Training Related Stupidity
Here’s a list of some training related items that I personally find to be really, really stupid. This is all in good fun, but I realize some people will be very offended. I would expect nothing less…
The supposed inverse relationship between reps and rest periods. According to this rule you should rest longer when you are doing sets of three than when you are doing sets of twenty. So if you squat 455 for three you need way more rest than you do when you squat 295 for twenty. The rule is based on CNS recovery but makes absolutely no sense to anyone who is stronger than an eight year old girl.
Saying that front squats are safer, more “functional” and less stressful on the spine than back squats. This always blows my mind.
Using the acronym “ATG” squats. It took me quite a while to figure out what this meant. When I realized it stood for I am “A Total Geek” I vowed never to use it; because although I may appear to be A Total Geek, I don’t want to go around promoting that fact. Saying “full squats” is more than sufficient. And unless you are an Olympic lifter with decades of training experience you probably aren’t getting ass to the grass without some serious spinal flexion. Something you will regret many years later if you do enough of it.
Saying PWO shake. It took me three times longer to figure this one out than ATG squats. PWO?! Are you serious? Are we getting that lazy as a society that we can’t type out post workout? And isn’t workout one word?Moreover, imagine you just finished training and meet up with a smoking hot girl somewhere down the street a few minutes later. She asks what that hideous looking pink mixture you are sipping is. And you respond with, “Oh that’s my PWO shake.”How far do you think that relationship is going? You may as well have said, “I am a Pussy With Onion breath.” That’s what she heard when you said PWO.I wonder if I asked Dorian Yates, Bill Kazmaier or Arnold what that stood for if they would have a clue. Hopefully they would punch my teeth out.Each time you use this phrase your balls will shrink by 20%. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Saying that because the hamstrings have two functions; hip extension and knee flexion, athletes should train them both. And then going on to recommend leg curls for knee flexion work. Athletes will be fine if they never train knee flexion. Hip extension is where it’s at for speed and power. However, if they do leg curls they will usually end up injured come game time. Just ask Shaun Springs, David Boston and Mo Vaughn.If you want to train knee flexion, you should only do so while also training hip extension in the same movement. The only way this can be done is with the EliteFTS.com glute ham raise bench. An excellent piece that I highly recommend for non beginners.
Using bands and chains on squats, presses or deads when you are anything but a competitive powerlifter who competes in gear. If you do that, it’s a great idea and you can’t argue with the results. If you are a high school football player or a 35 year old guy just trying to get stronger, who lifts without a squat suit or bench shirt, it’s a waste of time and doesn’t do anything to match the strength curve of a raw lifter.
Saying that the longer you have been training the lower your average number of reps should be. This means that a guy who has been training for twenty years, has gotten incredibly strong and can squat 600 pounds should never do above 3-5 reps. He should always pummel himself into the ground and destroy his joints with massively heavy loads. And in another ten years when he is 50 I guess that would leave him no choice but do only do heavy supramaximal eccentrics every time he goes to the gym? That is what some experts are recommending. This is probably the most ridiculous rule of all time. The truth is exactly 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I would rather have this guy keep his reps at 10-15 at that stage of his career if he is that strong already. Why continually inflict more and more damage on the body?
Doing External Rotations. For years I did these and recommended them. I was always against most isolation exercises but thought that these were one of the few that actually had some benefit. The fact is that you would never do that motion in real life and the external rotators will never work in isolation. You train them with pushups on the TRX straps, hand walks, overhead presses, etc. But never in isolation. This is a waste of time, and a mistake I made for a long time.
Writing workouts in an A1, A2 outline format instead of 1A, 1B. This is not the way you were taught to create an outline in first grade. The number always goes before the letter; remember that.
