Why Do My Fingers Hurt?

Among the many things I’ve learned through my time in the weight room is how to listen to my body. How to notice subtle changes or sensations that I otherwise might not be paying close enough attention to without a consistent physical practice.

Last week, I couldn’t stop cracking my knuckles on my right hand. The joints felt swollen and sore whenever I would grab something. It didn’t hurt but it was frustrating. I kept thinking, what did I do?

It wasn’t anything in the gym, since I didn’t workout last week until Friday. And when I did, squeezing a barbell didn’t have any negative effects. It wasn’t until later that night that I had the realization of what it’s from.

Loading my wood stove. My fingers aren’t conditioned to grabbing heavy logs by the end and tossing them in the wood stove. We’ve only been running it regularly for a few weeks now.

I know this isn’t some riveting fitness insight, but the gym taught me to pay attention to how things feel, to notice new sensations and to be critical about how my body feels. I hope you’re developing the same awareness around how you move and feel as you go throughout your day.

Justin Miner

You Don't Need Motivation, You Need to Think Further Down the Line

Motivation is a finicky thing.

We want motivation to carry us towards our goals, whatever they may be.

I want to flip that perspective around on you today.

Instead, consider that long term goals keep you going when there is no motivation left in the motivation jar.

Here’s an easy example. I want to live to be 100 years old. And not just get there, but thrive there. If I had to boil that goal down even further and be even more vague, I want to live a long, healthy and capable life.

So whenever I’m feeling unmotivated to train, or run, or lift heavy stuff, I remember that long-term goal, the point of all of it: to feel good and stay healthy for my whole life.

More often that not, this gets me to do something. Maybe it’s just 100 bodyweight squats, or 5 sets of 5 goblet squats with a light kettlebell or a couple of push ups. With the clear view of my long term goal, it helps me do something, just something, even if it doesn't necessarily push me closer to short-term goals like running a 100 mile race or deadlifting 500 pounds.

It’s the time of year more and more people start feeling unmotivated.

Just remember, it’s okay to not always be chasing short-term goals. You’ll have unproductive workouts in the short term. But if you’re able to zoom out, and consider your bigger, broader goals, all the training, all the workouts, all the food choices are productive.

Have a clear path you’re on. If you don’t know where to start, consider where you want to be when you’re 100.

Justin Miner

Selective Ignorance

As I like to do on Friday, I’ve stolen today’s blog from James Clear’s newsletter.

Be selectively ignorant.

Ignore topics that drain you.

Unfollow people that drain your energy.

Abandon projects that drains your time.

Do not keep up with it all. The more selectively ignorant you become, the more broadly knowledgeable you can be.

It’s been over a month since deleting my personal Instagram account, and I can tell you, selectively deciding to ignore everything I was seeing on there has turned out to be a great decision. I waste less time, get less emotionally involved in things that don’t actually matter to me, and have more time for what matters.

Justin Miner

How to Progress (without weights)

A friend asked me a really good question recently. So good in fact, after I typed up my answer to him I have decided to post it instead of messaging him back.

He asked:

"If I did workouts only doing push ups and squats, is there any sort of progression I could do weekly or daily?"

Now, this friend knows his way around the gym and is a veteran lifter. To clarify, you’re a veteran if you’ve been in the game for at least 10 years. I’m telling you that to relay the fact that he understands progress, and how it works in the gym. We add more weight over time and therefore become stronger. Progress in the weight room is easy, do more weight over time.

But to address his question, how do we make progress when only working with our own bodyweight? Can we still get stronger and improve if there’s no weight to add to a bar? Can we even progress?

My text back:

We just need to be strategic about the variables we’re manipulating. Specifically, to get better at bodyweight movements, we’re going to focus on increasing volume, or total reps, and time under tension, which we’ll do by way of tempo movements.

So let’s say you’re going to do push ups and squats 4 times per week.

I would set this up so that we would change focus on the variables every 2 weeks. This would add variety, keep it fresh, and really allow us to notice the progress.

Week 1

Every training day for week 1 you’re going to hit 50 total reps of both squats and push ups. Break it up however you need to. The first couple days might take a lot of sets and hopefully by the end of the week you’re getting it done in less time with fewer sets.

