Today is day 5 of Squat Every Day, and I’m not gonna lie to you—I’m starting to feel it! I was a bit sore last night, so I took a long hot bath and took some stuff to alleviate the soreness. It felt good to try to relax my body for a little while.
I know coming into today’s workout that whatever I did second was gonna suck—I knew I was gonna suffer. So, I thought about starting today’s workout with the bench press and then going into the squats, but then I changed my mind. So we started out with squats.
It wasn’t easy. Both squats and bench press are compound movements that require tons of energy. And I wasn’t feeling my best today. But, that set the stakes for me to give you some precious advice today. Read below y’all.
Why I Don’t Recommend Using A Belt
Before I get into the advice, listen y’all, wearing a belt is good on some occasions if you’re gonna squat a lot of weight. But, it can also weaken you because your body gets used to relying on it.
Now, it’s true that the legs recover faster than the core, so using a belt every now and then gives the core that extra support it needs to sustain the movements.
However, you need to make sure that your body isn’t getting used to relying on that additional support you’re giving it because then it won’t adjust to the new challenge. In a way, using a belt too much will deter you from seeing optimal results from doing this type of challenging movements.
Is it harder to not use a belt? Yes, it is. But, I always tell y’all that I like choosing the harder route because that means you’ll get stronger. That means your body will have a harder time finding a new comfort zone, so you’ll be developing your strength rather than just doing stuff your body is already strong enough to do.
You Don’t Have To Crush It Every Single Day
Today wasn’t my best day in terms of performance. Sorry but I’m a human too. And, I want to take advantage of today to give you some valuable advice: it’s ok to not crush it every single day.
Coming into today, I knew I was probably not going to perform at my maximum level. My legs were sore, and I was dealing with a knot on my upper right back. But, I still pushed myself to my limits, even though those limits were not close to my PR’s—and that’s what matters!
You’ll get consistent and stronger, not from going in every day and performing at your best—that’s not even possible! You’ll get your desired results from pushing yourself to your limits every single time. That’s something you CAN control!
Everybody Laughed But When He Stepped Onto The Ring…
I wanna tell you guys a story. George Foreman used to knock the hell out of everybody. He was a champion in everyone’s eyes. But then, Muhammad Ali came and beat him, and George’s career went down.
George stopped fighting to have a family. Like 10 years went by without him competing, and then, one day, out of the blue, he decided to come back into the sport because he needed to make some money to support his family.
He hadn’t worked out in years. He was well overweight. No one believed in him. In fact, most people thought it was a joke. I mean, he was out of shape, slower, older, etc. But he kept plugging away, beating guys—he even took a loss and got right back into it.
George ended up getting a fight for the title against Evander Holyfield. And let me tell you, Evander Holyfield beat the crap out of George. But George never went down. George stood from rounds 1 through 12 on his feet. He lost that fight but then got another shot at the title.
This time the fight was against Michael Moorer. Michael was beating the brakes out of George. But, once again, George was staying in the fight. Why? Because he had character.
Then, either in the last or second to last round, George set a trap (see how to set a boxing trap), and he knocked Michael to the ground. At the time, George was well into his mid-40s. He became the oldest heavyweight champion of the world. That was a testament to his character.
He was able to stay in that fight because he had character. But, the fight is not where you develop character—that’s done in the gym. That’s the hardest part. That’s where you go in and suffer. That’s why so many elite boxers and athletes say that training is harder than competing.
It All Comes Down To This
Lifting weights may seem pointless to most people—especially those who are overweight and lazy. They’d ask you stuff like, “why would you wanna put yourself through that?”
Well, let me tell you that lifting weights builds character. It builds the sort of mental strength required to take control of your life and be disciplined enough to execute the plans that will lead to your goals. What you learn in the gym transcends the gym, you know what I’m saying?
Today I came in not feeling my best. But, I still went through the squat challenge and through the bench press, both of which are compounds movements that stress your CNS.
Listen, in the video, it may have seemed easy to you, but it was hard as hell today. And, I didn’t even get close to my heaviest weights on the bench press.
But that’s the lesson. You gotta go in and do it even if you’re not feeling that good. You gotta power through your mind telling you that it’s not a good day, and you gotta just do it anyway.
You gotta come in every day and be ready to push your body to the limits regardless of if you’re having a good day or not. Listen, if you can bench press 400, but one day you could only go up to 300, it doesn’t really matter.
What matters is that 300 was all you got that day and that you gave it all to become better and stronger, both physically and mentally. That’s how you grow. That’s how you always stay grounded and keep that savage mentality.
When was the last time you pushed yourself to your limits on a not-so-good day? Let me know in the comments!