A new year at the health club brings in many new and interesting characters to the iron scene. I for one try my best to embrace my fellow fitness enthusiasts and possibly potential clients with a friendly smile and brief conversation as I understand how intimidating and frightening the gym can be to someone who hasn’t worked out in a long time or perhaps hasn’t even trained with weights before. For the most part, I get along quite well with the New Year Resolutioners. Most of them will be long gone come February however there are always a few that stick with it and end up making a lifetime commitment to their health and wellness goals.

As a self proclaimed gym rat I love to be surrounded by my own kind. There is nothing more motivating then to be working out and feeding off the energy of others who are training just as hard, if not harder then you are. These are the people who get me pumped, get my adrenaline going and get me excited to do my next set. They help get me into the zone, keep me focused and push me beyond my limits. When the people around me are training hard and intense my own intensity starts to shift into overdrive, I start to max out on every set, I begin to hit new PR’s, nothing can stop me. I feel untouchable. I feel unbeatable. And most of all, I feel unbelievable.

And then all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of the most demotivating, uninspiring creature to inhabit the gym – A Bro.

Ugh, here we go again……

For those of you who don’t know, a “Bro” is someone who we meatheads refer to as a person who thinks he knows anything and everything when it comes to training and diet. They lift the absolute heaviest weights, with the absolute shittiest form. They constantly offer unsolicited advice and most of the time this “advice” is highly inaccurate and completely unfactual. The Bros of the gym can usually be found hovering around weight machines, tallying up their macros for the day on their FitPal apps while discussing their current drug – oops! I mean “supplement cycle” that they are following. Most bros also like to use their phones in between sets for taking the occasional gym selfie while telling everyone on Facebook that they are at the gym.

These people are my nemeses. They are the white potato to my sweet potato, the training gloves to my training straps, the Crossfit to my Bodybuilding. In other words – I don’t like them.

Now even though I’m not a fan of the Bros I’ve learned how to co-exist with them peacefully within the iron jungle. I usually just keep to myself and stick to my own workout while letting them carry on with whatever bro science routine they are following that day. However every so often without an ounce of respect for my own workout or acknowledgment that I’m literally training my ass off and cannot even grasp a breath of fresh air from my quadruple drop set nevermind carry on a conversation, a Bro will approach me suddenly with a question or comment.

Without a doubt the most common question I receive from the Bros at the gym is how much weight I can bench or how much weight I can squat. I’ve always thought this to be an ego fulfilling, testosterone driven, meaningless and somewhat moronic question. I mean who really cares how much I lift? I don’t even care how much my own clients lift! And to be completely honest, I don’t really know how much I lift. And here’s why:

IT DOESN”T MATTER!!!!!

There once was a time when all I cared about was increasing the weight on every single one of my lifts in the gym. I figured the only way to gauge my progress with my training was by increasing the amount of weight I lifted each week. This ofcourse would also prove how “manly” I was thereby increasing my manlyhood and distinguishing myself as the dominant alpha male of the fitness world (or at least at my tiny little gym that I trained at). And then I turned sixteen and my thought process completely changed.

I had to decide for myself whether I wanted to be a powerlifter or be a bodybuilder. Believe it or not there is a difference. A powerlifter’s main objective is to lift as much weight as humanly possible for a few short reps. A bodybuilder’s objective is to sculpt and define the human body so that it looks aesthetically pleasing to the eye, like a piece of art. Well, it’s almost twenty years later, and I’m still painting and sculpting my canvas. The decision for me was actually quite simple.

A bodybuilder is judged strictly on his or her’s physical appearance, not the weight on the scale or the weight they lift in the gym. Unless you are in fact a powerlifter, I believe that everyone of us who goes to the gym and works out is in fact a bodybuilder. Now when I tell my clients that they are bodybuilders they usually laugh or make strange faces at me. This is most likely because they associate the term bodybuilder” with a greased up steroid monkey posing in his underwear on stage. However this image of a true bodybuilder could not be further from the truth. In fact most true bodybuilders never even get up on stage or compete.

Let’s face it. Anyone who goes to the gym wants to look and feel better. Yes, we want to get healthy and fit as well but for the most part, our main objective for working out is to get into shape. Toned arms, firm butts, big chests, wide backs and ripped abs are the most common reasons why most people put themselves through constant grueling workout sessions. And in my opinion there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Whether your motivation to workout is to help improve your overall health or strictly for vanity reasons does not matter. All that matters is that you are working out. Don’t gauge your success in the gym by the amount of weight you lift or the amount of weight you lose on the scale. The number one way to find out if you are progressing with your workouts is to take an honest look at your physique every few weeks (NOT EVERYDAY!). Look at your body as if it were a canvas or statue made out of clay. Decide as to which areas you like and which areas need improving. I believe that this is a very healthy way to approach your weight training as opposed to stepping on the scale everyday or risking injury to lift a weight that you should not be lifting.

So how much do I bench and how much do I squat?

As I mentioned above, I have no clue. I’m sure I could figure it out if I sat down and did the math however the weight I lift changes from week to week. Sometimes I’m stronger, while other times I might be weaker. There are so many factors to take into consideration such as sleep, rest, diet, outside stresses, etc that if all I focused on was the weight I lifted or my body fat levels I would probably never really progress. I would however pick up a few body dysmorphia issues along the way though I’m sure.

My point here is to not get caught up on the minute details of your everyday workout sessions.

“Is it 30 grams of protein or 40 grams?”

“Did I squat 315lbs last week or did I squat 325lbs?”

At the end of the day who cares?

Just get started…

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove