The Family Barbell

It's ubiquitous advice in fitness circles, that whatever exercise you attempt or programming you follow, you should always "listen to your body." But what does that even mean? The implication is that if something feels painful, or uncomfortable, or wrong in any way, you should modify or avoid the movement. And, to be fair, this is not bad advice. The problem is that novices are often disembodied, and don't have a good understanding of what signals their body is sending them. They often confuse discomfort with pain, and are uncomfortable or even frightened by the sensations of their body when it begins to change from training. They also lack the experience under the barbell to interpret how "bad" a bad feeling is, and whether they should listen to that feeling and modify their session accordingly, or continue training as normal and -- as often happens -- feel fine or even better than they started afterward.

So, while it sounds like good advice, listen to your body is nebulous at best, harmful at worst. We've seen trainees who give too much attention to how they feel during and after training and end up modifying nearly every workout, to the point where they stop adding weight to the bar, even go backwards taking weight off the bar, and eventually avoid movements altogether. At that point you're not training!

You are better off training, and continuing to train, even when things don't feel great. Most of the time -- the vast majority of the time -- you'll feel better than you think after training! And over the course of time, you'll gain experience and understanding of what sensations are important to listen to and modify training accordingly, and which ones are false signals.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Practical Programming for Strength Training, 3rd Ed

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Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Family Wealth: Keeping It In the Family by James Hughes

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

We talked about unsticking your press, let's get that squat and deadlift moving again too! In today's episode, Coach Trent and Jordan discuss programming modifications to move from the novice linear progression into the advanced novice phase and then into early intermediate programming. As always, careful attention to technique and recovery are crucial, so go back and listen to episode #8 if you need a refresher.

The basic concept with modifying the squat and deadlift is to create space for more recovery in your week as the loads climb. The squat and deadlift are much more fatiguing, both to the back (which works hard isometrically in both lifts) and the posterior chain as well as the nervous system in general (systemic fatigue), and thus require more time to recover as a trainee gets stronger and moves heavier weights. Therefore, the first programming moves we make to transition into the advanced novice phase are designed to give your back a break between heavy bouts of training -- a midweek light day on the squat, alternating heavy and light days on the deadlift, top sets and backoffs, etc. Coach Trent also describes how you can use rep cycling to extend the late stages of the novice progression as well as make sustained progress on a simple heavy, light, medium (HLM) program.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Ray Williams astounding 490kg (1,080lbs) WR squat

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

Today's episode is a departure from training, but a topic we're passionate about on The Family Barbell -- building practical skills for the home and family. Jordan invites her friend and fellow garment sewer Jessica Jaco to talk about their love of garment sewing, how they got started, and how you can get started sewing your own clothes.

Jordan is a self-taught sewist who has spent almost a decade making clothes, with a special interest in working with linen, fine cotton prints, and knits. Jessica has been sewing her whole life, and works professionally sewing upholstery, cushions, pillows, slipcovers, and other items for the home. Jessica also has a strong interest in sewing clothes, and regularly posts her creations on Instagram.

Sewing clothes is a wonderful practical skill, but it's also act of expression. Jordan and Jessica discuss how they grew to dislike shopping for clothes off the rack, dealing with poor fit, subpar materials, and clothes that never felt right. Sewing taught them not only how to make clothes that fit well, but gave them an avenue to express their personality, taste, and role in life through the style of clothes they choose to make. Both of them are mothers of young children, so their clothing needs to wear a lot of hats, so to speak. It needs to be breathable (to handle the hot weather of east Tennesee and Oklahoma), durable, flexible and mobile enough to chase around and pick up children all day. It needs to be flattering and stylish, but in a way that's appropriate for mothers in their late 30's. It's a lot to ask for clothes off the rack! But the beauty of making your own clothes is that you can learn to make exactly what you want, with exactly the materials and prints that you like.

Jordan and Jessica put together a list of resources you can use to get started sewing.

Beginner Friendly Pattern Companies

https://helensclosetpatterns.com/

https://grainlinestudio.com/

https://closetcorepatterns.com/

https://esmadebyme.com/collections/digital-sewing-patterns

Trusted Fabric Stores

https://corefabricstore.com/

https://www.blackbirdfabrics.com/en-us

https://lyricalfabrics.com/

https://surgefabricshop.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoofqDZmkPTfPCwcQTTV-CeqLlGtqdzE72IC5zWDYbkr8j1fkTp2

Sewing Supplies

https://www.wawak.com/

Beginner Friendly Patterns

Helen's Closet Ashton Top https://helensclosetpatterns.com/collections/tops/products/ashton-top

Grainline Willow Tank https://grainlinestudio.com/products/willow-tank-dress

Elizabeth Suzann Georgia Tshirt https://esmadebyme.com/collections/digital-sewing-patterns/products/georgia-series-digital-sewing-pattern

Anna Allen Pomona Pants https://annaallenclothing.com/collections/all-products/products/pomona-pants-shorts

Paradise Patterns Blomma Tank https://paradisepatterns.com/products/blomma-tank-pdf-sewing-pattern-sizes-a-l-bust-30-60-athletic-style-top-b-cup-and-d-cup-options

Closet Core Ebony Shirt and Dress https://closetcorepatterns.com/collections/sewing-patterns-all/products/ebony-t-shirt-knit-dress-pattern?_pos=21&_fid=f39ca026e&_ss=c&variant=39419156299910

Follow Jessica on Instagram

@jessicamariejaco

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

Coach Trent and Jordan discuss a sample day of their diet, and the thought process and years of refinement that have gone into their food choices. For the Jones family, there are five simple rules (really three rules, plus some addendums) that drive food choices:

1. No seed oils
2. No food dye
3. We prioritize whole foods
4. We grow/raise as much of our food as we can
5. We cook what we eat

The seed oil and food dye rule is stated half-jokingly, but only half. While seed oils and food dye have very noticeable negative effects on their own, what cutting them out does is eliminate most of the processed food you could buy at the supermarket. Naturally, this leads to rule three, which is prioritizing whole foods. Real foods. Single ingredients. Mostly meats, greens, dairy, eggs, rice, and other whole grains. Very little comes from a package, preprepared.

Trent and Jordan point out that eating this way not only satisfies the macronutrient density required to live an active, heavy lifting lifestyle, it's also in harmony with the place they live in and the people they come from. Their food is, at its core, Southern soul food, with a few practical additions like tuna and salmon, maple syrup, etc. They are of northern European stock, and thrive on dairy and whole grains. Folks from other ethnic backgrounds may struggle on the same diet.

This episode, therefore, is an analysis of what Trent and Jordan eat, and why, not necessarily what you should eat. That said, this diet is over a decade in the making, and is the result of constant refinement, learning, and intuition.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• How Canola Oil Is Made
• Azure Standard

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

Press got you down? We'll help you lift it back up! In today's episode, Coach Trent and Jordan discuss why the press stalls out, and steps you can take to get it moving again.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• How to Press with Good Technique (Barbell Logic)
• The First Three Questions

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

Coach Trent and Jordan explore the idea of leisure as an essential component of health -- leisure being not mere idleness or passive amusement but an activity of opening oneself up to receiving the gifts of creation from the Creator. They discuss how leisure is the key to understanding oneself, and developing a life of contemplation to allow for spiritual development.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Leisure the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

In the Stress/Recovery/Adaptation model, a lifter must adequately recover from the stress imposed in the gym by lifting weights in order to adapt and get stronger. The main components of recovery are food and sleep, and today Coach Trent and Jordan are talking about food.

The long and the short of it is that if you want to get strong, you will need to eat a lot of food. Possibly a lot more than you are used to. There are a few exceptions, such as the morbidly obese, who can successfully run a novice linear progression in a slight caloric deficit, but the majority of people will need to eat in a surplus to see strength gains. This means gaining weight on the scale, to provide the nutrients necessary for your body to build muscle mass, and to gain the leverage necessary to move heavy weights. Remember the weight on the bar is what is driving progress in the NLP, so anything we can do to continue adding weight to the bar will result in more strength and more muscle mass.

As the champion bodybuilder Lee Haney says: "You can't train like a horse and eat like a bird."

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

Hey we've got standards here! In today's episode, Coach Trent and Jordan talk about strength standards for the beginning lifter, basic targets that any serious lifter should be striving for in the first couple years of their training. While everyone's journey is different, and everyone's absolute strength potential is different, the vast majority of people picking up a barbell can hit these numbers, and should strive to reach them.

Coach Trent and Jordan also discuss some basic healthy habit standards such as sleep, general activity, leisure, and socializing.

The Base (for Men), lbs

115x5 Press

185x5 Bench

225x5 Squat

315x5 Deadlift

The Standards 1.0 (Men)

Simply put, 1/2/3/4 plates for 1 rep. Ideally for 5 reps.

135 Press (one plate on each side of the bar)

225 Bench (two plates)

315 Squat (three plates)

405 Deadlift (four plates)

The Standards 2.0 (Men)

2/3/4/5 plates for one rep, i.e. the Starting Strength "sticker" numbers

200 Press

315 Bench

405 Squat

500 Deadlift

The Base (Women)

70 Press

100 Bench

135 Squat

205 Deadlift

The Standards 1.0

80 Press

115 Bench

185 Squat

250 Deadlift

The Standards 2.0 (sticker numbers)

100 Press

155 Bench

225 Squat

315 Deadlift

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews

There's nothing like the community and energy of a great black iron gym, but in our experience, there's also nothing like a home gym. Whether it's a spartan setup in your basement or a luxe sprawling gym in it's own building, a home gym gives you space to train in the way you want, with your own equipment, your own rules, and at your own pace. Perhaps most importantly, a home gym is right there -- no commute, no waiting for equipment. You can train consistently and efficiently when you don't have to drive to a gym and wait for equipment. In the long run, it's the consistent lifters that accomplish the most, and a home gym is the ultimate for consistency.

In today's gym, Coach Trent and Jordan walk through everything you need to build a basic but complete home gym. They also discuss some things to look out for, what items to priotize on a budget, and different options to fit your space, including:

1. Power rack: we like the Rogue R-3 best but the Titan T-3 is a good budget alternative. Rep Fitness also makes very high quality racks in a huge range of sizes and configurations.
2. Barbell: Rogue B&R 2.0, Texas All-American Bar by Buddy Capps
3. Plates and collars: StrengthCo, Rogue machined plates, Rogue HG 2.0 plastic collars, Rogue OSO aluminum collars
4. Plate tree: Rogue vertical plate tree, Texas Strength Systems A-frame plate tree
5. Lifting platform: the best platforms are DIY; they are easy to build and a fraction of the cost of premade platforms. See links below for build guides.
6. Other stuff: chalk, 5gal bucket for your chalk, cool posters, lifesize cutout of Ronnie Coleman that says "lightweight baby!"

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• How to Build a Lifting Platform
• How to SHIM a platform (easy method)

Connect With Us

Email: [email protected]

Trent IG: @marmalade_cream

Jordan IG: @babayaga_sews