After what seems like a hundred years of training a million people I can unequivocally state that your results in the gym are directly proportional to your IQ. You either “get it,” or you don’t. The first time someone walks in the gym I usually have a pretty good idea of what their long term progress will be within thirty seconds of meeting them. If not, I know for sure by the end of their first workout. Their attitude, work ethic, and usually most importantly, intelligence are the telltale signs of where they will be in twelve weeks. Some may question why I put smarts before work ethic, but the fact is smart people always work hard. That’s why we call them smart.
If I demonstrate an exercise and someone can’t do it fairly well, no matter how complex the movement, within five minutes of me teaching it, they are probably never going to be a good athlete nor will they ever be one of the big dogs in the gym. That’s just how it is. This has never been proven untrue during the 15 years that I have been training people.
If they don’t have incredibly high levels of kinesthetic awareness and really understand what we are doing and why we are doing it and how the body functions their results will always be less than optimal. The successful ones know how to arch their backs, brace their abs, tighten their glutes, drive with the hips. The tell tale sign of someone who will never get anywhere in the gym is when they can’t arch their back properly. If they can not get into the correct position for a bent over row or a Romanian deadlift the first time we attempt that drill, I know that there is very little hope for that person in the long term. That may sound harsh, but it’s a stone cold fact. If they can’t understand the difference between flexing at the hip and flexing at the spine within five seconds, I immediately know we are looking at someone who will always get subpar results. More and more high school kids come in with the flexibility of a conference table. I didn’t tell you to sit around on the couch and play Nintendo for all those years while allowing your hamstrings to become tighter than shoe leather. And now you want to earn a scholarship? Good luck.
For 15 years, the smartest guys I have trained have almost always gotten to be the biggest, fastest and strongest. They are highly attentive when I explain something for the first time. They don’t miss a word of it. They intently study what I am doing. They are inquisitive and they ask the right questions. Unlike what your first grade teacher might have taught you, there are stupid questions. Lots of them. The successful athletes and lifters never seem to ask them, though. These are the guys who watch every other person in their group perform every single rep of every single exercise that they do. They never miss a beat and try to learn from and help each and every other lifter in the gym, because they understand that you learn from both teaching and being taught. They are always looking for ways to improve their own technique, trying to figure out what the stronger guys are doing that they are not. They are quiet and introspective. The only conversation they engage in during the workout has to do with improving their strength or technique or helping someone else. They are thinking not about the girl they met this weekend or what happened at work today but rather exactly when to open up their knees at the bottom of their squat. Small talk and trivial conversation is something they don’t engage in. They realize that all of that can be turned off for an hour and they are working toward a bigger goal here; one that requires the utmost attention to detail. In fact that is one of the great joys of training; taking an hour to shut off the outside world and go to battle with yourself, your training partners and the iron. All the problems will still be there for you to dwell on and make yourself miserable with an hour later.
When I see a guy wandering around the gym, wishing I allowed him to check his cell phone or that a really hot girl would walk by the window I know his progress will always come at a snails pace. If I see someone not watching his partners do their sets and trying to either help them or pick up a tip to improve his own performance I know that I am looking at someone who just doesn’t get it. A year from now they will only have made slight improvements; or at best, something far from what they could have been capable of.
Usually after addressing a problem I would end an article with the solution. Unfortunately I don’t really have one here. You either get it or you don’t…
17. Apr, 2009
at 9:09 am #
in the short time i have been a strength coach (5 years) i have noticed the same things…its really quite interesting
17. Apr, 2009
at 5:45 pm #
Good point!
Which begs the question, “Why cater to “hard gainers”?”
Ultimately most who consider themselves “hard gainers” have been spinning their wheels for years. And based on your wealth of experience, it doesn’t sound like they will ever make any progress.
They seem like a waste of time, imho.
On the other hand these people do represent the majority who read online articles and are willing to shell out hard earned money to buy “secret hard gainer programs”; so don’t be too hard on them!
21. Jun, 2011
at 5:30 pm #
@Mag – Well, we hardgainers are potentially not making those gains because we’re experiencing “paralysis by analysis”…too much information, in other words. I really appreciate that guys like Jason have catered to guys like me because it’s helped to sift through the BS. I’m 40 and have always been “skinny” despite “working out” for the last 25 years.
