Your Body Lies! (At least at first)

If you listen to your body you will never get better. At least at first. This is a bit of complex issue and is very dependent on how long you have been training and how big of a pussy you are. So let's examine the various stages starting with someone just entering the barbell life. So you've hit the weights hard for a few days. The next day is an off day then you are supposed to get back at it. You wake up and your body feels like it aged about 3 decades. You make an old person noise as you struggle to get out of bed and you can't even get on or off the toilet without a serious "heave ho" kind of effort. Should you take another day off and wait until you feel fully recovered? This is a common experience for my newer clients. If you listen to your body you will be wasting days that could be filled with progress and accomplishment. If you get yourself into the gym then you will hit a few warm up sets and be totally fine. At first your body doesn't like change and it will punish you for making it put in work it is not used to. If you give it a month though you will feel way better going into that workout after a rest day. Part of it is that you body is getting used to the strain and getting stronger in response. The other part is you now have experience and know that you will be fine and that feeling is kind of normal. So Experience Level: low Pussy Level: high makes for a rough month. Experience Level: low Pussy Level: low makes for a painful but amazing month of progress toward your goals. So do that one. Things change with experience though.

You will become an intermediate lifter after a year or so. As an ever progressing barbell aficionado you are way past that wuss out because you are sore stage. Your body now will complain a lot less further you are starting to have a mind made of the same iron that barbell is. If you are sore but it's a work out day you go and train. That's a good thing on most days. It's at this stage that you need to listen a little harder though. No longer does your body complain about muscle soreness but it will let you know about tendinitis and tendons and ligements that are angry due to a year of less than perfect form. These are the cues you need to pay attention to. This is the stage of training where you need to start hitting some kind of prehab so you don't need rehab. This can be stretching, mobility work, and/or warming up a bit more intentionally. Gone are the days where you can just start in on your working sets cold. You are hitting better lifts now so you need to make sure you don't screw everything up. Do yourself a favor and do some walking lunges before that squat or deadlift workout. Do some push ups or dips before you bench. Your shoulders, knees and hips will thank me. Experience Level: medium Pussy Level: Lower than it probably should be.

Last we hit that advanced lifter that we all aspire to be. When you bench all the bros look. Putting your deadlift down makes the gym rumble and the children run in fear. When you squat the guys refuse to take the rack next to you for fear of looking weak. (There's a whole other article on that one I'm sure.) This is the goal. It is also tough to stay at this level due to the amount of dedication it takes to keep hitting it as hard as you need to and the chance of injury from many years of lifting and the toll it takes on your body regardless of form. Here is when listening to your body is absolutely one of the most important things you can do. This is where your shit breaks if you aren't paying attention. This is also where you tend to have the biggest goals and are pursueing them most aggressively. You are no longer lifting for health you are lifting to trade in your health for numbers. That's fine and don't let you friends and family convince you otherwise. They likely just don't understand since they have never really lifted or they are jealous of where you are at. (I'm looking at you 22 year old college dork on IG that ways a buck thirty five and is giving me lifting advice on back and knee injuries). That being said you will know when somethings not right and it's ok to pack it in for the day if you feel that you can't get into a good position. Do some bodyweight stuff get the blood flowing and stretch a bit. While it's totally fine to die on the platform, getting hurt in the gym is dumb. Experience Level: High Pussy Level: Non existent but needs to be higher.

So if you paid attention through my tangents the main point is if you are knew suck it up. The more advance you are the more you are allowed to puss out.

Train Hard. Be Safe. Talk soon,

Dan Mason

Strongman competitor in the 242lb and 275lb classes and a pro powerlifter in the RPS 275lb class. He is also an Elite level lifter in the USPA/IPA. He holds instructor level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has been training people for strength and martial arts since 2004.

You can follow Dan on Instagram @RoninStr
For training and nutrition advice and tips email roninstr@gmail.com