My primary workout partner aka ‘That Guy’ is traveling today, or so he says. So I worked out alone today for the first 30 minutes and then our part time partner (ie, shows up a couple times a week) decided to drag his ass out of bed and make an appearance.

I was finishing up with some triceps cable pushdowns so we moved over to the biceps machine for a superset with seated tricep push downs. Note – supersets with only two people is always an effective way to get someone moving who is a talker – they would rather discuss stocks, sports, cars, or anything else that avoids lifting heavy weight consistently – not enough time with this plan! You can thank me later.

Another guy at the gym who just started coming in a couple weeks ago asked if he could work in on the bicep machine. Ugh, new guy

5am, very sparse crowd, SERIOUSLY? WTF, but since we were moving fast no big deal. OK.

Then he started critiquing technique. What?

Here’s the deal… We generally have two rules in the gym and sometimes we mix in a third and fourth on occasion.

5am Workout Rules

1. We don’t take advice from someone smaller than us unless they are close to the same muscle mass/lifting level and are RIPPED
2. We don’t give advice to somebody bigger than us
3. NO whining. I’m tired, too. I’m busy, too. I have kids and a job, too. I am 40-ish, too. STFU and lift.
4. When in doubt, see rule number 1

Applying the rules of lifting

Do you even lift bro? Given New Guy’s unsolicited advice, Rule number one is applicable here. So let’s evaluate…

New guy definitely has tons of muscle but it is covered up with a lot of layers of fat. Turns out he is a former college and pro football lineman.

Now, if you were a lineman in college football and especially professional football, even 10 years ago, and now you’re 30ish, you are a much larger than normal human being and also, generally much stronger. Therefore, this is not a direct violation of rule number one. It’s all good.

Getting Lazy

After years/decades of consistently showing up at 5am, five days a week, I don’t know how anything could be considered lazy, but it came down to just that. And form.

As you all probably know, especially when people first start working out, they generally have really bad form. If they are just starting, give them a pass and if they show up consistently you can later give them some tips – assuming you don’t violate rule number 2. You’ll waste your time if you do it too soon because most won’t show up for long and many others won’t follow any advice until they are hurt or have minimal gains.

Now 10 years in, lot of books, magazines, videos and massive lifter advice later I think I know a decent amount about lifting, form, and working out. At least for a 40-ish corporate guy.

There’s knowing and then there’s doing. In addition to not knowing the right form you can also get into the bad habit of just lifting without paying much attention… Getting lazy and using poor form or maybe just not optimal form.

Once I stopped to think about what New Football Guy was saying, I realized a couple of things.

• He hasn’t been around the gym
• He has a fresh perspective on my workouts that I can reject or learn from…
• I had slipped into lazy lifter syndrome

Don’t get me wrong, I was lifting and lowering the weight and generally picking things up and putting them down. But was my form perfect? No!

What did he say? Three quick things on that seated curl… Slow down, pause or hold at the top, feel the negative. I immediately caught myself rushing. I was lifting heavy weight – aka, the STACK, but I was rushing it (ok, maybe it was 2/3 of the stack).

‘That Guy’ and I vary our workouts a lot so sometimes we will do high reps or low reps, machines or free, super slow or fast… Thing is, New Football Guy caught me red handed. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t concentrate on my lift. I wasn’t optimizing my results.

It’s 5am, give me a break

Many times you’ll hear that phrase from people who aren’t seriously working out. At 5am you might even think that yourself – I did for a split second, but then I thought about it:

Why are you waking up at a time most people would consider the middle of the night if you aren’t going to do your best. Work out your hardest and get optimal results in your limited time

I slowed it down and dropped the weight to a proper amount for a slow negative and held form… for the rest of my workout.

It is good to get a reality check sometimes. Especially from someone who isn’t breaking the rules so you can truly listen and hear what they are saying.

Are you getting the most out of your workouts? Let me know how you keep form or optimize your workouts or motivate yourself below. Also, if you have other workout rules you apply I’d love to hear them as well so post your comment below.

“Not So Average Joe”