SO well said. Thanks for sharing parts of your life with us. I too had an awakening 19 years ago and moved from the east coast to the pacific northwest. Friends and family said, "Are you crazy? Oregon...it rains all the time". I learned from local, new friends here to say, yes, you're right, it rains all the time. They encouraged me to discourage people from moving to our little piece of heaven, Hood River. I'm still trying to come to terms with family and friends who don't get me. I've come to accept that is their loss for the most part. My daughter is estranged from me because I told her that I can no longer take the pain she causes me in the way she treats me and that the only solution was to get into therapy together. She can choose the therapist but we needed help. She freaked out and hasn't spoken to me since. My only child. It still hurts beyond measure but I won't allow myself to be hurt like that again...even from the person that I love the most in this world. You can't create and carry a human being in your body for 9 months and not have an inherent connection to them.
I'm so sorry for your pain. xo I can feel it in your words, and I relate, as both my brothers (no sisters, no cousins, etc) have chosen to hurt me for what I cannot figure out, except my parents' money. Family is so hard, of the hard things...
I live in the PNW, too, near Bremerton, WA. I love it up here, too. Maybe one day all us PNW'ers can get together and celebrate the end of the Covid-tastrophe... Sending you hugs.
Thanks so much for your kindness. I have felt the kindness of strangers quite strongly in recent months, since starting my own substack. If only my old friends were as compassionate. I don't think I'll ever understand their silence or hurtful behavior.
Yes, I'd welcome a celebration with like minded souls so count me in!!!
I'll subscribe to your SS, and you can subscribe to mine, and we'll get together sometime! I have another friend in Oregon, in Portland. I'm only about 4 hours from there. ^_^
I have MANY, MANY friends, from waaaay back, who mostly don't talk to me anymore, have said terrible things to me, and just one who will talk, but NOT about "certain topics." Sigh. This whole psy-op is an incredibly psychologically/spiritually violent attack. I am hurting for real friendship again, and so... we find each other somehow! xo
Excellent post. I will echo what you said about weight training — it’s the closest thing to a fountain of youth that exists. Everyone needs to get a copy of Starting Strength, build their garage gym, find a coach, and get cracking. If we want to be healthy and vigorous in our later years, we must be strong.
I think we should also consider out intellectual lives. Most people give up trying to learn things as soon as the leave the structured school environment. If we don’t continue to exercise our brains, we will only hasten our decline. Let’s put down the phone and pick up a book!
Thank you. I go to a dive bar equivalent of a gym, but it has what I need including a heavy bag. I also agree with you about finding a coach. I've worked with some professionals, and it pays off. They keep you honest and see things you don't.
Excellent point about continuing one's intellectual development.
I do have copy of Starting Strength, a true classic, and of course the Barbell Prescription. I think everyone over 40 should read the first five chapters of the Barbell Prescription. The Sick Aging Phenotype is a choice. Entirely optional. Entirely avoidable. Eat clean. Strength train. Move your ass. Save yourself a lot of sickness and grief.
That said, I do think there are some people probably can get by with bodyweight stuff, TRX, and the like -- and I think all of these are good. But I prefer barbells, dumbbells, and for some things, the kettle bell. Working around some injuries from my mountain biking days when I seriously smashed the hell out of myself. So better off doing the KB clean & press than a barbell clean & press, for example. Just how my shoulders do or don't line up on the barbell clean -- losing an argument at high speed with a steep trail will do that. Fortunately, when all was said and done, the bike landed on me did not take any serious damage.
I'm going to have to disagree with that blanket endorsement of Starting Strength. For some people, it will work just fine, for others it doesn't end well. I would argue it hasn't ended well for Rip himself given that he looks like a physically disabled general contractor. There are countless ways to reap the benefits of resistance training, and the optimal path (not that you need to take the optimal path) is going to vary widely between individuals based on your attributes and goals. If you're looking to step on the path and want guidance, I would recommend checking out people a little more open minded than Rip including Alan Thrall (who shot this hilarious indictment of SS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amndeFWhDQ4), Mike Israetel, Greg Doucette, Adam Sinicki, and John Rusin just to name a few off the top of my head.
Thank you. I don't do all the classic barbell lifts anymore because of how I have gloriously smashed the hell out of myself over the years. (Well, I had fun doing it). But I think training the same general movements is highly valuable. The squat, the hinge, the press & pull/row, and loaded carry., for example.
So maybe more unilateral work for me than many people. For some exercises, dumbbells and kettlebells, so each arm-shoulder can take a slightly different path. A person can move more weight with the barbell, but I'm really happy for example doing a dumbbell bench press. Focus on form and range of motion. I'm training for strength and health, not the beach. Plus on the rare occasion I need to bail -- the one shoulder freaks out or whatever, much safer.
