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Not training for a specific sport allows a lot of freedom and is insanely easy to do. But like training for a sport, consistency and discipline are key to getting the job done.  Like I tell my athletes, "Strong legs, strong lungs!"

Athletes from The Past talk brazenly about their conditioning and workouts; all done supposedly to get them in great shape and turn them into stronger players (physically and mentally). There seems to be a premium on Mental Toughness amongst people from The Past.

I love doing dips, although I'm 100% convinced they didn't help my bench press. I do think they helped my press, though.

This message will be helpful for everyone, even if it's not what they need to hear right now. It may resonate with you years from now; or maybe this is something that needs to be screamed in your ear today... it sounds easy. It sounds almost ignorant; just about everyone who lifts weights...

Building discipline by saying you're going to do something and doing it works whether you're starting a new career or breaking out of your current job, trying to save money for a future purchase or looking to retire early. Setting small, achievable goals, and then achieving them, helps you build confidence in yourself and succeed in the long run.

I have become better at reaching goals and goal setting. We all like to think we have goals and have good intentions to reach them but the reality is that many of us get side tracked on the way. Very few times is one's reach too far. I think most of us are pretty honest with ourselves. There are not a lot of 40 year old men who REALLY think they are going to make the Olympic finals in the 100m dash. The problem in reaching them is that the ACTIONS are more about the end goal than about the process to achieve them.

Although I love weightlifting, and it is a very important part of my life, I am also a busy person with many other interests outside the gym. 5/3/1 allows me to get in, get the work done and get out in a reasonable time, while still making excellent progress over the span of the year.

I was intimidated. I couldn't even put 25-pound plates on the bar to incline press. My bench was equally as awful. My squat sucked. But I stuck with it.

My older sister, who was in high school, was even told that I was going to get beat up if I kept coming into the weight room. I figured a good beating was worth it; no one was going to keep me away.

Hey Jim, first off I wanted to say thank you for writing the 5/3/1 program. I love it, it keeps me grounded and I am making great gains from it. So much so that I wanted to share them with you. You don't hear a lot about conditioning goals being reached on here so I thought you might appreciate this.