Week 2

Easy progress this week. Add 10 reps to each movement and complete them on all 4 days again.

Week 3

Now, if we were to add 10 reps every week, you would probably make some progress but only in the short term. At some point, the benefit will wear off, the workouts will take too long and you could risk overuse injuries. So this week we’re shifting gears and are going to make the movements harder by going slower, or with a controlled tempo. This way, we increase the challenge to our muscles by making them be “on” longer than they were if you just did the reps. More time under tension means more adaptation for the muscles and more results for you.

This week we’ll do only 30 total reps per workout, but for the squats you’re going to lower for 3 seconds and pause for 3 seconds on the bottom before exploding up. Same for the push ups.

Week 4

So this week, we’ll keep the reps at 30, but slow you down even further. Squats will be 5 seconds lowering and 3 seconds pausing. Push ups will be 5 seconds lowering with a 3 second pause as well.

Week 5

Now you’ll start to see the pattern. This week we get back to increasing the volume. Your body is ready for it after two lower volume (but higher stress) weeks of training. Let’s get back to adding 10 reps and start this week at 70.

Week 6

You guessed it, 80 reps of both. More volume, more training stimulus, more progress.

Week 7
Back to tempo. This time, we can increase two things at once. We can bump up the volume from our last tempo week, and we can slow the tempo down. Double progress!

35 reps of each movement with a 6 second lower and 4 second pause.

Week 8

35 reps with 6 second lower and 6 second pause on the bottom.

By progressing this way, we’re ensuring you never hit the dreaded plateau. Alternating by increasing the challenge by way to tempo and volume let’s the body properly recover and prevents you from trying to do too much too soon. Without extra weight to add on, volume and tempo and the best way to keep these simple movements challenging and ensure that you’ll actually build some strength without weights at all.

Justin Miner

Don't Forget About the Consistency

Becoming a new dad has me doubling down on my nutrition efforts. I’m thinking down the road and I want to be sure I’m doing all I can to stay fit and healthy for many years to come. For the last handful of years I’ve been anti-supplement. 

Not that I necessarily have anything against them. I just never remember to take them. And how effective is it if you take it for half the recommended dose half the time? I’m not sure. 

Well, after some blood work, I have some specific measures I want to bring up and will retest in a year to see if I can make any changes through supplementing with things I don’t get enough of in the food I’m eating. This blog isn’t about what the supplements are though. Instead, it’s about remembering to take them.

Just like going to the gym, I need to flex my habit development muscles to make sure I’m taking these things every day to get the most benefit out of them. I’ve been working them into my coffee routine. Sometimes pre-coffee, sometimes while making coffee, and sometimes after coffee. And sometimes while making dinner when I forget to take them in the morning. 

It’s hard. It’s silly that it seems so hard to remember to take a couple pills. But it just again shows how much our routines and habits shape our day. Just the addition of the smallest thing can be difficult. 

Whatever new habit you’re trying to build, whether it’s taking a vitamin D supplement or showing up to the gym three times per week, remember, it is all about consistency.

Justin Miner

Poor Push Ups

They get regarded as a basic exercise. They’re not appreciated for the technical, challenging movement that they are.

On the surface, they’re a chest exercise. That’s what a muscle poster in a commercial gym would tell you. But in reality, they’re so much more. 

They challenge your hip and core stability, wrist mobility, and you ability to stay stable and connected as you move and breathe.

The key to a perfect push up is properly using your upper back, or moving you shoulder blades as you lower yourself to the floor.

The next time they come up on your list, don’t write them off. Move slow. Be purposeful. Try to use your whole, entire body, not just your arms.

You’ll be surprised at how hard that can be! 

Justin Miner 

Don't Forget to Squeeze

It’s not uncommon for a client to admit they have poor grip strength.

Grip strength is important, too. You grip strength is a good indicator of total body strength.

So, what are we supposed to do?

The good news is we don’t need to add another thing on your list to do. Instead, we need to increase you awareness around certain movements so you can train your grip as well.

During marches, rows, deadlifts and even squats and push ups, you should be engaging your body through your hands. Squeezing the implement you are using creates irradiation. Meaning it turns on more stuff to help you stabilize.

Train your grip more during the movements you’re already doing, you’ll be surprised how much of a difference it can make. 