As I mentioned, I do know that some people, again, can do a great deal with bodyweight exercises, TRX or suspension training, etc. I find lifting weights to be helpful. I'll use the TRX or the rings more for actively warming up and stretching out.
Since by default and by necessity I am not in the "barbell only" camp, I will politely decline to join the Mark Rip discussion one way or the other. I'm on the side of anyone who is actively training and working to stay healthy.
My experience, and my experience with elders, is that lifting weights that are just a LITTLE bit of weight, 5-10 lbs, very slowly, can do wonders. Some walking, and that can be enough for a lot of folks. Depends on age, ability, and what ya want! But it's good stuff if you don't get all insane about it, LOLOL.
Not trying to suboptimal, my man! Just working with and around my banged-up body. Trying to get the major movements and big lifts as best as I can. Btw, was browsing your site, and finding great stuff. Seems you do college prep tutoring as well as being a certified strength coach. Excellent. All best!
Just working with and around my banged-up body. Trying to get the major movements and big lifts as best as I can.
I understand. It wasn't supposed to be an insult. We all have to make adjustments to work around injuries at some point. I'm rehabbing my deadlift at the moment. Life happens, but we have to keep training.
My question to Dr. Grant was more big picture -- if we have a choice between doing something optimally or suboptimally, is it worth doing something suboptimally just so we can say that we've kept an open mind? It seems that we've gotten to the point in our culture where we're not allowed to assert that one thing is better than another thing. Saying so means that you are closed minded and dogmatic. This attitude is especially common in the fitness industry. I wanted to explore that further.
I do standardized test tutoring for a company right now, but I've started my own business tutoring the classics (Latin, Greek, Euclid, etc.). Because of vaxx requirements, skyrocketing costs, and the woke agenda permeating all aspects of academia, I really can't recommend college for anyone anymore.
No fears! I'm trying to persuade my niece and two nephews (the younger set) to consider Europe for college. Since their parents are insisting on college. To graduate from one in the USA right now and be 100K or more in debt? Can't see it. Better major in STEM, and even then still rolling the dice. I did also ask the two in high school (the third one, soon) to consider the military & college. The one is on the lacross team, the other jv track, and both doing well academically. So physically and intellectually reasonably good candidates. But their mother not happy with that suggestion. Both had summer jobs and did well. So why be in a rush to go full-time for four years? We will see what happens. Share your concerns about US higher ed.
Competing priorities. In order to have the motivation to pursue what I would call an optimal integration of resistance training into lifestyle, you usually have to have some very specific goals that require specific performance capacity. Someone generally trying to improve health can do a lot of stuff that is sub-optimal and still get a lot out of resistance training.
Always nice to get some good tips, linking this one in my SURVIVAL, PREPAREDNESS AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY NEWS today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
I would go so far as to say the likelihood that you're able to make the world a better place or be as productive as you can be while your health is in shambles is pretty low. I think there is an illusion that this isn't the case, and I think this illusion is fueled by a fiat monetary system that divorces compensation from productivity, especially for those of us that operate within large institutions. I argue that as a rule, unhealthy people are incompetent. Building health and improving competence are synonymous as far as I can tell. You might not make as much money now, but I bet you're more productive in real terms.
On the larger picture, I agree with you. On the more micro-scale, I think you are correct in the long run. In the short run, a person can ruin their health for productivity. I've seen many examples of this. Which becomes a trap as you swap out actual productivity for being stressed and busy -- which are not the same, but can feel the same. I think people are constantly being tempted to put in those extra hours and cut corners on health, family, etc. Because it will kinda work for awhile. But just at too high an overall cost. Far better if you put your health and key relationships first. Which I think also contributes to a less toxic workplace environment. But I've been around enough Alpha males and Queen bees to know that some of them get so short-term mission-focused ( the focus part, I respect) that the long-term for themselves and others drops out. Perhaps your experience has been different.
Beautifully stated, Data Humanist! It looks like we've both read Your Money or Your Life and The Barbell Prescription. If just a few financially, emotionally, and physically bloated folks would heed your advice, we'd be well along the road to a saner world. Unfortunately, pruning the dead wood out of one's life takes work, and it's just so easy to pop a pill, grab a hot pocket, and zone out.
