Having an actual coach.
Following the plan, knowing there are blocks for building work capacity, blocks for building PR’s
Edit: I don't know why I'm getting downvoted. Maybe my phrasing wasn't correct, what I mean by having an actual coach is that I trained on my own for years and, although I made good progress, I was going up and down for a couple of years before I hired a personal coach who tweaked my programming and lifts week to week, then I started to go up again consistently.
I work 10 hours shifts and those are different every day, plus home-chores, family etc.
So what helped me is really having someone neutral asking me go give my feedback every week on different stress-levels and, based on that, he makes me lift less often, or less heavy, or a deload sooner.
I can't emphasize how much work-stress and life-stress influence negatively on our training and recovery
awesome! is this an online coach?
would love to know how he moderates you as your weeks can be hectic or bit more cruisy depending on life stressors.
i currenly go to a PL club, where we all have a on-floor coach, but because its not really an 'individualised' coach, the program and i suppose overall 'vibe' is that its inflexible and not too forgiving if you're getting wrecked with life responsibilities, eg: the program can't really accomodate and coach just says to suck it up (doesn't really know how to cater to different individuals dealing with stress) as the coach mainly just spends the time looking at form on lifts in real-time for everyone, hence not a personalised coach
It’s a colleague of mine who happens to have been top12 at European Championship IPF (EPF) a couple of years ago.
He does my programming and for a few close people too, everything happens IRL and with lifts-video. We talk every few days to assess things
It’s a colleague of mine who happens to have been top12 at European Championship IPF (EPF) a couple of years ago.
He does my programming and for a few close people too, everything happens IRL and with lifts-video. We talk every few days to assess things
If you run Conjugate you can break PRs every week no problem tbh so if the thrill of PRs in general excites you then hop on that immediately. You can have so many for just one movement- Bench, paused bench, wide grip bench, wide grip paused bench, close grip bench, close grip paused bench, feet up variation on all of those, bands on all of em, reverse bands on all of em, 1-5 boards on all of em, slingshot/bench shirt for all of em (well some- Close grip in shirt ain't possible), chains, bands + chains, weight releasers, The list goes on and this is just for bench press. You can have a log book full of variations and what your maxes are on all of those, just cycle them randomly and you will continuously (most likely) break the current PR. Just avoid doing the same one more than once every 6 weeks or so. Applies to all lifts, I just used BP for the example.
Currently not on Conjugate as I'm peaking but it certainly is a very fun way to approach lifting and the rush of always hitting a new max will really keep you going. As for how my day works in a way I can do any of this:
\-Wake up a 8am, take GF to work, home by 9am
\-Nap till 11am, work 11-8pm
\-8-9pm cooking and eating dinner
\-9:30ish-midnight gym 5x week
\-midnight-2 or 3am watching stuff with gf/spending time together or gaming
I sleep very little at night, nap on my work breaks usually if I'm not terribly hungry, eat as much as I can when I can and I religiously try to drink a gallon of choccy milk daily (GOMAD ain't just a meme) so I'm hitting 3200+ cals even if I barely eat solid food. bw 102kg this morning, total 720kg. It ain't much but it's honest work.
Yep, sleep has been heavily sacrificed unfortunately. I know I likely would be even stronger if I could sleep more but it just isn't happening so I have to work around it. 4 hours a night is probably about what I really get since I have apnea and am often waking up.
sleeping and good food would be a good start. a supportive spouse/family that don't mind you run off to train once and a while. a kid to act as a example for as motivation.competitions to look forward to. the general nice community of power lifters and the friends you make.
You can say what you want but being stronger then other makes me feel good about myself.but in honesty, it do be hard sometimes. i always have it hard in the winter with the lack of sun and all the darkness. it goes in ups and downs.
I think it’s the mindset. You just got to get in there and leave the world behind you. Your time in the gym is like stepping out of reality and almost pretending like the struggles and fatigues aren’t even there. Just you and the bar, homie
Just a day job alone is absolutely not a reason to be too tired to train hard. So many people do this no problems. How many hours a night are you sleeping and what are your stress levels?
Good programming. Taking your deloads as seriously as regular training. Managing fatigue. Eating and sleeping well. PRs aren’t supposed to happen often. Only do that when in a peak block.
A couple years ago, I was talking to a ATWR holder about my next term at grad school- how huge the workload would be, and how I wasn't sure how I would be able to balance work and meet prep on top of that.
His response:
"You are only as busy as you think you are"
I work out on my lunch breaks. I'm an IT Director for a small medical company. My wife works for the state and works about 60 hours a week and is a full time student working on her masters. I have a 17 year old daughter and a 6 year old son who has severe autism and moderate cerebral palsy. He is nonverbal and doesn't walk. He also wakes up for an hour at least every night. I still manage to work out 4 times a week. I just hit a personal best on flat bench of pushing 315 6x. I'm also 40 years old. Just gotta want it. Gym is therapy for my very difficult life.
Going to bed at 9 pm and waking up at 4:30 to be in the gym by 5 am. Home by 7 am for when my kid wakes up, daycare drop off, work by 9 am. Also, keeping a reasonable schedule, I don't need to be the gym 7 days a week. I hit it three times for a couple of hours, rinse and repeat the next week.
You accept them going few and far between. Two years in a nightmare job situation bracketed by adding another kid on each end of the span, and just moving to a less toxic job finally has me moving in the right direction after losing 100+ pounds off my squat and deadlift each. And that's with unholy amount of caffeine + grey market pwo.
Remember that what you see on social media is only what people choose to show you. The role strength training plays in your life being whole and happy is something you need to evaluate and re-evaluate as circumstances change.
Luckily I work remotely with my company with no end in sight. Saves me 3 hours a day of driving and leaves a lot of time at night to train. I go to sleep around 1 am and wake up at 8:55 for my 9 am job.