Justin Miner

Routines

Humans love routines. Our habits and routines form our daily lives.

Do you ever stop to think about your routines, and how they’re impacting you?

At home, we’re developing a whole host of new routines as new parents. It’s been making me think of my old ones, new ones and how these routines shape out lives.

Have you developed a new routine lately? If not, maybe it’s time to shake things up and try something new.

A subtle shift can give you new perspective, more time and refreshed energy.

Justin Miner

Fast But Smooth

I love this saying, and find myself repeating it in my head while hiking, running or even sweeping the living room.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Recently, I’ve talked a lot about how we need to be able to produce strength quickly, and how that impacts our overall strength. Moving quickly is a main part of the equation.

Have you ever seen someone try to pick something up that’s just too heavy?

The lifter can try to overcompensate for a lack of strength through speed. The result?

A jerky or yanking motion opposed to a smooth production of force. People get hurt when they try to jerk weights or objects from the floor.

The point of today’s discussion: we want to be fast, but only if we’re stable, only if we’re smooth.

Fast in poor position is a mishap waiting to happen. Let’s master those positions, be stable, then work on speed.

Justin Miner

When Was The Last Time

When was the last time you did something you didn’t think was possible?

Time in the gym gives us access to these moments where we complete the impossible.

Maybe it’s lifting a heavy weight, learning a new move or carrying your paddle board to the water all by your self.

Whatever it is, you’re capable of so much more than you ever thought. All it takes is a some consistent training and you too can shatter your former beliefs and do the impossible. Get to work.

Justin Miner

When Should Your Weight Increase?

In this week’s Deep Dive Video, I talk about signs that you should try and increase the weight on a certain movements and what scenarios you should do more reps than prescribed on your whiteboard. 

As a general rule, we want the last 2-3 reps of the movement to be the most difficult. 

More important than the load, however, is how the movement feels.

Before even thinking of increasing weight, be sure to have your form dialed in. It might take many weeks with the same weight for this to happen, and that’s okay! 

You’ll know you’re ready - when you feel like you could do almost double the prescribed reps, or those last two feel exactly like the first two. 

Watch the video on IGTV to catch the rest, like when you should lower your push up bar, or adjust your body’s position on inverted rows. 

Justin Miner

Rowing Machine

When using the rower, it’s more helpful to think about your legs than your upper body.

The name of the machine, rower, tricks us into believing it’s an upper body machine, when in reality, it’s more about your legs than anything else.

When rowing, forget about your arms. Instead, concentrate on pushing with your legs. Just like standing up from a squat or deadlift.

After a big, long push from your legs, then you can row, or pull the handle towards you.

When resetting, or coming back to the start, we need to keep our legs in mind too. Don’t just slide the seat back towards the front following you hands. You want to hinge at the hips. This will reload your legs for the next push once you get back to the starting position. 

This slight mindset shift when rowing, thinking about legs and pushing instead of arms and pulling, can make a big difference. Give it a shot! 

Justin Miner

Ditch the Recipe

At the gym, there are so many exercise combinations, movements variants, conditioning protocols, effective pairings and ways to load amongst so many other things. With all these variables to choose from, good coaches use principles to simplify the training menu and make effective choices to design a workout.

The same things could be said about cooking. With so many foods to choose from, so many good pairings, flavor combinations and balance. All these things can make up a recipe.

Always using a recipe is tiring though.

It can be complicated or require too many ingredients or too many steps. We end up skipping the recipe and ordering take out instead. I see the same thing happen with training. People create the most complex, difficult to follow workout program and burn out after a couple sessions.

Let’s take a lesson from good gym coaches and use it in the kitchen. Let’s cook with principles instead of recipes.

Here’s how we think about cooking dinner at my house.

1. What’s the protein? All meals start by identifying this. This is your A1. in the gym, the main course. Usually squats, pressing or deadlifts.

2. What veggies can we make with this? Cooking steaks on the grill? Let’s chop up anything grill-able for fast clean up and cooking ease. Baking something? Which veggies would be good sautéed or baked? Short on time? Let’s just throw the protein on a salad. This is the accessory work. The not-always-fun but have to do them moves like SLDLs, split squats and inverted rows. Get them in, even if they’re boring.

