The Weight of Goals

Are you aware that your goals have responsibilities attached to them? A goal is something to hold you accountable. It creates a process, or the steps needed, in order to achieve what you set out to do. More often than not, we aren’t accountable to our goals. Instead, we scapegoat the responsibility by blaming something else.

That diet was too restrictive, I wanted to get fit this year but just hate working out at home, the class times are too rigid or I need a different type of program. Whatever it is, these are excuses we use. We blame that thing, i.e., the diet being too restrictive, as the reason we cannot achieve our goal. It’s nice to skirt the responsibility on to something else, something out of our control, when really, we’re the ones to blame.

In order to achieve a goal worth striving for, you’re going to face adversity. When faced with adversity though, are you going to play the blame game? That’s the "If I just find the right diet I’ll be successful,” attitude. Or are you going to take responsibility for you, your goals, your habits and your choices?

The sooner we recognize that goals take up time, energy and brain power, the sooner we’ll recognize they come with a responsibility, a weight to carry. Without realizing this, you don’t have goals, you have hopes.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Just GO

“Stop worrying about how long it’ll take and get started. Time will pass either way”

- James Clear

Getting that quote in my inbox this week was a nice reminder that sometimes you just need to pull the trigger and get moving. After being fearful how much work it would be to launch a new online program, I decided to just put it out there and force myself to get it together. This ready, fire, aim approach really gets you moving, it leaves no other option.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend and we’ll see you in the gym next week.

NO ZOOM ON SATURDAY

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Visualize it, Feel it

One of the best ways to become a better mover is to increase your visualization capabilities. To make squats or push ups or an Olympic lift look and feel seamless, you need to have a mental model of what exactly it feels and looks like. 

Visualization is tricky though. My junior year of college I was having a hard time whenever I touched the puck. I would freeze up and not know what to do as soon as that little black disc touched my stick. I became a liability on the ice and my nervousness about a potential screw up only made it worse. When a coach first approached me about visualization, I was hesitant. I had been trying but the only outcome was visualizing bad outcomes. It actually got so bad I started having a recurring dream of ringing a puck off the crossbar while on a breakaway.

My visualization was focused on how things could do wrong. My coach set me on a better course by getting me to visualize was it was going to feel like to success, not just what it would look like from a bird’s eye view. I started focusing on what my stick would feel like in my hands with the puck, what the cool air of the rink felt like and the sounds of skates cutting into the ice. 

When you’re doing a squat, focus in on what it feels like not just what it’s supposed to look like. That’s why we don’t have mirrors in here, by the way. Where do you feel a stretch? Where’s the pressure on your feet? What happens when you squeeze your butt at the top of the rep? What’s it feel like to brace your abs and hold that heavy heavy kettlebell? 

Visualization is just as much about feel as it is looks. Give it a shot! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Planks Shouldn't Be Easy

If you’ve been following along with the Gain On Demand workouts, you’ve been rewarded by seeing some simple planks kick my ass. Planks are generally regarded as an effective core exercise and they’re universally known by all from 8th graders to grandmothers. Why is it then that they’re often executed poorly? 

In my opinion, it’s because they’re usually written off as a beginner exercise. The thing with planks however, like most exercises, is that the better you get at them, the harder they can be. Planks can teach us about tension, how to get stiff and how to breathe while bracing. If you don’t know what that means though, it can be challenging to do it properly. That’s my issue with these long plank hold challenges, they reward survival, not quality.

Next time you do a plank keep these things in mind. Turn on everything. Try to squeeze all your muscles, dig your toes into the ground, push your elbows away from your and breathe deep down into your hips. If someone walks over to you and nudges you on the side of your hip, you should be able to resist the force and not move. A great visual is to pretend like you're getting ready for someone to punch you in the stomach, a sure fire way to get those abs working. 

Don’t be passive while holding that plank. Squeeze, brace and make it hard, don’t just lay there quickly counting your breaths, make those breaths big and deep. The better you breathe, the harder the plank will be. 

Justin Miner 

@justinminergain

(pre COVID picture)

Remember to Keep Moving the Dirt

I was recently having a conversation with a new personal trainer. He was having a hard time getting his clients to see the big picture, to get over the need for quick fixes and unrealistic results. The conversation turned towards one of my favorite training analogies, moving a pile of dirt.

If you can imagine training, or better yet working towards your goals, like moving a big pile of dirt, you’re going to be successful in the long term. The idea is that as long as you move some dirt every day, you’re headed in the right direction. Sometimes you’ll get a big shovel full, sometimes you’ll get a teaspoon. The important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how much dirt you move, just that you’re moving dirt at all. 