Underestimating the importance of conditioning. This is another mistake I made for a long time. Conditioning is just as important as strength is for many athletes. Not so much for baseball players but definitely for wide receivers and d-backs. Conditioning can be a confusing topic for some because there are many gray areas. For example, a football lineman works hard in what is basically a test of strength for 6-8 seconds and then has a half a minute of rest. So he doesn’t need the same level of conditioning as an MMA fighter, but definitely needs increased work capacity. This is an article in itself; the point is to pay as much attention to conditioning as you do strength. That’s why it’s called strength AND CONDITIONING.
Please leave your comments and questions below and feel free to add to my list or create your own.
Thanks,
Jason Ferruggia
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Comments on Training Related Stupidity
“Each time you use this phrase your balls will shrink by 20%” – on man that made my day.
Jason,
Great list, you had me laughing almost the entire time because I can completely relate. I know some old “gurus” that would be very upset by your list, but of course they wouldn’t be able to do anything until they took the needles out.
Thanks Josh. I really appreciate that and am glad you liked it. I would have assumed that list would be something you’d like.
Holy crap, bro – this is friggin’ hilarious!
(I want to see SuperKaz punch a geek’s teeth out the back of his head, great image!)
I’m guilty of Number Nine, but then, I had to do first grade twice…
After being pleasantly distracted by your choice of picture for 5 minutes, I actually read the article. I agree that all these friggin’ acronyms sound sissy when you say them.
Conditioning is definitely important, like you mentioned. Just from doing conditioning exercises 2-3 days a week between lifting sessions, I can easily decrease my recovery time between heavy weight sets. Plus, I find myself walking fast everywhere I go and practically sprinting up stairs without raising my heart rate a bit.
Actually, according to Poliquin, your balls will shrink 20.6%
Chris, I almost fell off my chair when I read that. So true, so true…
Great article, Jason! Your uncensored, no BS information is right on the money. : ) Thanks!
Great article Jason.
#8 really resonates with me. Since I train for baseball, and have seen good results using old school strength training methods, I always wonder why guys in the gym that I know are also training for baseball doing countless sets of external rotations… I seem to have pretty healthy shoulders and have never done 1 single isolation external rotation.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some ATG squats to do…
Cracking list, not wrong about about the bloody supid acronyms either, why can’t people just speak without having to try to be cool.
Actually the same goes for why can’t they just lift without then spending the next 10 mins stryrring around and posing in the mirrors
Sir – Couldn’t of said it better myself.
A question about the external rotators: are they sufficiently trained if my ONLY pressing movement is dips?
Thanks!
Some other strength coaches recommend lots of external rotation training, especially in isolation and specifically for baseball pitchers. Are there exceptions or are they a waste for everybody?
Hey Jason
I really liked your list, this clearly shows a couple more reasons that most of the people that hit the gym “every day” are doing everything wrong and have no idea they’re doing so, and it isn’t just the people that go to workout but also the so called “personal trainers” that despite the education that they should have, clearly don’t have a clue.
Oh come on Jason,
I did that one time and you just wont let it go (speaking of #9). OK, maybe it was twice. Fine!, 5 or 6 times but cut me some slack. I never paid attention in English class because I was too busy reading Flex and PLUSA. hahahhaah
Great article, had me rolling and is actually making me late to the gym.
Dave Tate
Twitter @UnderTheBar
PS – Let’s not get into some of my other grammar and spelling errors. Remember – you have to be more “”flexative”
Where’s the list? All I see is a picture?
The picture of the girl.. nice… and great list, PWO, i know crazy !
Great stuff Jason. I agree with Mike on the choice of pic. Nice! And although i am new to the strength and conditioning coaching field i have been in the iron game for 20 years and so much ” fluff ” and “functional” this and that has come out into the weight training world in the last… say 10 years, It’s still all about the basics. Training, Feeding and resting the machine as one whole unit! Keep on keepin on!
I couldnt get past the pic of the super hot girl.
What did you say?
lol…..jk!
thank goodness my workout’s done b/c I would get hurt doing deads w/ that pic in my head. Totally agree about front squats- advocated by people trying to reinvent the wheel every month. And my baseball pitchers bench and overhead press every week, and(get this)- No shoulder issues!!! Band pull aparts and scap push ups are a staple however.
thanks for the info, keep it coming!