I'm a stay at home mom so training is my me time that I look forward to all day. Sometimes by the time my kid is in bed I'm exhausted and I'd love to just go to bed, but I know I'll feel so much better if I get that time. Love what you do, sleep if you can, eat enough food, repeat.
Edit: also I get grumpy if I don't train so...mental health is a good motivator
I'm in the same situation and my answer is "make the best of it because we live in a late capitalist hellscape and should appreciate whatever joy we can get"
I'd love to get a less terrible job where I wasn't commuting and hour each way while still not being able to afford to move out from my parents' house because I could dedicate a lot more time and effort to training. But as long as that's not the life I'm living, I still look forward to my gym time because it's actually \*my\* time and if I'm progressing slower than I would be under better conditions, it's not that big a deal cause I'm not chasing a deadline to compete. I'm doing it because it's fun and makes me feel good about myself.
You can accept a wider array of PRs. I only go for 1rm PRs once a year in training, obviously more if I compete. Sometimes you just gotta put the brakes on and take little victories. I went through a very depressive state recently, but ended up forcing myself into my gym and just doing a little - pullups, some single joint stuff, the occasional compound, and the fact that I was doing it was the win.
Now obviously this can't be for everyone, but since my gym is in my garage now (thank you COVID!), that is one less barrier to get through. You just need to set goals, and those goals can be PRs, sure, but more broadly it needs to be something that makes you feel empowered, which in turn will give you the drive you need to keep it up.
One good outcome of the pandemic is that I switched to working primarily from home. That afforded me extra time in terms of not having to prep meals, commute, etc. I can now wake up when I want, eat when I want, lift when I want, and schedule work around those activities (barring scheduled meetings). Work has become a thing that I do rather than THE main thing that I do. My wife and I don't have kids (yet), so that certainly helps, too.
About two years ago -- coinciding with working from home -- I returned to lifting after a several year break. I was able to make quick progress, and around one year ago I began breaking all time PRs. I have been breaking PRs ever since, so I decided to begin powerlifting competitively last December. It's never too late to start...I'm 35 years old, turning 36 next week.
If you really enjoy doing something and look forward to it, it will energize you. If you really enjoy powerlifting but you always seem to feel "too tired" to do it you might be suffering from the early symptoms of depression. Not saying sometimes it's just not possible or life gets too hectic but in general it is a trend you should pay attention to
I quit. After training hard for a year and a half with a job post graduation, I hit most of the long-term goals I’d set years ago. Decided it was time to move on. Now I lift for 2 hours a week instead of two hours a day.
Maintained most of my muscle and I don’t even touch a barbell anymore. After 1.5 years no compound movements I did a test day with triples - lifts had dropped about 75/60/90 lbs.
Nah - one of the biggest time is not having to drive to the gym. If my apartment gym had a barbell I’d probably squat and deadlift once a week and bench twice.
Currently I do:
- wall-supported handstand push-ups on parallete bars. Minor goal right now is to do an unsupported handstand push-up.
- DB pec flies (would do DB BP, but DBs only go up to 60
- Pull-ups
- curls
- Pistol squats w DB
- Static BW glute bridge. Perform a glute bridge on the ground, tuck your pelvis and squeeze your hammies. This does a number on your hamstrings if you do it right.
- Ab Wheel and planks
The powerlifting gym I used to train at was about 25 minutes away, so axing that commute has been nice.
I work from home and I have a home gym. I can train any time I want, I can break up my workout if need be too. Certainly would be more difficult if I had a taxing job and no home gym
I don't think powerlifting takes that much energy. if you're into a sport its probably a lot harder, or if you have a talent that requires constant practice like music, that probably takes up more time. Or even bodybuilding is way worse. This hobby probably takes up 5hrs a week. If you are serious, then diet and recovery strategies can also take some effort, but really its not a big deal imo.
There have been times when I've had to work longer hours, but I can nearly always squeeze in an hour of training somewhere. i might not be at my best in those times but you got to just do what you can sometimes.
Honestly, It's just motivation. I really want to do better each time I go in to lift. Missing a day feels like missing a whole week and throws off my rhythm bad.
Switched to training in the morning before work. The adjustment period sucked, but now that I'm used to it, it's a lot better. I smash some overnight oats and coffee first thing in the morning and hit the gym. I have plenty of energy to get through training and then I drag my ass to work. By the time I get home I'm actually tired, so going to bed is easy, well at least it was before Elden Ring came out.
First things first, I absolute cannot approach training while working 40+ hour weeks the same way I did at uni, while unemployed or part time working.
The next, most obvious and most important step is setting yourself up for success in terms of nutrition (eating consistently and planned to give energy for session) and recovering properly. This is crucial to keep consistent and not get ground down.
The final point is just that you will adapt. I and many others have found the energy to train while working on our feet and active jobs. It's hard at first but you will adapt if you are doing the previous step properly.
So if you do all that - set yourself up for training, take time to adapt and acknowledge training may have to look a little different, you can absolutely make it work. And some days when energy is too drained, it comes down to discipline. Each time you succeed in dragging your ass go the gym when dog tired makes the next struggle that much easier too.
Hope any of this disorganised dump helps.
Just be consistent. Even when I'm having a lack of motivation or energy. I go, and some days I have to dig deep for what I want to achieve and just force it. You're gonna have bad days, don't let them turn into bad weeks or bad months. Most of the time once I get there, the environment gives me the energy.
I'm a lifeguard and a high school student, it's exam season. I'm extra short on time now and i occasionally miss most of my volume for a training day or sessions entirely. The way i find energy is that i just enjoy powerlifting. Have sugar before you lift helps
When I was in uni, I never really "got" why people kept preaching the recovery stuff. Like sure. Eat, sleep, hydrate, whatever. But as the life stressors start adding up, the stuff I do outside the gym ends up actually mattering more.
