Welcome to the GAIN Blog
The blog is updated Monday-Friday. Tune in for posts and discussion about health, fitness, nutrition, training experiments and reflection. We share articles, videos and more. We post the link to our Instagram story every day, make sure to follow along there to never miss a post.
Friday Thoughts 15
This will be the last blog of the year. Number 246. I’m pleased to report I didn’t miss a post this year. That’s every single week day of the year minus days the we were closed (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving). Consistency!
I turned 35 yesterday. When I turned 30, I remember thinking I could squash my 25 year old self. I thought the same about my 30 year old self yesterday.
Need some free, no equipment workouts for the holiday week? Taylor published this ebook earlier this year; 10 Workouts Under 10 Minutes. Give it a shot!
Here’s an excuse to get a nap (or two) in over the next 10 days:
Maybe my new 2024 goal?
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Holiday Hours Reminder
Closed Monday 12/25 and Tuesday 12/26. Open Wed-Fri, no PM sessions Friday 12/29.
Closed 1/1.
Open 1/2.
The waitlist on all classes for Friday is very long. If you need to cancel, do so with as much time as possible to help the next person get in. Thank you!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Maintenance Mode
You’ve probably seen the college kids back around the gym. Some of them are athletes, and they have a short break because they need to get back to their sport. A conversation with one of them reminded me of what it was like to be a college athlete, and an important lesson for all of us to remember for the real world.
I loved lifting when I was an athlete. In the summers, I would up my frequency and intensity in the gym and make a ton of progress. Months later, the hockey season started and my lifting shifted to 2 times per week at a much different intensity. It was frustrating, the weights from the summer would feel unreachable mid season. I was also on the ice 6 days a week, losing weight (from all the skating) and definitely not getting enough sleep.
Luckily I had good strength coaches who would explain that we were on maintenance mode, and that our goal wasn’t necessarily to get stronger during the season, but to just not get too much weaker so we can continue to build when the off season comes around. We still needed to lift, but there didn’t have to be a focus on improving, rather getting quality reps. At the end of the season our best weights from the previous summer were within reach, I would have plenty of time to build back up, and surpass them.
As I was explaining to the college athlete that it’s okay his front squat numbers are declining in the middle of swim season, I couldn’t help but think, if more people realized this in the real world, they would do a better job of creating a long term training habit. If his front squat drops by 30 or 40 pounds during the season, but he can gain it all back within 4 weeks of dedicated training, then it doesn’t really matter - he’s maintaining his strength, or is at least close enough to allow him to shift gears, and focus on sport, rather than the gym.
Sometimes you have a lot going on, and there isn’t a lot of time to focus on making huge improvements in the gym. If you’re not training as hard, you need to do the minimum to stay healthy, not get injured and keep up your strength and conditioning.
The key is to realize, for both scenarios, is that you have to keep training. You’re not able to just turn it off. Something far outweighs nothing. As you start thinking about your training for 2024, ask yourself, are you trying to build or maintain? Both are worthy goals.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Why I Write the Blog
I wrote the blog on and off as soon as GAIN was open. Weekly posts turned into monthly posts, and I would go long stretches without writing anything. I always wanted a blog, and I came up in the fitness industry where social media was just starting, and all the coaches I looked up wrote blogs.
After struggling to get into a routine for a few years I got the push to go daily when I attended a seminar and the host had just written a book. Someone asked him how he learned to write so well, and he stated something like 2500 shitty blog posts Monday-Friday for the past 10 years. That really hit me. I couldn’t expect the blog to be good or popular or me to be an excellent writer straight out of the gate. James Clear says something similar in Atomic Habits, your first blog post will be trash but you’ll probably be a lot better if you make it to 1000.
I committed to writing every day. My rule was consistency, each blog didn’t have to be a masterpiece - it didn’t need to be perfect, or lengthy or full of pictures, videos and citations. I needed to get reps in, to practice putting it out there, because putting your writing on the internet is scary. It’s why it’s so hard to be consistent with.
I write the blog for a lot of reasons. I want to share my thoughts about exercise, performance, habits, the human body and my experiences training as a dad who likes to run ultra marathons and lift as much weight as possible, while staying fresh and injury free. I also want to be a better communicator, think critically about my work and have a practice.