1) Of the things that bug me, one thing that stands out is protein powder. I train BB players and and a few have come up to me and said” Mr. W..Guess what ..I bought protein powder” My obvious response is ” What’s your point”. I try and tell them that it is OK as a supplement but it’s not really needed. They truly believe the powder is steroids in a cup and they will get huge in a matter of weeks because of it.
2) People who ask me how they can get bigger or leaner. I give them a few pointers but if they want details, either hire me or look it up on the internet. Believe me, I love helping people( I train the basketball guys for free because it’s the school I work at and some of these kid’s simply can’t afford to train) but some people expect you to drop everything for free and spend hours chatting with them.
“Using bands and chains on squats, presses or deads when you are anything but a competitive powerlifter who competes in gear” how is this different then the Power Jumper?
I don’t type PWO but have used ATG or ATTG. I teach in an elementary school and try to keep my posts “claen” but occasionally use acronyms like GTFO, WTF, and POS as a compromise.
Regarding spinal flexion, I was always an “ATTG” (okay “full”) squatter as a teen and in my twenties and, you’re right, I’m waiting on the results of lower back X-rays I had taken this week.
D’OH!
So WTF do I do instead of my external rotators? Because me walking across the gym on my hands ain’t happening!
Thanks for the list!
MGS, FTW!
—buying magazines for strength and conditioning tips when 90% of thier weight is derived from supplement ads. It’s like reaching into a barrel of warm fat in search of a lost contact lens.
Ever notice also that “pwo Shake” is more syllables than “post-workout shake”. Seems like the truly lazy would be better off sticking with the latter!
…but don’t take my chains away from me, please! Then i’ll have to find some other way to be loud and distracting while im front squatting:-D
Luigi,
Unless you have some specific external rotation injury or problem, you will be fine. As long as you are balancing out your pressing and pulling
Jason
Doug,
As long as you are doing enough external rotation work through various rows, etc. you should be okay. Baseball pitchers might be the only ones who could benefit from a small amount of direct external rotator work.
Dave,
That is a lesson that I could never forget. I am always conscious of being more “flexative.” Good times…
Jason
Mark,
I definitely like the band pull aparts and scap pushups.
Jason
Eric,
Same kinda deal. I answered this question the other day. Unless you are very advanced vertical jump training should be kept very simple. Improve your squat and do a lot of vertical jumping. That’s really it. When you are trying to go from a 38 inch vertical to 40+ then the Power Jumper will help.
Right tools at the right times,
Jason
Can you please suggest some conditioning workouts for MMA fighters. I have tried some of the so called conditioning exercises and routines but none of them worked like i expected.
i think its quite mean to have a picture of a woman under the title training related stupidity…….. the article though is good and funny
Sooooooo it is totally cool to do bicep isolation work….Cause I do. Tomorrow preachers and concentration curls! Jersey is the 2nd best state Montana is first and PA is 3rd. Not sure why that is important.
Conditioning for MMAers: sled, bodyweight circuits, burpees, sprints, 3 minute rounds of ground work-with 1 minute rest, bear crawls, shrimping for distance, barbell complexes, hills, sledge a tire, tire flips for distance, climb ropes..hell..climb trees or scale rocks..you know..different shit to get you winded..the list is completely endless..I know I’m not Jason but I do most, if not all of the above and I’m in the best shape of my life..I’ve sacrificed a bit of size but I feel great.
A1–The inverse relationships between sets and reps in stated in practically every exercise physiology book.
A2–Biomechanical research would suggest that the front squat is superior relative to diffusing less compressive forces on the IVD and vertebral bodies.
A3–Using abbreviations or acronyms would be considered an advancement by social scientist and is not a reflection of “laziness”
A4–External Rotation continue to be taught in Chiropractic Colleges and in physiotherapy grad schools; they have their place in rehabilitation.