It wasn’t until I read his “Muscle Gaining Secrets” that several statements really caused a shift in my training paradigm: “if you are still using the same weights today that you were using two years ago, or even two weeks ago, you are not making progress”…I realized I had been. I’d also realized that I wasn’t eating enough. And, I realized that I’ve been avoiding those compound exercises like squats and deadlifts just because I didn’t get that same “pump” that I got from glamour exercises like curls. I wasn’t good at them, so I skipped them in favor of inappropriate exercises, basically. (I’d still really like to do a workout with someone who really knows what they’re doing so that they can teach me the nuances of squats, deadlifts, and other compound exercises as I can only learn so much from reading and watching videos, but I’ll keep at them.)
I’ve been following his program to a letter now and am forcing myself to eat way more calories. I’m still working to put on that elusive 10-15 more pounds (I’m 6′, 160 pounds), but after Jason helped pare things down to what’s really useful, I’m *finally* now starting to see some of the thickness and size that I’ve been working to get for the past 25 years.
So, that’s why I think it useful for guys like Jason to cater to us hardgainers. I understand his point about seeing the intensity that someone brings and how badly they want something. I’m a former special ops captain in the US Army and know exactly what he’s talking about. Those that have the intensity (and I hope to be included in that group) will have had read enough and will have failed enough to realize that he knows what he’s talking about and can hopefully go from there to make the progress they seek.
18. Apr, 2009
at 12:34 pm #
Classic pic of a real man–Katz.. He is a straight shooter . Look at those traps! Crazy. He was always a fave of mine.
Good stuff Jason—you are another straight shooter. Very impressed with your diet—not too many young power builders get into plant and natural proteins—too often they never get past the whey proteins, etc.
06. Jun, 2009
at 2:23 am #
Interesting reading Jay,,, I must be the odd one out though. I’ve actually had brain challenges all my life, such as poor memory, focus, organizational and comprehension skills, clumsiness, confusion etc. with alot of things, maybe due to having the taking @ 10 months to get over the mealses when I was 2yo, and given the antibiotics at such a young age. However, I managaed to win CB’s TT TC #4 just a couple of months ago. Mind you, the 45 min workout would take up to 2hrs,,, what can I say,,, I’m just ‘slow’ with alot of things and it takes me a long time to learn,,, lol. I’d say it was my work ethic/persistance, the effectiveness of the workout programs, a willingness to eat clean for at least the last half of the contest, wanting to win, and John Alvino’s help in the last couple of weeks,,, maybe it’s just being an Aussie,,, lol. It will be interesting to see what your initial intuition is of me within 30 secs of walking into your gym,,, see ya there mate! :)
06. Jun, 2009
at 2:25 am #
Interesting reading Jay,,, I must be the odd one out though. I’ve actually had brain challenges all my life, such as poor memory, focus, organizational and comprehension skills, clumsiness, confusion etc. with alot of things, maybe due to having the taking @ 10 months to get over the mealses when I was 2yo, and given the antibiotics at such a young age. However, I managaed to win CB’s TT TC #4 just a couple of months ago. Mind you, the 45 min workout would take up to 2hrs,,, what can I say,,, I’m just ‘slow’ with alot of things and it takes me a long time to learn,,, lol. I’d say it was my work ethic/persistance, the effectiveness of the workout programs, a willingness to eat clean for at least the last half of the contest, wanting to win, and John Alvino’s help in the last couple of weeks,,, maybe it’s just being an Aussie,,, lol. It will be interesting to see what your initial intuition is of me within 30 secs of walking into your gym,,, see ya there mate! :)
Robyn.
07. Jan, 2010
at 6:43 am #
I’m definately inclined to agree with you Jay. The biggest thing I liked about your program was that you mentioned that being fit is TRAINING not so much working out. We train like warriors so that we can always be on top of our game. Its the mental challenge of training like you’re preparing for a war.
On top of that if you train properly, I’m sure like you mentioned for most serious players, training is a form of meditation. It allows you to concentrate on body and the current moment rather than thinking about what ever sh*t problems and mental stress you may have in your life or that may never come. You have 1hr to ignore it all and vent out if you need to.
You begin to realise with various people you meet or train with, some people just get it and some people don’t. For the hardcore athletes like us, training is a neccessity, its a way of life, and for others, its something that is more of a chore or a nuissance, no matter what you tell them. Same thing, different perception.
Kase
22. Jun, 2011
at 10:22 am #
Sometimes, though, your IQ increases as you get more proficient in the gym. I began working out at 21 green as could be, and time increased intuition and intellect. Working out in general heightens your senses; and working out in a public GYM, observing what goes on around you, trading tips – you can learn. Working out at home, you don’t learn – and there are too many distractions. Plus the adrenaline level at home is just different. It’s a multi-purpose place, with too many distracting options.