Question For Packard
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Question For Packard
Noticed you saying the other day you had trained for about 48 years, which I'm assuming is correct, (and not a sarcastic comment about what it's felt like), so I just wondered what sort of training, manuals, books, any supplements etc etc, you used back in the day?
Just 47 years; please, I'm old enough...
Dad lifted weights in the basement.
I started lifting at 13, but Dad restricted lifting to times when he was there to supervise. I was only allowed to lift a weight that I could do 10 reps with. No single reps were allowed. He was worried that bone structure was not sufficiently mature for the heavy lifts.
We got a Reader's Digest sized magazine in black and white called "Strength and Health" in the mail (it was not available at news stands).
The information we had back then was poor and often outright incorrect.
For example one article stated (and I took for gospel) that a squat was useless unless your butt hit the heels of your feet at the bottom of the lift. This turned out to be a bit rough on knees.
There was not much scholarly information available. I used to maintain a diary and I would try new routines and record starting strength and ending strength over a 6 to 12 week period. I used body as a laboratory. Some things worked; others did not.
Over the years I have seen things promoted, abandoned, re-named and promoted all over again.
Isometrics, circuit training, speed sets, super sets, etc.
Among the things I have learned:
1. People pay too little attention to the amount of rest that they get between workouts. You need adequate rest for good results.
2. People pay too little attention to the mental aspects of strength training. If you think you can do something it is more likely that you will be able to do it.
3. People pay too little attention to the amount of sleep required while training.
4. People used to pay too little attention to nutrition, but that appears to be changing.
5. People need to plan in advance a "plan B" for when they are injured or they will get depressed and not work out at all. I have a plan for working around any injury I might get. It is what makes it possible to work out for many years.
6. If you work out at a gym, then pack your bag before you leave the house in the morning and put it in the trunk of your car. If you go home before you go to the gym, there will be too many times that "something will come up" and you won't make it to the gym.
7. If you work out before coming home, all the stresses of the work place will be out of your system by the time you get home. Your spouse and children will appreciate it.
8. When everyone is in sweats, you are in an absolute democracy. I've worked out with millionaires, judges, lawyers and doctors, professional football players and construction workers. Once you are in the gym and in your sweats, everyone is equal. Democracy.
9. Working out in a gym is a social experience. You will make friends (and possibly enemies, if you don't behave well). It is worth the effort and expense to join a gym.
10. If a gym gives a very low rate for joining and being a member, they probably want you to join, but probably don't want you to show up. Think about that. Do you want to belong to a gym whose goal is to get you to join, but not to show up? Each time you show up you cost them money, so if the annual fee is too low, they don't want you to show up.
But the classic thing I learned was from a book on the subject of "Weight Lifting".
The opening line in the first chapter said, "Weightlifting, as the name might imply, is the lifting of weights." (The rest of the book was just as enlightening.)
I tend to talk too much, so these open-ended questions will get these long-winded answers.
Regards,
Packard
Dad lifted weights in the basement.
I started lifting at 13, but Dad restricted lifting to times when he was there to supervise. I was only allowed to lift a weight that I could do 10 reps with. No single reps were allowed. He was worried that bone structure was not sufficiently mature for the heavy lifts.
We got a Reader's Digest sized magazine in black and white called "Strength and Health" in the mail (it was not available at news stands).
The information we had back then was poor and often outright incorrect.
For example one article stated (and I took for gospel) that a squat was useless unless your butt hit the heels of your feet at the bottom of the lift. This turned out to be a bit rough on knees.
There was not much scholarly information available. I used to maintain a diary and I would try new routines and record starting strength and ending strength over a 6 to 12 week period. I used body as a laboratory. Some things worked; others did not.
Over the years I have seen things promoted, abandoned, re-named and promoted all over again.
Isometrics, circuit training, speed sets, super sets, etc.
Among the things I have learned:
1. People pay too little attention to the amount of rest that they get between workouts. You need adequate rest for good results.
2. People pay too little attention to the mental aspects of strength training. If you think you can do something it is more likely that you will be able to do it.
3. People pay too little attention to the amount of sleep required while training.
4. People used to pay too little attention to nutrition, but that appears to be changing.
5. People need to plan in advance a "plan B" for when they are injured or they will get depressed and not work out at all. I have a plan for working around any injury I might get. It is what makes it possible to work out for many years.
6. If you work out at a gym, then pack your bag before you leave the house in the morning and put it in the trunk of your car. If you go home before you go to the gym, there will be too many times that "something will come up" and you won't make it to the gym.
7. If you work out before coming home, all the stresses of the work place will be out of your system by the time you get home. Your spouse and children will appreciate it.
8. When everyone is in sweats, you are in an absolute democracy. I've worked out with millionaires, judges, lawyers and doctors, professional football players and construction workers. Once you are in the gym and in your sweats, everyone is equal. Democracy.
9. Working out in a gym is a social experience. You will make friends (and possibly enemies, if you don't behave well). It is worth the effort and expense to join a gym.
10. If a gym gives a very low rate for joining and being a member, they probably want you to join, but probably don't want you to show up. Think about that. Do you want to belong to a gym whose goal is to get you to join, but not to show up? Each time you show up you cost them money, so if the annual fee is too low, they don't want you to show up.
But the classic thing I learned was from a book on the subject of "Weight Lifting".
The opening line in the first chapter said, "Weightlifting, as the name might imply, is the lifting of weights." (The rest of the book was just as enlightening.)
I tend to talk too much, so these open-ended questions will get these long-winded answers.
Regards,
Packard