3. Do we need more carbohydrates? Did I run or train hard today? How hungry am I? If I’m feeling like more carbs, I’ll cook some rice or potatoes to go with dinner. This is your post-workout finisher. Not always necessary for an effective workout, but sometimes it makes everything go together nicely.

4. Always cook more than you need. The leftovers make a great or head start on dinner the next day.

Justin Miner

How Long Can You Go

Six second in.

Six seconds out.

This simple breathing drill is a game changer.

How long can you last?

Try to go fro at least 5 minutes.

Justin Miner

Laying Wires

Over the past week Elliot is flinging him arms, turning his head and starting to smile. He’s developing motor control. This is exactly what happens when you learn or refine a movement in the gym.

I call it laying wires.

He’s learning how to fire the right nerves to perform certain task with precision. Each movement accumulates more information for his body to learn about force, control and how to deal with gravity.

It’s easy to forget that we were all there once. Unable to perform basic tasks like type on a computer, or a touch screen, aim a fork into your mouth or even walk. All these tasks we perform each and every day are controlled by our nervous system. We’ve created the pathways and laid down the wires to do the tasks well.

In the gym, we want to feed our bodies good movement to develop awareness, skill and precision to perform our best outside of the gym. Just like Elliot, you’ve got to build some pathways. Lay down a foundation and learn to move.

Justin Miner 

Major Workout Moments from the Past 16 Years

Location: Stratham, NH 

Age: 14

Workout: First time ever training. My uncle, who was my hockey coach at the time, took me through a variety of movements in my parent’s driveway,

I jumped rope, threw a medicine ball against the chimney , benched pressed with those cement filled plastic weights everyone seems to have in their basement and ran down the street with a parachute tied to my waist.

Location: The Rinks at Exeter, Exeter, NH 

Age: 17

Workout: Ladders and Stairs

After hockey practice, it was common for us to run the stadium stairs for 40 minutes. Run up, across the top, down, then right back up. So boring. But looking back, probably some of the most effective training I did. We always started off doing ladder drills too and would occasionally squat with a smith machine.

Location: Exeter High School Weight Room, Exeter, NH 

Age: 17

Workout: Back squats and Bench Press 10-8-6-4-2 

My junior year of high school we got to take elective gym classes. I signed right up for Weight Room. The class was full of kids who wanted to lift heavy and get bigger. I can’t believe I get to do this at school I thought. Each workout was based around back squatting or bench pressing. We would start at 10 reps, and lower the reps as we increased the weight. No misses were allowed and we tried to go a little heavier each week. The assistant football coaching running the show didn’t do much coaching, but instead did crunches on a stability ball the whole time. 

I learned about consistency and progressive overload here. We all got stronger and I really felt it outside of the gym.

Location: Ironman Fitness, Exeter, NH

Age: 18 

Workout: I thought I was strong and fit until I met Matt. He was my first real strength and conditioning coach who taught me what performance training really was. My first week there we did what they called Strongman Friday. We went to the back parking lot and did all sorts of crazy stuff I had never seen before. We flipped tires, swung sledge hammers, carried really heavy yokes and did push ups with chains on our backs. I was hooked.

Location: UNE Campus Center, Biddeford, ME

Age 21

Workout: Learning how to kettlebell snatch. Kettlebells were coming in vogue at the time, and I really wanted to get my hands on some but they were impossible to find. One morning I stumbled into the gym, maybe a little hung over. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I brand new rack full of kettlebells of all sizes. In learning how to snatch one, I sent it flying across the room, luckily no one was there to see (or get hit by it). 

Location: Hard Nock’s Gym, Amesbury, MA

Age: 24

Workout: After a long slump of not training, I needed a better place to workout. A friend took me to Hard Nock’s, a hardcore bodybuilding gym in the center of downtown Amesbury. We did back squats, pull ups and I used a rowing machine for the first time. After about a year off I was so sore I remember I couldn’t sleep that night.