Moving dirt can come in many forms too. It can be anything from a solid eight hours of sleep, having a big salad with dinner or just making it to the gym - regardless of what your training session looks like. We’re all really good at picking out where we do poorly. Instead, I think we should be trying to notice the positive habits. The things that move dirt and help us, instead of only seeing the negative. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Set the Tone

I often write about how Monday’s can build momentum for a good week. A good Monday workout or a Monday with lots of vegetables or hitting your steps goal or whatever it is really sets the tone.

Here’s the thing though, it doesn’t actually start with Monday. It starts before that. For me, 5 minutes on Sunday evening outlining my week, going over my schedule, planning runs and workouts makes all the difference. When I don’t take the time to do that, I free fall into Monday and instantly feel that I’m in over my head. 

Get ready for Monday on Sunday. Here’s to a good week ahead! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Strength and Conditioning vs. Fitness Fads

I have two Strength & Health magazines from the 1930’s. You may have seen them, they’re hanging in the bathroom at the gym. While there are some silly headlines like “Cigarettes, do they give you a lift?” There’s equally, if not more, headlines that hold up to what we know today. “Facts in Progressive Training,” reads like an intro to a strength and conditioning textbook. My favorite part, however, lies on the back cover. It’s an advertisement from York Barbell Company. 

The advertisement claims: The strongest men, the best built men of EVERY nation are barbell and dumbbell built. Underneath the headline it reads, “The barbell and dumbbell system of training by graduated, progressive methods are the accepted methods of building real strength and muscle, the world over. 

That advertisement was published in 1935. Since then, at least, we’ve known that the strength and conditioning principles work. Barbells and dumbbells, when following a progressive, thoughtful program  will make you strong, promote healthy muscle growth and stave off injuries. Why is then, each and every year we have to create another “thing” to get us fit? 

We’ve created so many fads. Step aerobics, Orange Theory, F45, P90X, Insanity, Six Minute Abs, TotalGym, Peloton, and The Mirror are just the first ones that come to mind. We’ve known strength and conditioning works. Period. Why do we keep trying to reinvent the wheel? Purely for novelty. To keep our minds engaged and hope that we can distract ourselves all the way to achieving our goals. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is no shortcut. The sooner we all realize there isn’t an easy way or that the next flashy thing isn’t better than an old rusty barbell, the healthier, more fit and happier we’ll all be. All you need to do is look at the obesity and health statistics of the country to know we’re doing it wrong. We can do better and in order to do that, we need to do what’s always has worked (and always will), classic strength and conditioning.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Feeling Overwhelmed

The first time I ran an ultramarathon I realized something significant. When you start to feel overwhelmed, you’re done. As soon as you start thinking about how many miles down or how much time you have left out there, the feeling of overwhelm consumes you. You’re in over your head and you know it. How can I possible go that much longer? How can I finish this? 

You may be thinking, I have no desire to run an ultramarathon so why do I care? Well, the funny thing is that during that same ultramarathon, I realized it was the same feeling I felt the first time I ran a 5k race. I ran a little bit every summer for hockey conditioning, but we did short bursts and sprints, we never ran for distance. On Thanksgiving in 2011 I ran my first 5k and I remember feeling really good, until I ran past the 1 mile marker sign. 

I was crushed. Two more miles! How is that possible? I can’t keep this up for two more miles! The feeling of overwhelm sat with me the rest of the race. It wasn’t until that first 50k in 2017 that I realized I was having the same feeling with 10 miles to go. The distance doesn’t matter. Whether its 10 miles or 1 mile, the feeling of overwhelm handcuffs you.

Whatever your goals are, you need to avoid getting overwhelmed. If the scope of the goal is big and lofty, break it into smaller pieces. Create manageable bites, solid day in and day out processes that make the undertaking manageable. As soon as your thoughts wander on how much longer it will take, or how much further you need to go, you’ll be ditching your goal to pick something safer. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Hours on the Floor

I have a confession to make. I haven’t been working on my mobility as much as I normally do. I’ve been training pretty hard, too. Normally I take time to roll and stretch and mobilize my joints to feel as fresh as possible. I haven’t had to spend as much time dedicated to this since March, and I’ll tell you why: sitting on the floor.

March to June I was coaching at least 5 hours a week virtually. Since June, that changed to 3 hours per week. Each and every Zoom class, virtual one on one and FaceTime consult, I sit on the floor. There’s no magic position I put myself in, but rather try to move around into many different positions. 

