When I Started Lifting I Wish I Knew 3 Things

When I started lifting, I wish I knew then what I know now. I would be years ahead in progress if I started down the right path from the beginning. I could have avoided years of trial, error and frustration.

If you want fast results, you can’t spend time making mistakes that are avoidable.

I started this site to give people that fast track to avoid mistakes and time wasted, since I’ve already paid that price.

When I started lifting, I was aimless and bouncing from idea to idea. I didn’t really know why I was lifting, but just knew I wanted to be like the big strong guys. Size, strength, athleticism? I never thought of what I was trying to accomplish.

This is probably the most common way people get started with lifting weights.

Even if you already have experience with weight lifting, these 3 tips can help you speed up your own learning.

Not all advice is created equal

Be thoughtful about where you take advice from. It’s ok to be selective on who you listen to, and what you accept as good advice. Find people who align with your own goals. For example, if you want to be a great sprinter, you wouldn’t look for long distance runners to mentor you. In the same way, if you’re trying to gain mass and pack on muscle, look to those who have done exactly that before.

Also, make sure you trust the sources of advice. It’s pretty common these days to find blogs and posts online with people’s various opinions on a topic. The person writing the opinion may not be any more of an expert than you.

Scrutinize the source of information. Does this person have a body of work that supports their knowledge?

Here are a couple of examples of advice I’ve received early in my training journey. Both were bad pieces of advice for me and my goal. One was just bad advice in general, and the other was decent advice, but just not for me.

• Just plain bad advice: When trying to learn how to grow my calf muscles, one person recommended that it’s best to do calf raises every time you are in the shower, and your calves will grow in no time. It’s embarrassing that I took this and ran with it. Not only does this advice have no basis in how calves grow in reality, it came from someone who had no calf development. This is an example of how naive I was, and did not judge advice I was given.
• Good advice, but not for me: When I started lifting, I was benching when one of the gym regulars told me that it would be better if I sped up my reps and cranked them out “like a machine”. That’s actually not bad advice to help you hit heavier weights and improve power. This example shows that even good advice isn’t always the best advice. Even though the advice is solid, it isn’t the best way for someone to pack on mass, which is what I was trying to do. When I slowed down my reps to increase time under tension, I actually saw much better results.

Drop the ego, drop the weight

It’s so difficult to ignore everyone else lifting around you. It’s a natural reaction. You don’t want them to think you’re weak. So, you make it a point to ensure every stranger sees you rep the heaviest weight you can handle at least once.

The problem here is you’ll be stuck at the same spot for a long time. Your max weight is not what you need to trigger muscle growth. As long as you lift heavier than you should, you’ll be stuck lifting that same weak max forever.

Instead, leave your ego at the door and use a lighter weight that you can control. Focus on form and engaging the right muscles with each rep. Ironically, with this approach, the weight you use will increase relatively quickly. So, you’ll be lifting something you’re proud of, instead of being stuck at your ego weight.

For me, one way this showed up was in the flat bench. I didn’t want to be seen lifting less than one plate on the bench press, so I always started there. I had no business lifting that much at the time. When I finally got over the embarrassment of benching the bar with barely any added weight, I quickly increased the amount I could lift week over week. It was better to be “embarrassed” for weeks, than to pretend I could handle a heavier weight forever.

Also, when you lift beyond what you’re capable of, you open yourself to injury, which will keep you out of the gym and keep you from gains.

Lifting weights is as mental as it is physical

When I started lifting, I definitely ignored the importance of mental strength and stamina. Packing on mass is a grind, and the mental tax is much more costly than the physical pain.

I tried to solve every problem with more physical straining. Clearly, if I failed a set, it was because I needed more physical strength. That was wrong.

Lifting, especially using volume training to gain mass, is mostly a mental game.

You have to learn how to push through plateaus and convince yourself to safely crank out just one more rep when it seems like you will fail. You have to learn your own patterns and figure out who to get past that usual point where you generally quit.

A lot of this is rooted in you knowing your goal and why it matters to you.

However, you can do simple practical things to help support yourself in the mental game. For example, if you know you quit on the last few reps because you mentally get exhausted, try using the safety catches on equipment, or even ask someone to help spot you. This could give you the feeling of safety you need and also a layer of accountability.

Build on that foundation

I wish I knew those three things when I first started lifting. Everything else just builds on top of this. It’s important to get the foundations of your training right if you want to gain mass quickly. However, if I knew those three things, I could have improved my gains and got to where I was heading with a lot less friction.

Thoughts or questions? Let me know in the comments!