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Two quotes from Jim Wendler, from an interview posted on his blog (here):


Then later, on advice for beginning power lifters:

Wendler seems to contradict himself. Does he?

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

No, not at least to me.

I think the first one is about attitude, and the second is about action.

IE:

"Stop thinking you are hot $h1t. You aren't that special, and you don't have it all figured out.

Stop worrying about everything other than what you are doing. There is no perfect way.

Make sure what you are doing is getting you where you want to go. A lot of paths will lead to your destination, as long as they aren't moronic."

What about the phrase "yes there are programs that “fit all”. They just have to be rooted in common sense."?

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

I agree with Eric. The statements are not contradictory. They're just 2 sides of the same coin. Some things are universal but there are individual differences. As for a "fit all" program, the basics apply to everyone, common sense needs to be applied to account for the individual differences. That's why, when talking to newbs, we're aways giving "take Starting Strength and call me in 6 months" type advice.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Doc, I don't think he's contradicting himself. If Wendler is guilty of anything, it would be a less than perfectly precise use of language. Example: he uses the term "1RM" for 5/3/1 and then spends two paragraphs in his book explaining it's not a 1RM. Well then call it "Training Number" or something else, why use a term only to explain it's not what everybody thinks it means?

In this case he capitalizes and puts in quotes "Individualization" when he could have simply said "foolishness" since that's what he went on to describe, the inability to see what you have in common with others and what you can learn from them. But nobody uses that word anymore, I suppose it's too old fashioned or something. In this case he's passing on wisdom that is thousands of years old.

His second piece of advice requires a leap for the reader to establish context, since Wendler often does not do so in his statements. Does he mean find your own path in choosing SL vs. SS? Sure, why not. Does he mean picking your accessories on 5/3/1? Sure, why not. Considering how often Wendler answers detailed questions about accessories, sets, and reps with "it just doesn't matter" I would think he's hitting his common theme that you've got to just try and learn what works. But like I said, with Wendler you kind of have to read in some context of your own sometimes.

for one thing, he's not saying in that 2nd part that you are doing a common sense routine.
your doing someting that doesn't work

Yeah I agree.

It is like: Hey the basics work for everyone. If you get a strong pull you will have a strong PC. But one guy will pull bigger sumo, and the other conventional.

While the advice is the same and applies to everyone "Get strong on the big compounds," the execution and progression will vary.

But then again. Maybe we are reading way too far into this, and he was half in the wrapper when he did the interview and we all look like dumbasses trying to pontificate about his half drunk rambling... I mean, he doesn't really seem like he is some great philosopher. He is a biker meathead that got strong and wrote a book about it.

(Which on some levels I bet he regrets because he has every jackass that has ever touched a barbell thinking he "gets" him after reading 4 articles, and he is bombarded with question after question which he has answered 17 times, and are most likely in the book. IDK, but every time I see his face on TNation I get the feeling he hates what he has created, lol. All he wanted was to make a couple bucks to feed his kid.)

so true, it's ALL in the book, and the stuff that's not in the book he left out deliberately because he expects you to use your own initiative. Nobody seems to understand that.

What I notice is that Mehdi (author of Stronglifts) is running a kindergarten, and Wendler is running a college.

Kindergarten is good when you first start. Simple concepts are repeated over and over, distractions are removed, focus is maintained.

But Wendler treats you like a grownup, his book is deceptively short because he says what he needs to say once and once only, and it's the reader/lifter's to read it until they get it.