjoying the food. Walking after the meals can help. Remember, additionally, that eating so much that you are sick is not enjoyable. Enjoy the whole process: family, friends, cooking, eating, drinking, and afterwards. Those in-between days should be at baseline. Building a strong nutritional baseline can help you reach your health and fitness goals, even during the holiday season.   PS&nbsp;- If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run, .  Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Feasting Fearlessly: Building a Strong Nutritional Baseline for the Holidays - #603

Don't delay your fitness goals - do it now! Complete that rep or set, go for a walk, take your first step. Become the person you want to be. Don't Delay Your Fitness Goals: Start Now!  Taking your first steps and the subsequent steps moves you closer to your goal. Too many people will "start tomorrow" or, once they begin, quit when it gets hard or when the initial motivation wears off. This is not about a 4, 6, or 12-week diet or workout routine, it is about taking steps that become habits. Lean, strong people do certain things (and avoid certain things) regularly. You will experience pain and anguish, but if you do not make the change you will still be stuck without your goals (and likely having slid further away from them) and experience pain. Think about people who seek comfort and avoid pain all their lives - does pain not creep up to them eventually? Don't Delay Your Fitness Goals: Every Workout &amp; Meal Matters!  Andrew shares a story of a workout he did not want to do and almost quit. He ended up turning on the camera, getting over his negative feelings, and the workout actually went pretty well. Visualize the person you want to be and what that person would do. Alternatively, you may envision what your future looks like if you fail to make the changes you desire. Don't delay your fitness goals! Start (or continue) today.   PS&nbsp;- If you're interested in taking online coaching with Barbell Logic for a test run,&nbsp;.  Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Do It Now: Don't Delay Your Fitness Goals - #604

Unleash your physical freedom. Reclaim your body and mind from bad habits, restrictive and narrow goals, and unrealistic expectations. Physical Freedom: Financial Freedom as an Analogy  The concept of financial freedom - no longer stressing about finances and not having to trade your time for things you do not wish to do - helps derive useful lessons for health and fitness. Attaining financial freedom requires discipline. One must define and follow through with hard decisions over a long period of time. This, though, is the path to freedom. Don't look for shortcuts. And, even if you somehow find yourself with a sudden pile of money, you will only use that money well if you have developed the habits ahead of time. Physical Freedom: Bash Bad Habits  The first and most obvious steps you must take is to remove bad habits. You have trouble saying no to highly processed sugary foods. You overeat. Do you feel free when you make these decisions that do not align with your stated goals? Of course not! Freedom requires some discipline to build virtues (e.g. the virtue of temperance so you can willingly say no to the donuts). Physical Freedom: Remove Restrictive Goals Many of our coaches and clients have followed overly restrictive goals that they bought into. For example, you follow the dictum that physical strength is the most important thing in life. When you follow this, you will sacrifice your health and get fat to pursue this goal. You will avoid activities you enjoy, such as skiing, swimming, hiking, because this will remove weight on the bar in your next session. Unless you have a hyper-specific goal or truly believe such a restrictive goal is true, ditch this counterproductive dogma.  Physical Freedom: Own Your Choices  Here is another example. You are so concerned with leanness, that your plan (even if you have not said this explicitly) requires you to never eat your grandma's pie again. Is this really sustainable? Can you avoid every holiday food for every meal forever? Are you really going to eat chicken breast and broccoli every meal. When you have physical freedom, you can choose in indulge when appropriate, knowing you will not go off the rails and that you can make another choice to get leaner after a vacation or holiday period.     PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN,&nbsp;  Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Unleash Your Physical Freedom: Reclaim Your Body & Mind - #605

Unleash your physical freedom. Reclaim your body and mind from bad habits, restrictive and narrow goals, and unrealistic expectations. Thank You, Listeners (aka Beasts &amp; Future Beasts)  Andrew and Niki are thankful for all that has happened in 2024. Thank you to Stephan, the editor and podcast producer, who is a true expert and professional. You have no idea how much work he does! Thank you to Dan, Paige, Daisy, Nick, Noah, and the whole team at Barbell Logic. We thank Ryan Matt Reynolds as well. But most especially, thank you, listeners. You are beasts (or future beasts) and we could not do this without you. We've got exciting podcasts coming in 2025.  PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN,   Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Thank You, Listeners (Beasts & Future Beasts) - #606

The holiday season is coming up, and for many of us this is a time where we gain weight: whether we justify an unexpectedly large bulk or simply seem unable to avoid our weight inching up despite our best intentions. Learn some practical methods to achieving your goals and preventing or limiting holiday weight gain (or even enabling holiday weight loss). The holidays present unique challenges: huge meals, home-baked desserts, calorically-dense food items, peer &amp; family pressure, fond memories. We can enjoy the holidays while still moving toward our goals. First, leave room in your food &amp; training journal to assess why you deviated from your plan. This isn’t to judge yourself, but to build awareness. Were you hungry? Did you eat because you always eat at a certain time? Did you not want to disappoint someone? Did you mindlessly eat? Or, did you just really want that food item? Approaching holiday meals and time periods with realistic plans. Fasting prior to a meal is likely unrealistic. Eating a protein-rich meal the day of a big meal that will have plenty of fat and carbohydrates, however, makes sense. For the big meals themselves, have a plan to help you prevent or at least limit overeating. For example, fill your first plate with a normal amount of food. This may mean limiting the items you put on your plate. This may mean putting sample-size amounts on your plate. Then, when you’re done, wait 15 minutes before getting seconds. For dessert, assess whether you’re hungry or not. Take a dessert home if you really want it--you don’t have to try every type of pie that meal or that day! Finally, Niki &amp; Gillian discuss the idea of “volume eaters” and “intensity eaters.” Though people may be some combination thereof, volume eaters tend to overeat through large quantities of food, whereas intensity eaters tend to overeat through calorically dense items (eggnog, anyone?). Arm yourselves with the knowledge and tips to better battle the holidays! PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN,   Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

Handling Holiday Nutrition: The Ultimate Guide - #607

Learn about helpful home gym equipment. This gear solves common problems or makes your lifting more fun, varied, or effective.&nbsp; Helpful Strength Equipment for Your Home Gym You need a few items to begin strength training properly, though you can also start exercising today. As you progress and build the habit of strength training (and simultaneously get older) some equipment can help solve common problems you will likely encounter. Some of these items help add variety and make training more fun. Other gear helps deal with common injuries or pain points. Regardless, this list of items can help you build compliance and improve your training. If you use it, it is ultimately an investment in yourself and your health. Accessories for Accessory Work &nbsp;can get repetitive if all you have is a barbell. A few pieces of equipment can multiply the potential hypertrophy and accessory work you can program. Adjustable dumbbells allow you to add dumbbell variations and accessory lifts without taking up a ton of space (and saving money compared to a full set of dumbbells). Not only can you perform dumbbell variations of the main lifts, you can also perform more accessory work that you simply cannot perform with barbells (e.g. dumbbell flies or lateral raises). A similar example of helpful strength equipment is a pulley system. This enables lat pull downs as well as using the pulley system for hypertrophy work (triceps, biceps, etc.). The last helpful items that focuses primarily on the upper body is getting a dip attachment to your power rack or an adjustable bench. They allow variation for pressing movements, and you can also perform accessory lifts on the bench. Enabling lower body accessory work comes in handy as you become more advanced, as deadlifts and squats don’t only get repetitive but if you face a big injury, you might not be able to perform one or both of these lifts for awhile. Some helpful strength equipment for this area are a reverse hyper, glute ham raise, or leg extension/leg curl attachment. Some of these take up a lot of space, but getting just one of them can provide additional leg stress and make a big difference in your lower body training. Supplying Supplemental Lifts This might be the widest area, as we’re talking about different types of barbells and other items that can&nbsp;. A deadlift bar can really help your deadlift 1RM, as it has a smaller diameter and more whip (which reduces the range of motion). An axle bar for the press or bench press reduces your ability to grip the bar but enables good pressing variants. It is also necessary if you’re considering Strong Man training. Getting a slingshot or board attachment can help overload the bench and work on the top portion of your bench. The slingshot can also help if you have shoulder pain. Bands and chains are helpful strength equipment that enables&nbsp;. The&nbsp;&nbsp;and football bar (and variations of both) not only add supplemental variations to the lifts but can also prevent pain for the shoulders and wrists specifically. Convenience &amp; Climate The last area of helpful strength equipment includes items that add convenience to your lifting or improve the atmosphere of the gym. The monolift attachment allows you to not have to take a step bar or move the bar from the pins to the shoulders on the bench. It provides the most benefit to the most people for the bench press, as many find it reduces or eliminates shoulder pain. Niki also uses it for the RDL. A deadlift jack makes loading and unloading plates easier for any lift that has the barbell on the ground, especially the deadlift. A 1-arm deadlift jack is smaller and more mobile – you can put it in your gym bag. A 2-arm deadlift jack makes more sense if you have a decent amount of space in your home gym or for public gyms. &nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;&nbsp;help with wrist support or grip support for compression or tension grips. Ammonia or smelling salts help bring focus and intensity to big...

Helpful Home Gym Equipment - #608

If you travel regularly, you will have to continue to strength train as you travel. Learn fitness travel hacks in this ultimate guide to strength training while traveling. Strength Training While Traveling: Why It Matters  Why train while traveling? While, in part, it depends on how often you travel, your goals, the length of travel, and how consistent you are outside of travel. For those who are extremely consistent and rarely travel, it might make sense to take the week off. If you travel for business, you need to train. You will feel better if you train. The workout might not feel good, especially to start, but you will feel better afterwards. You might even feel better during the workout (e.g. initial warm ups feel terrible, then the heavier warm ups and work sets move well and feel good). It also helps provide structure to your days, which on vacation can often lack structure. Additionally, it gives you some short amount of you time, and, importantly, healthy you time. Strength Training While Traveling: Fitness Travel Hacks  Incorporate your gym seeking into your travel planning. Checkout the hotel gym and nearby gyms. You can often find a serviceable gym that has a guest policy. You might need to call the gym to check the visitor policy. Pack and prioritize some equipment. Belts and other bulky items are not needed. Having a pair of shoes that you can both lift and do cardio with makes sense. You might pack some small things like liquid chalk, straps, or knee sleeves. Plan your workout ahead of time. Intend to do at least something hard – get into that “worth it” zone. Depending on the number of times you will train and decide whether you will do full body and a split. Fewer times means full body makes more sense. Besides that, Niki and Andrew have some general tips and approaches they take:  Mentally let go of the weight on the bar AMRAPs supersets (antagonistic or similar) burn out sets drop sets hard exercises that don’t require tons of weight (e.g. bulgarian split squats) bend these joints: knees, shoulders, elbows, hips  Try out these tips for training while traveling. A couple links for helping you train while traveling can be found&nbsp;&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;.    PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN,&nbsp;  Connect with the hosts     Connect with the show     Or email&nbsp;

3 Lifter Pathways - Beast Over Burden - #496

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