Good morning — every single day, Bruce Lee would meditate…by immediately going on a three mile jog. Now I’m no runner, but with my podcasts and my gym routine, I like to think that I’ve finally found a sort of ravaged bliss from my exercise too. In other words, what I’m saying is I’m basically Bruce Lee. Save for a few minor differences.
After a person has been lifting weights for a while, you start to really push the limits of what you can do. Generally speaking, everyone’s always shooting for the best “big three” stats in the beginning: bench press, deadlift, and barbell squat. Those movements are fun: big compounds that get all sorts of muscle groups involved and leave you heaving and growling. But once protein powder starts looking like Fun Dip, you just need more in order to fill the extra time you start spending at the gym. So, the standard progression is to start isolating smaller muscle groups and doing more specific exercises to target them. For example: while a chin-up will work your biceps to some degree, a preacher curl will rip those babies to shreds while the rest of your back muscles can sip a mimosa and relax on the beach.
By this methodology, the goal is always to fatigue the target musculature and nothing else. For instance, if you really want to work your quads, you might do a leg extension in place of a squat, because your back strength and ankle mobility might be a limiting factor in pushing those honey hams to failure. With pulling movements (such as a row) your back muscles will always be stronger than your forearms, so oftentimes lifters will use weightlifting straps to put the work on your wrists, instead of leaving you to depend on your grip strength. When you’re pulling big weight bare-knuckled, your grip will inevitably give out first — like it did for me yesterday. Other than a few strange looks and an unfortunately released pressure-toot, I made it out fine — although the set was disappointing to say the least.
I share all of this because I think it has a nice translation in the real world. We often get stuck in a mindset of those big movements: trying to do everything, all at once, all the time, all while resisting help of any kind. After all, we’re strong people – we should be able to do it all. However, most of the time that’s actually more detrimental to us than it is helpful. At the extreme is total burnout; but along the way, you’ll keep yourself from being the best you possible in any one area. Enter weightlifting straps. There’s always a multitude of those tools around for us to make use of. Maybe it’s getting the support of friends and family; maybe it’s hiring a house cleaner; maybe it’s therapy; maybe it’s buying some frozen meals. Whatever it is, I encourage you to take advantage of it. The only reason any body builder uses straps is because they’re so yoked out of their gourd, they refuse to let their forearms take them away from that sick back pump. Put another way: only the strongest people ask for help.
And in case there’s any speculation: yes, that’s what I actually look like up there. Just takes a bit longer to draw.
Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next week.
so lucky that I found the missing strap!