I’ve talked before of the importance of sitting on the floor and the numerous benefits. Spending 60 some odd hours on the floor over the past several months certainly helped my hips. Instead of looking for the most ergonomical set up you can find for your office, instead, try to spend a little more time on the floor. It’ll be hard at first, but over time, your mobility will improve and sitting on the floor will be easier. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Why Strength and Conditioning

Do you ever wonder why I named the gym Gain Strength and Conditioning? Until recently there weren’t many strength and conditioning coaches in private facilities like there are today. Instead, the title was reserved for athletic development, mostly at the collegiate and professional level. As training became more popular, and more and more high school kids were interested at playing in the collegiate level, more and more high school and private facility strength coaches started appearing. 

Today, strength and conditioning has transcended its athletics background and serves people of all fitness levels and goals. We learned that training like an athlete is the superior way to be generally fit and healthy. To have a strong, independent and capable life. 

Strength and Conditioning is about taking the whole body into consideration. Instead of training just to get tired or sweaty, strength and conditioning coaches take many factors into account when creating a plan. Physiological response to improve force production, power output and stamina are a few of the main ones. We also consider how the musculoskeletal system plays a role in quality of movement, soft tissue health, volume tolerance, training age and injury history.

The goal of strength and conditioning, and how it deviates from a general fitness classes, is that it's performance driven. Strength and Conditioning was born in athletics to increase on the field/court/ice performance. Today, we use these principles to improve performance in our everyday life. That’s the beauty of strength and conditioning, it scales. We use the same principles and the same understanding of physiology to get you on an Olympic team or to hold up better gardening in the hot summer sun. 

We’re called Gain Strength and Conditioning because we’re here to improve your performance, whatever that means to you. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain 

Hot Hot Hot

It’s time for my yearly blog about the heat. It’s hot, and when it’s hot, our bodies are under extra stress to perform all the physiological functions it takes to be a human. Especially if we’re exercising. The good news for you is that you have the capability to adapt. Our bodies can get used to the heat and learn to function better in it.

In order to adapt, however, you need exposure. Air conditioner in the house, through the cool garage, into the air conditioned car and straight into an air conditioned store doesn’t give you much a change to get used to it - it’s why so many people hate the heat. 

Now, I’m not saying go run a marathon on the 90 degree day. But total avoidance of the heat will prevent you from adapting. A little dose here and there, a modified workout or even spending time outside in the garden can help you adapt. Be sure to stay hydrated, stick to the shade when possible and don’t overdue it. People run into trouble when they try to keep doing what they were doing with cooler weather. Pump the breaks, slow down, do less, drink some water and before you know it, you won’t get hit so hard by the heat.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Four Stages of Competence

This funny thing happens in the gym. What you learn, do and experience inside the gym has so much carry over to the real world. Our exploits in the gym can lead to remarkable real-world awareness. The controlled environment of the gym is rich for learning. 

Here’s an example of how you learn in the gym and you may not even be aware of it, because that’s exactly where we’re going to start. The first stage is unconscious incompetence. 

There are four levels of competence when learning or developing a skill. As I mentioned, the first stage is unconscious incompetence. That means you don’t know how to squat and you don’t even know it, you’re unaware of the deficit. This is many people who walk into a gym for the first time. 

The next stage is conscious incompetence. You don’t understand how to squat perfectly, but you’re aware of the lack of understanding. You know that you need coaching cues and eyes on your form to make sure it’s right.

The next stage is where many of you are in regard to training. Conscious competence. You understand how to squat well, but it requires a lot of brain power to do it. If you start thinking about work while doing goblet squats your form gets sloppy. You need to focus in order to do it well.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post called ‘muscle memory.’ In the post I described how many reps and how much time it takes to develop a skill to do it without thinking - to know what it feels like to do it well. This level is called unconscious competence. It’s second nature. You can easily perform the skill without any thought or brain power. In the gym, this is a hard place to get to. You might get it on squats but not deadlifts or push ups. We’re all different here, but one thing make this stage possible for all of us: time and focus. 

We’re got to put the time in and use our brains to learn and develop new skills. The end game for all of this is to become better movers, unconsciously. So that when we’re hiking or kayaking or playing tennis we move better, in safer and more powerful positions without immense focus. Focus in the gym so you can have fun in life outside the gym.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Simple Things

When it comes to health and well-being we tend to complicate things. Make them more difficult than they need to be and often overlook simple, small details that make a big impact. One of those things is drinking water. It’s going to be hot over the next few days, which means you better be drinking more water. 

