Comfortable or Uncomfortable

More than ever this summer I have been forgetting about all the differently ways I can label a conditioning workout, like the 9 different detailed (complicated) protocols listed in Joel Jamison’s Ultimate MMA Conditioning, a classic on every strength coach’s bookshelf.

Instead, I start warming up, and think, do I want to feel really uncomfortable, kind of uncomfortable for a little bit, or nice and chill?

Usually, based on my immediate reaction, I create a workout according to what my body is craving.

While sticking to a rigid plan is helpful for many, getting more intuitive with your training can help you age into an experienced athlete.

Of course, the catch is, you can’t always want to take it easy and take it easy. You still need to be willing to do the stuff you don’t want.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

The Ultimate Game

There is no winning fitness.

There will be no moment of arrival.

There won't be a point you can stop.

You need to keep playing.

Chess, hockey and football are all finite games. They have rules. A start and an end. Clear winners and losers.

In fitness, business and life, however, there are no rules. There is no clear finish line.

You can keep playing though. And that's how you win; staying in the game.

But what about the races I train for? What about my goal to lose 10 pounds? What about my Whole 30?

"Finite games can be played within an infinite game, but an infinite game cannot be played within a finite game. Infinite players regard their wins and losses in whatever finite games they play as but moments in continuing play."

- James P. Carse, Finite and Infinite Games

You've got to play the long game. It's the only way to be successful and keep playing. Maybe it looks different over time, or you have different goals [finite games] that motivate you and get you in the door. But the game is always there. There's no destination.

I hope this perspective doesn't overwhelm you. Instead, I hope it brings you relief. There is no rush. No need to hurry to the finish line. To end on a cliche, it's the journey not the destination. Keep yourself in play.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Ride the Wave

Being a coach or a trainer, sometimes you’re hit with something so unexpected, and so awesome. A long-time GAIN client, who wouldn’t be upset with me if I shared, was terrified of getting up and down from the floor.

So much so, that if we created a workout pairing like:

3 rounds

10 barbell push ups

10 glute bridges

They would do all 3 sets of glute bridges in a row. This way, they wouldn’t have to get up and down. Of course, this defeated the purpose of my well-crafted pairing, creating 3 opportunities to get up from the floor in a short period of time.

Anyway, that was many years ago, and just the other day this person showed me of a video of them boogie boarding. Boogie boarding! Riding the wave into the sand and popping off the earth to catch another. It was awesome.

Although training was initially intimidating, and way out of their comfort zone, they stuck with it over the years. And through consistency, persistence, and recreating their relationship with training and the gym, they’ve far surpassed any goals they used to think possible.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Discipline Reps

Motivation isn't the secret sauce. It's finite, fragile and never reliable.

Discipline, the ability to make yourself do what you should when you don't want to, is where the real magic happens.

Some of my best ever runs and lifting sessions have been when I didn't feel like starting.

Each time you pull off a rep of discipline, making yourself go to the gym, go for a run, mobilize at night, skip the ice cream, writing the daily blog post - whatever it is. It gets a little easier.

It's never easy. But through practice it can become easier.

Don't wait for motivation. Instead, try to get some reps of discipline in every day.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Protein

You know by now that keeping a food log is the best way to up your nutritional awareness.

If you're ready to level up again, the next piece to figure out is how much protein you're eating.

Many people are surprised at how little protein they eat once they see it quantified.

Instead of using an online calculator or doing some equation like 1g of protein for every pound of bodyweight, aim for a number slightly higher than what you're currently at. If you're only consuming 75g of protein a day, and want to be eating 125g, don't jump straight there. Hit 100g first and see how it goes.

Use these tips to make sure you're setting yourself up for protein success each day.

- Protein at every meal. No matter what.

- More eggs

- Find protein rich snacks

- If you still need more, consider adding protein shake

If possible with protein powder, try a couple different kinds to see what you like and how your body reacts. You can also add it to something like oatmeal to to turn it into a meal of mostly carbs to a meal of protein and carbs.

Once you figure out a good level of protein, you can start using that as a way to create boundaries and guide your food choices.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Desire to Train

The most reliable way to track my readiness, or recovery, isn’t listening to my fancy Garmin watch, with its HRV, Body Battery and stress score. It’s by taking note of how much I feel like training.

What's my desire to get after it like? It's not a perfect system, because as I'm sure you know, there are days you need to push through and train when you don't want to.

But since I like to train, and try to do something physical everyday, it's easy to notice those days when it's just not there. More importantly, when I do notice my desire isn't there, I'll pay close attention to when it comes back, because when it does, it's go time.

If I feel unmotivated to train, I'll take a look at some other factors that could be influencing my training itch. Am I sleeping enough? Fueling with the right foods? Staying hydrated? Managing stress?

Listening to your body is a skill that strength training can teach you, if you're paying attention.

Take note of how you're feeling, and what your desire train is. If you never feel like it, it's time to take a look at the rest of the day and see how you can turn up the readiness meter.

Justin Miner

@justinminergainA

Your Decathlon

I’ve written before about Peter Attia’s idea of training for the Centenarian Olympics - specifically designing your training plan and goals to hedge your bet on having physical capabilities for the last decade of your life.

Peter now is referring to this as the Centenarian Decathlon and I think it’s a better name, which is more descriptive of this idea. You can learn more about this and the specific items on hIs list on this recent podcast. The idea is to have a list of physical tasks that you want to be able to do, or specific gym tasks that you want to continue doing for the years to come.

Included on Peter’s list are things like, being able to pick up and goblet squat a 35 pound kettlebell, so he would know he has the strength and mobility to pick a baby out of a crib.

How about covering 3 miles on foot within 3 hours. If you’re reading this, chances are a 20 minute mile is palpable for you right now. What about when you’re 80? And that’s the point, even if it feels silly now, it’s helpful to spend some time thinking, what do I want to be able to do?

Other items on Peter’s list include performing a one minute farmers carry with body weight, a sit to rise standard, and a couple of physical tasks involving stairs.

Even if your terminal decade is off in the distance, start thinking now about how you can train to maintain your physical capabilities in the future.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Strong Side

Will my [insert non dominant hand] ever be as strong as my other side?

I don’t think so. I also don’t think it’s an issue of strength, rather, it’s an issue of coordination and control.

Consider all the daily tasks you can do with finesse. Whisking eggs and throwing a frisbee, smoothly dragging butter across your toast and the classic example, bushing your teeth. These are all skills that rely heavily on our dominant hand.

Through years of practice these skills feel easy. Our nervous system has these fine movements tightly wired for precision and accuracy.

Sure, getting stronger will help. Lifting teaches you how to create tension and stability, you need it to in order to move the weight. Simultaneously, the nerves engrain the movements and you become more skilled as your motor control improves.

So as we grease the groove and feed our bodies good movement stimulus in the gym, hopefully our non dominant side's reliance improves. If we’re going to keep living in our modern world though, it’ll be tough to balance out all the potential imbalances we encounter in daily life.

Through my experience in the gym, It’s better to understand it, accept it, and continue to focus on moving well and building strength, stability and control.

Your off side may always feel different when one arm pressing, but I’m not convinced that means it’s weaker.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Progress Without Numbers

Quantifying gains can be a little frustrating. Seeing a scale number go down, or weight on the bar go up isn't the only way you can track your fitness progress though. Some markers of progress are difficult to quantify, and therefore often go unnoticed by gym-goers everywhere.

1. Energy

What's your energy level like first thing in the morning? Notice yourself jumping out of bed or feeling a little less groggy? Don't chalk it up to coincidence, exercise will help you feel more ready to take on each day.

2. Sleep

Many newbies are surprised to find themselves crashing hard at night after starting a new strength and conditioning routine. Through training, you're burning up more of your daily life battery, which leads to better, more restful Z's.

3. Confidence

When you realize you weren't intimidated by the heavy grocery bags, the spontaneous hiking trip invite or casually moved a dozen awkward shaped boxes into the basement. Thank your new found physical confidence.

4. Less Creaky

Several years ago I was playing ping pong with a friend. I ran after a stray ball and quickly bent over to grab it before it rolled under a table. I realized then and there that my mobility work had been paying off. Normally, a rapid duck and reach would seize my lower back up for 4 days. That time, the only thing I noticed was the lack of pain. You'll notice the same thing, but it will take a while. Getting out of the car, going up stairs and other daily tasks become easier as you get stronger.

5. Snowball Effect

Your exercise routine can be a keystone habit - a habit that encourages other more positive choices. By exercising on the regular, you're more likely to walk more, make more conscious food choices, drink more water and appreciate your physical self.

Playing the long game is tough, especially when you feel like you're not making any progress. If you ever find yourself in that boat, which you will, remember, there are other progress markers that are difficult to quantify. And just because we can't assign a number to it shouldn't erase its importance.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How to Make Weight Jumps for a PR

Nothing is worse than planning to hit a big PR in the gym, and instead you fry yourself on the build up to the goal weight. There is a fine line between doing enough work to actually get warmed up, and managing fatigue so you feel fresh when you get there.

Here are some basic rules to follow when trying to ring the PR bell.

• Do the minimum amount of work to get there, i.e., don’t do all sets of 10 working up to a 3 rep max.

• When in doubt, spend more time with just the bar. I’ll typically do AT LEAST 50 empty bar reps when warming up for a heavy back squat.

• Keep the weight jumps the same, or smaller, as you get heavier Even if this makes plate math more difficult.

• Minimize attempts over 90% of your best to just 3 lifts. Managing CNS fatigue is just as important as having strong muscles to hit a big lift.

• Rest 3-4 minutes between all sets. Seriously.

Here’s an example of someone’s build up to hit a 200 pound squat.

2x10 @ 45 LBS

1x8 @ 95

1x6 @ 115

1x4 @ 135

1x3 @ 155

1x3 @ 175

1x1 @ 185

1x1 @ 195

1x1 @ 200

1x1 @ 205*

*adding in a fourth single above 90% is usually a sign that you’re having a good day.

While these aren’t hard, fast rules that will apply to all of you, for all of your PR attempts. I hope they can be used as guardrail to help guide your weight selection. The ability to plan out a big lift attempt is an important skill for all seasoned lifters.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Back On

The holiday weekend has my brain feeling hazy. What day is it? Is it still raining? What am I doing today?

It’s easy to go haywire when our routines and schedules are thrown off. We like routines and simplicity and to know what’s coming next, at least I do.

When there’s a holiday, and kid schedule changes, and work schedule changes and all of those types of things happening all at once, I fall back on a few principles and habits to get the most from a non-typical day. These things are simple, but they set me up for success on days when I need it.

Water and electrolytes. I make sure to get these first thing in the morning.

Prepare my food. All of my meals are accounted for today, already. That way there’s no decisions that need to be made.

Steps. Nothing makes a day better than hitting a good step number.

Move with intention. I want to workout today, but on busy days it can’t always happen. What I will find time to do is move with intention. I’ll roll or stretch or mobilize or practice something, at least.

If you’re getting back to business today, or you’ve got a few more days of a summer break, find a handful of things that can help ground you, and point you in the right direction when you need a nudge.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How Low Should You Squat?

My answer may surprise you.... It depends!

Trying to set a powerlifting world record? You should probably know what the required depth is and be sure to uphold that standard.

At GAIN, we have a simple standard for squat depth, and it can change each and every day for each person.

Your should squat as low as possible while maintaining good technique, stability and control.

That means no funky spine movement, no heels lifting off the floor, nothing weird going on with your knees and that you're able to breathe throughout the set.

If we want to be effective, capable humans, we should be able to get into a nice low squat and hang out - or least be able to get off the couch and the toilet without too much trouble.

Depth will be a moving target. Overtime, as your skill and strength improves, hopefully your mobility will too. That means better ownership on the bottom, resulting in a more impactful, bigger range of motion squat.

