I was talking with an old friend of mine the other day. We played Junior College Football in '85 and '86. A long time ago. Though it seems like only yesterday....Anyway, he was like, "What do you do with he people and athletes that you train? I bet you do all kind of cutting edge stuff." I asked him if the remembered the exercises that we did together in Beth's basement in Calverton, MD. He answered, "Of course, the squat, bench and deadlift and clean.". I started laughing. Because he was expecting this answer that would blow his mind- some mumbo jumbo that skirts around the issue of hard ass barb bell exercises and instead focuses on light weights on standing on a ball or suspended with ropes or ...you get the picture. When I told him that we do the same stuff that we did way back then, he said, "Just the basics, huh?" and it got me thinking- isn't that the way to go with everything? the basics , the foundation that works? Everything I do with folks, the dynamic mobility, boxing, programming, shoulder rehab...all of it- its all just a adjunct to the BASIC LIFTS. In other words, all that stuff doesn't matter without them.
Its simple. But people want an excuse to not perform the fundamentals. Why? because it can be uncomfortable. I like this expression-" Its supposed to feel like crap." Once you accept that, just do them!
