Mini blog #2- finding a rep max versus percentage work

   

      My training partner and I have made constant progress since February 2015.  I've said it all started with my attendance of Donny Shankle's seminar and his idea of finding a PR everyday.

     We have found that we have constantly improved in 90% of our weightlifting sessions by going for a " ___ rep max" on lifts instead of shooting for a specific # of reps at a specific percentage.  What I mean is that we will go for a heavy 2 rep overhead squat or a heavy paused back squat triple or a 5 rep max power snatch, etc.....

     So we will look to see what lift needs to be done, what rep scheme (out of 1, 2, 3, 5, or occasionally 10) and we will build to that for the day.  Always knowing what we did the last time we attempted that particular lift and reps, we have had constant success this last year at adding to all of our lifts.

     It flies in the face of a lot of conventional programming that promotes percentage work.  But we feel that percentage work tends to leave reps on the table, so to speak.  Very, very often I can do more than what is prescribed, and I realize that is often times by design, but once we switched to this particular method of programming/training, our results went through the roof.

     That's it, keeps it simple and keeps us progressing!

Mini blog #1 Trust me....let go of the life jacket

     You are floating in the middle of a rough sea.....you are desperately wearing a life jacket, afraid.   Someone you know well asks you to let go of the life jacket.  It sounds crazy to you because you see this as the only thing keeping you alive.  Without it you would surely drown.  In fact, you've had it on so long you really don't even notice you're wearing it anymore until it gets pointed out.

     They beg you to trust them.  They tell you that there is so much more to things than what you see.  You can't possibly imagine what could be so worth the risk of drowning.

This is the story of intimacy in relationships.  

     We must let go of what we see as safety (the defenses and walls we have up to keep us from deeper connection).  We must let down the walls that we have up that keep us in the shallow waters in order to go deep into relationships.  Vulnerability is built through revealing ourselves for possible rejection and disappointment.

     This quote tells us that doing what we fear most is necessary in order to reach what we truly desire in life.