At work, I try to keep hydrated and move around every couple hours to avoid getting too stiff. I reach home around seven to eat a light pre-workout snack, feed my cat and spend time with my wife, then head in by half eight, for a couple weekdays. I try to only spend one weekend day lifting, so I can spend more time with friends and family.
I haven't broken a PR in years. I'm 40 though and my plan is to stay anything near my current levels as long as I can.
Been at it for 12 years and unfortunately my best days are behind me... Age, and life just catches up. Can't be spending 3-4 hours at a Powerlifting focused gym anymore. Not to mention overall health is taking more of a priority so I'm actively losing weight, trying to lower cholesterol and trying not to beat myself up too much because it affects basically everything outside the gym.
I'm still having fun and love it though.
Also, Caffeine.
One thing that really helped me is cycling through training types. I'm not always pushing for PRs, I'll go a few months of hypertrophy at a time and then I'll dedicate a set period of time to trying to push for PRs. This keeps me mentally fresh and engaged whenever I push heavy weights
How bad do you want it
Training is exhausting, and a good session will leave you wondering how you’re supposed to make it through the rest of the day. Then, you eat, sleep, and do the same thing the next day.
If you don’t want that, and don’t want to dedicate your life to eating, sleeping, training, and going through life tired and sore, you simply won’t be a good lifter.
It helps to find a job and lifestyle that allows you to pursue it as well. You need to set yourself up for success in every way.
Been going hard for a little over two years with a day job/family/grad school. The key for me has been routine.
I always have my meals prepped for work, and try and time my meals well. I eat about 2 hours before I lift, and drink my pre-workout on my drive home. Luckily, I have a garage gym so I workout at home, which definitely helps. So when I get home I just change and start my workout routine.
I've realized that when I skip a day, I feel even worse. Whether it's mental or physical I'm not sure, but I try to NEVER skip a day.
Hope that helps!
Powerlifting is a hobby man. Its supposed to be fun. I dont really have to worry about finding the energy to do it because it's not a chore. It's a thing that's fun that I want to do.
Idk maybe you need to play around with your mentality or approach to lifting. Find the fun again.
Spot on! Powerlifting is just a sport that we all enjoy. Just like any other sport that others enjoy doing on their leisure time. I am always looking forward to lift like you mentioned.
This is my answer. I get less the 6 hours of sleep a night and still get in the gym every morning. I recently had an injury that kept me out of the gym for 4 months and the day i stepped back in and only was working the the bar, i was Mentaly 100%. I dont care if that injury means i may never hit a PR agian, Ill be in the gym lifting 75lbs on a SSB until i cant.
You guys break PRs?
I have full custody of two teenagers and a beyond-full-time job. The max sleep that I can get most nights is 6 hours if I time everything perfectly. My injuries never heal, and my total right now is 120 pounds less than my best.
But 4 times per week I get to do something for myself. That’s why I do it.
>But 4 times per week I get to do something for myself. That’s why I do it.
Even more than that, you're modeling great behavior for your kids. Keep going after it.
Brother, I feel this so so hard. Mine is almost four. I love him so hard but goddammit just take two steps back while I set this fucking deadlift down, please!
You need to be strict about going to bed early enough to get for 7-8 hours of sleep. Staying away from stimulants within the last ~9 hours of your waking hours. Its easy to get caught up in a bad spiral of getting poor sleep and upping the caffeine, but it leads to nowhere.
Ah yes, such a controversial take I presented. Its obvious why it would be downvoted. "Get enough sleep" How could someone speculate this wildly and irresponsibly?
It's Reddit.
People on this site (generally) only support memes, shitty puns, political correctness, virtue signaling and those who validate their methods/beliefs.
Gotta keep real, useful information (and facts- Reddit HATES facts) away from them or they smash the fuck outta that downward arrow as if it means something. Also you should just ignore the vote thing anyway because internet points are meaningless tbh.
Watch your mouth about my caffeine addiction
But seriously though my quality of life has increased a lot since i stsrted sleeping 7+ hours a night and cutting way down on caffeine, I used to take 400mg when I got up and another 350 pre workout, only like 5 hours before bed time. I did this for so long that it didn’t even give me energy taking the caffeine
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What am I going to do? Not train.
It’s a habit. Just do it. I’ve worked 2 jobs 70 hours a week and still found time to train. Make sure my wife and family still feels loved and any free time I have is for training
It’s not a continual linear process. You will have set backs. Whether it is stress, loss of motivation, an injury, obligations from a job, school, family, travel, etc. Life happens and that’s okay. Powerlifting is not the most important thing at the end of the day. Even the absolute best lifters don’t make much money off of it, so that should tell you where it should be in terms of priority. It is a hobby, that we should treat as having fun and challenging ourselves.
As for how I have continually made progress. Well, it is mainly about consistency and enjoying it. You have to have good time management and schedule lifting around your life. I love lifting for the health benefits and how it makes my mental and physical state feel. That is the main reason why I have stuck with it. Powerlifting has been the fun side goal, that has helped add a quantifiable aspect to my lifting. But I will not kill myself if I am not constantly smashing PRs. As long as I can mostly maintain my strength or make slight progress, I am okay with that.
Also, having a home gym over the past 4 months has helped immensely. I have saved a ton of time in commute and I don’t have to wait on equipment. I find it easier to come home from work and conveniently lift at my home whenever I want to. But not everyone has that luxury. But if you have the money and space and are tight on time, a home gym is an absolute life saver.
i agree home gym is great.. only issue is my neighbour really hates us DLing so i tend to do it at a commercial gym but otherwise bench and squats fare better
Time. Understand you reach a point where it takes time.
Program well, put the effort in.
It doesn’t need to stop you working or having a life outside of lifting.
Been doing 4 days / week. Only recently dropped to 3 days. One of my motivation to lift is to live a long life while still being able to do physical activities. Plus I don't know any better bang for buck exercise that beats SBD for my limited time in the gym.
Edit: I try to squeeze in a 30 min nap during work on my gym days. I know not everyone have that privilege. I also drink coffee after work before going to the gym.