SO well said. Thanks for sharing parts of your life with us. I too had an awakening 19 years ago and moved from the east coast to the pacific northwest. Friends and family said, "Are you crazy? Oregon...it rains all the time". I learned from local, new friends here to say, yes, you're right, it rains all the time. They encouraged me to discourage people from moving to our little piece of heaven, Hood River. I'm still trying to come to terms with family and friends who don't get me. I've come to accept that is their loss for the most part. My daughter is estranged from me because I told her that I can no longer take the pain she causes me in the way she treats me and that the only solution was to get into therapy together. She can choose the therapist but we needed help. She freaked out and hasn't spoken to me since. My only child. It still hurts beyond measure but I won't allow myself to be hurt like that again...even from the person that I love the most in this world. You can't create and carry a human being in your body for 9 months and not have an inherent connection to them.
I'm so sorry for your pain. xo I can feel it in your words, and I relate, as both my brothers (no sisters, no cousins, etc) have chosen to hurt me for what I cannot figure out, except my parents' money. Family is so hard, of the hard things...
I live in the PNW, too, near Bremerton, WA. I love it up here, too. Maybe one day all us PNW'ers can get together and celebrate the end of the Covid-tastrophe... Sending you hugs.
Thanks so much for your kindness. I have felt the kindness of strangers quite strongly in recent months, since starting my own substack. If only my old friends were as compassionate. I don't think I'll ever understand their silence or hurtful behavior.
Yes, I'd welcome a celebration with like minded souls so count me in!!!
I'll subscribe to your SS, and you can subscribe to mine, and we'll get together sometime! I have another friend in Oregon, in Portland. I'm only about 4 hours from there. ^_^
I have MANY, MANY friends, from waaaay back, who mostly don't talk to me anymore, have said terrible things to me, and just one who will talk, but NOT about "certain topics." Sigh. This whole psy-op is an incredibly psychologically/spiritually violent attack. I am hurting for real friendship again, and so... we find each other somehow! xo
Excellent post. I will echo what you said about weight training — it’s the closest thing to a fountain of youth that exists. Everyone needs to get a copy of Starting Strength, build their garage gym, find a coach, and get cracking. If we want to be healthy and vigorous in our later years, we must be strong.
I think we should also consider out intellectual lives. Most people give up trying to learn things as soon as the leave the structured school environment. If we don’t continue to exercise our brains, we will only hasten our decline. Let’s put down the phone and pick up a book!
Just saw your argument on the home gym. Well done and well said. https://fatrabbitiron.substack.com/p/secede-home-gym
Thanks!
Thank you. I go to a dive bar equivalent of a gym, but it has what I need including a heavy bag. I also agree with you about finding a coach. I've worked with some professionals, and it pays off. They keep you honest and see things you don't.
Excellent point about continuing one's intellectual development.
I do have copy of Starting Strength, a true classic, and of course the Barbell Prescription. I think everyone over 40 should read the first five chapters of the Barbell Prescription. The Sick Aging Phenotype is a choice. Entirely optional. Entirely avoidable. Eat clean. Strength train. Move your ass. Save yourself a lot of sickness and grief.
That said, I do think there are some people probably can get by with bodyweight stuff, TRX, and the like -- and I think all of these are good. But I prefer barbells, dumbbells, and for some things, the kettle bell. Working around some injuries from my mountain biking days when I seriously smashed the hell out of myself. So better off doing the KB clean & press than a barbell clean & press, for example. Just how my shoulders do or don't line up on the barbell clean -- losing an argument at high speed with a steep trail will do that. Fortunately, when all was said and done, the bike landed on me did not take any serious damage.
Thank you for stopping by, and all best!
I'm going to have to disagree with that blanket endorsement of Starting Strength. For some people, it will work just fine, for others it doesn't end well. I would argue it hasn't ended well for Rip himself given that he looks like a physically disabled general contractor. There are countless ways to reap the benefits of resistance training, and the optimal path (not that you need to take the optimal path) is going to vary widely between individuals based on your attributes and goals. If you're looking to step on the path and want guidance, I would recommend checking out people a little more open minded than Rip including Alan Thrall (who shot this hilarious indictment of SS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amndeFWhDQ4), Mike Israetel, Greg Doucette, Adam Sinicki, and John Rusin just to name a few off the top of my head.
Thank you. I don't do all the classic barbell lifts anymore because of how I have gloriously smashed the hell out of myself over the years. (Well, I had fun doing it). But I think training the same general movements is highly valuable. The squat, the hinge, the press & pull/row, and loaded carry., for example.
So maybe more unilateral work for me than many people. For some exercises, dumbbells and kettlebells, so each arm-shoulder can take a slightly different path. A person can move more weight with the barbell, but I'm really happy for example doing a dumbbell bench press. Focus on form and range of motion. I'm training for strength and health, not the beach. Plus on the rare occasion I need to bail -- the one shoulder freaks out or whatever, much safer.