Location: Portsmouth, NH

Age: 25

Workout: Thanksgiving 2014. Although we had no rubber flooring and all of the equipment was still in boxes, we wanted to do our annual Thanksgiving lift at what would eventually become Gain. We took out 3 barbells, a handful of weights and a rowing machine. Me, Hannah and our friend Cam did sumo deadlifts, power cleans and some rowing. I couldn’t believe I was working out in my own gym. (see picture below)

Location: Salisbury, MA 

Age: 27

Workout: My first 10k run. We lived near a paved rail trail that went straight to the Newburyport Commuter Rail. It was exactly 3.1 miles away. I ran there, took a 2 minute break and ran back. My furthest run ever. Little did I know what that run would eventually propel me into. 

Location: Baxter State Park

Age: 29

Workout: Climbing the remote Northwest Basin trail up and over Hamlin Ridge with a heavy pack. I was coming off my first ultra marathon, which I did to see if I could do it. This first backpacking trip made me realize what I want to use all this fitness I’ve been building for, getting into cool, natural places.

Location: Barrington, NH 

Age: 30

My first garage gym workout with Hannah in our new house. She front squatted and I overhead squatted. My biggest concern when looking for a house was a two car garage so I could create my own garage gym to lift, tinker and play. Having this set up has been priceless. 

Justin MIner

Gain, Thanksgiving 2014

Do More of This

I like making choices that have little to no downside.

Investors would call it asymmetrical risk.

Meaning, there are no consequences for making a the choice. A good example of this is unsubscribing from emails. After we buy something online, we let the store pepper our inbox with sales and discounts and all sorts of reasons to log back in and buy more. Without those emails, we might not click and shop. Missing a potential discount is a zero downside for me. Other examples include drinking more water, eating more vegetables and of course, walking.

Walking is one of the things I recommend to most people. 

There is no downside.

You get outside, move, breathe, and get a wonderful dose of low-level cardio that’s great for you health and well-being. 

It’s great for stress management.

It’s great when you’re sore from lifting in the gym.

It’s good for your sleep cycle to get outside and exposed to sunlight. 

Your joints will be thankful for the easy movement.

Your brain will thank you for the screen break.

How can you fit more walking into your day?

Justin Miner 

Feeling Connected

In the warm up today, we have some bodyweight squats. The focus on these squats is to lower for 3 seconds, then get up as fast as possible back to the top.

If you were to say this is about control and speed, you’d be right. 

But it’s also about pressure. Specifically the pressure of your feet pushing into the ground. 

The transition from slow to fast can leave us shifting our weight back into our heels, or getting too forward on the toes.

Instead, try to feel the squat in the same spot through you feet the whole time. 

Having trouble? A great opportunity to ditch the shoes and see if you have better feeling and awareness.

Justin Miner 

@gain_sc

Short & Simple

Despite having a newborn at home, I’ve been remarkably consistent with training.

Yes. I’m tired. And drinking a bit too much coffee. But I’ve realized I feel better when I move and when I can prioritize 15-20 minutes for myself.

How have I done it? 

I’ve lowered the bar.

I’m not expecting to have mega-long, challenging workouts.

I just try to do something, and even if it’s only a jog around the block, I’m happy with it - not upset that I didn’t do more.

That’s been the key.

Justin Miner

@gain_sc

What a Dilemma

After seeing a preview of The Social Dilemma on Netflix, I didn’t want to watch it. 

I felt called out for my frequent social media use. Over the past couple years I really ramped up the time I was spending on it. After feeling attacked by the preview I started paying attention my compulsive phone checking, constant refreshing and how I was too frequently in search of a dopamine hit provided by a notification or distracting piece of content. 

I forced myself to watch the documentary and it was quite alarming. It’s all stuff we’be heard before. It’s designed for us to be addicted, always in search for more and more.

The implications are vast, and right then and there I deactivated my personal Instagram account.

I’m hoping that a break will help me reevaluate who and what I’m following, when and where I’m using my device and hopefully let me get a little more clued into when I’m using it compulsively.

And yes, it’s true, that means no more Elliot photos for a little bit, but he was at the heart of this decision. When I’m home, I want to be with him and enjoying him and not distracting myself.

From the business perspective, there’s utility in it for me. I’ll still be using Gain’s account to share, post and educate and I’ll still be working on my passion project, Gain Endurance.

I’m not gone forever, but needed to make a change. If you haven’t watched the film yet, I encourage you to do so.

Justin Miner

@gain_sc