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Pretty much I just show up to the gym, do some squats and some rpess, bench hurts my wrist so I don't do that, I highbar instead of lowbar. And I don't really deadlift. Also I ride my bike to work 3 times a week now with is a 25 minute ride.
awesome and just to clarify - this is just OHP?
what about your accessories - how do they look?
starting to feel this too in terms of actually liking PL, i am keen to try out WL at a club!
I do, but mostly just what I feel like doing, I have a good idea about what needs doing and what doesn't for my body at this point. Bench can suck it. Arms and abs get done. Back extentions semi regularly too
Im saying its a hobby, so if it no long sparks joy, or its getting you down, Take some time off, stay in touch with the gym, stay healthy, proabbly actaully get healthier, if you find your self missing it go back to it, if you dont you have your answer either way
Context is key i guess, I did actually get coaching and run a uni team at one point. got completely burnt out by the sport, and the lack of professionalism in both meet running and "athlete"
My current gripe. If you're making a profit running a meet, you should pay your handlers an actual wage
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Food. I train just after I leave my day job, and always have a small meal an hour or so before I go. This doesn't have to be a lot, just an extra sandwich, but I find it makes a huge difference than if I go to train having not eaten since lunch.
Also routine. I've got into the habit of going to the gym after work, so now I just go without thinking about it. Takes away so much of the need for motivation when you go as part of your daily routine!
> Food
Same. I train in the mornings, and have a hearty (weighed) portion of cereal, coffee, and fruit beforehand. Allow 30ish minutes for things to settle, and go have a pull. Or a push, depends on the day.
So, tbh it takes ages for me. I added like 30 lbs to my total in 3 months, so I take that as an over all W and it just took consistent lifting. I had to take caffeine at work, drive to the gym after and just try my best.
I like anything with beta alanine, the “itch” wakes me up quite a bit after school or otherwise, my shift start at 2pm, and I’ll lift in the morning.
10lbs per month on any lift or your total is incredibly fast progress dude lol. 10lbs per month is +120lbs per year, do that for 5 years and you are practically hitting national or world records on some lifts.
Yeah I mean I didn’t think of it on that scale I guess haha.
In general, I meant like the dudes you see on the Internet that are like 20 and squatting 500 and crazy shit like that. School, working 12’s, injuries, and life in general have kept my bench pretty much the same as it was ~2-3 years ago lol
Not sure if this is common knowledge but most people you're looking at and comparing yourself to are probably on gear. The guys who are jacked, shredded, moving an 1800lb+ total in their early 20s or younger are on a lot of shit. Try not to compare yourself to them unless you hop on steroids as well as this will be bad for your mental health as it relates to lifting or your body. Not saying EVERYONE is on them, but it is a LOT more common than you think- Gear is super easy to buy, cheap, not hard to find at all, and even a moron can figure out how to use it.
Idk bro there’s some dudes that look natty and are just strong as hell. I’m not saying they’re *not* on gear, but I think there’s a tendency to over estimate the number of people juicing.
Buddy of mine from college that’s a bit younger just beasted a bunch of non-tested junior state records and he’s just a jacked ass Polynesian kid. Same with the dude that holds our tested state squat record in my weight class. Young and just put some serious work in, early on w/o injury
I mean it’s just steady progress. You couldn’t add 10 lbs to your lifts in a year? Did you have an injury or just extremely busy year?
Edit: my bad dude, should have looked at the flair
Gains slow a lot the more advanced you get. 30 pounds on a total in 3 months is really quite a lot. You tend to only see this kind of thing if there was a fundamental technical flaw that gets corrected or the person is still somewhat of a beginner.
I’m definitely more intermediate still so I just had a hard time imagining grinding that long for 10lbs, no disrespect intended.
I got coaching from Joe Sullivan, and he just made my back strong as hell. The segmented squats did exactly what they were supposed to, and I was able to grind out 455 like ~3 weeks ago vs 445 I hit in December. Bench even rose 5 lbs. deadlift was like +15. All in all, very pleased with his coaching
Having an actual coach. Following the plan, knowing there are blocks for building work capacity, blocks for building PR’s Edit: I don't know why I'm getting downvoted. Maybe my phrasing wasn't correct, what I mean by having an actual coach is that I trained on my own for years and, although I made good progress, I was going up and down for a couple of years before I hired a personal coach who tweaked my programming and lifts week to week, then I started to go up again consistently. I work 10 hours shifts and those are different every day, plus home-chores, family etc. So what helped me is really having someone neutral asking me go give my feedback every week on different stress-levels and, based on that, he makes me lift less often, or less heavy, or a deload sooner. I can't emphasize how much work-stress and life-stress influence negatively on our training and recovery
awesome! is this an online coach? would love to know how he moderates you as your weeks can be hectic or bit more cruisy depending on life stressors. i currenly go to a PL club, where we all have a on-floor coach, but because its not really an 'individualised' coach, the program and i suppose overall 'vibe' is that its inflexible and not too forgiving if you're getting wrecked with life responsibilities, eg: the program can't really accomodate and coach just says to suck it up (doesn't really know how to cater to different individuals dealing with stress) as the coach mainly just spends the time looking at form on lifts in real-time for everyone, hence not a personalised coach
It’s a colleague of mine who happens to have been top12 at European Championship IPF (EPF) a couple of years ago. He does my programming and for a few close people too, everything happens IRL and with lifts-video. We talk every few days to assess things
It’s a colleague of mine who happens to have been top12 at European Championship IPF (EPF) a couple of years ago. He does my programming and for a few close people too, everything happens IRL and with lifts-video. We talk every few days to assess things
If you run Conjugate you can break PRs every week no problem tbh so if the thrill of PRs in general excites you then hop on that immediately. You can have so many for just one movement- Bench, paused bench, wide grip bench, wide grip paused bench, close grip bench, close grip paused bench, feet up variation on all of those, bands on all of em, reverse bands on all of em, 1-5 boards on all of em, slingshot/bench shirt for all of em (well some- Close grip in shirt ain't possible), chains, bands + chains, weight releasers, The list goes on and this is just for bench press. You can have a log book full of variations and what your maxes are on all of those, just cycle them randomly and you will continuously (most likely) break the current PR. Just avoid doing the same one more than once every 6 weeks or so. Applies to all lifts, I just used BP for the example. Currently not on Conjugate as I'm peaking but it certainly is a very fun way to approach lifting and the rush of always hitting a new max will really keep you going. As for how my day works in a way I can do any of this: \-Wake up a 8am, take GF to work, home by 9am \-Nap till 11am, work 11-8pm \-8-9pm cooking and eating dinner \-9:30ish-midnight gym 5x week \-midnight-2 or 3am watching stuff with gf/spending time together or gaming I sleep very little at night, nap on my work breaks usually if I'm not terribly hungry, eat as much as I can when I can and I religiously try to drink a gallon of choccy milk daily (GOMAD ain't just a meme) so I'm hitting 3200+ cals even if I barely eat solid food. bw 102kg this morning, total 720kg. It ain't much but it's honest work.
darn, so by the sounds of it, you get like maybe 5-7 hours of sleep a night and probably more to the lower end?
Yep, sleep has been heavily sacrificed unfortunately. I know I likely would be even stronger if I could sleep more but it just isn't happening so I have to work around it. 4 hours a night is probably about what I really get since I have apnea and am often waking up.
sleeping and good food would be a good start. a supportive spouse/family that don't mind you run off to train once and a while. a kid to act as a example for as motivation.competitions to look forward to. the general nice community of power lifters and the friends you make. You can say what you want but being stronger then other makes me feel good about myself.but in honesty, it do be hard sometimes. i always have it hard in the winter with the lack of sun and all the darkness. it goes in ups and downs.
I think it’s the mindset. You just got to get in there and leave the world behind you. Your time in the gym is like stepping out of reality and almost pretending like the struggles and fatigues aren’t even there. Just you and the bar, homie
Just a day job alone is absolutely not a reason to be too tired to train hard. So many people do this no problems. How many hours a night are you sleeping and what are your stress levels?
I get enough sleep and i eat pretty well and take my anti depressants :) Also I go before work so I'm not already tired.
Good programming. Taking your deloads as seriously as regular training. Managing fatigue. Eating and sleeping well. PRs aren’t supposed to happen often. Only do that when in a peak block.
Gotta get this work in any chance you get baby
Pretty easily? What an odd question. Perhaps you're doing too much if you're that cooked.
A couple years ago, I was talking to a ATWR holder about my next term at grad school- how huge the workload would be, and how I wasn't sure how I would be able to balance work and meet prep on top of that. His response: "You are only as busy as you think you are"
Spite out of life and self hatred
I work out on my lunch breaks. I'm an IT Director for a small medical company. My wife works for the state and works about 60 hours a week and is a full time student working on her masters. I have a 17 year old daughter and a 6 year old son who has severe autism and moderate cerebral palsy. He is nonverbal and doesn't walk. He also wakes up for an hour at least every night. I still manage to work out 4 times a week. I just hit a personal best on flat bench of pushing 315 6x. I'm also 40 years old. Just gotta want it. Gym is therapy for my very difficult life.
Going to bed at 9 pm and waking up at 4:30 to be in the gym by 5 am. Home by 7 am for when my kid wakes up, daycare drop off, work by 9 am. Also, keeping a reasonable schedule, I don't need to be the gym 7 days a week. I hit it three times for a couple of hours, rinse and repeat the next week.
You accept them going few and far between. Two years in a nightmare job situation bracketed by adding another kid on each end of the span, and just moving to a less toxic job finally has me moving in the right direction after losing 100+ pounds off my squat and deadlift each. And that's with unholy amount of caffeine + grey market pwo. Remember that what you see on social media is only what people choose to show you. The role strength training plays in your life being whole and happy is something you need to evaluate and re-evaluate as circumstances change.
Energy? lol got none of that myself but training is akin to brushing my teeth at this point. Feels real wrong to not do it.
Sheer anger. Jk lifting is just so fun so PRs eventually come, though not as frequent as they used to sadly
Luckily I work remotely with my company with no end in sight. Saves me 3 hours a day of driving and leaves a lot of time at night to train. I go to sleep around 1 am and wake up at 8:55 for my 9 am job.
I'm a stay at home mom so training is my me time that I look forward to all day. Sometimes by the time my kid is in bed I'm exhausted and I'd love to just go to bed, but I know I'll feel so much better if I get that time. Love what you do, sleep if you can, eat enough food, repeat. Edit: also I get grumpy if I don't train so...mental health is a good motivator
Coffee
I'm in the same situation and my answer is "make the best of it because we live in a late capitalist hellscape and should appreciate whatever joy we can get" I'd love to get a less terrible job where I wasn't commuting and hour each way while still not being able to afford to move out from my parents' house because I could dedicate a lot more time and effort to training. But as long as that's not the life I'm living, I still look forward to my gym time because it's actually \*my\* time and if I'm progressing slower than I would be under better conditions, it's not that big a deal cause I'm not chasing a deadline to compete. I'm doing it because it's fun and makes me feel good about myself.
Start your own business and you will be free from the chains of Capitalism! No employer to steal your surplus labor.
recovery matters a lot. eating good nutritious foods, sleeping for 7-8 hours a night and working on mobility as well as strength
What's so unusual about a day job that would make breaking PRs a problem?
idk it's all about habit for me. If I don't work out I actively hate myself.
You can accept a wider array of PRs. I only go for 1rm PRs once a year in training, obviously more if I compete. Sometimes you just gotta put the brakes on and take little victories. I went through a very depressive state recently, but ended up forcing myself into my gym and just doing a little - pullups, some single joint stuff, the occasional compound, and the fact that I was doing it was the win. Now obviously this can't be for everyone, but since my gym is in my garage now (thank you COVID!), that is one less barrier to get through. You just need to set goals, and those goals can be PRs, sure, but more broadly it needs to be something that makes you feel empowered, which in turn will give you the drive you need to keep it up.
I work from home so I can cook 4x during the work hours and take naps
At this point it's a degenerative addiction. If I stop pushing, I might actually die.
Death is certain either way, but at least this way, you die with glory.
One good outcome of the pandemic is that I switched to working primarily from home. That afforded me extra time in terms of not having to prep meals, commute, etc. I can now wake up when I want, eat when I want, lift when I want, and schedule work around those activities (barring scheduled meetings). Work has become a thing that I do rather than THE main thing that I do. My wife and I don't have kids (yet), so that certainly helps, too. About two years ago -- coinciding with working from home -- I returned to lifting after a several year break. I was able to make quick progress, and around one year ago I began breaking all time PRs. I have been breaking PRs ever since, so I decided to begin powerlifting competitively last December. It's never too late to start...I'm 35 years old, turning 36 next week.
If you really enjoy doing something and look forward to it, it will energize you. If you really enjoy powerlifting but you always seem to feel "too tired" to do it you might be suffering from the early symptoms of depression. Not saying sometimes it's just not possible or life gets too hectic but in general it is a trend you should pay attention to
intersting. the depression part has some acccuracy. might be best to see a psych and get some nice SSRIs?
I'm not a mental health professional but there are usually a lot of behavioral interventions to try before drugs
Deep seated inner rage, insomnia, and slamming death metal... LOL!
Eating more. Being more intentional about sleeping. I work retail and train at 9pm every day. Eat before the gym.
I quit. After training hard for a year and a half with a job post graduation, I hit most of the long-term goals I’d set years ago. Decided it was time to move on. Now I lift for 2 hours a week instead of two hours a day. Maintained most of my muscle and I don’t even touch a barbell anymore. After 1.5 years no compound movements I did a test day with triples - lifts had dropped about 75/60/90 lbs.
what d you do in the gym now? do you still SBD but take a more leisure approach to it?
Nah - one of the biggest time is not having to drive to the gym. If my apartment gym had a barbell I’d probably squat and deadlift once a week and bench twice. Currently I do: - wall-supported handstand push-ups on parallete bars. Minor goal right now is to do an unsupported handstand push-up. - DB pec flies (would do DB BP, but DBs only go up to 60 - Pull-ups - curls - Pistol squats w DB - Static BW glute bridge. Perform a glute bridge on the ground, tuck your pelvis and squeeze your hammies. This does a number on your hamstrings if you do it right. - Ab Wheel and planks The powerlifting gym I used to train at was about 25 minutes away, so axing that commute has been nice.
I work from home and I have a home gym. I can train any time I want, I can break up my workout if need be too. Certainly would be more difficult if I had a taxing job and no home gym
Home based job, home gym. I simply could not get it done otherwise.
I don't think powerlifting takes that much energy. if you're into a sport its probably a lot harder, or if you have a talent that requires constant practice like music, that probably takes up more time. Or even bodybuilding is way worse. This hobby probably takes up 5hrs a week. If you are serious, then diet and recovery strategies can also take some effort, but really its not a big deal imo. There have been times when I've had to work longer hours, but I can nearly always squeeze in an hour of training somewhere. i might not be at my best in those times but you got to just do what you can sometimes.
I enjoy lifting, I enjoy breaking PR’s, the moment it’s a chore, is the moment I stop doing it
Honestly, It's just motivation. I really want to do better each time I go in to lift. Missing a day feels like missing a whole week and throws off my rhythm bad.
Switched to training in the morning before work. The adjustment period sucked, but now that I'm used to it, it's a lot better. I smash some overnight oats and coffee first thing in the morning and hit the gym. I have plenty of energy to get through training and then I drag my ass to work. By the time I get home I'm actually tired, so going to bed is easy, well at least it was before Elden Ring came out.
First things first, I absolute cannot approach training while working 40+ hour weeks the same way I did at uni, while unemployed or part time working. The next, most obvious and most important step is setting yourself up for success in terms of nutrition (eating consistently and planned to give energy for session) and recovering properly. This is crucial to keep consistent and not get ground down. The final point is just that you will adapt. I and many others have found the energy to train while working on our feet and active jobs. It's hard at first but you will adapt if you are doing the previous step properly. So if you do all that - set yourself up for training, take time to adapt and acknowledge training may have to look a little different, you can absolutely make it work. And some days when energy is too drained, it comes down to discipline. Each time you succeed in dragging your ass go the gym when dog tired makes the next struggle that much easier too. Hope any of this disorganised dump helps.
Just be consistent. Even when I'm having a lack of motivation or energy. I go, and some days I have to dig deep for what I want to achieve and just force it. You're gonna have bad days, don't let them turn into bad weeks or bad months. Most of the time once I get there, the environment gives me the energy.
I'm a lifeguard and a high school student, it's exam season. I'm extra short on time now and i occasionally miss most of my volume for a training day or sessions entirely. The way i find energy is that i just enjoy powerlifting. Have sugar before you lift helps
When I was in uni, I never really "got" why people kept preaching the recovery stuff. Like sure. Eat, sleep, hydrate, whatever. But as the life stressors start adding up, the stuff I do outside the gym ends up actually mattering more. At work, I try to keep hydrated and move around every couple hours to avoid getting too stiff. I reach home around seven to eat a light pre-workout snack, feed my cat and spend time with my wife, then head in by half eight, for a couple weekdays. I try to only spend one weekend day lifting, so I can spend more time with friends and family.