The water thing is funny. Many people chug it all day and make a dozen trips to the bathroom while others don’t take a sip. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. I’m not going to tell you an arbitrary number of ounces you need to hit, but instead, I’m going to ask that you pay attention. Notice when you’re thirsty, drink some water. Stay hydrated and keep your body operating functionally. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Just a Little Longer

Mobility, or how much active range of motion we have, contributes to so many tasks that we do. The more mobile you are, the easier it will be to get off the floor, buckle your seatbelt or even walk down stairs. In the gym, you’ll notice better moving mechanics, more stable positions, greater strength and reduced risk of injury.

The trick with improving mobility is that it takes a long time. It might take weeks or months to see progress. On top of that, consistency isn’t the only factor to keep up with. You need to make sure your consistent mobility sessions are long enough. Stretching or rolling for 30 seconds here and there might help you maintain your baseline mobility, but in order to see positive change, you need spend minutes at a time. 

This uncomfortable time under tension is where you retrain your brain. You’re telling your nervous system that you’re in control and this position is safe. Too short of a duration and you won’t see the big mobility gains you hope for. 

If you’re a person with tight hip flexors that are always nagging them, it’s time to up your post workout stretching routine. Hold that position for 90 seconds to 2 minutes before giving it up. Those 30 second holds aren’t doing much, go just a little longer. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Monday Momentum

I’m a big momentum guy. When stuff is feeling good, or I’m motivated to take on a challenge, I just got for it. If I’m being productive, I try my best to take advantage of the momentum and keep rolling. Monday gives us all an opportunity to build momentum for the upcoming week. 

Monday’s didn’t give us much opportunity to build momentum during quarantine. They were more of a shock back into this weird reality we were all living in. As restrictions continue to fall, we’re getting back to a sense of normalcy, a sense of regular life. 

With that taste of regular life, our chance to take on Monday and build momentum for the week is greater than ever. Take the time today to set the tone for the week. Get that workout in, eat some veggies and go to bed a reasonable time. Journal your intentions or brain dump your to-do list. Whatever it is, get your mind organized and get ready to take on the week. Build some momentum so on Friday you can look back and know that you gave it your all. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

A Note on TrueCoach and Programming

As you probably know by now, we’re using TrueCoach for all of our programming needs. This new system keeps us better organized and gives us the ability to better track your progress. The most important feature is one you may be overlooking.

The excel sheets we used to use were permanent. Slight changes in reps or exercise variations here and there was difficult. It wasn’t conducive to calling audibles or making changes as we gained more information. This is the reason for the whole whiteboard versus sheet person debate that’s been around the gym for a few years now. We liked programming on the whiteboard because it gave us the ability to make more subtle changes on the fly while keeping the direction of the program the same. 

Having a program is paramount. However, I don’t know how your week 3 day 2 workout is going to go when I write it. TrueCoach now let’s us take that extra information into account and make edits as we see fit. For example, if week 3 rolls around and day 1 was really tough for you, I can go in and edit Day 2 when it comes up and I transfer it to your personal whiteboard. Maybe you get an email that says you’re going to be kettlebell deadlifting on Friday. When you get to the gym and get in your space you notice a barbell set up. Well, what happened was we looked at previous weeks, and decided that it’s just time to try something different (that’s still the same). This also allows us use our creative coaching juices. Shaking up finishers and conditioning work week to week can give you a better training effect and sometimes it’s helpful for us to make those decisions right before your session.

What I’m getting at is that your workouts may change from what you see in the morning email. If that bugs you, turn off the email notifications. As you transition back into the gym, TrueCoach will be a record of what you’ve done, not a set-in-stone schedule of what we’re planning to have you do. We reserve the right to try new things, change rep schemes, add in different movement variations and keep the program fresh for all parties involved. As I mentioned above, a program is important, but so is creativity and variety. 

Justin MIner

@justinminergain

Building Your Savings Account

The following is an original blog post I wrote on October 12, 2015. I was inspired to post it again after having this exact same conversation with the exact same client as she took on her first in gym workout after quarantining. After nearly 5 years of training, she’s built enough savings that a month off will do no harm.

Training for Life – Starting Your Own Savings Account 

This post was inspired by a recent conversation with a client. 

The client had been traveling and they had to take a week off. The week before they only got one workout in. So, it had been some time since they were doing their normal workout program.

After getting in all regularly scheduled workouts in this week, her body was pretty beat up. Since they have taken some time off, the readjustment to training took a toll Not a big toll, like they couldn’t do what they were doing a week before, but things that were normally easy weren’t as easy. Things that didn’t make her breath hard before were making her out of breath this week. 

 So what’s all that have to do with your savings account? 

