Austin Bates, CSCS

I’ve heard both arguments, so very curious…. Is it a requirement for S&C/fitness professionals to “look the part” and/or be in shape (strong, fast, good at sport, etc.) in order to coach? Comment for other options. @StrengthDebates what do you think?

Most of our lives are quietly spent chasing external validation, approval from strangers, institutions, audiences, and abstractions, because it feels measurable, visible, and rewarding. In contrast, the people closest to us, parents, partners, children, friends, offer no scoreboard. Their presence becomes familiar, predictable, and therefore dangerously easy to take for granted. We assume time is abundant, affection is permanent, and opportunities to show care will always return. So we postpone effort at home while exhausting ourselves proving worth elsewhere. Only when someone leaves, through distance, silence, or death, does the illusion break. Then the imbalance becomes painfully clear: how much energy we spent being admired, and how little we invested in being present, and that regret doesn't leave you after that.

Habits that have a high rate of return in life: - sleeping 8+ hours each day - lifting weights 3x week - going for a walk each day - saving at least 10 percent of your income - reading every day - drinking more water and less of everything else - leaving your phone in another room while you work

I’ve dialed back my social media presence even further back from the already low levels, but figured the world would like to meet our first daughter Riley Elizabeth Bates ❤️

@rangeofstrength Thanks mate!

@BatesFit Mine is 30kg. 20-30 is good for high reps 🤝

Enjoying this superset as a bench warmup lately. Chest Expander Pulldowns to fire up the back for barbell descent. Overhand Pec Stick closes to fire up the chest and create bar breaking tension. Old school training tools have a lot of versatility.

Growing up my parents forced my family to sit down around the kitchen table to plan out the week ahead & then get the house in order & I hated it But my wife & I have been really dialing in on our Sunday routine rather than just plopping on the couch and it’s been a game changer

@BowTiedYukon “Better than I deserve”

Male response to "How's it going" severity scale Pretty good - Not good Can't complain - Rough couple of weeks It's going - Alcohol and cigarettes are keeping him going Just another day in paradise - Hates his job, wife and life Things couldn’t be better - Going to park on the train tracks

Assuming all of these come pain/injury free: BJJ Black Belt 405 Bench 4 Minute Mile Sleeper pick is the swim option that I’ve noticed not very many people have chosen.

@WSWayland “Light” snatch deads after jiu jitsu 😱 You’re an animal. Just curious - do you use a similarly narrow stance on your conventional deadlift and/or if you’re doing an actual snatch?

Light snatch grip EDM & few back off triples, still battered from jiujitsu so taking it easy.

Jiu-Jitsu taught me to view the world with a realist’s eye; in Jiu-Jitsu, you can’t fake it. Jiu-Jitsu is one of the most authentic experiences I’ve ever witnessed in my life. For example, there are many martial arts where the instructor acts more like an actor than anything else, and you never really know how skilled that person is. In Jiu-Jitsu, that doesn’t happen. At some point, we will shake hands and roll, and very quickly, we can see who is who. I don’t mean that you have to be crazy tough, but what I mean is, if you don’t know Jiu-Jitsu and you’re just pretending to know by demonstrating moves, we can easily identify this when we roll. And in life, how many times do we meet people who pretend they know a lot? Unfortunately, there’s no way to ‘roll,’ but after Jiu-Jitsu, I’ve become a much more skeptical person because I always wonder, if this were Jiu-Jitsu, would this guy be as good as he claims? Anyway, maybe I’m going off the deep end here, hehe, but these are just my thoughts for the day, and I truly believe in this: You can’t fake in Jiu-Jitsu. The truth appears very quickly.

@RUGBY_STR_COACH This is one of the leaderboard tests in my gym. One of the harder physical/mental challenges out there because you know how much you will simply have to suffer. Worked up to 52 earlier this year 💀

We used to have max cal minute challenge on the echo bike. I think I just cracked 40. Two of our national level throwers, both with VJs in the 40" range and both comfortably capable of double bw front squat for reps managed.... 30 and 28 respectively.

Many (maybe the majority) of people over 30 think they are healthier than they are. The way they support this delusion this is to avoid physical activity, or anything, which would show them that they are not.

“You must give your body an unambiguous message to what you want it to become.” ~Boo Schexnayder Cats don’t jog.

@juztacitizen @MichaelMindrum This is the best response out of all of the comments on this tweet.

🔥 Obesity is not a behavior. Let that sink in. It’s not about eating too much, exercising too little, or lacking willpower. It’s a chronic, complex condition driven by biology, environment, and genetics—not simple “choices.” Let me explain. 1/10

“Obesity is not someone’s fault” I see some crazy stuff on this platform but this might take the cake. I was so encouraged by everyone in the comments who said that they took PERSONAL responsibility for being overweight and then did something about it, and guess what? It worked

Maturing in the gym is understanding that extreme soreness is actually a bad thing for muscle growth Look to inflict the least amount of stress needed to progress

The reason people don't stick with flexibility training is that they don't have clearly defined, measurable outcomes. Use these 6 Flexibility Benchmarks for better results!

@rangeofstrength Absolutely love this. I can’t remember a single coach on social media talking about “flexibility benchmarks” and actually giving a target to shoot for. It’s usually just the usual crap “do this 1 exercise to BULLETPROOF your knees” I’ll be thinking of 1 or 2 more to add 🤔

If most track and cross country coaches read and understood these 3 sentences, 90% of their weight room programs would change drastically 😅

“There is a general misconception that an endurance-based sport requires high repetitions of a low to moderate weight. This is incorrect. Muscular endurance is improved during running, so endurance training shouldn’t be the focus of resistance training” @GuruAnaerobic