If only I'd Known Then what I know Now!

[Bruce Tackett]

How many times have you said that to yourself?

For my part, I wish I'd known from the beginning that one set to failure is just as effective, if not more so, than doing multiple sets. I wish I'd known how to make all of the DIY equipment I can now make. Steel pipes - push up stand, dipping stand, chinup bar, forearm equipment, etc. I would have done more bodyweight exercises than weight lifting. If I'd known then what I know now, I would have known the straight path to building myself up in the most effective, efficient, and time-saving manner possible.

As a very skinny young man, what held me back for years was the seemingly insurmountable task of building myself up, the thought that I was "naturally skinny" and that there wasn't much I could do about it. If I'd known from the start that this isn't true, I would have enthusiastically pursued bodybuilding, knowing that it would be possible to realize my goals in a relatively short period of time.

[Dave Reslo]

I wish I'd known about the extra pump one more set brings; the advantages of something well-made over equipment I put together myself; not to waste time with pushups and other bodyweight exercises but to focus on actually moving something; and finally that it would take many years to realize my goals.

[Bruce Tackett]

Oh, my side.

[Michael]

Yeah, I've said this for many things. What held me back when I was young was bad information. There was no internet and we weren't rich so magazines were the only information I came across. Another thing was, always looking for the next big thing. I was also pretty skinny with no power. I was just trying to put some meat on my bones to attract some girls. , can't attract them when You look like Skeletor.

[Michael]

[gruntbrain]

After many years I still haven't figured out which of the 19 voices in my head will guide me to strength and health . Perhaps, I should just listen to Coach Pierini.

[machinehead]

I wish I'd have gotten it through my head that only Arnold can look like Arnold unlike what the magazine headlines promised if I did their routines.
I wish I'd have worked my legs more rather then just doing bench press and bicep curls all those years, thinking I'd impress the bro's and girls. I wound up impressing neither one.
I wish I payed more attention to my diet. Like quit putting so much attention into carb consumption after workouts to "replenish my stock" and just eat the well balanced meal my mother made.
I wish I'd done more deadlifting.
I wish I had an ab wheel back in the day. It's a relative newcomer to my equipment arsenal.

There's probably more...

[Bob50]

I would rather do nothing 

[mr potatohead]

Nov 14, 2019 23:18:32 GMT Michael said:

I like this guy. His emphasis is on the philosophy of how one approaches exercise. People should have an opportunity to learn how to exercise to build muscle and strength without hurting themselves. Difficult info to find on the web, from books/mags or from many "trainers". Good stuff.
I would like to have had his input when I started out. I might not have over-taxed and injured myself up so many times before figuring it out. I regret ever doing a straight bar dead lift.

Noted his targeted, minimal range of motion for the exercises he demonstrates. Obviously works.

[Michael]

Agree Mikey.

[jrmeatplow]

You know, reading this and looking back at my own training, I was lucky. When I started, my uncle taught me everything I ever needed to know about training. I started training under him as a skinny 13 year in 1988. I was short and skinny, but naturally strong with thick bones. There were things that took me decades to grasp though. One of these things that I hadn't paid much attention too was my ability put heavy things over my head naturally. The first time I tried i could sloppily clean and press nearly my bodyweight overhead. But. no one really cared for that, it was bench, bench, bench, but over the past decade or so, people have started giving it more attention. If I would have went with my natural strengths and focused on overhead lifting all those years, I think I could have been something special.

Now, I'm just trying to hang on to what I got.

[fastfor40]

What do I wish I knew then?

That the basic weight training workout I was doing was producing the best results in strength and physique, and no alternative methods came close.

And all I was doing was squats, benches, overhead presses, deadlifts, good-mornings, barbell and dumbbell curls, jumping squats, dips, bent-over rows - almost all compound movements, and all done at different set/rep schemes according to how I felt that day.

My ego remembers how many favorable comments I got with regard to my strength and physique, and right up to the age of 38 I was still doing the same workout I began when I was 19.

I would not have done long-distance running, and stuck to the shorter runs and sprint workouts. LD was a bad, bad choice, as I've come to realize.

I would not have done the workout protocol I have spoken about many times here and elsewhere.

[mr potatohead]

Nov 15, 2019 12:45:21 GMT fastfor40 said:

.... all done at different set/rep schemes according to how I felt that day. ....

I also consider what other things I need to do that day. If it is, or was, a physically demanding day, I may skip most recreational exercise altogether, except maybe some Qigong.

[pierinifitness]

That diet is more important than exercise in muscular appearance.

[Bruce Tackett]

Nov 15, 2019 12:45:21 GMT fastfor40 said:

What do I wish I knew then?

That the basic weight training workout I was doing was producing the best results in strength and physique, and no alternative methods came close.

Now that I think about it, the first twelve years of working out were sans-Internet. All that I knew I had learned from written material that came with a set of weights. Hence, I spent twelve years doing the standard weight lifts, the standard 3 sets of 10 reps. In retrospect, it was a pretty good routine and I benefited greatly from it. The only thing I added were pushups and chinups, which I considered to be the core of my routine.