As I mentioned, I do know that some people, again, can do a great deal with bodyweight exercises, TRX or suspension training, etc. I find lifting weights to be helpful. I'll use the TRX or the rings more for actively warming up and stretching out.
Since by default and by necessity I am not in the "barbell only" camp, I will politely decline to join the Mark Rip discussion one way or the other. I'm on the side of anyone who is actively training and working to stay healthy.
My experience, and my experience with elders, is that lifting weights that are just a LITTLE bit of weight, 5-10 lbs, very slowly, can do wonders. Some walking, and that can be enough for a lot of folks. Depends on age, ability, and what ya want! But it's good stuff if you don't get all insane about it, LOLOL.
Excellent resource: https://www.youtube.com/c/GreySteel
not that you need to take the optimal path
Why would you want to be suboptimal?
Not trying to suboptimal, my man! Just working with and around my banged-up body. Trying to get the major movements and big lifts as best as I can. Btw, was browsing your site, and finding great stuff. Seems you do college prep tutoring as well as being a certified strength coach. Excellent. All best!
Just working with and around my banged-up body. Trying to get the major movements and big lifts as best as I can.
I understand. It wasn't supposed to be an insult. We all have to make adjustments to work around injuries at some point. I'm rehabbing my deadlift at the moment. Life happens, but we have to keep training.
My question to Dr. Grant was more big picture -- if we have a choice between doing something optimally or suboptimally, is it worth doing something suboptimally just so we can say that we've kept an open mind? It seems that we've gotten to the point in our culture where we're not allowed to assert that one thing is better than another thing. Saying so means that you are closed minded and dogmatic. This attitude is especially common in the fitness industry. I wanted to explore that further.
I do standardized test tutoring for a company right now, but I've started my own business tutoring the classics (Latin, Greek, Euclid, etc.). Because of vaxx requirements, skyrocketing costs, and the woke agenda permeating all aspects of academia, I really can't recommend college for anyone anymore.
No fears! I'm trying to persuade my niece and two nephews (the younger set) to consider Europe for college. Since their parents are insisting on college. To graduate from one in the USA right now and be 100K or more in debt? Can't see it. Better major in STEM, and even then still rolling the dice. I did also ask the two in high school (the third one, soon) to consider the military & college. The one is on the lacross team, the other jv track, and both doing well academically. So physically and intellectually reasonably good candidates. But their mother not happy with that suggestion. Both had summer jobs and did well. So why be in a rush to go full-time for four years? We will see what happens. Share your concerns about US higher ed.
Competing priorities. In order to have the motivation to pursue what I would call an optimal integration of resistance training into lifestyle, you usually have to have some very specific goals that require specific performance capacity. Someone generally trying to improve health can do a lot of stuff that is sub-optimal and still get a lot out of resistance training.
Always nice to get some good tips, linking this one in my SURVIVAL, PREPAREDNESS AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY NEWS today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
I would go so far as to say the likelihood that you're able to make the world a better place or be as productive as you can be while your health is in shambles is pretty low. I think there is an illusion that this isn't the case, and I think this illusion is fueled by a fiat monetary system that divorces compensation from productivity, especially for those of us that operate within large institutions. I argue that as a rule, unhealthy people are incompetent. Building health and improving competence are synonymous as far as I can tell. You might not make as much money now, but I bet you're more productive in real terms.
On the larger picture, I agree with you. On the more micro-scale, I think you are correct in the long run. In the short run, a person can ruin their health for productivity. I've seen many examples of this. Which becomes a trap as you swap out actual productivity for being stressed and busy -- which are not the same, but can feel the same. I think people are constantly being tempted to put in those extra hours and cut corners on health, family, etc. Because it will kinda work for awhile. But just at too high an overall cost. Far better if you put your health and key relationships first. Which I think also contributes to a less toxic workplace environment. But I've been around enough Alpha males and Queen bees to know that some of them get so short-term mission-focused ( the focus part, I respect) that the long-term for themselves and others drops out. Perhaps your experience has been different.
No, I agree 100%. The sacrifice of health for productivity is definitely possible, just not sustainable.
Beautifully stated, Data Humanist! It looks like we've both read Your Money or Your Life and The Barbell Prescription. If just a few financially, emotionally, and physically bloated folks would heed your advice, we'd be well along the road to a saner world. Unfortunately, pruning the dead wood out of one's life takes work, and it's just so easy to pop a pill, grab a hot pocket, and zone out.
Thank you!
Great post! One of your best. ^_^ Thank you!