The Shrug Barbell Club

Great job!

As a coach, I talk about nutrition every day. One of the hardest parts for many people is simply adhering to a plan. For some, eating the same foods regularly is no problem. For others, it becomes one of the biggest obstacles they face. Eating in a calorie deficit can be difficult as well. But the physiology does not change because something is difficult: if your goal is to lose body fat, over time your energy intake has to be lower than your energy expenditure.
Before getting upset with a coach or trainer because the results are not coming as quickly as you want, consider something.
There are 168 hours in a week.
Most people spend four or five of those hours with their coach or trainer. That leaves more than 160 hours in which your decisions are largely your own.
A coach can educate you. We can develop your training program, help structure your nutrition, make adjustments, answer questions, track progress, and hold you accountable. But we cannot make your decisions during the hours when we are not standing beside you. At some point, we have to ask ourselves a difficult question: If we have the information necessary to succeed, why are we not consistently using it?
Yes, some of this is hard. Eating in a deficit can be hard. Training when we would rather stay home can be hard. Changing habits that have existed for years can be extremely hard. But difficulty does not eliminate necessity.
When it comes to bodyweight, there are ultimately three directions we can go: we gain, we lose, or we maintain. Our energy consumption and expenditure determine which direction occurs over time.
After more than twenty years of coaching, I have watched the same cycle happen repeatedly. Someone begins training and makes progress. The progress is slower than they expected, so they quit. A few years later, they come back and have to begin again. They make progress, become frustrated because it is still too slow, and quit again.
Now imagine something different.
Imagine that person had simply continued for those several years.
Maybe the progress was slow. Maybe it was five pounds instead of twenty. Maybe strength increased gradually. Maybe their body changed so slowly that they could barely see it from week to week. But what would several years of uninterrupted, consistent progress have produced?
That is the part we often overlook.
We devote enormous amounts of energy to our jobs, relationships, families, social lives, entertainment, responsibilities, and everything else demanding our attention. Then our physical well-being gets whatever is left. We treat our health as though it belongs at the bottom of the list, even though our ability to participate in everything else on that list depends heavily upon it.
Think about those 168 hours again.
If we gave only four percent of our effort to a marriage, what kind of marriage would we expect to have? If we gave four percent to our career, what level of professional success would we expect? We understand that meaningful accomplishments require sustained attention, discipline, sacrifice, and consistency.
Why would we expect our health to operate by a different set of rules?
Physical well-being can influence how we move, how we age, what we are capable of doing, and how independently we may be able to live later in life. It can also affect our confidence, energy, and mental well-being. That makes taking care of ourselves far more than something we squeeze into the week whenever everything else is finished.
We all have to decide what kind of life we want to live and, eventually, how we want to age. A coach can provide direction, knowledge, programming, and support. But we still have to do the work.
The question is not whether we have enough hours in the week.
The question is what we have decided deserves those hours.

Integrity Still Matters

One of the most unethical things we can do in the health and wellness industry is poach another person’s clients. Trolling social media, looking for people who already have coaches, then going into their messages telling them their form sucks, their programming is wrong, or that they need to leave their coach and come to you is not good business. It is a lack of integrity.
When we look at a video or a single moment in someone’s training, we have no idea what is taking place between that person and their coach. We do not know what they have already discussed, what problems they are working to correct, what injuries or limitations may exist, or where that particular exercise falls within a much larger plan. To see a small piece of someone’s training and immediately assume their coach is incompetent simply because we see an opportunity to gain a client says far more about us than it does about that coach.
There is also a major difference between someone coming to us for advice and us actively pursuing someone else’s client. If someone asks me a question, I will answer it. If someone decides that I may be a better fit for them, that is their decision. We cannot help everyone, and sometimes another coach may be exactly what someone needs. There is nothing wrong with that. But I am never going to deliberately undermine another coach’s relationship with a client in an attempt to take that client for myself.
This comes down to integrity, and unfortunately, integrity seems to be something increasingly lacking in the health and wellness industry. We should care about our dignity, our reputation, and the kind of people we choose to be. Just because someone else cheats, steals, lies, cuts corners, or conducts business without ethics does not mean we have to follow in their footsteps. At some point, we have to decide what our own standards are and hold ourselves accountable to them.
Setting ourselves apart in this industry should mean being better at what we do, continuing to learn, treating people well, and doing our best regardless of what everyone around us chooses to do. Our success should come from the quality of our work and the relationships we build, not from tearing someone else down. We should be able to look at what we have built and know that we built it honestly.
We also have to remember that this is someone else’s livelihood. That client we are attempting to take may help another trainer pay the rent, keep their business open, buy groceries, or put food on the table for their children. There is a human being on the other side of that transaction. We should never become so concerned with our own success that we stop caring about what our actions may do to someone else.
Earn your clients. Take care of your clients. Treat other professionals with respect. Hold yourself to a higher level of accountability, and conduct yourself with integrity even when others choose not to.
And if someone approaches you by immediately tearing down your coach just so they can get your business, pay attention to what they have already shown you about their character.
Turn and run like the plague. Tammie Lynn Dunavant

The Importance of Wearing Knee and Elbow Sleeves in Strength Training

Strength training has always been a discipline where details make the difference. Whether it is the position of the bar, the timing of breath, or the structure of a training cycle, the smallest adjustments often separate progress from setback. Among the most overlooked but highly effective tools for both performance and longevity are compression sleeves, specifically knee sleeves and elbow sleeves. These simple pieces of supportive equipment provide real physiological and psychological benefits that can help athletes push further, recover faster, and train with greater confidence.

Compression as a Tool for Support

Sleeves create compression. When a joint is placed under load, whether through a squat, deadlift, bench press, or overhead movement, it experiences both muscular tension and joint stress. Over time, this can cause soreness, inflammation, and in some cases injury. Sleeves provide a constant, uniform compression around the joint that reduces excessive vibration and keeps tissues warmer and more pliable. This does not replace proper training or mobility work, but it makes the joint environment more stable and comfortable throughout a session.

The warmth generated by sleeves is especially valuable. Blood flow to the joint improves, helping with lubrication and nutrient delivery. Anyone who has trained in a cold gym knows how stiff the knees or elbows can feel without preparation. Sleeves counteract this stiffness, creating a more responsive joint that moves smoothly through its range of motion. This means less strain on connective tissues and fewer moments where discomfort cuts a session short.

Knee Sleeves and the Demands of Squatting

Knee sleeves are the most common type of compression gear, and for good reason. The squat, one of the foundational movements in all of strength training, places tremendous stress on the knees. Even with perfect form, the knees are subjected to compressive forces, torque, and shearing. A well designed knee sleeve hugs the joint, keeping it aligned and supported. The result is not only reduced pain during high-volume training but also more confidence under heavy loads.

For powerlifters, knee sleeves have become nearly universal. The strongest squatters in the world choose to wear them, not because they add pounds to the bar in a dramatic way, but because they allow consistent, sustainable training. When an athlete knows that their knees feel stable and secure, mental barriers drop and performance rises. The sleeves help bridge the gap between discomfort and potential, ensuring that the work can be done with fewer setbacks.

Elbow Sleeves and Upper Body Training

While knee sleeves are widely recognized, elbow sleeves deserve just as much attention. Pressing movements, bench press, overhead press, dips, place repeated stress on the elbow joint. The tendons and ligaments of the elbow are relatively small compared to the size of the muscles driving the lift, which makes them vulnerable to overuse. Tendinitis of the elbow is one of the most common issues lifters face, often described as nagging pain that lingers through training cycles.

Elbow sleeves provide the same benefits of compression and warmth but in an area that is even more delicate. By keeping the joint warm and stabilized, they reduce irritation of the tendons, allowing lifters to press pain-free and continue training even when dealing with mild injury. Many athletes recovering from tendinitis find that sleeves are the difference between stopping completely and continuing with modified, sustainable work. For older athletes or those with years of wear and tear, elbow sleeves become an essential tool for long-term lifting.

Assistance Through Injury and Recovery

Injuries are often seen as inevitable in high-level training, but smart use of supportive gear can make them less severe and more manageable. Sleeves do not fix an injury, but they create an environment where healing is less disrupted by unnecessary stress. The gentle compression reduces swelling, and the warmth increases circulation to the affected area, both of which are beneficial for recovery.

For someone battling tendinitis, the difference can be dramatic. Without sleeves, the pain might flare up after only a few sets, forcing an early end to the session. With sleeves, the joint remains warmer, the pain is reduced, and training can continue with proper adjustments. This continuity is vital because consistency is what drives progress. Missing weeks or months of training due to minor injuries often sets athletes back more than the injury itself. Sleeves allow training to remain steady, which is the true measure of progress in strength sports.

Psychological Confidence

Beyond the physical benefits, there is a mental component. Lifting heavy weights is as much about confidence as it is about strength. Knowing that the knees or elbows are supported reduces hesitation, which often translates into smoother ex*****on. Many lifters describe a sense of “tightness” or security when using sleeves, almost as if the joint is locked in place and ready for work. This confidence is no small thing—it can be the deciding factor in whether an athlete pushes forward in training or holds back due to fear of injury.

The best lifters in the world wear sleeves not because they are fragile but because they understand the value of controlling every variable. Training at the highest level requires precision, and sleeves offer one more layer of control over the body’s most vulnerable points.

Longevity in Training

Strength training is not a short-term pursuit. The athletes who make the most progress are the ones who can stay healthy and consistent for decades. Joint health is central to this longevity. Every rep, every session, every year adds up, and small issues compound over time. Sleeves are a low-cost, highly effective way to preserve joint function and allow training to continue without interruption.

For younger lifters, sleeves may seem unnecessary, but they become invaluable as training years accumulate. Starting early with protective habits is far better than trying to undo damage later. Whether it is the first year under the bar or the twentieth, sleeves offer the same benefits: warmth, stability, and confidence.

Conclusion

Knee and elbow sleeves are more than just accessories. They are tools that safeguard the body’s most stressed joints, enabling lifters to train harder, recover faster, and remain consistent over time. Compression reduces tension and stress, warmth keeps the joints responsive, and psychological assurance allows athletes to approach training with confidence. They also play a key role in managing tendinitis and supporting recovery from minor injuries.

The best lifters in the world wear them for a reason, they understand that strength is built not only on raw power but also on the discipline of protecting the body. For anyone serious about training, knee and elbow sleeves are not optional luxuries; they are essentials for performance and longevity.

Nice job Maddie pulling 250x10!

Nice job Juanita! Very first training cycle! 23!

Nice work Tamara! 102BW!