Joined a new gym last night. Hilarious

[f4thpathway]

Navajo Tom isn't too insane. Expectations and reality are different for everyone though. But I find it pretty easy to get sub 150lb novice women to 200lb squats, 300lb deadlifts, and 100lb benches in the same timeframe he mentioned. But I know how to do what I do and how to get the results out of all sorts of personalities. Males in the age range and athletic potential that he most likely associates with, with the atmosphere they have going on, could get pretty far in a short period of time.

[Tom Narvaez]

tootntm, sorry, but you did, or are doing, absolutely everything wrong.



My claims are ludicrous, huh?

Okay, here's my buddy Sam hitting a 475 squat. He's been training for 30 weeks:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UvKeGOUnTc

Here's our buddy Mark, he's 16y/o, hitting a 455 squat. He squatted 365x3 only a few months ago before working with me and Sam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FbqdD3NVEM

Here's my little brother, Tony, he's 17 y/o, hitting 275x5x3 after less than one month of training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cieTWXQG8n8

Here's me hitting an easy 380x5. I've been seriously training for a little under eight months:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cDj_R5fcmI

I can keep going. Seriously.

I have random teenagers, all with extremely varied levels of athleticism, who walk into my "gym" almost every training day. Pretty much all of them hit at least 135x5x3 on the first day. Exactly one kid hasn't. He was 5'3" and about 100lbs. He did 95lbs.

In fact, even my brother's girlfriend has hit 175x5 squat and she only trained for like two or three weeks. To be clear, she didn't even train with me. She trained with him. So, the "coaching" probably wasn't very good (and is probably why she quit).

Maybe you had an extremely shitty situation; I don't know. It just so happens that I see the kinds of results I am talking about on a regular basis. Everyone else would too if they just got their form down and did the program.

[unclean]

I haven't seen anybody squat 4 plates in my current gym either. The only person I did see do that was at another gym. He was about 28 and his main focus was on Rugby.

But from seeing internet videos and reading some of the logs and other threads, I know that 4 plates is achievable by most males. Other factors can make it take longer, such as being afraid of being fat, but it will happen eventually.

[sedition]

@Narvaez got-damn!

good numbers. your garage reminds me of mine,... only your concrete floor isnt destroyed from deadlifts. miss my rocky 4 workouts.

also, i took off 8 months? because of work, cortisol, moving, landlord, etc. need some motivations for my detrained ass.

[f4thpathway]

I do 4 plates easily. Trying for 405x20.

I'm 60% disabled.

[toonttm]

Well Tom, I say again, I have only once in my life seen someone go over 3 plates..it is not an everyday occurrence, you only need to read these forums to see that or simply walk into any gym anywhere and see how many people can squat even 2 plates let alone 3, and 4 plates..wow. You and your pals obviously train hard and 'live' lifting - and while your 380lb is mighty impressive do you think in another 8 months you will be lifting 760lb? Where do you think you will plateau? it will happen eventually.

Interesting that the 16 year old weighs 190lb (86kg) (and he isn't a fatty) - not quite the average teenager, lol, I only weigh 80kg now..with a gut
What would be interesting to see is how far you can get the 5'3"/100lb kid. I think anyone can do 135lb straight up, that ain't a lot of weight, but I would say the average person would be resetting a few times before touching 250lb (if they got that far)
And we all know that the more weight you add the harder it gets, i.e. 200lb might be a quite easy weight used as a warmup but 220lb is a massive struggle, or just because someone lifts 175lb after a few weeks doesn't mean they'll be lifting 350lb in another few weeks (if ever).
I think it is well known that someone can be trained to quite a high level in any skill in a relatively short time, running, jumping, lifting, maths, building...but then a performance limit cuts in (and most people are the same-ish). So I reckon that a 400lb squat is totally beyond most people, even with a dedicated training program.

[Tom Narvaez]

Rip, himself, has recently said that the lowest he has ever seen a normal, healthy male stall on 3x5 squats is mid to high 200s. That's pretty close to a three plate squat right there. The novice phase only lasts 3-9 months. 400 is far enough away from genetic potential that I think most males can get within shooting distance, if not well beyond it, during their basic novice LP. My experience has been different than yours and, apparently, so has Rip's. Honestly, that's good enough for me to be comfortable with my position on potential.

I'll have to let Mark know that he's a genetic freak. I'm sure he'll like to hear that, lol.

I was 5'6" 135lbs or so. Now I'm 5'6" ~210. That's probably not close enough to your example, but, let's be honest, if you're a man and you're 5'3", 100lbs then you don't even come close to representing the genetic average so it's a fairly useless case study with regards to what "most people" can do.

[toonttm]

Here's a story to add. i seen some guys working out a few weeks back. They were squatting around 280lb. They had a new guy with them and started him with an empty bar. After about 5 sets they got him to squat 200lb, lots of 'verbal positive reinforcement', he didn't want to do it but did, and got a set. He was white as a ghost, shaking madly and I assume went home and went to bed. Bet I never see him in a gym ever again. He lifted it...but would he do it again?

[Jonathan Vechet]

toonttm, do you even lift? And if so, why? Your train of thought seems to lead nowhere.

"I'll never squat 400lbs, so why bother?"

I'm a terrible squatter, but I still plan on squatting 400lbs before year's end; hopefully before Summer's end. I sure as hell don't dedicate my lift to it.

And Tom seems to have cultivated an optimal lifting environment. Combined with early 20s/teenage males, it's no wonder he's getting the results he's getting. A lot of us don't have his cards, so we deal the hand we're dealt.

[Kyle Aaron]

Kyle reminds me of a guy i once knew who bought a thriving bar, 2 years later it was an empty dump...he too had the attitude that he knew everything and could throw people out of his bar at will for any slight indiscretion.

First up, I don't run the place, I just work there. I wouldn't try to run the place, my marketing is shit. I train people fairly well but still have a lot to learn.

Someone curling in the squat rack is a "slight indiscretion." I hate those guys, and mock them, but don't throw them out. I just throw out the ones who threaten their own or someone else's health and safety. I'm required to by law. I've spoken against this law, but do have to follow it.

Those who have jobs outside the gym have the luxury of just laughing at it all. Make your living training people and you have to make compromises. So it's you on your high horse, far from the action, happily off in your fantasy land where everyone can do whatever damn fool thing they want and when they hurt themselves they won't sue anyone.

Tom's claim of 400lb (reset to 335 x 3 x 5) in 6 (3) months is just ludicrous

Except that he and others have done it. It's sure as shit not common, but it's been done.

Rip, himself, has recently said that the lowest he has ever seen a normal, healthy male stall on 3x5 squats is mid to high 200s.

I find most tank out somewhere around their bodyweight. But that's a mental limit, not a physical one. They just get scared. toottnm is, I suspect, one of those.