Behold two pieces of training advice given to me by the late, great Don Styler (former proprietor of “The Don Styler Physical Training Centre”, one of the oldest gyms in the UK until its closure earlier this year):
1) You don’t need to be monstrously strong to build a powerful physique
Back around 2011/2012 when I was going through my “powerlifting phase” I asked Don what his best ever squat was.
He told me it was about 400lbs (180kg) for a single.
A fair amount of weight, of that there is no doubt. But it was far less than I was expecting, given how everybody on the internet was telling me that anyone who squatted less than 200kg for reps was a weakling who wasn’t serious about training.
He also warned me against chasing big numbers, saying that such a pursuit would harm my health, general fitness, and appearance greatly.
Obviously I ignored him because I thought I knew best as every 21 year old does.
The result?
I chased the big numbers and hit them at the expense of being fat and out of shape with a host of preventable joint problems that caused misery in my daily life.
Believe it or not, my legs didn’t grow all that much from the obscene poundages, either.
It was only when I did as Don advised (scale back the weight to the point you can take every rep through a full range of motion under complete control) that I got the muscular and relatively (but not excessively) lean physique I wanted from the start.
Funny, that.
2) Never wear headphones in the gym
Don once gave me a severe telling off for wearing headphones.
Principally because I ignored him when he popped in to say hello (as he always did) because I couldn’t hear him, but also for the deleterious effect these little devices would have on my progress.
Here is how they mess things up:
The most productive workouts are those where you move briskly from set to set and exercise to exercise.
You cannot do this while listening to music via headphones because you will invariably get your phone or other music-playing device out to change the record when something comes on that you don’t want to listen to.
Then there is the not-inconsiderable chance that you will develop a dependency on certain records for tough sets and/or exercises; greatly diminishing your performance on those days when you forget your device or headphones.
Yet Again I have chosen to ignore this advice in the past. And, every time I do, my workout duration goes through the roof (circa 45 minutes without music versus 75 to 90 minutes with). This significantly reduces the “training density” (a critical driver of muscle growth particularly), neutering my progress.
Those are my two pieces of old school advice from a great man who was a huge influence on the way I think, train, and live.
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