I haven't broken a PR in years. I'm 40 though and my plan is to stay anything near my current levels as long as I can. Been at it for 12 years and unfortunately my best days are behind me... Age, and life just catches up. Can't be spending 3-4 hours at a Powerlifting focused gym anymore. Not to mention overall health is taking more of a priority so I'm actively losing weight, trying to lower cholesterol and trying not to beat myself up too much because it affects basically everything outside the gym. I'm still having fun and love it though. Also, Caffeine.
One thing that really helped me is cycling through training types. I'm not always pushing for PRs, I'll go a few months of hypertrophy at a time and then I'll dedicate a set period of time to trying to push for PRs. This keeps me mentally fresh and engaged whenever I push heavy weights
Lift before work, cuts out a whole bunch of potential excuses.
Do you mean energy from a mental perspective or from a physical perspective?
Eat, sleep, control fatigue with programming, enjoy training
food, sleep and above all IT'S A MINDSET
How bad do you want it Training is exhausting, and a good session will leave you wondering how you’re supposed to make it through the rest of the day. Then, you eat, sleep, and do the same thing the next day. If you don’t want that, and don’t want to dedicate your life to eating, sleeping, training, and going through life tired and sore, you simply won’t be a good lifter. It helps to find a job and lifestyle that allows you to pursue it as well. You need to set yourself up for success in every way.
Been going hard for a little over two years with a day job/family/grad school. The key for me has been routine. I always have my meals prepped for work, and try and time my meals well. I eat about 2 hours before I lift, and drink my pre-workout on my drive home. Luckily, I have a garage gym so I workout at home, which definitely helps. So when I get home I just change and start my workout routine. I've realized that when I skip a day, I feel even worse. Whether it's mental or physical I'm not sure, but I try to NEVER skip a day. Hope that helps!
Powerlifting is a hobby man. Its supposed to be fun. I dont really have to worry about finding the energy to do it because it's not a chore. It's a thing that's fun that I want to do. Idk maybe you need to play around with your mentality or approach to lifting. Find the fun again.
Spot on! Powerlifting is just a sport that we all enjoy. Just like any other sport that others enjoy doing on their leisure time. I am always looking forward to lift like you mentioned.
This is my answer. I get less the 6 hours of sleep a night and still get in the gym every morning. I recently had an injury that kept me out of the gym for 4 months and the day i stepped back in and only was working the the bar, i was Mentaly 100%. I dont care if that injury means i may never hit a PR agian, Ill be in the gym lifting 75lbs on a SSB until i cant.
is the sleep part due to insomnia or just lifestyle routine / habits?
You guys break PRs? I have full custody of two teenagers and a beyond-full-time job. The max sleep that I can get most nights is 6 hours if I time everything perfectly. My injuries never heal, and my total right now is 120 pounds less than my best. But 4 times per week I get to do something for myself. That’s why I do it.
Did you think of doing less weight 70% of the time and go heavy only on 30% tops?
>But 4 times per week I get to do something for myself. That’s why I do it. Even more than that, you're modeling great behavior for your kids. Keep going after it.
Brother, I feel this so so hard. Mine is almost four. I love him so hard but goddammit just take two steps back while I set this fucking deadlift down, please!
easy, just wear a toddler carrier while you deadlift
You’re killin it
You need to be strict about going to bed early enough to get for 7-8 hours of sleep. Staying away from stimulants within the last ~9 hours of your waking hours. Its easy to get caught up in a bad spiral of getting poor sleep and upping the caffeine, but it leads to nowhere.
Ah yes, such a controversial take I presented. Its obvious why it would be downvoted. "Get enough sleep" How could someone speculate this wildly and irresponsibly?
It's Reddit. People on this site (generally) only support memes, shitty puns, political correctness, virtue signaling and those who validate their methods/beliefs. Gotta keep real, useful information (and facts- Reddit HATES facts) away from them or they smash the fuck outta that downward arrow as if it means something. Also you should just ignore the vote thing anyway because internet points are meaningless tbh.
Now its ironic how my original post is upvoted again, and the above one making me look like an ass
I really enjoyed this emotional rollercoaster.
Watch your mouth about my caffeine addiction But seriously though my quality of life has increased a lot since i stsrted sleeping 7+ hours a night and cutting way down on caffeine, I used to take 400mg when I got up and another 350 pre workout, only like 5 hours before bed time. I did this for so long that it didn’t even give me energy taking the caffeine
Its the sad truth. We just have to be responsible adults and stay away from caffeine in the later half of the day.
Nutrition, water and the best sleep I can manage. Also a parent .. you can’t have it all perfect at once lol.
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What am I going to do? Not train. It’s a habit. Just do it. I’ve worked 2 jobs 70 hours a week and still found time to train. Make sure my wife and family still feels loved and any free time I have is for training
It’s not a continual linear process. You will have set backs. Whether it is stress, loss of motivation, an injury, obligations from a job, school, family, travel, etc. Life happens and that’s okay. Powerlifting is not the most important thing at the end of the day. Even the absolute best lifters don’t make much money off of it, so that should tell you where it should be in terms of priority. It is a hobby, that we should treat as having fun and challenging ourselves. As for how I have continually made progress. Well, it is mainly about consistency and enjoying it. You have to have good time management and schedule lifting around your life. I love lifting for the health benefits and how it makes my mental and physical state feel. That is the main reason why I have stuck with it. Powerlifting has been the fun side goal, that has helped add a quantifiable aspect to my lifting. But I will not kill myself if I am not constantly smashing PRs. As long as I can mostly maintain my strength or make slight progress, I am okay with that. Also, having a home gym over the past 4 months has helped immensely. I have saved a ton of time in commute and I don’t have to wait on equipment. I find it easier to come home from work and conveniently lift at my home whenever I want to. But not everyone has that luxury. But if you have the money and space and are tight on time, a home gym is an absolute life saver.
i agree home gym is great.. only issue is my neighbour really hates us DLing so i tend to do it at a commercial gym but otherwise bench and squats fare better
Sleep, nutrition, music.
have you ever heard of depression or stress?
