I have been coached by Giles for the last few years, and during that time he has given me much advice on how to address my considerable competition nerves. I’ve implemented his suggestions and am performing better as a result! Now Giles has brought his advice and experience together in this post, which I hope you find as useful as I have. Over to Giles…

As a weightlifter I was not a natural competitor, it was something I had to learn.

I was practically dragged to my first competition, bombed out at my first Commonwealth Games and performed badly at my second Commonwealth Games when I felt the pressure of being the favourite after Stefan Botev pulled out. I suspect that if Botev had lifted, I would have performed better as an also-ran.

Although disappointing, the second Commonwealths was certainly an improvement over the first, and my third Commonwealth Games was to be the best performance of my weightlifting career.

I had controlled my debilitating nerves, allowing me to focus on the task at hand and fulfil my potential.

Admit the problem

The first stage of controlling your competition nerves is to accept that there’s a problem which needs addressing. It is easy to admit to a physical weakness (that you need more leg strength if you want to get up with your cleans for example) and take the appropriate measures. A mental weakness is more difficult to accept but is just as trainable as a physical one.

Once you have decided that you need to work on your approach, familiarity and routine are your friends. What follows are some tips which worked for me.

Train for competition

When you are training, imagine you are in a competition. Lift correctly and try to picture a referee telling you to put the bar down at the end of each lift. That extra half second under the weight will accustom you competition rules so you don’t have to adapt to them on the day.

Change your training “spot”

You never know what you’ll be looking at when you lift in a competition so it’s a bad idea to get used to always lifting in the same spot in the gym. If your gym has more than one platform, train on a different platform each workout; if not, try turning to face a different way for some training sessions. It is also helpful to regularly visit other gyms for a workout.

All of this makes you more focused on the bar and platform than on the environment around. The one thing all competitions have in common is that you will be lifting a heavy weight on a platform. Whatever the environment, from a local gym competition to the Olympic Games, the competitor stands on a platform on his / her own and performs a snatch or clean & jerk with a weight which is challenging to them. Focusing on this helps you to stop focusing on, and being intimidated by, the surrounding environment.

Build a pre-training and pre-competition routine

Before each training session, watch the same video of your favourite lifter to inspire you to train hard. If possible, edit this together with video of your best performance so you start to associate your best performance and your favourite lifter with good training sessions. Listen to the same piece of music before each training session and eat the same pre-training snack.

If you routinely do all of these things, it is easy to do the same before each competition. This gives you a link between competing and training, reminds you that they are basically the same thing and helps settle your nerves. I used to use a different tune in the build up for each competition (ranging from Hanson to Motorhead) but kept the same video, Waldemar Malak lifting in the 1992 Olympic Games followed by some of my own lifting.

If nerves are affecting your performance, why not give these techniques a try? For me, they made the difference between missing all my lifts and getting a gold medal. It was worth taking the chance.

Giles adds: thanks to Professor Dave Collins, sports scientist and psychologist, who nagged me into trying these techniques and in doing so contributed significantly to my eventual successes.

Do you get nervous when competing? Have you tried any strategies to overcome them? Share your experiences in the comments below!

My BLT without the bread. What crazy nonsense!

Anyone who has successfully changed their eating habits away from the norm (sugar and fat laden processed crap and swathes of starchy carbohydrate) to a diet which keeps them lean, fit and energetic (generally speaking, high in protein, veggies and fats, with carbs appropriate to goals) has probably encountered anything from mild teasing to outright hostility from co-workers, friends or family.

It’s important to understand that they are the ones who feel uncomfortable and threatened – there is no need for you to feel that way.

Now, why other people should feel so uncomfortable and threatened by one’s lunch is complicated, but what I’m interested in is how do you deal with this?

Most of my personal training clients have this problem, and I did too when I was an office worker. You won’t be surprised to learn that I used to try to win people over by talking about it – proselytising, even.

The problem with ‘healthy debate’ in the office environment is that it can all too easily descend into outright argument as people defend their positions. People have been fed so much misinformation for so long, they aren’t going to change their views overnight. Anyway, no-one wants to look like the loser in front of their co-workers.