Well, the client asked if they would have to keep up a training regiment of 3 days per week for the rest of their life if they wanted to keep reaping the benefits from this style of training. 

 That’s not the case at all. 

 Training is like building a savings account. This client has been practicing strength and conditioning for only 4-5 months. 

 Early on in your practice you will need to train more frequently. The more your practice, the more you have in your savings account. 

 For example, I have been training for over 10 years now. I have a big savings account because of this. I’ve put in enough money (hard work) to be able to take a week or two off here or there and not have it effect my strength or conditioning very much. 

 While initially you must keep up the frequency to see the desired benefits, eventually, once you build a large enough savings account, you will be able to live off that savings more.

For every person, the necessary frequency is different. Some it is 3 days, some it is 4, others it could be 1. 

 The point is that training is part of your lifestyle. It is something that you should want to do for the rest of your life. But as you increase your training age (how long you have been doing it) the benefits are more likely to stick around – and you’ll be less sore when returning to workout out after a brief hiatus. 

 No matter how big your savings account is though, there will always be a point where it runs out. Never stop. Train for life. 

Where Do You Feel It?

A simple question to ask yourself while working out is, where do you feel it? After completing the Certified Functional Strength Coach Course during quarantine, I challenged myself to ask that question more, it’s something so simple that I’ve overlooked as a coach. 

For example, we want to feel squats in our hips and quads, not our lower back or knees. Asking that question, can help us clean up a movement that looks good, but doesn’t feel right. With an inverted row, we want to feel it in our arms, shoulders and upper back, but not our elbows or wrists.

I’m not talking specific muscles here either, that’s too much in the weeds. General muscle groups are information enough, remember, we train movement patterns not muscles. As a trainee, you can do the same thing, if you’re unsure of what you’re supposed to feel, ask! 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Cognitive Fitness

When we think of improving our health, the big 3 come to mind: movement, nutrition and recovery. Movement is what we’re doing physically. This can be lifting in the gym, spin class, going for a run, etc. We’re familiar with the kind of work we need to do here. Nutrition is a tricky one, but one we all understand. We know that we need to fuel ourselves for performance or intake less calories to lose weight. Recovery is about getting enough sleep, managing stress and includes soft tissue work and stretching.

The missing piece to get all these habits to stick, or the piece that allows you to continue to progress is your mindset. I’ve heard this described as cognitive fitness. It’s not flashy or something that you can implement right now to feel stronger or lose more weight. What it does though, is give you the tools to continue to progress and stick with and form new habits.

If you need to improve your recovery habits, let’s say by getting more sleep, your mindset is the key to unlocking a new behavioral change. Without the mindset part, the recovery part, movement part and nutrition part doesn’t matter. We see this happen with nutrition all the time. The key to nutrition is implementing a plan and having the ability to stick with it, be flexible and change how you view your relationship with food. It isn’t just about eating differently. Eating differently without a mindset shift leads to crash diets and inconsistency.

Without changing your mindset, you’re going to have a hard time making real positive change. It’s why our first Core Value is “Have a Growth Mindset.” We think that’s the most important piece of trying to improve. How do you develop it? Lean in to things that are hard or that you’re bad at. Don’t give up out of frustration and remind yourself that you’re in this for the long game.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Muscle (Re)Memory

After correcting someone’s goblet squat form this morning, they proclaimed, “how did I forget that, isn’t muscle memory a thing?” 

Did you ever play a sport growing up? If you played for a while, you may be able to close your eyes and think about exactly how everything of a certain movement felt. I spent hours in my basement as a kid shooting hockey pucks against the cellar wall. I can think back and imagine exactly how the stick blade felt as it dragged across the cement floor. How I shifted my weight into my right hip so my right arm could lean on the stick, creating a bend that snapped the stick straight; propelling the puck ahead as I guided it wherever I wanted it by pointing the stick with my right arm.

I can imagine how softly catching and absorbing a pass feels, I still know what the timing is to take a mega slap shot - even though I haven’t done these things for years. It’s no muscle memory either, it’s your nervous system. After we practice a task so much, we commonly say it has become muscle memory, but really it’s nervous system memory. Our brains know what to do and what sensations to feel.

Taking it back to a goblet squat. After 10 weeks off, you may need to remind yourself of some of the more nuanced cues to clean up your squat. In short, it takes a long time for us to develop these skills and embed them forever in our brains. You’re going to constantly have to remember to sit back, not down, to push your knees out, to maintain weight on the ball of your foot. Just like it took me years and years to master a solid snap shot, it’s going to take a while for your muscle memory to take over your movement, and until that happens, you’re going to have to concentrate hard on how each rep feels. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain