Training and Life

A hallmark of training at Gus’s Barbell Club is emphasis on consistency. A typical adult with specifically lofty aspirations could easily require over 2 hours of training five days a week. High-level athletes could double that for skills practice and conditioning. Most American adults train zero days a week. It is the opinion of the club that new members are to be prescribed a program that fits their current life first. The five days per week of training to reach a four hundred pound press is irrelevant to someone who first learns the lift. The habits required to train two or three days a week have a better probability of success.

Training in Your Current Life

For an adult in generally good health the first steps to address are some combination of:

• The Calendar: Scheduling work and home life to allow consistent gym sessions
• Meals: Eating enough meat, fruit, and vegetables to provide the body with fuel and muscle-building components
• Sleep: Sleeping enough to fully recover from all life stresses (not just training)

These are essential to your life, and you are already doing them! But many are not doing them well. Even without the gym sessions, calendars are packed full. Eating quality meals often falls back to takeout and convenience foods. Many sleep at inconsistent times and not enough hours.

Training in Your Best Life

Not everyone’s goals are the same. Most people are not trying to become experts or elite in the gym. Elite-level programs are not the right fit for them! As you master the essentials of training: consistency and recovery, you can begin to choose where your individual priorities lie. Three days a week may mean two days under the barbell and one in the woods. Maybe we’re olympic lifting two days a week and strength training two more. Maybe you strength train in an off season, then run a marathon program with one day of barbell to supplement.

You get to choose what the best version of yourself looks like! But you cannot avoid the need for the essentials.

Read More on StartingStrength.com

Strength Training Will Force You to Fix (Almost) Everything by Andrew Lewis, SSC

Andrew is the owner and head coach at Starting Strength Indianapolis. In this article he explains how the elements of real life affect the athletes ability to execute an optimal training program. There’s also some handsome fella deadlifting.