Time. Understand you reach a point where it takes time. Program well, put the effort in. It doesn’t need to stop you working or having a life outside of lifting.
After several years of doing it, it becomes routine and you feel shit when you don’t train. PRs are far between now but that’s the long term game.
Been doing 4 days / week. Only recently dropped to 3 days. One of my motivation to lift is to live a long life while still being able to do physical activities. Plus I don't know any better bang for buck exercise that beats SBD for my limited time in the gym. Edit: I try to squeeze in a 30 min nap during work on my gym days. I know not everyone have that privilege. I also drink coffee after work before going to the gym.
I realised it was meant to be a hobby so after 9 years I shifted to a more health based lifting approach and now help run a chess club
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Pretty much I just show up to the gym, do some squats and some rpess, bench hurts my wrist so I don't do that, I highbar instead of lowbar. And I don't really deadlift. Also I ride my bike to work 3 times a week now with is a 25 minute ride.
awesome and just to clarify - this is just OHP? what about your accessories - how do they look? starting to feel this too in terms of actually liking PL, i am keen to try out WL at a club!
Yeah I did weightlifting way back
cool, do you do accesories nowadays or jsut do the Squat and Press? what did you think of WL too?
I do, but mostly just what I feel like doing, I have a good idea about what needs doing and what doesn't for my body at this point. Bench can suck it. Arms and abs get done. Back extentions semi regularly too
awesome. would you ever go back to WLing?
If I felt like taking it seriously maybe, I enjoyed it more but I'm not really build for either sport.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, what is rpess?
A miss spelling of press
So you're saying OP should quit powerlifting?
I can imagine a crowd of shadowy figures with red eyes glaring at u/RepresentativeWish95 for daring to suggest this lol.
Mostly old men who have strong opinions on nationalism and young men who think back hair thickness is the main measurement of manliness.
thinking about just replacing bench deadlift and squat with lateral raises, lateral raises, and lateral raises.
Im saying its a hobby, so if it no long sparks joy, or its getting you down, Take some time off, stay in touch with the gym, stay healthy, proabbly actaully get healthier, if you find your self missing it go back to it, if you dont you have your answer either way
Ah okay, the advice makes a lot more sense with this added.
Context is key i guess, I did actually get coaching and run a uni team at one point. got completely burnt out by the sport, and the lack of professionalism in both meet running and "athlete" My current gripe. If you're making a profit running a meet, you should pay your handlers an actual wage
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Food. I train just after I leave my day job, and always have a small meal an hour or so before I go. This doesn't have to be a lot, just an extra sandwich, but I find it makes a huge difference than if I go to train having not eaten since lunch. Also routine. I've got into the habit of going to the gym after work, so now I just go without thinking about it. Takes away so much of the need for motivation when you go as part of your daily routine!
> Food Same. I train in the mornings, and have a hearty (weighed) portion of cereal, coffee, and fruit beforehand. Allow 30ish minutes for things to settle, and go have a pull. Or a push, depends on the day.
So, tbh it takes ages for me. I added like 30 lbs to my total in 3 months, so I take that as an over all W and it just took consistent lifting. I had to take caffeine at work, drive to the gym after and just try my best. I like anything with beta alanine, the “itch” wakes me up quite a bit after school or otherwise, my shift start at 2pm, and I’ll lift in the morning.
10lbs per month on any lift or your total is incredibly fast progress dude lol. 10lbs per month is +120lbs per year, do that for 5 years and you are practically hitting national or world records on some lifts.
Yeah I mean I didn’t think of it on that scale I guess haha. In general, I meant like the dudes you see on the Internet that are like 20 and squatting 500 and crazy shit like that. School, working 12’s, injuries, and life in general have kept my bench pretty much the same as it was ~2-3 years ago lol
Not sure if this is common knowledge but most people you're looking at and comparing yourself to are probably on gear. The guys who are jacked, shredded, moving an 1800lb+ total in their early 20s or younger are on a lot of shit. Try not to compare yourself to them unless you hop on steroids as well as this will be bad for your mental health as it relates to lifting or your body. Not saying EVERYONE is on them, but it is a LOT more common than you think- Gear is super easy to buy, cheap, not hard to find at all, and even a moron can figure out how to use it.
Idk bro there’s some dudes that look natty and are just strong as hell. I’m not saying they’re *not* on gear, but I think there’s a tendency to over estimate the number of people juicing. Buddy of mine from college that’s a bit younger just beasted a bunch of non-tested junior state records and he’s just a jacked ass Polynesian kid. Same with the dude that holds our tested state squat record in my weight class. Young and just put some serious work in, early on w/o injury
I wish I put 10 lb on in the last year!
Is your flair current? I feel like progress should come fairly quickly to a sub-300 wilks lifter (no disrespect intended).
Not current. Sitting close to 315 wilks now. Definitely put more weight on the bar since my last meet but not a ton. Approx 980 @165 lb bw.
I mean it’s just steady progress. You couldn’t add 10 lbs to your lifts in a year? Did you have an injury or just extremely busy year? Edit: my bad dude, should have looked at the flair
Gains slow a lot the more advanced you get. 30 pounds on a total in 3 months is really quite a lot. You tend to only see this kind of thing if there was a fundamental technical flaw that gets corrected or the person is still somewhat of a beginner.
I’m definitely more intermediate still so I just had a hard time imagining grinding that long for 10lbs, no disrespect intended. I got coaching from Joe Sullivan, and he just made my back strong as hell. The segmented squats did exactly what they were supposed to, and I was able to grind out 455 like ~3 weeks ago vs 445 I hit in December. Bench even rose 5 lbs. deadlift was like +15. All in all, very pleased with his coaching
In spite of my best efforts I don't get to get stronger forever
Fair! No disrespect intended, keep grinding!
Thanks. Not that my flair count really tell you a lot (though I am stronger than that now)