Why I Train Suboptimal (identity, consciousness & Heavy Lifting) 

As with most deeply philosophical videos sometimes my greater point can get lost in the finer details. Above all else my message in this video is to say: Humanness > Rationality The rational is meant to be a guiding force for the very essence of human. However we’ve replaced the enjoyment of food with the title of the restaurant. We’ve thrown the passion out for the PRs… I know… what a shock… even the quest for greater strength can lead us into the rationalistic overtly scientific headspace that sucks all the meaning out. I normally would say “be both”. But I dare you to just throw all optimally out for a while. Follow your program sure, do your analysis, but just dive head first into the art of it all. Express something for the sake of expression rather than the accumulation of “more”.

You are gradually moving to the realm of the spiritual through the art of powerlifting

Awesome video, I really enjoyed this

Nice work! Keep it up. 💪💪

It’s so refreshing to hear introspection in the gym

Love this!

18:50 so real. I think a lot of times we forget to live life as jacked dudes and focus too much on being jacked dudes if that makes sense.

It's a sick video. I enjoyed watching this.

Consistency over many years is indispensable to accomplishing meaningful goals in any endeavor. Nothing facilitates consistency quite like adopting an approach that is genuinely enjoyable and sustainable for both your body and mind.

In regards to Clarence0, I think what's alluring is that he displays strength, but also nimbleness, flexibility, and pure explosive athleticism. It's definitely more impressive than a bloated, stiff powerlifter lifting more weight, but doing so barely past parallel in a super low bar position, whilst not being able to put his own socks on in the morning. To each their own, but I think most would agree with your premise. Our bodies are meant to stay nimble as it's a sign of vitality.

refreshing video 🙏

Thank you for caring about us Brendan.

This is part of the reason why I do beltless high-bar squats, less of an arch and a closer-grip bench press, and a beltless conventional deadlift strapless. I also look to develop strength in a holistic way as well.

I hear what you're saying and greatly appreciate your nuanced dialogue. I remember seeing Ido Portal for the first time and feeling a sudden burst of appreciation for my body and the art of movement. While I am currently working on hitting powerlifting goals and I enjoy it greatly, my mind and body craves eventually getting back into flowing movement. I take yoga classes sometimes and even those, way too often, seem rigid and uncreative. It takes some effort to seek out inspiring practitioners and teachers.

Beast!! Nice hat 🤟🏽🖤

uHh aKtUaLLy Overdue video, nicely spoken! Odd lifts aside, its a nice breather in the current meta being followed by many strength folks

hello brendan, its cool to see someone more thoughtful in the iron game. i agree with you 100% that strength training should have a deeper meaning, at least for myself. it used to be this way in the old days: the original strongmen in the late 19th century were circus perfomers, wrestlers or gymansts and earned their living with their shows. strength training enabled them to live their life the wanted to live. i think making your lifting the defining part of your identity can be quite harmful. I have never been a powerlifter but I asked myself the question, who benefits from my strength training. I came to the conclusion that my lifitng was self serving and to please my ego. Since then I have joined the local volunteer fire brigade and this has helped me in my training, because now my strength training has a purpose, too. My training might not be optimal from a pure strength point of view, but I does make me more capable when it comes to functionality e.g. carrying awkward objects, strength endurance, work capacity. what made my training more fun, was exploring old time lifts e.g. the bent press, one arm snatches and deadlifts, zercher squats. ps: i'm not a native speaker, so this is a little bit incoherent ;) greetings from germany

Most needed video ever tbh. And I think we still have consciousness after dying ^^ Kinda got that experience once. It's also really fun to do strongman and bodybuilding exercises (I really need a leg curl machine and a yoke lol) and wow I just mentioned in my own last video that I hate any kind of belts and sleeves lol. At the same time I like overloading the squats with knee wraps or power briefs xD I just like a lot of styles at the same time or maybe I'm not? It's a journey without a finite conclusion tbh. Oh and I really love running, sprinting and trekking. There is too less magic in our rationalized form of reality which is also magic but a form which isn't full-filling. Eating and drinking is also magic to me. There is a biological effect but also such a psychologcal that it can really change things fundamentily even for regeneration. I also do long-paused front squats for no reason other than they feel so great and help me with my own journey. It's a game yes and even if we look only rational: doing these things keep up our motivation in the long run. And I think passion is a form of love and loves beats everything and can transport us so so far beyond our wildest imaginations :) I have to share this vid btw.

My workouts have gotten better since I stopped really caring what I do. I'm a middle aged guy just trying to stay healthy and nobody cares how much I lift or whether I go to failure.

The IQ if a freezer box, LMAO. dope video bro

I actually gave up my soul trying to make weight for a powerlifting meet. Got to do a spiritual cut to drop that last seven ounces

Sorry to keep spamming the comments, but there is so much here that I identify with. I was actually that ten year old analyzing stride length on the playground (literally running mile repeats AROUND the playground) because I was already caught up in that comparative value system you touch on in the context of powerlifting. It took me years to stop doing what I was good at and have to courage to pursue what I cared about

I think I get it.

Can you explain the logic behind doing a weighted pigeon vs bodyweight if you get the same stretch? Are you strengthening the pirfomis more?

We used to have so much soul

100% it’s not restricted to lifting Yesterday I was at local guitar shop just trying a guitar out and this amp I was playing through was some old 1990 amp and it sounded cool to me so I tried reading about the model online and every post was just bashing how bad the “tone” is on this specific amp model lol. Unbelievable, everyone wants to be an expert for some unknown reason but all it’s doing is taking the joy away Technique or optimization, whatever we want to call it should be used to express emotion / personality, however these days it tends to hide it which i find boring. Regardless of the field, i think a lot of people have lost the plot completely

Suboptimal is the best

Whilst we have many differing views, I completely agree on this point. The push towards "optimal" is incredibly overrated. I have seen far too many friends burn out doing the same generic program that "modern" powerlifting has become. Too many of us forget why we got into training and why we enjoy it. I know raw guys doing conjugate and whilst many will say that isn't optimal, they all absolutely love that way of training and that's infinitely more important.

❤❤

You know that we can see from the video timer how long the pause was, right? Anyways, beast, dude.

16:33 me doing drop sets on squats and doing calisthenics every day before bed

Some of us do understand what you are saying. I personally just don't comment that often :D

I’m a casual lifter at best. I’m not anywhere near the strongest, athletic, leanest or biggest guy anyone has ever seen. I’m just an average dude who loves to move weight around. There is nothing more to it than that. I’ve long since given up on “optimal” or “ideal” when it comes to lifting. There is one reason and one reason only I lift: because it’s difficult. That’s it. The side effects of being stronger, leaner and bigger than the average guy is just icing on the cake.

I feel that many people promoting this “optimal” training methodology are forgetting the simple fact that you’re gonna to take something you love doing much more seriously than you are some task that is devoid of any meaning to you. How that may add up with greater effort, better adherence to outside the gym variables, etc. isn’t something that I would imagine can be overlooked in good faith. In theory, sure, your “perfectly” engineered system may produce better results (already an incredibly arrogant assumption for a vast majority of people to think they have such knowledge), but so few people, whether they admit it or not, are gonna put themselves behind boring effort with robotic dedication and execution

Song at 0:33?

Would you recommend sbd days ?

I think what you say here was also said by clarence himself. If I remember correctly he said in a interview that squats without belt and sleeves and to that depth because he just thinks it looks cool and athletic

damn, did my comment get deleted? :(

I’d have hit failure just trying to count to ten, no weight necessary

I've seen many talented lifters getting burned out and give up on lifting altogether. Maybe it just wasn't for them but in talking to them they always seemed overly focused on the numbers and/or physique while never discovering what actually felt good for them in the gym.

2+2=4 Objective Reality

That pause was actually only 8 seconds