1. It is never enough

Your strength projections. Your genetic potential.

If you aim high - it will take years and maybe decades until you 'get it'.

It depends heavily on:

• your current age
• your family genetics
• your development in teenage years (sports, manual work or hobbies involving physical activity)
• start of training under experienced tutelage (sensible programming)
• existing and future injuries
• technical knowledge of exercises
• stress levels outside of gym (recovery)
• insulin sensitivity
• diet

Aim at tiny increments of progress. You can squat 100kg? Have a goal to squat 120kg in next 3 months. Have multiple achievable targets. Reason to motive you is secondary here. Realism is primary.

It's not unheard off that experienced lifter only adds 10kg on bench press as result of half year of hardcore training. Think about it.

Yes, we know 'it sucks'.

Avoid injuries. Spend 10 years doing that and maybe you will be satisfied with achieved.

The road is the prize in this discipline. And it's a long one. Be aware of that or pick something else to do.

2. Excellence of movements

There is actually not that many movements you need to do in order to develop properly.

Learn few but learn them good. Than expand.

Proper squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press mechanics specific for your own body should be found and perfected. Limb length plays big factor in determining what is 'correct' form for you. Record yourself and analyze form with someone knowledgeable.

Suggestion: record sets at 75-80% of your 1RM and all your PR attempts.

Approach exercise as your demonstration of craft and resistance as your tool.

3. Everything works until it doesn't

Have a plan.

When starting serious training consider following: everything will work for untrained person.

Doing pushups and running daily will work.

Doing kettlebel swings for 1000 reps will work.

But is it best 'bang for the buck'? No.

You need following:

• technical knowledge behind compound exercises
• routine (schedule)
• longer term training plan
• guidance system (mentor, knowledge source)
• achievable goals

4. If it's not measurable you are doing biased guesswork

Iron never lies.

You used to lift 100kg on bench for reps? Now you can't do more than 1 rep?

You used to finish WOD under 45mins, now it takes you over hour?

You are weaker than before.

Simple as that. There is no feelings or assumptions behind that fact.

There is hidden major reason you might fail certain personal benchmarks - faulty technique, but if your technique deteriorates for whatever reason it will make you overall weaker.

Imagine tennis player having worse technique but same strength - his precision and performance in total is therefore weaker. Same effect.

Have a simple diary of your heaviest or most strenuous sets or workouts. You do not need applications, excel sheets or anything complicated. Pen and paper work just fine. Compare and measure.

5. Playing sports is GIFT for body if you are strong enough

Only strong joints and tendons can sustain poundage of proper competitive sport. You know that guy who likes to play basketball but has issues with his back, knee, ankles or who knows what?

He is not strong enough to do that activity. Simple as that.

Assumption that sports is alternative to strength training or any kind of activity in gym is wrong one.

Strength is foundation and sport is top of the pyramid. Start from ground up.

6. Barbell is king and jack of all trades is a fool

Other tools than barbell are here to entertain you.

We as humans have short attention span and we are always on a lookout for next shiny thing. We can't help it, it is part of our genetics and partly reason why we survived this long.

But in strength training you have to accept barbell is king and repetitiveness is your friend.

Ever notice how most alternative equipment emulate same barbell patterns (kettlebell swing = deadlift, goblet squat = squat, clean and jerk = clean and jerk with barbell etc.)

For strength purposes they work but they are sub-par.

If you are male and looking for stronger body - load the bar.

7. Get a mentor and test his/her knowledge constantly

Experienced coaches actually appreciate that because you show interest and acknowledge their craft as something deeper than set of training commands.

Take advice from people who put in the time. If that means asking the strongest guy in the room for advice instead of coach so be it.

Request results. Request experience. And take notice if they follow their own advice.

Avoid everything else.

8. Make clear distinction between steroid and non-steroid strength acquisition

It is different ball game. By huge margin.

Studies showed steroid users generate more muscles while resting and doing no training whatsoever than natural athletes with good training protocol and proper eating. Let that sink in.

Other study showed that people just THINKING they are on steroids improve their strength levels drastically. After they were told they were on placebo their strength levels dropped. Think about that as well.

Avoid comparison. Mind over matter.

9. Pain is signal

For you to stop. Immediately.

If you experience pain during training your body telling you we can't tolerate it. Stop and use remaining energy to analyse why that happened. Is it inefficient movement issue? Does it happen under lighter loads? Does it happen when you move around without external resistance?

Pushing trough pain is quick way to shorten your training career and quality of life.

10. Taking breaks from training is not a big deal

If you are experienced.

Life happens. Injuries happen. Even training boredom happens.

Here is good part about it: the more training you done prior to pause the quicker you will get back into it. Muscle memory is real and your conditioning will return more quickly than amateur taking pauses.

That's why you should step on the pedal if you are just starting out and not let go at least for one year to reach conditioning threshold.

3 days per week minimum. No excuses.

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