Although it is always good to discuss things with people who are receptive to it, I now think that this tactic was asking for trouble on many occasions.

Nowadays, I simply say to people, “I’ve had great results eating this way and I love it!” This is difficult to argue against. If you are just starting out and haven’t got your great results quite yet, another way to put it is to say: “I want to do something different and this is really working for me.”

Rather than saying something that implies the other person is wrong – such as “it’s healthier to eat this way” – make it about your own personal choice. It’s harder to get angry with someone who has simply made a personal choice to do something a particular way (although some people will always find a way…).

You can also mention benefits that you have experienced, such as “I feel more energetic eating this way” or “I don’t get as hungry as I used to.” Again, it’s hard to argue against someone’s personal experience, whereas it is easy to argue the toss over statements like “fat is good for you” or “wholegrains are healthy”.

I’m lucky enough to have come out the other side after many years, but what strategies have you employed? Has it hampered you in reaching your goals or did you shrug it off?

Share your experiences below!

Learn

If you want to be slimmer, fitter, stronger and healthier, learn how to do it. What else in life did you achieve without any learning? You had to learn to read, drive your car, play your sport and carry out your trade.

How you learn best is up to you. You can read books, find an expert to learn from, or simply plunge into the deep end and learn by doing.

Aspire

Aspire to be a better version of yourself, not to be someone else. Aspiring to be better comes from an understanding of where you are now and where you want to be.

Aspirations are different from wishes. Wishing something was different doesn’t change anything. Aspiring to something for me implies a journey, a gradual progression to a goal.

Believe

Believe in your ability to carry out a programme of work and get the outcome you want. Believe in your ability to cut through the crap and make decisions for yourself. I believe that everyone can become an expert in their own change.

Self belief is the most important quality: you have to believe that you can learn, change and get to where you want to be.

So go on, make it happen!

If you are reading this article, on this website, you are already craving something more than a run-of-the-mill training experience.

Being different is a good thing, but that is often one of the hardest things to convince people when they start training.

There’s an interesting assumption that what everyone else is doing is right – the fallacy of the ‘authority of the many’, or the bandwagon fallacy. Where health and fitness are concerned, the many are evidently not right.

How many people do you know who are happy with the way they look, feel and perform?

Now think about how many people you know who go to the gym three times a week but are still overweight, stressed, tired and fighting an ever-losing battle with their aging bodies.

It takes a lot of bravery to stand out and do something different in an environment that is as exposed as a gym. For example, to be the only female in the gym doing weights, when all the other women are on the treadmills or in the yoga studio. Wouldn’t it just be easier to do what the other girls are doing, and hide in the crowd instead of presenting yourself as a piñata to be knocked down by the first jerk who opens his mouth?

To stand out from the crowd, to get exceptional results for your efforts, you need to be the sort of person who knows what they want and goes out of their way to get it, even if it means doing something different from what everyone else is doing.

You seek out people who can help you, people who know what they are talking about and can demonstrate this. You take the road less travelled.

This takes bravery and commitment. But the rewards are great.

When I started this blog several years ago, I was one of only a handful of women worldwide who wrote about proper weight training. People who found my website were ecstatic to find another iron enthusiast of this gender.

But what amazed me was the number of women scattered around the planet even doing this stuff on their own. Each pioneers in their own right. We’d all had similar issues: fear of what others would think, fear of looking stupid, of doing it wrong. Fear of being ridiculed or preyed upon by men, or just intimidated into going away and never coming back.

But individually we had all overcome these issues just by wanting it enough. And being the sort of people who don’t back down just because something is a bit difficult or out of the ordinary.

After some 12 years of going to the gym and learning it all the hard way, I finally became a full time trainer not long ago. You’d think this would make me pretty full of myself but actually I have found it a humbling experience. It has brought me into contact with so many people who – against greater odds than I ever had to face – are pursuing their path to strength and health with courage and purpose.

So this post is by way of celebration of all those people – women and men – who just get on and do it and aren’t afraid to be different. I am very excited when you drop by the website to add your thoughts. I’m always learning new things from you and am continually inspired by your independence, energy and dedication.

Cheers!

I don’t blame them – the supplements companies have been immensely successful at creating a link between their products and getting bigger and stronger, or indeed slimmer and fitter.

Many people struggle to attain their goals in the gym and don’t make the progress they have been led to expect, so the idea that you might need aids and products to help you seems intuitively right. Surely ordinary food and ordinary training can’t bring extraordinary results?

Working out exactly how to eat and how to train isn’t easy; it took me years and I’m still learning. If you don’t know what you are doing and you are not getting results, you should really think about hiring a personal trainer who does – but in the meantime, back to those protein shakes you don’t know how to use.

What is a protein shake?

First of all, understand that protein is food and a protein shake is a food product. Protein shakes are generally made from whey or casein (milk protein) or a mixture of both.

Treat a shake like you would any other food. Consider it part of your daily diet, count it in your calories. The protein in protein shakes provides exactly the same amount of energy as the protein in a piece of steak or a pot of yoghurt, which is roughly 4 kcals per gram.

That said, there are reasons that many athletes and gym goers of all shapes and sizes utilise protein shakes. Protein shakes are a tool, like belts or gloves or kettlebells. They can be used successfully to reach goals, or they can be used abominably and create more problems than before.

Your goal is to understand what protein shakes are useful for, and then decide if there’s a place for them in your grand plan.

What are protein shakes for?

While nobody needs protein shakes, they are a useful tool in some situations, relating to one’s lifestyle, type of training or body composition goals.

Convenient: many sources of protein require refrigeration or need to be cooked/prepared in some way. If you lead the sort of lifestyle where you are rushing around, or don’t have access to a fridge at work, or can’t find somewhere decent for lunch, then keeping a tub of protein handy can be very useful. The powder is stored dry so will keep for a while, and only needs water adding to it to make a shake.

Fast acting: protein shakes are fast acting, particularly whey protein; they are processed by the body more quickly than other types of protein. For this reason, they are often used post-workout in order to start the muscle building and repair process as soon as possible. For people who care about muscle building or maintenance, this is important. However, having a meal that includes protein within an hour or two of training also does the job for most of us.

Low in saturated fat: many sources of protein, such as meat, eggs and dairy products, are also high in fat. So upping one’s protein intake (for training or body composition purposes) often means upping one’s saturated fat intake. Protein shakes don’t contain much saturated fat, so for anyone concerned about saturated fat intake, protein shakes can be an advantage over other sources of protein. Of course, there are sources of protein that aren’t high in fat, such as beans and legumes, but not everyone likes them or can eat them in the sort of quantities they need.

Easy to consume: for those who are bulking or need to increase their overall calories for some reason, eating enough food can be difficult. There may be times of day (such as first thing in the morning) where you simply don’t feel like eating. Protein is particularly filling, meaning that you might eat less of it. So adding in some protein shakes can be an easy way of increasing your calories without feeling stuffed all the time. This can be particularly useful for endurance athletes, who don’t want to train with a lot of food sloshing around but need to get the calories in.

But how much protein do I need anyway?

Ay, there’s the rub. For people training on a regular basis, the usual prescription is 1-2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. So a 70kg person would require 70-140g of protein per day. This amount is obtainable from normal food but, for some of the reasons above, a person may get some of it from a shake.

Someone training very frequently or doing a lot of resistance training would be at the top end of that range, 1.5-2g/kg. Someone training less frequently (2-3 times a week) and not doing much resistance training would be at the bottom end of the range, 1-1.5g/kg.

It’s worth noting that our actual protein requirements are controversial: scientists can’t agree on how much protein we really need, whether athletes require more than the general population, how much protein we can utilise at one sitting and so on. This is probably why the advice is so confusing. Anyway, the prescription given above is probably more than we really need, but won’t do any harm.

There are some people who swear by a much higher protein protocol. Lyle Macdonald, for example, recommends that strength/power athletes should aim for 1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day (about 3.3 g/kg). However, there are studies that show that the body doesn’t use extra protein. Protein that is not used is simply excreted.

Nevertheless, there is evidence – both scientific and anecdotal – that:

“diets with reduced carbohydrates and increased levels of high quality protein are effective for weight loss. These diets appear to provide a metabolic advantage during restricted energy intake that targets increased loss of body fat while reducing loss of lean tissue and stabilizing regulations of blood glucose. Initial findings support use of dietary at levels above 1.5 g/kg during weight loss.”
- Protein Quantity and Quality at Levels above the RDA Improves Adult Weight Loss, Donald K. Layman, PhD (J Am Coll Nutr December 2004 vol. 23 no. suppl 6 631S-636S)

In other words, reducing carbohydrate and replacing it with protein seems to help us burn more fat. It is also known that eating protein burns much more energy than eating carbohydrate or fat (thermic effect of food).

Any downside of protein shakes?

The main downside is that flavoured protein shakes contain sweeteners, additives and what-not. If you are concerned about sugar intake, you might prefer unflavoured protein powder. It doesn’t taste that bad, although you can mix it with something else if you like.

Some brands of protein powder also add in other things like caffeine or green tea extract for ‘fat burning’, or carbs (e.g. maltodextrin) for ‘bulking’. You may or may not want this in your protein, so check the ingredients. It is very possible to get just pure protein, especially if you shop online.

Other than unwanted additional ingredients, there’s nothing wrong with protein powder; it’s a simple enough product. Just be aware that it doesn’t contain the myriad other good things, such as vitamins and minerals, that ‘real food’ protein does, so your diet should still contain good protein sources.

So where does all that leave us?

The chances are that you can get all the protein you need from your diet, but protein shakes might be useful when lifestyle dictates that you can’t eat as well as you’d like.

If you are trying to lose fat or bodyweight, be aware that protein shakes contain calories just like anything else and need to be factored into the overall diet plan, not just added in willy-nilly. There is evidence that higher protein (and lower carbohydate) diets do help fat loss.

Most ordinary trainees, that is, people who are not professional athletes or bodybuilders, can make best use of shakes around training (particularly post training) or to replace the odd meal or snack when nutritious food is not available. For hardgainers (people who find it hard to put on muscle) trying to bulk, a couple of regular protein shakes a day can be a useful boost to daily calorie intake.

I trust you have enough information to make your decision. Personally I have used protein shakes on and off for a while and find them useful, especially when cutting or when I have a very busy work schedule. Real food still rules though!

More from Guberntrix

What should I eat?

The low-fat myth

Why muscle building should be your top priority whoever you are

Too many goals?

This old chestnut crops up time and again but I was inspired to write about it because it reveals an example of what I think is one of the great pleasures of strength training, one which often gets completely disregarded in high street gyms: working with others.

I don’t mean training buddies, but just being able to work together in an environment, help each other out, feed off each other’s energy – even if you are doing different workouts.

There’s a nice atmosphere of fellow feeling as you help each other change plates, shout out a bit of encouragement, maybe spot them on a heavy attempt. Instead of being in your own little bubble thinking nasty thoughts about everyone else, you start to care about how well someone else is doing. Their success often breeds your success, and vice versa.

I believe that everyone lifts better in that sort of environment.

Play nice with others

This collegial atmosphere is something I instill when I teach weight training courses like Ladies Who Lift. A big part of this course is learning how to work with others in the weight room. To take one example, if one of the group is significantly shorter or taller than the others, we change the rack height for every set, even though it might seem a bit of a faff. It’s fair to everyone and, as it turns out, not so much of a faff when you get used to doing it.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when, deep down, I’m annoyed if I have to share. Sometimes you are in that ‘lone wolf’ kind of mood, or you have a hard workout to do and just want to get on with it.

But the reality is that there is never enough space when it is busy for everyone to have their own private car parking space, so you are wishing for something that isn’t going to happen. Anyway once you get into the swing of sharing your space and equipment, it ain’t so bad. You might even end up having a better workout!

Peace, man

That all sounds very peace and love but why should you care? Because hating other gym users and dealing with equipment conflicts is stressful and emotional stress is not conducive to good training. In fact, it is the last thing you want to be undergoing.

Let’s face it, just being in a commercial gym at peak time can be stressful, let alone having to navigate these issues of etiquette, all the while wishing your fellow gym users could be blasted into outer space with a massive rocket.

It is in your interests to be calm and friendly, so that all your energy is focussed on your workout and not composing withering forum posts in your head about the imbecility of the unfortunate in the squat rack that is rightfully yours.

Aggression can be helpful in training but psychologists differentiate between ‘channelled’ or ‘instrumental’ aggression, which is directed towards a goal, and hostile aggression. All too often we experience the latter in gyms and not the former. I’ve often seen people with a lot of apparent hostility try to muscle out their own space, only to then do their reps like a complete pussy!

More racks often means more lifters

You might think that more equipment is the answer, but in my experience the more and better equipment a gym has, the more it attracts lifters! My lifting club has around seven racks but at busy times we can still be three to a platform. The difference is that we all know each other and work together.

So what is the answer?

Well, one person can set a tone. You can be the one to start the trend. I know this is possible as I’ve done it myself. I didn’t stand there with a bottle of coke singing while looking at a sunrise, I just behaved in a certain way and people started to adapt to it.

A lot of people don’t share because they don’t know how to; that is, they don’t know what the options might be or how best to organise things. You might not realise how intimidating you look to other people. If you think you are the dog’s bollocks (because you want to squat when they are bicep curling), it’s up to you to take the lead, not up to the newbie who barely knows what they are doing.

So here are a few things you can do to make it better for everyone (including you):

• Invite someone to work in if it’s obvious they are waiting for you; don’t wait for them to ask.
• Be aware that a short ‘how many sets you got left?’ spoken to a stranger can sound aggressive and instantly poison the atmosphere; mind your Ps and Qs and try to smile!
• If there’s an equipment clash, discuss the problem in a friendly way (‘how about if we do this…?’), don’t just storm off giving a dirty look.
• Don’t compromise your workout just because someone bigger and nastier than you wants to dominate; you are both entitled to get your work in.
• If there’s an ongoing equipment clash with a regular, work out some sort of schedule between yourselves or train together.

It’s not always sunshine and light and there will sometimes be difficulties but you will get a much better workout if you can find a way to work with people rather than resent them.

More from gubernatrix

How to have an awesome time at the gym

Why you shouldn’t train in front of a mirror

Too many goals?

Femininity and muscle

Basic barbell programmes reviewed

When kit goes wrong

Ever had an embarrassing ‘wardrobe malfunction’ while at the gym? Or tried to shield your eyes because you’ve just seen one and it’s putting you off your workout? Here are my top gym wardrobe malfunctions and how to fix them!

Malfunction #1: Trousers splitting while squatting. Very difficult to hide, this one. The incident is usually accompanied by a loud tearing noise.

Fix: Wear lycra or something roomy. And make sure you have nice pants on.

Anti muffin-top device

Malfunction #2: Excessive cleavage on view. You have to watch this one, ladies. Everything might seem fine when you are standing up straight, but what about when you deadlift or do press ups?

Fix: Do the ‘bend over’ check when you buy sports bras and wear high necks. Unless you want to show the cleavage off, in which case don’t complain that guys stare at you.

Malfunction #3: Men wearing too short shorts.  Guys, running shorts are for running, not doing crunches. We can see everything! And it’s not pleasant.

Fix: Avoid very short running shorts, especially with a split up the side, if you are going to be lying on the gym floor doing core work.

Malfunction #4: Leaving sweaty marks on equipment. Leave that for the hardcore bodybuilding gyms, the rest of us don’t want to be lying in your sweat.

Fix: Wear something that covers your shoulders and back.

Malfunction #5: Barbell slides down back when squatting. This is due to the surface (skin or material) being slippery. This is scary and potentially dangerous – you don’t want to squat with a bar that is sliding down your back!

Fix: Wear a cotton t-shirt and/or cover your shoulders with chalk.

Malfunction #6: Unnecessary wearing of compression clothing. You look like a tit.

Fix: You don’t need to wear a compression top to do your bicep curls. Save it for the post-rugby game recovery.

Malfunction #7: Muffin top. When your love handles bulge out over the top of your trousers.

Fix: Avoid hipsters and wear longer tops. There’s no rule that says you have to wear crop tops in the gym. There are some nice long tank tops around that look pretty and cover up the bulgy bits.

Malfunction #8: Developing running sores on your shins from deadlifting.

Fix: Cover your legs. Wear long socks (e.g. football socks) or leggings. Tracksuit pants can also be worn but can snag or slow down the bar.

Malfunction #9: Training in jeans or any other casual trousers. This says ‘I don’t care about working out, I’m only here to do my arms’.  No-one will take you seriously.

Fix: Get some decent kit. Have a look at simplysweat.com.

Got any wardrobe malfunctions you would like to share?

Win £50 worth of kit!

The folks at simplysweat.com think you guys deserve some new gym gear so they have donated a £50 voucher to be won by a lucky gubernatrix.co.uk reader.

To be in with a chance of winning, just name one of the brands that simplysweat.com stocks. Click here to enter.

Closing date: midnight on 28 June 2011. One entry per email address. No purchase necessary. This competition is open to all as simplysweat.com ships worldwide. The delivery costs are included in the £50. Cheapest destinations are the UK, US or Canada. European countries and elsewhere vary but you can check at simplysweat.com. Your contact details will not be used for any purpose other than the administration of this competition, nor passed to any third party.

Some warning signs that you may need to improve your training fitness are:

• Your rest periods between sets are getting longer;
• You get tired quickly during the training session or need extra caffeine/stimulants to get you fired up;
• You have been doing heavy, near-max work for a while.

Improve training ‘fitness’ by spending a couple of weeks doing higher reps at 70 per cent of max. So for weightlifters that would be sets of 3-5, and for powerlifters sets of 5-8.

The best time to do this is just before you start a new strength cycle, on return from holiday or if you have been stagnating for a while.

Active rest is also under-utilised by strength athletes. Personally I use walking, circuit training or kettlebells. It makes you a fitter and more mobile human being, and this can help you tolerate more training and therefore get stronger. 10-15 minutes of high intensity circuit training will improve fitness and make you feel energised.

One of my favourites has always been Ross Enamait’s Magic 50. It has some of my favourite exercises in it and it kicks my butt! The Magic 50 is:

5 dumbbell snatches each hand
5 dumbbell swings each hand
10 burpees (with press up of course)
5 rounds for time

I also find that cleaning up my diet helps me to feel fitter and more dynamic. Often when you are going through a heavy phase of training it can be tempting to eat whatever is around; getting the calories in is important to support the training. However, in a ‘fitness’ phase you should be less hungry and tired and therefore this is the ideal time to sharpen up the eating strategy.

So how do you get fit to train?

More from gubernatrix

• Improve weaknesses with unilateral exercises
• How to: one arm dumbbell snatch
• Does lifting more always mean you get stronger?
• Five secrets of more effective training

Hands up if you love the gym!

So it’s the new year and you’ve decided to get back into the gym. But how do you stop this year being like every other year, where you start with loads of enthusiasm which gradually peters out and you end up not getting the results you want?

Is it your programme? Is it the number of sets and reps? Should you be doing 5×5 or 5/3/1 or 1-2-3 or whatever the cool kids are doing this year?

Chances are, your problems have very little to do with how many sets and reps you are doing. While you are contemplating the difference between 2 sets of 10 and 3 sets of 6 or wondering whether ViPRs should be a part of your life, you are missing the big picture.

Ask yourself:

• Are you actually going to the gym on a regular basis? Have you gone yet this year? How many times?
• Do you stick to your programme or do you just chop and change whenever it suits you?
• Do you seek the help of fitness professionals, or do you just post on message boards and do whatever Keyboard Warrior No 1 with his three months of training experience suggests?
• Are you open to different ideas and approaches or are you drinking the Kool-Aid?

You can answer those questions for yourself, but from a tour of the message boards I can see that hundreds of people are already in danger of heading off in the wrong direction, getting tied up with little details and not making sure that the fundamentals are in place.

So Dan, should I be doing 3 sets of 10?

Sticking with it

This seems to be the number one problem for you busy professionals. But the key to success in the gym is…actually going. So you need to make some rules for yourself. It’s like saving money: there’s always something to spend money on but if you want to save, you have to be strict with yourself and do the saving first and the spending later.

Find cunning ways to include a gym session in your day, rather than giving up and letting work take over. For example, if you are too tired at the end of the day, go to the gym at the beginning of the day. Find a friend to train with, so that it’s more difficult to back out of a session.

And once you are there, decide on a training programme and then just do it. It always amazes me how people get a perfectly serviceable programme from their local PT but feel the need to punt it all around the internet for random suggestions before they actually get on and do it – or abandon it for whatever the latest T-Nation fad is.

Forum legend ‘MacCharles’ over at Ross Training has some very wise words to say about consistency:

“The guys who bust their ass for the first couple of years and just strive for more and more weight on the bar will go farther than the boys who search for the ultimate in periodization, form and programming efficiency right off the bat.”

I couldn’t agree more, and I’ve been in the same position myself. You can get strong on practically any programme so long as you focus on progression. So don’t worry about whether you have the perfect programme (note: there is no perfect programme), just get your ass down the gym and train.

Choosing the right gym

If you want to do something specific, like a barbell strength programme, make sure you join a gym that actually has barbells and a squat rack. If you want to do kettlebells, choose a gym that has kettlebells. Don’t join any old McGym and then post on internet forums about alternatives to the squat.

It doesn’t matter if your gym is the cheapest gym in the universe and is right next door. Those things don’t make it a good gym. Good gyms have the right equipment for what you want to do and the right people who can help you.

If you are already a gym regular but you are not making progress, now might be a good time to find somewhere else to train. For example, if you want to get stronger but you are already the strongest person in your local gym, find a gym where people stronger than you train. You’ll make more progress and learn more than if you remain the biggest fish in your little pond.

Hang out with people who are better than you

If you don’t want to or can’t change gyms, at least pop your head above the parapet every so often to broaden your view of what can be achieved. As Dan John suggests:

“Get out of the comfy confines of your local spa and go see what the best are doing. Go to a clinic. Take a certification course. Find out what is really going on. Get your hands dirty and relearn (or simply learn) the basics.”

It’s not just humbling, it’s motivating!

Personal training

Some gyms will be trying to sell you personal training almost as soon as you walk in the door. But don’t dismiss it out of hand; for some people, personal training is the perfect solution. If you’re not going to do this whole gym thing properly on your own, then you are wasting your money even being a member. So why not spend a bit more on getting someone to help you? It doesn’t have to be forever, it can be something to get you started.

There’s a lot of rubbish talked about personal trainers on the internet (surprise surprise). There are good PTs and not so good PTs, for sure, but I don’t know anyone in real life who has been worse off when they’ve had a trainer or coach.

Not being an idiot

Everyone on the internet loves to rant about idiots at the gym. But how do you avoid – the horror! – inadvertently being one?

Well the first thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people who rant about ‘idiots in the gym’ (IITG) are actually IITG themselves. For some reason, intolerance is deemed to be cool among IITGs. I have heard people moaning about such terrible crimes as “talking”, “texting”, “grunting”, “curling in the squat rack” and “wearing beanies”. Seriously, how is that impinging on your workout?

The really experienced hands rarely moan about other people, generally because they’ve seen it all before a thousand times and have learned how to stay focussed on their own workout.

If you leave your ego at the door, don’t act like you own the place and are generally polite and considerate, you shouldn’t have to worry about infringing gym etiquette. Oh, and put your weights back when you’ve finished with them.

Enjoy it

For many people I speak to, going to the gym is a bit of a chore. People feel they need to do it, but they don’t look forward to it, even if they enjoy it once they are there.

I absolutely love the gym, so in order to have empathy with this feeling I have to think of something else that I don’t like doing but feel I have to do. For me, this is cooking.

I used to find cooking boring and time-consuming but I started doing it every day because I wanted to eat healthily and be able to prepare decent food for other people. So long as I keep my mind fixed on the ultimate goals (stay in shape, be healthy, entertain friends), I find that the cooking itself ain’t so bad. The more I learn about it and the more proficient I become, the more painless the process. It’ll never be my favourite hobby but the better you get at something, the more enjoyable it becomes.

The gym can be the same. You don’t have to love it, but if you have a clear reason for doing it and you keep your mind fixed on the desired outcome, you’ll find the process isn’t half as bad as you thought it was going to be. You’ll build a repertoire of movements, you’ll get stronger, fitter and feel better. You might even come to love the gym one day!

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A callus is an area on your skin where the skin has got thicker and harder due to pressure or friction. In lifters, the friction comes from the bar or handle of the weight. For example, deadlifting causes calluses close to the base of the fingers as this is where the barbell is held in the hand. Kettlebell enthusiasts get calluses from the kettlebell handle.

It’s good to develop calluses because they toughen up the skin and protect it from blisters and tears. Those who wear gloves while lifting never develop this natural safety feature.

This is all very hardcore and cool until the bastard things rip off! Then it’s blood and pain and interrupted training until you can get the thing sorted out.

Now, you should be using lifting chalk (or climbing chalk, same thing) on your skin to soak up sweat and greasiness, reducing the chance of developing blisters from the bar slipping around in your grip.

And to minimise the chances of your calluses ripping off at inopportune moments (say, in a deadlift competition, as I have seen happen many times), you need to take care of them.

My calluses need some care!

Calluses need to be filed down regularly. If they are not filed down, they get bigger and more raised up from your palm and are thereby more likely to rip off if caught. If you keep them filed down so they are more or less level with the rest of the palm, there’s less chance they will be caught.

You can see in the picture above that those calluses at the base of my fingers are starting to get a bit prominent, and the callus on the palm has some flaps of skin that are just asking to be torn away mid-snatch.

Use a pumice stone, or a synthetic equivalent. I have a cheap one from Boots The Chemist which isn’t a real pumice stone but works like one. Just rub the stone over the callus and the hard skin will gradually shave off, like filing a nail.

My pumice block

You can do this after a shower or after soaking your hands in some water to soften them, although I don’t always find this necessary.

After shaving the callus down to size, moisturise your hands. (Borrow your girlfriend’s hand cream if you don’t want to buy some yourself!)

If you do have a ripped callus, there’s not much you can do until it heals. It’s best to cut off any flaps of skin using nail clippers, your teeth, or file them away with a pumice stone, as they are only likely to rip themselves.

This is what a ripped callus looks like

If you can, put plaster or tape over the area to protect it. However there are many places on the palm where this isn’t possible because the plaster or tape just won’t stay on.

So why not wear gloves and prevent all this madness and pain?

Well, apart from the macho answer (lifting weights is madness and pain) there is a good reason. Gloves actually interfere with your grip; they make whatever you are holding thicker and therefore harder to grip, and they remove your contact with the bar, meaning that you can’t feel when the bar starts to move in your hand (early sign of impending grip failure).

I am not a Glove Hater. If normal gym goers want to protect their baby soft hands and don’t care for developing unattractive calluses, that’s fine. You just need to be aware of what you are giving up.

If you are involved in strength sports, however, don’t go there. When you are going to failure or going for a heavy single, you need the best grip possible. Gloves are no substitute for human skin and a bit of chalk.

So look after your calluses – and they will look after you!

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