Whenever someone asks me what they can do to get bigger, stronger, or leaner, often times, the solution to the “problem” is to simply perfect the basics.
I get it folks, the basics aren’t sexy. They don’t sell. Sleep 8-9 hours per night? Do 30-45 minutes of cardio per day? “Nah I’m good, but what supplement should I take?”
When I started to fall in love with training and began doing my own research, I was taking a boat load of supplements and was so neurotic about every little minor detail. No joke, I was so scared of carbohydrates that I felt bad eating an apple… Little did I know, all the stress I had building up from overanalyzing my life and nutrition probably slowed down my progress. I also had a closet filled with hundreds of dollars’ worth of supplements that were probably having a very minor benefit. It would have been wiser to spend that money on other things such as better-quality food, training equipment, or courses to further my education.
With time and experience, I’ve found myself simplifying things greatly. My last two coaches, Ben Pollack and Justin Harris, both taught me a tremendous amount about the relationship between excelling in the basics and making progress.
When I started working with Ben, I was surprised by how simple the sessions were. I had just stopped playing hockey so my level of general physical preparedness was pretty high and I was used to a larger volume of work during training sessions. I also came from a Poliquin-biased training philosophy so the level of detail to the programs (tempo, exercise variation, rest periods) was very high. You can imagine the change was a bit of a shock. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at the start because I kept thinking to myself “This is it?...” at the end of a session.
Although the sessions Ben had me were “basic” (Main Lift, Secondary Lift, 1-2 accessories for 2-3 sets), I started making more progress in terms of both strength and size. I remember specifically during a check in, Ben emphasized focusing on the muscles (pectorals and delts) when performing the High Incline Press rather than just slugging weight around. I remembered that heading into my next session. Although the weight had to be reduced slightly, I was getting a much better contraction and ultimately started to build muscle faster! I learned how to contract my muscles properly…you’d figure I’d have that nailed down after 6-7 years of hard training!
What this taught me (besides many other things) was that sometimes, in order to make progress, sometimes it’s better to regress our training and get better at the fundamentals in order to take 2 or more steps forward. It’s the same in any other profession or skill. We’ve all heard of stories of athletes spending hours and hours working on a very basic skill. Being a hockey player at heart, I remember learning that Sydney Crosby, arguably one of the best hockey players of all time, spent an enormous amount of time in the summer working on his shoot. A shot is one of the first things you learn in hockey and the best player in the world spent all summer working on it. That year, he ended up being the top goal scorer in the league…
Bringing it back to training, rather than trying to find the newest and latest program or increasing your training frequency/volume, spend some time learning how to maximally stimulate your muscles with each rep. If you’re trying to get stronger at the powerlifts, maybe attending a seminar with a world-renowned coach to help with your technique could instantly increase your total by 50lbs.
Lesson: Learn how to get the most out of training before thinking about changing everything or adding more work. The return of investment is much greater in the long-run.
Justin Harris knows how to get people jacked and make them into, as he calls them, “food-processing machines”. I had never eaten so much food before without gaining too much fat. Justin is also very good at getting people absolutely shredded (there is a difference between lean and shredded folks). When I started to work with him, I was amazed at how simple the diets were.
To summarize my diet, it looked like this:
5 meals – Evenly distributed protein (50-60g)
Only counted ADDED fats
Diet – Less carbohydrates and fats
Off-Season – More carbohydrates and fats
12-minutes of cardio – 3 days per week (Diet – Up to 20-minutes – 5-days per week)
I want to emphasize the “only counted added fats” aspect because this was a LIFE SAVER and the reasoning behind it is great.
He gave me an extensive list of protein sources to choose from and I didn’t have to worry about the fat content of them. Why? Because it is IMPOSSIBLE to be that precise about all the macronutrient contents of all the foods based on a calorie counting app. The macronutrients on those apps represent AVERAGES for that specific food. However, one day you may eat chicken breast from a fat chicken, other days it’s from a leaner chicken. So why stress over the fat content of your chicken if you’re consistent with the portions because at the end of the week, it’ll most likely balance itself out.
Finally, let’s say you’re trying to get leaner, and your calories are already low. Rather than cut down on food that provides volume to your meals (ex. Potato, rice, avocado), just switch your protein source to one that you know is leaner than the one you currently eat. For example, at the later stage of my “getting shredded” phase, I took out extra lean ground beef completely and started eating more white fish meals because fish is a much leaner source. By simply giving the list, it gave me more options and gave me a “joker card” to play at the end of my diet to trim off the last bit of fat I had left.
What my whole experience with Justin taught me was that consistently measuring and monitoring the SAME way is truly the most accurate way. The easiest way to do this is to simplify it as much as possible. Whether you measure your food cooked or raw, count the trace fats and carbohydrates or not, the key is to keep things consistent.
Lesson: Establish your preferred way of tracking and measuring food and be consistent with it. The simpler the method is, the easier it will be to stick with it.
The overall message of the article is to perfect the basics before looking for the small tricks.
Why would you focus on the minor things that may give you a 5% return if the basics are typically CHEAPER and will yield greater results?
Train hard folks.
Coach Max
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