Your Workouts Will Always Suck Without These
By Jason
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I hate the basics.
It doesn’t matter what it is, we simply don’t want basic things in life. Nobody wants to go out and buy a basic car if they could afford something nicer. We don’t like to have basic computers or basic cameras either… we want the fast computers or the cameras will all the hi-tech features.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting more than the basics. We don’t want to live basic lives, we don’t want to buy things that are the bare-bones basics, and we naturally want something more than a basic workout that gives basic results.
In addition, no matter how important it can be to learn the basics rules about whatever you are doing, learning the basics can be a real pain.
I remember taking a basic golf course in college. The teacher made us learn the basics of each golf swing by having us practice every day without a golf club in our hands. I became so frustrated by pretending to play golf each day that I wish I had a real club just so I could smash something with it.
Everybody in my golf class felt that way. We all wanted to learn how to play golf, and just sitting around all day looking at the most basic movements was a real frustration. It’s the same thing with anything we pursue; we naturally want to move beyond the basic level as quickly as possible.
Going to the gym isn’t much different either. You don’t want to have a basic body — you want an amazing body, right? So why would you do the basic exercises if having a basic body isn’t what you want?
That’s why I don’t like using the word “basic” to describe the most useful exercises… it’s very misleading.
The Accelerated Course
It’s just too easy to get caught up in all the details of what we’re trying to do in life. We often waste our time doing all the little things when there’s something big that needs to be done first.
It’s like trying to sweep the floor in your house when there’s a big elephant in the living room that won’t stop crapping on the floor. Take care of the big things first, and then the small details will be easy.
I get the feeling that a lot of us are doing the same thing in the gym. We’re trying to focus on the little details of our workouts like putting some little line on our biceps or a little “cut” in our shoulders. These types of exercises do have their place, but focusing on the details doesn’t get you very far in the beginning.
So why not take the accelerated course when you’re in the gym? You’ll get where you’re trying to go much faster, and you’ll even pick up a lot of the details along the way.
The strange thing is, everybody is calling the best exercises the “basics”. They are the exercises that work the most muscle groups together, and they are usually the most difficult to do. Don’t be fooled though, because these exercises also are the most rewarding.
But maybe we really need to get away from calling these the basics, since nobody wants to have a basic body. Some people will call these exercise “compound movements”, which actually sounds better to me (click here to see which exercises are “basic” or compound movements).
After all, compound interest is a really good thing when you make an investment, but then again, you can get a compound headache and compound stress in your life.
So I thought long and hard about a better name for these movements. I’m looking for a name that truly expresses how important these compound movements are in our workouts – so at length I finally decided that I will now call them Your-Workouts-Will-Always-Suck-Without-These (YWWASWT) exercises.
Sure, there might be some situations where you can get a decent workout without the YWWASWT exercises, but this name helps people to understand the importance of these types of exercises.
And so going forward, I’ll refer to these exercises in this way. It helps beginners to understand how important they are instead of just calling them the “basics”. YWWASWT exercises will work many muscle groups together, and by doing these exercises that are so tough to do, you’re actually taking the accelerated path to obtaining your goals. Besides, if it isn’t difficult at first, it’s probably not that great for you anyways.
So stop trying to sweep up little bits of elephant crap — take the accelerated course and get yourself a better workout. And remember: YWWASWT!
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January 9th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Basics - - they aren’t the basics. They are the “core” exercises. I agree with you, basics is a crap word.
Great article.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:00 am
YWWASWT… You really need to come up with a better name than that! A little hard to remember
Just joking… Great article! I really agree, basic is kind of misleading when it comes to bodybuilding.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:21 am
RT- it is a crap word… elephant crap to be specific
January 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Alex- Hehe, yeah, I tried to think of an outrageous name on purpose. Hard to remember- yes. But if it makes a deeper impression on a beginner than the word “basics”, it will have done its job.
January 10th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
This article is “basic” in the same sense as the “basic” exercises.
Completely agree with you. Why people wish to leave out the fundamentals of a strength program i do not know. When you have become proficient at the “basics” and moved on to the flash stuff it is still imperative to maintain the “basics” they made you the strong guy in the first place.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Jason,
haha
Actually the hardest part is to pronounce it!
January 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Hi Jason,
I just stumbled across your site while I was looking up some another fitness blogs. This post is very true, people get caught up trying to get the small things right, when in reality, they need the core to work from first. Great post, I look forward to reading more.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for the kind words Lauren.