It’s not easy, buy it has gotten easier. It’s just part of my day. The practice is paying off too, I wouldn’t dare say I’m a good writer, but I’m getting better, and more and more people are reading the blog as the years pass, too. Which, by the way, my only metric for is how many people bring it up to me in person. If you made it this far, thanks for reading, here’s to a couple hundred more blog posts in 2024!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Just Okay
I had a mediocre week of training last week. I skipped more than half of my planned sessions, something that doesn’t happen often. It does happen though, and how you respond to less-than-optimal weeks in the gym really plays into your long term success.
I thought about cramming everything I missed into a couple of days. I thought about having one really hard, epic training session, using intensity to make up for the lack of volume.
Instead, I decided to write it off as a loss.
I wasn’t going to be able to make up the lack of time, no matter how I schemed to make it work.
Instead I focused on the positives, and when you’re in this situation, you can do this too. I realized that rest and recovery are important parts of training. I realize that because of this extra time away from training, I’ll feel fresh, more engaged this week and maybe even a little snappier with the barbell.
The next couple weeks will be busy for most everyone. Cut yourself some slack if your workout week looks less than optimal or your frequency is down from normal.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 14
Happy Friday, here’s this week’s edition on Friday Thoughts.
Holiday Hours reminder: Closed 12/265, 12/26, no PM classes 12/29, Closed 1/1.
Technical vs adaptive challenges. If you’re reflecting on the year, and coming up with goals for next year, make sure you’re not trying to solve an adaptive problem with a technical solution. Technical problems have known solutions that can be solved by an expert, or with more information. Like resetting your wifi or even flying a plane. Adaptive challenges, on the other hand, are much trickier. They require a change in mindset, values or identity and are multifaceted. Read more about it here.
Allowing myself to have a screen in bed got my bed time consistent. Screens in bed! I know. But for the past 8 weeks I’ve been in bed before 9pm. Every single night. I wanted to up my sleep game, and had a tendency to fall asleep on the couch. I haven’t had my phone in my bedroom in over 10 years, so it was a “rule,” that I was firm on. I decided to forego my rule and try reading on an iPad. Half of me is screaming, the screen will kill your sleep and it’s bad for your eyes! But the results are speaking for themselves. I’m in bed sooner and sleeping more every night with that one simple change. That’s an example of an adaptive challenge. I didn’t need to read another sleep book telling me more information about sleep and how it’s important. I needed to change my habits and my beliefs.
Recursive Training. I heard this term on a podcast this week. The idea is that you train to get more and more and more push ups. Eventually, that leads to burnout because you cannot progress linearly forever, otherwise we would all have 1000 pound deadlifts and 30 pull ups by now. Proper programming accounts proper stimulus so you could still be challenged and progress your push ups by using things like tempo, load, speed, range of motion and cardiorespiratory demand. But the question is should you? Is there a point where enough is and enough, and you only need to maintain the amount of push ups you have, rather than continually striving for more? I think there is, just like there’s a point where you’re strong enough too. As you become more advanced in training, your program shifts more to maintenance mode. Just like an in season athlete the primary goal is to keep what you have, or just don’t get worse.
Check out this throwback post from 8 years ago. They’ve dialed back the frequency but the fact that they’re still training at GAIN means they’re consistent. Elisabeth will be our first 9 year member next month!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Ultra Sitting
I’m spending my afternoons this week engaged in an online course about coaching, teaching and practicing weightlifting. The class was going to cut into my workout time, and I knew just sitting on a computer for that long was going to make me feel stiff and achy. I decided I would try to take the entire course sitting on the floor.
This lets me sneak in mobility work. By fidgeting, and moving in to and out of positions constantly I’m exposing my body’s tissues and joints in a really passive way supported by the floor. When I get uncomfortable, I move positions. I can sit in 90/90, on my shins, criss-cross apple sauce, straddle position, legs straight out in front, half kneeling, and so on.
As I like to remind people, I like dabbling in the extremes. Running ultra marathons and lifting as much weight as possible isn’t for everyone, and I don’t think it should be either. However, the way I think about me doing these things, and I suppose you may put sitting on the floor for 3 hours straight in that slightly extreme category, is that I can distill best practices out of these experiences to help the everyday person get more fit.
The lesson here is to get down and spend some time on the floor. Just 5-10 minutes every day can make a huge difference in how your body feels. It’s an excellent, sneaky way to get some restorative, recovery focused movement in without adding anything else into your day. Next time you’re watching TV, messing around on your phone, playing with kids or grandkids, get down there and spend some time getting comfortable.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Holiday Schedule
Closed Monday December 25 and Tuesday December 26.
Normal hours Wednesday-Friday (no pm classes Friday).
Closed Monday January 1.
Happy Holidays!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
GAIN for Gather
In 2018 during the holiday season, we started collecting items for our West Road neighbors, Gather. We’re continuing the collection this year, and as in year’s past, we’ll be focusing on personal hygiene items. Something they are often in need of, but these items are not as commonly donated.
There’s a basket near the garage door, and we’ll be collecting items for the rest of the month.
Check out the list of items below for inspiration. Thank you!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Your Brain on Exercise
Something I realized early in my exercising career, and something that I think most, if not all, long-term clients and exercisers everywhere notice as well, is that you just feel better after doing it. The studies are in too, and there’s no doubt exercise is good for your brain and mental health.
Realizing the gym makes you more focused at work, less distracted at home and generally in a better mood can be a key driver for discipline to stick to your routine.
Much more sticky than the classic idea that I need to workout to look a certain way, or weigh a certain amount.
While it isn’t a crystal clear S.M.A.R.T. goal, working out for your brain to function better is just as good as any other goal to get get you into the gym, into a new routine and a healthier lifestyle.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts 13
Every summer we have some young college kid who wants to build enough strength to bench press 225 pounds, two plates on each side. I tell all of them, it’s a great goal to strive for, but nothing is going to change afterwards. The point I try to get them to realize is that the people who actually stick with the gym long term focus on the process. If you just focus on more and more weights, it’s a direct route to burn out, frustration and injury. Hitting big PRs is great, it keeps you engaged and gives you something to strive for. I’m proud of my 405 squat the other day, but also, I know it doesn’t matter.
Taylor’s pull up numbers continue to climb, be sure to check out some of the crazy sets he’s marking off on the whiteboard near the coaches’ desk. He’s well over 1000 total reps so far.
If you want a deep dive into intermediate strength training reps protocols, find out how RPE was developed and like blogs with lots of numbers in them, check out my friend, and former GAIN Intern, Declan’s blog post HERE.
This was really funny, set it down fake outs and chalice squats are my favorite.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Seventeen Year PR Timeline
2005: Back squat for the first time at Great Bay Athletic Club after reading about them in bodybuilder magazines I bought at the grocery store.
2006: As a senior in high school I back squat 405 with a couple of my training partners. Depth was suspect and I’ve wanted to do it again ever since.
2007-08: Keep back squatting (or front squatting) heavy once a week year round, never missing a training day.
2009-2011: I goblet squatted a lot in college, and deadlifted a lot, but there was only one squat rack in our gym so we didn’t use it often.
2012-2014: I have constant back pain, keep getting hurt and think back squats are the most dangerous, irresponsible, waste of time lift and no one should do them!
2015-2016: Maybe I thought they were so dangerous because I moved so poorly and have terrible range of motion, let me relearn how to squat and improve my mobility.
2017-2019: Discovered ultra running and rarely lift any weights.
2020: Time to start squatting heavy again. Following a training cycle and build up to 305 for the first time in over 10 years
2021: Wanted to build on last year’s squat program and spent the fall trying to get a PR. I ended up with 355, and most importantly, no pain.
2022: Planning to build on last year’s momentum and try for 405.
December 2022: Get hurt squatting, have a baby, training gets a back seat.
March 2023: Got PT, spending extra time breathing, mobilizing and warming up. Squat light once a week through May developing control and building confidence. Squat 305 easily in May and head into running season with confidence about my back.
August 2023: After a mountain ultra, I lean into kettlebells for training. I get lots of high quality reps in and enjoyed doing the same thing every day.
September 2023: Inspired by a member at the gym, I follow a program to squat every day for 40 workouts in a row.
November 2023: After the Easy Strength Program I’m feeling crazy strong and eager to give 405 a go, but know I need to be patient. I build to an easy single one day of 355. A few weeks later, I go for 365 and get it cleanly. After watching the video back, it looked easy so I made the jump to 395 and got it. I was stoked.
December 2023: The plan was for 3x1 long pause squats at 315. I was continuing my squat plan by building my confidence at 315. I thought if I can dominate 315, I could get 405.
The third single yesterday was the easiest of them all and had the longest pause, 4 or 5 seconds. I decided to go to 345 and see how it was. Stood it up easy and decided today was the day. I jumped to 375 and it was easy too. I loaded 4 plates to the bar and got it. Once again, most importantly, nothing hurts.
I’m pumped. It’s been a 17 year journey of fighting with, and trying to master the squat. There’s two points I want to make today, first, if you want to get better at something, you have to practice and commit to that thing. I’ve run only a handful times since August, and had to trade off other aspects of my fitness in order to get here. The other is that if there’s something you want to do, but don’t think you’re able, maybe you just need more time. There was more than one occasion when I thought I would never back squat again. I just needed more time, more patience and more practice.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Underfed, Underperform
Halfway through my workout yesterday I couldn’t help but wonder why everything felt so hard despite the bar being 10 pounds lighter than the previous week.
I was resting plenty between sets, and got good and warmed up beforehand too.
It was a bit of a weird day in terms of my normal routine. Nolan had a doctor’s appointment smack in the middle of his nap time. I had gone into the day not expecting to train, and instead to be hanging with him.
So when I found myself working out in the garage, huffing and puffing between sets, feeling so weak, I realized it. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, around 7:00, and it was nearing 1:00.
Most days I have a big bowl of oats, fruit and protein powder between 10-12, a couple hours before I train. This is my pre workout meal, and I didn’t realize its importance until yesterday.
I don’t want to give the impression that I wasn’t able to train either. It was an average workout, which many of them are. But rather, I want to bring your attention to all the other things that can affect you in the gym, and most of the are within your control. Things like sleep, nutrition, stress and daily movement will influence how you feel, and how you can perform in the gym.
When you’re having an off workout and can’t figure out why, I would start with when the last time your ate was.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Rolling at Night
People tell me all the time they need to stretch more, or foam roll more often, or that they don’t do enough mobility work. While the gym is a great place to learn these techniques, there’s just too many other things to do. You need to lift heavy things to get stronger, do accessories to work on balance, stability and core, never mind conditioning, warming up and cooling down - there’s a lot of fit into an hour. While foam rolling is effective, I’ve found out that it is most effective as something you do before bed.
In true blogging fashion, here is a list to make my case.
Laying down on the floor is a great way for your physiology to down regulate. Maybe not the best way to awaken your body and get ready for physical activity. I spent 10 years foam rolling before workouts, and I turned many of those attempted workouts into naps on the floor using a foam roller as a pillow. Which as an aside is a terrible idea, but if you’re a coach you’ve done it.
Foam rolling at night gives you insight as to how your body is feeling. It serves as a nightly check in, like running a maintenance scan. You can ask questions like, how’s my breathing tonight? Is this spot more sensitive than normal? All these little insights can help guide your routine and give you insights to your training.
Accumulation. The problem with only rolling at the gym is that you’ll never get enough of a dose to make lasting change. But doing it daily is where the real magic happens and the little changes stack up.
You have the time. You probably get a chance to watch TV most nights. Instead of sitting on the couch, use this time as an opportunity to get on the floor. Little habits like this are where healthy lifestyles come from. We have a basket in the living room filled with all sorts of mobility tools, they’ve got to be kept close!
If I’m running or lifting heavy the next day, I use my nightly routine to prep for the workout. Running? I’ll roll my calves, feet and stretch my hip flexors. Heavy snatch day? I’ll open up my thoracic spine and give my shoulders some love.
Get to work!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Garbage Out, Groceries In
One of the speakers at a seminar we recently attended said, in reference to recovering from tough bouts of exercise; you’ve got to move, garbage out, groceries in.
When we exercise, it’s stressful for our bodies, and that isn’t a bad thing either. We need to create that stress to in order to adapt and overcome, it’s the basic principle that makes strength training work.
When we have a tough workout, and stress the body out, our muscles and cells create waste products. Some of them, our bodies can recycle. Others get moved out of our bodies through the lymphatic system, which uses muscle contractions to pump the junk out.
The saying is in reference to getting yourself moving, to use muscle contractions to help clear the waste, and at the same time, your blood is delivering new nutrients from the food you’ve eaten and digested, your groceries.
So the next time you’re laying around feeling sore and achy from a workout, get up and get moving, it’s one of the best thing you can do to promote your recovery.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Friday Thoughts #12
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday thoughts where I share half formed blog posts and things I saw on this internet this week. Enjoy!
I’ve been on a mission to hydrate before I caffeinate (inspired by @megsquats) and it can be a little tricky to slam down cold water early in the morning. You know I’m a fan of electrolytes and drink LMNT. Well, fire up your kettle and try it hot! Citrus is my go to, but orange is pretty good too.
Here’s where Taylor got his pull up program idea. You can follow along with how many daily reps he’s doing each day on the whiteboard.
As we head into winter and colder months, that means boot season is coming. In just the handful of times I’ve thrown my boots on this year, my feet were feeling it. To combat getting jammed into a boot, I’m making sure to keep foot rolling in my nightly unwind rolling plan, and you should too. All you need is to grab a ball, stand up and start rolling the bottom of your feet.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
This is Hard
It’s hard to make yourself go to the gym few times a week. You have to do it when you have no energy, no motivation, when it's freezing cold or extremely hot. You have to wake up early or come in after a long day at work.
It’s easy to get down on yourself when you aren’t making it in as much as you’d like or progress is crawling. Today, I want to remind you that this is a worthwhile cause.
Pat yourself on the back, and remember that this is a good use of your time and frustration. In fact, it being frustrating is probably a good thing, it means you’re striving to do better.
This isn’t a hall pass to skip workouts. This is a reminder that it’s hard and hard things are worth doing. Keep it up.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Confidence Maintenance
Perhaps one of the most overlooked traits of strength training is building confidence. It slowly, quietly, builds in the background until all of a sudden one day you find yourself thinking things you never thought possible.
I’ll try skiing again this year, for the first time in 15 years.
I can handle all that walking on a family vacation.
I can get the kayak off my roof and carry it to the water by myself.
Get down on the floor to play with your kids or grandkids, no big deal.
Say yes to this hike invitation.
These small thoughts that enter your mind are actually huge wins. There’s no clear way to measure confidence, and it’s different for everyone. It’s a hard thing to boast about on a tabloid too.
Since it’s hard to measure, and can be hard to notice, it’s easy to forget it’s there. It becomes part of you when you’re training regularly, and getting an appropriate physical stimulus. The trap is that it’s finite. If you don’t keep training, your physicality will decline and your confidence with it.
Training never gets easy. But know that if you stay in the game and keep playing it, you’re unlocking benefits, obviously physically, but also in the way that you think and feel. In fact, there’s so many small benefits like that you probably don’t even realize they’re there until they’re gone.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
Pose, Fall, Pull
I used to hate running. I felt clunky. Every single step always hurt. I didn’t even know there was a technique to running, I just thought you did it. Then I heard Dr. Nicholas Romanov’s way of explaining it.
Romanov is a Russian sports scientist and creator of what’s known as the Pose Method of running.
The Pose Method breaks running into three components.
Pose: The running pose; the whole body vertically aligned, shoulders and hips over the ankle of the support leg.
Fall: Leaning forward to shift your center of mass forward. Running is controlled falling.
Pull: Pulling the support leg off the ground as you lean forward creates the gait cycle, allowing the opposite leg to come down be the support leg.
Check out this podcast with Dr. Romanov to hear more on this thinking and dive deeper into the Pose Method.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
That Time of Year
We made it. It’s that time of year, between Thanksgiving and the New Year. It’s a busy time for family events and social calendars, it’s dark and cold, and it gets easier and easier to push things off, until next year.
It’s also a good time to get started on your goals for next year. As they say, there’s no time like the present.
If you have big goals, or even just a small habit, that you want to crush in 2024, do yourself a favor and stop thinking about what you’ll do in the new year, and instead, figure out what you can do to get started working towards that right now, in 2023.
35 days to go!
Justin Miner
@justinminergain