Not there yet? Not a big deal at all. In fact, who cares. I would even argue that a half squat is far more effective in building strength and movement competence that no squatting whatsoever.

So how low should you go? As low as skill allows, but always chase more depth through sound movement and consistent strength and mobility training.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

How Many Reps

As you progress in your strength training career, it's helpful to remember that you don't always have to strictly follow the prescribed rep scheme.

The reps we choose have a specific intent. Either to build strength, promote muscle growth, improve coordination and skill or challenge your stamina. The reps have a counterpart they rely on - how hard you're working. In strength and conditioning terms, volume and intensity.

Generally, the last two reps of something should be substantially more difficult than the first two. If you're doing 8 goblet squats, and they're all relatively easy, I'd like to empower you to do a few more reps, which is called adding volume.

Conversely, if you don't want to do more but you probably could, you could increase the weight. This is adding intensity while keeping the volume the same.

Listening to your body is a useful skill to hone in on. Knowing when it wants a little more will excel your strength and stamina.

Bonus thought:

There are certain times when I'll have you do 10 reps of something, and it's okay if it feels like you could 100 of them. Specifically in conditioning components when the goals is to improve endurance. Also when learning new movements, doing a movement for the first time in a while, coming back from a week off are the obvious ones that come to mind.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Trail Thoughts

On Sunday, I run a 30k trail race. Here are a few of the thoughts that popped in my head during the first lap of the run. During the start of every race, everyone is packed together and figuring out their own pace. As I try to stay calm during these crowed starts, my mind always wanders to these things that I’m happy to know now.

Run your own pace.

When the first climb appeared, less than half a mile in, all the runners in front of me “ran,” up it. From experience, I know that early in the race, I should just hike up this hill. Which I did, and so did the conga line of people behind me. I felt like I should run, because that’s what the people in front of me were doing.. Don’t just do what the person in front of you is, run your own race.

No feet slapping.

In long races, running hard and fast downhills can really beat up your legs. If you want to run a fast race, there’s no avoiding it, but if you’re after sustainability, don’t let your feet slam on your way down the mountain. Instead, control your descent, using momentum, but feel slapping and making a lot of noise on the way down is going to tire your legs out faster.

Trail Shoes.

Don’t wear your road running shoes on the trail. Even if it isn’t a technical trail, with lots of rocks and roots and mud, having better traction on the ups and down is a necessity.

Aid Stations are Time Sucks

This course had an aid station every couple of miles. It would have been easy to not carry anything with me, but I decided to carry a water bottle in my hand. This way, I could drink between aid stations, especially important because of how hot it was. Primarily, I didn’t want to have to stop, chug water, refill, throw a cup away every time an aid station came across. If my bottle still had fluid in it, I just kept on running straight through the aid station, leaving a lot of people who had to hang out there behind.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Red Light/Green Light

A few years ago I wanted to run fast, push the pace, and see how quickly I could cover large distances.

The same notion fires me up, but I no long have the desire to burn the house down each and every time I line up for a race.

With the seasoned lifters at my noon class, we call this maturity.

When you’re new the game, you can push it hard, make expensive decisions and be able to buffer it off. But as you become more seasoned, you realize the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, and you start making better, more mature training decisions. Something along the lines of, I could do another heavy set of 8, but I don’t need to.

In an effort be more mature in my training, I realized what I wanted more than being fast, was being capable. Meaning, I would rather run a race a little slower, but not have to limp around for 48 hours afterwards. I didn’t want training to disrupt training.

So I focussed on running these long distance races with the idea that, if I want to, I can train tomorrow. I should be in good enough shape that this effort won’t sideline me.

Nothing made me realize how important that was than yesterday. I pulled in the driveway after driving 50 minutes home from a 3 and a half hour race. I was stiff, achy from the drive, dehydrated, hungry and ready to get out of the sun. Elliot didn’t care about any of those things though. He wanted to play red light, green light and run through the splash pad in the backyard. He wanted to chase me, so there was no hiding. Right back to running.

I knew I could have pushed a little harder on the last lap of the race. I knew I could have shaved a little time off, and dug a little deeper. I could have suffered more. But it wasn’t worth it, because being able to get out of the truck and start playing was.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

July Fourth Weekend

Saturday marks the start of July, and we’ll be gathering at the gym for a community workout at 9am.

This is a fun excuse to host a Saturday workout at the gym, and a chance for you to come by at a different time and workout with some other GAIN members. Family and friends are invited too, just make sure they RSVP using the link below.

RESERVE A SPOT

We’ll be open regular hours on Monday July 3rd, and Wednesday July 5th, and closed on the 4th.

See you at the gym!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Constant Cues

Lean-Fall-Pull.

Kiss the heel.

Settle! Settle!

Easy.

Find the rhythm.

Faster cadence.

Be springy, be smooth.

Pull! Pull! Pull!

Lift the heel.

Lead with your belt buckle.

Breathe.

Stop shrugging.

Stop looking at your feet.

Stop looking at your feet!

Breathe. And stop looking at your feet!

Running is a skill. I have a never-ending stream of these cues floating through my head during most runs. Trying to adjust and find the perfect stride is how you get better.

Most of the time I feel like I'm almost doing it, and other times, I feel like I'm effortlessly floating along.

If you're headed out for a run this weekend, hopefully one of these cues will stick and help you feel fluid an smooth out there!

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Feel Through Your Feet

Feeling movement through your feet is a super power.

Your feet provide sensory input and stability up through the whole leg.

When doing any movement that begins standing up, you can benefit from paying close attention to what they’re doing.

Are they wobbling around? Collapsing inward? Is all your weight shifting to your heel? Or too far forward towards the toes?

The mid foot is the sweet spot. It’ll allow you to find balance and stability.

If you have a hard time finding that sweet spot, especially on things like split squats, SLDLs, lunges and similar movements, you may want to ditch the shoes. You’ll feel better connected, have better awareness, and a better opportunity to let all those little feet muscles shine.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Isometric

Isometric contractions happen when your muscles are keeping you in one spot.

These improve stability and strength in the shape you're holding, plus a few degrees in either direction.

Split squat iso holds, bottom of push up iso holds, march iso holds, or anything like that, will improve end range strength, get you comfortable in certain positions and build more stability. In other words, they can have a dramatic impact in your over all strength.

They're a no brainer to include into a strength and conditioning program. Use this caution though, iso holds are notorious for being more challenging than they look.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Macro Talk Pt 6

Over the weekend our oven broke. I wouldn’t have been a big deal, except for each Sunday we meal prep, and I make each of us our own batch of personalized egg bites. These are our go-to breakfast each morning, which is especially helpful when trying to wrangle kids out the door. There’s nothing to cook, they’re easy to reheat, and most importantly, we know the macronutrients of each muffin.

I haven’t been tracking for a couple weeks. I weigh my food occasionally to make sure I know how much I’m getting, and to keep my eyeball scale sharp. I eat similarly most days, and entering it into MyFitnessPal became redundant.

Expect for Yesterday. I needed a new plan. What was my breakfast going to be? How would it compare in macros to my normal breakfast? What time am I going to cook? Will it keep me full? These seemingly insignificant questions were a big deal because for a couple months, I haven’t had to think about them at all.

I pivoted. I made scrambled eggs with a little bit of cheese, and a bagel. The scrambled eggs were the same in fat, but lower in protein than my homemade egg muffins, which contain cottage cheese, upping the protein. Otherwise, the rest of the day played out normally. I hit my numbers without issue and didn’t go over on fat like I expected.

While it was frustrating to have to figure out a different meal, and will be frustrating to deal with this oven, overall it was easy to adapt to. I had put in the time tracking my macros, and building the necessary skills to know how to properly fuel myself. Nutrition is tricky, and you might need to approach it differently, but tracking macros has not only greatly improved my understanding of food, but how my body reacts and responds to it.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain