My Personal Set of Principles, Part 1

Many of the greats in the strength/bodybuilding world swear by writing down a set of guiding principles for one's training. I figure I'm nowhere near strong/aesthetic enough to challenge such giants, so I thought I'd write down my foundational beliefs about strength training. Note that nothing here is particularly groundbreaking

1. "Big" movements should almost always take centre stage in one's training

This isn't to say that isolation movements aren't worth doing (see point 2), but for 99% of people, weighted pull-ups are more important than biceps curls, for example. Some more examples of "big" movements being better than "small" movements include: Squats > leg extension; deadlifts > kettlebell swings; overhead press > lateral raise, etc. You get the idea.
Image result for deadlifting
Plus, who am I to argue with those arms?


2. "Small" movements should almost always be a part of one's training

While the first point highlighted isolation work's relative lack of importance, I still strongly believe that isolation work has its place in most people's training. The reason for this is simple: Isolation work doesn't take as much out of you as the big, compound movements. What I mean by this is that it's easy to do 5 sets each of biceps curls, lateral raises, triceps extensions, ab work, and calf raises, all in the same session. Try to do the same with squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and pull-ups, and you'll very quickly find that the quality of your movements turns South.

3. Hard work will always trump good programming

While I certainly believe that some programs are better than others, the simple truth is that if one follows a "mediocre" program with as much effort as they can muster, they'll do much better than the person who spends weeks analysing and perfecting their workout plan, only to give a half-hearted effort when the time comes to put in the work. I experienced some of the best gains of my life on the Boring But Strong 3-Month Challenge which, as name implies, is pretty boring and mostly consists of hammering away at sets of 5 until tedium sets in. To be honest, I think that this point deserves its own blog post, which I might do next week.

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