As I sat down at the computer this morning to knock out an article, it was just one of those days where I sat staring at the blinking cursor and not much was going on upstairs. I’ve written enough material over the last several years to realize that sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. It’s very difficult to generate anything useful into text when it’s just not there.
So instead of trying to put together some well thought out, long drawn out article, I started scribbling down random pieces of advice I’ve been given over the years from some of my coaches, training partners, meet competitors, or even some of my clients. I thought I’d share them with you today. Maybe they’ll help.
#1: 80% of the Time, Train at 80%
This is a good little rule of thumb for program design. This essentially refers to something that we already know which is that the best “strength building” range is between 75-85% of 1RM. And the vast majority of our barbell work should come in this range. Practically speaking this is basically the 4-6 rep range for most of us. I remember giving this piece of advice at a Starting Strength seminar a few years ago to one of the attendees, and I was oh so gracefully corrected by Rip. “What Baker means by 4-6 reps is FIVES!” So yeah, basically sets of 5 reps make a good base of any program, whether its novice, intermediate, or advanced.
So what do we do with the other 20% of the time? Well, very loosely speaking we’d be doing maybe 10% of our work over 90% (sets of 1-3 reps) and another 10% of our work in the 8-10 range for muscle building and work capacity, mostly on the non-barbell work (machines, dumbbells, etc), although it’s not a bad idea to occasionally knock out some higher rep barbell work as well.
Before you get out your calculators and start trying to figure out if you are doing exactly 80% of your work at 80%, STOP! Just keep the spirit of the cute little saying in mind. In reality, for an intermediate or advanced trainee I’d probably have them doing more than 10% of their work in the 90%+ range.
But you get the point….don’t stray too far away from your mid-range work of 4-6 reps in the 75-85% range, for most of your barbell work. But don’t forget that we need a neurological stimulus with sets in the 1-3 range and a little bit of higher rep work in the 8-10 range as well.
#2: Focus on Throwing Touchdowns, Not Interceptions
I love to use analogies when I’m coaching clients. This is one of my favorites and I use it all the time here at the gym and with my online coaching clients. Basically this one has to do with failed reps and injury.
I believe this to be 100% true….those trainees who approach a heavy lift thinking about failed reps and injury tend to fail their reps or get injured. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy for them. It’s a mindset issue. Some clients are very aggressive under the bar, some are very timid. Over time the timid can learn aggression, but it takes some mental/emotional work on their part.
In other words….if you are approaching your first 315 Squat thinking to yourself “Please don’t fail! Please don’t fail!” Well, you’re probably going to fail. And I guarantee there are A LOT of you guys reading this post right now that have the “failure” mindset in the gym.
This causes you to do two things, neither of which are productive.
First, you’ll have a lot of missed and failed reps in the gym. You’ll quit on a set at rep #4, when you could have gotten 5. You were just too scared to grind it out. So you never learn how to grind and you never get the psychological or physiological benefits of completing a completely limit set.
The second thing you’ll do is frequently rationalize the need to “reset.” I’m actually really starting to hate this term and this tactic because people are doing it way too often. The “reset” is being used when things get heavy. But when things get heavy is when you get strong. You’ve got to learn to push through those really really heavy sets, then rest 5-8 minutes and push through it again. But if you “reset” every time the weight becomes a challenge you’ll never going to get strong.
So you need to get really honest with yourself. Do you really need a reset? Or do you really just want a reset? I think in a whole lot of cases, lifters don’t actually need a reset. But they justify one by convincing themselves their “form was off.” That’s a very common excuse.
Don’t get me wrong…if your form is totally fucked and you’re training too heavy with bad form, then you might need to reset to clean things up. But sometimes I’ll have lifters send me video where literally ONE REP out of their entire 3×5 workout was high, or their knees caved in, or some other minor error was committed, and they are asking me about a reset. NO!!! Just clean it up next workout and carry on!
So this goes back to the Quarterback analogy. When Tom Brady drops back in the pocket I guarantee you he is thinking “TOUCHDOWN!” Or at the very least – completion! And guess what, he throws a lot of touchdowns and very few interceptions. Natural ability, coaching, and work ethic aside – a lot of his success comes from an extremely aggressive mindset. He’s out to fucking WIN on every pass he throws.
Now, if you are a Houston Texans fan like me you had the unfortunate experience a few years ago to watch Matt Schaub completely implode. A formerly pretty damn good quarterback completely lost his confidence and inside of just a few games his career was ruined because he lost his mojo. He didn’t get old or injured – he just lost confidence.
You could almost see the thought bubble over his head when he dropped back to throw a pass “Don’t throw an interception! Don’t throw an interception!” And guess what….for a time, all he did was throw interceptions. It became a self fulfilling prophecy.
Many of you have that same approach under the bar. When you approach a heavy squat or deadlift, you are thinking about throwing an interception instead of throwing a touchdown. Trust in your mechanics and give it 100% and don’t quit until you meet your goals.
Success is the biggest driver of confidence. All you need is a few workouts of completing sets you didn’t think you could complete and your confidence will grow, as will your approach under the bar.
Need Help Fixing Your Training?
In my online Barbell Club you have daily access to an experienced coach who can monitor your technique and help you figure out what’s heavy and what’s not! Maybe you need a reset, maybe you need a kick in the ass. I can provide you with both!
Plus you’ve got a Done For You programming template to follow every week that incorporates the 80/10/10 rule of program design (80% at 80%, 10% at 90%, 10% below 80%).
Plus we’ve got a supportive community of fellow lifters who face the same struggles you do. There’s no bullshit in our community. It’s 100% oriented towards getting you bigger, stronger, and better!
Check out the Baker Barbell Club Online!
