Friday Thoughts 110
Happy 2026! Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts, where I share what’s been on my mind lately.
I took a couple of weeks off from the blog around the holidays, and it feels good to be back on here. We’re at the gym regular Friday hours today.
Daily Walking Challenge
It’s time for another edition of our daily walking challenge. With the cold and icy weather, people have been craving this challenge as an excuse to get outside and move a little more.
The rules are simple, just like in years past:
20-minute walk every day (consecutive minutes)
Starts Monday Jan 5
Ends February 4
Honor system, track your days on your own and strive to go 30 for 30
The goal is consistency, more movement, discipline, and building a habit or routine that could last the rest of the year.
SIGN UP HERE (free, open to anyone)
BASELINE TESTINg
There will be a new January Challenge up today, but anyone who needs to finish up on the GAIN Baseline is obviously welcome to. Here are some of my thoughts about the Baseline so far.
Most peoples’ grip strength is better than they assumed.
Same with the farmer’s carry
About 50% of people get a stronger grip score on their non-dominant hand versus their dominant hand
I know correlation doesn’t mean causation, but looking at the 20 second power output test: the longer you’ve been taking creatine the better score you got. Creatine is getting all sorts of attention lately for things like brain health and sleep deprivation. Cool. But remember, creatine is a molecule gives your body access to immediate burst of energy. So to all the people who finished the test and said, “I just didn’t have as much oomph as I wanted,” get on the creatine in 2026.
Goblet Squat - maybe the most impactful test. Many people squatted 20 reps for a weight they didn’t think they could get more than 10. What that showed is that people-especially if you’ve been training for a few years-get comfortable with a specific weight, and don’t often go past it. Understanding reps in reserve, and getting your rep ranges right is critical—especially when you’re in the post-newbie, but-not-quite advanced stage.
GAIN WORD OF THE YEAR
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose “slop” as the word of the year.
Here at GAIN, my word of the year was RIR — Reps in Reserve.
Understanding RIR is one of the keys to continuing to make progress and avoiding boredom in your training. It gives you a better lens for judging effort and challenge, rather than just counting reps and checking boxes.
Here’s how it works. If you finish a set of 10 push-ups with your hands elevated on a bar and feel like you could have done 10 more, you had 10 reps in reserve. RIR is an estimate—it’s a hypothesis based on how the set felt—but it’s still incredibly useful.
I love RIR because it tunes you in to your body. It forces you to pay attention. And more often than not, it reveals that you’re simply not being challenged enough.
When the goal is to get stronger, about 2 reps in reserve is the sweet spot. Maybe 0–1 RIR if you’re very serious about your training. But most people are walking around with 5–10 reps in reserve, and if that’s the case, you’re not even close to creating the stress needed to build stronger bones, more muscle, and real strength.
It might just become my word again in 2026.
Sports
I’m really torn about sports and kids.
I love sports, and played many of them and eventually played hockey in college. It took disciple, hard work and commitment. I’m happy I did it because I learned all about those sorts of things. And also I always had something to do or play when I was a kid. It was the most serious thing in the world for me.
It seems like all sports is about getting kids to a high-level. Changing schools, playing year round, not trying other sports or activities, and maybe even generally missing out on a being a kid.
I want my kids to play sports, but not too seriously.
The main reason: I want them to call me up and ask me to go for a run when I’m 60, they’ll be in their early 30s.
I don’t care if they’re high level athletes at 11, if they are, it’s likely detrimental to their relationships with physical activity in their 30s.
I have the same thoughts with lifting btw. I want them to lift as soon as they want, but the main goal will be to keep it fun, and something that hopefully they can do for a lifetime—not just hard for a couple years a fizzle out.
“Early success is poor indicator of long-term greatness. It might even be a negative signal.”
That’s a wrap for today, see you in the gym!
—Justin Miner