I decided to subscribe to Meg Gallagher's Strong Strong Friends training program back in September, feeling mildly uncertain about spending money on a strength-training program. Short version of this post: it has been money well spent and I am going to buy the next installment too.
Could I just tell myself what to do in the gym instead? I mean, sure, that is a thing I could do. I tend to get in ruts where I just keep doing the same things over and over, and I tend to go around and around inside my brain about how much weight to lift on a given day. Meg tells me what to do and gives me short videos to show me how to do it. If I look at her short video and I am like, "No, Meg, I decline," she will give me a list of substitutions that target the same muscles. Usually there's something on the list that will quiet down my inner Bartleby-the-scrivener-who-would-prefer-not-to.
I also really like being told how much weight to lift and how many times to lift it. I am not a person who objects to math, but 77.5% of 97.5 would require some face-scrunching. Meg's app does the face-scrunching number-crunching, and it keeps track of what I've been doing across time. I had no clue where to put the pin for lat pulldowns today, because I haven't done a lot of them this fall. But the app said, "Here you go, Jamie, I've got you."
(Do you anthropomorphize your apps like this? I do know that this app has no literal face to scrunch and no actual kindness to offer me, but that last paragraph reads as if I have made a new friend and not just paid a subscription fee.)
This most recent installment of the plan has been a bro split, where you focus on one major movement in each lifting session. It has shown me that I much prefer lifting sessions with two compound movements, so I've been adjusting accordingly. You can sub in whatever you'd like, and the app will plop the results right in with the rest of your data. The next session is apparently going to focus on deadlifts, and I am here for it. I love deadlifting. I've made a bunch of deadlift progress this fall and I'm excited to make more.
I do find the workouts long and exhausting, so I trim them down to a length that works for me. I might make faster progress if I did all the exercises every time, but I might also persuade myself that going to the gym was too hard and painful so maybe I should go tomorrow, or maybe the day after.
Meg is not paying me any money to write this post; it is an unsolicited review from a happy first-time subscriber. If you feel comfortable with the big three compound lifts and have been looking for a nudge to get back to lifting or progress more systematically, I highly recommend it. If you don't yet feel comfortable with the big three, I suggest Casey Johnston's LIFTOFF program.
Barbells for all, osteoporosis for none, deadlifts forever! And on that cheery note, good night, my friends.
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