A5–There is no set standard in terms of which one goes first the “constant” or the “variable”–in mathematics that would differ for program organizational purposes not so much.
I agree with everything else and think that its a great list, although not comical or humorous as the other members on here have submitted.
Cheers!
Great list-pretty much sums it up
I enjoyed the article… I’m 59 yrs. old have been lifting since I was in my 20′s. There are so many myth’s and downright dangerous bullshit being passed along. and the stupidy and lack odf coomon sense seems to be increasing in younger men who are lifting weights, and trying to improve their conditioning. I wish I had someone like you back then to help me avoid all the “stupid” mistakes I made which at the time I thought were “etched in stone” I hope these younger guys are paying attention to what you habe to say. Thanks I enjoyed the article very much . Tony
Jacob,
A1) It clearly says reps and rest periods. Come on, man….
A2) There are lots of studies that show lots of things. These don’t always pan out in the real world, as an intellect like yourself would surely know. You will notice what I am talking about on front squats when you get strong
A3) Try not to take things so seriously
A4) Yes, they have their place in rehab.
A5) The number always goes before the letter.
Tony,
Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked the post.
I’d be beyond thrilled to hear your training advice for a swimmer with a wonky shoulder. I can’t really say all that external rotation work ever did me any good, honestly.
Patty,
Tough to say from afar but usually face pulls, Y-Raises, scarecrows, etc. are great for people in your situation.
Etisham,
Please post that question under an MMA based post or send it in to us and I will try to answer it in a future post.
Thanks
Becky,
I have pics of women in more than half my posts. You’re looking way too deep into this.
Thanks Todd. Anything you have to say is relevant and important.
Hey Jason, just a question, my mma trainer warned me already about doing too much resistance training, he said I was moving “tight” in one of the classes.
Now I consider myself to be pretty darn flexible, agile and a stamina bodied person. Personally I’d still like about 13 lbs of mass since I’m only 5″9 at 157lbs, and I’d like to move up to a 170lb welterwieght…just think its time for a change.
My real question is if you want to keep performing better at MMA and still have a strong, sculpted physique…where do you draw the line?…50/50 split of the gym/dojo? Or do I just focus on mass for a whole 60-90 days for 13lbs?
I’ve been looking into your info and I’m wondering, if training 3-4 times a week for 45 mins is most key for reasons you’ve indicated. Should I do 2 days gym/ 2 days of class/conditioning per week?
Jason,
Thanks for the great info. Question regarding ATG squats, I have been doing those with moderate weight thinking it would be safe with proper form. Are you against these completely? Is it sufficient to go parallel for muscle growth and protecting my back?
Thanks again.
Jason,
I was just wondering if you could expand upon #6.
Using bands and chains on squats, presses or deads when you are anything but a competitive powerlifter who competes in gear. If you do that, it’s a great idea and you can’t argue with the results. If you are a high school football player or a 35 year old guy just trying to get stronger, who lifts without a squat suit or bench shirt, it’s a waste of time and doesn’t do anything to match the strength curve of a raw lifter.
I am just curious because this one confuses me somewhat. I always thought any non-beginner (regardless of raw or suited) could benefit from using accommodating resistance, so hearing you say otherwise has made me wonder if there is something I am missing. I just thought the training percentages had to be changed to account for the use of gear. Thanks.
Best list I’ve seen in a while. Made my day for sure! Keep up the great work. Indeed there is too much training stupidity going on!!
“Right tools at the right times” – one of the best things I’ve read in quite some time.
This article was as funny as it was informative.
great article and I didn’t have to use google translate Englisch to Dutch
Especially the part about protein was great. Last week I’ve read an similar article by Chris Shugard on T-Nation. If i can add one more stupidity:
Doing “functional” training with boxers/kickboxers and have them simulate punches with lite dumbells while standing up…..unless midgets are hanging onto your gloves generating a downforce… regards from Holland