No, you did NOT lift a million pounds!

If you are honestly secure in yourself, why do you care? It has literally zero effect on anything you do. If you are truly secure, it shouldn't bother you at all.

Let people do their thing. If people want to be idiots, and it doesn't affect anyone else, let them be idiots.

As someone who actually lifts weights I've never met anyone who measures their progress this way.

If you asked me what I was benching today I wouldn't say 7,000 pounds I'd tell you what my max was or what my set weights are.

If you woke up yesterday and then today, you woke up both times, hopefully you wake up tomorrow

Thanks. This way of thinking about it actually helps me understand the logic. Yes, technically in that scenario the person has lifted a total of 100 pounds, but I still think it would be misleading to say they lifted 100 pounds because they didn’t do it all at once.

Thank you for that very kind sentiment! I hope the same for you and all your loved ones.

I see your point, and I won’t let it bother me anymore, although I reserve the right to roll my eyes whenever I see people do that.

My question for you, and the folks in this thread who questioned my security, is this: Can’t we be annoyed by harmless things that other people do without our annoyance being reflective of our security? Are you saying you don’t have any pet peeves whatsoever?

In my case, I am 100 percent confident that I am stronger than the people I’ve seen bragging about lifting a million pounds. I would bet all my money and everything I own on it. My annoyance didn’t come from any lack of security on my own strength, it came from other people exaggerating theirs. I see it as analogous to the many people on this board who get annoyed by hobby joggers bragging about their 4:30 marathon, or even worse, thinking their 4:30 marathon is better than a 4:30 mile.

This may seem like a digression, but here's my anecdote on this...

I was very good in college and immediately after. Competed internationally. Very proud of my accomplishments and secure in my abilities. But people outside my running circle mostly didn't even know that I ran. My college classmates, some of whom I saw almost daily for four years, mostly had no idea, or if they knew I ran didn't know that I was really good at it.

Shortly after college, I got injured and missed most of the next two years. This was pretty tough for my identity and security. Strangely enough, I noticed that running started to come up in conversation far *more* than it did when I was actually running. There are always conversational openings. "You went for a hike on that trail? Yeah, that's where I do my tempo runs." "You went to Italy? So cool, I was there for a track meet a couple of years ago." Now that I was no longer getting direct feedback from my actual running about what a great guy I was, I was taking those conversational openings much more frequently.

My point? It's a sliding scale, and we all need some external validation to different degrees and different times. But the more comfortable I was with my own accomplishments, the less I needed to make sure everyone else knew how much I better I was than them.

I don't either. But it is A WAY to do it and some HAVE done it in the PAST.

I am the same. I go by my work sets or my heaviest set.

Alan

A simple understanding of total time divided by units, whether weightlifting, running or pounding shots, would clarify all of this.

Just thought of this example another way while doing my workout: how would you calculate when those ten 10-pound weights are put back? Weightlifting often involves grabbing a weight plate or dumbbell, lifting it up, putting it down, and then lifting it again to put it back. So if I return those ten 10-pound weights back to where they were before, does that mean I lifted 200 pounds, or did I lift 100 pounds twice?

A similar thing might be people that say they did multiple marathons in a week but their pace is basically a walking pace. While they almost certainly could have done one marathon a lot faster they get more kudos for total volume rather than a time that frankly most of the population doesn't understand.

Or the stupid challenges I see having people do an exercise everyday for 30 days or a year. It's not ideal for progression or avoiding injuries but to most saying you ran everyday for a year sounds better than even having a 15 minute 5k PB.

Basically unless you follow a sport or have tried it yourself then times and records are basically meaningless so you have to create a big number to wow your friends. The Olympics 100m doesn't look that fast but really really is. A sub 20 minute 5k is more actually impressive than someone who completes a HM/marathon but no non runners know that.

Volume is a training variable and there are many different ways to express it. Total tonnage is a way.

If you are doing a volume based worked then it is important to know how to progress that volume. Most just use Sets x Reps because actual tonnage will vary greatly depending on the exercises and modailites used.

I could be doing a workout that is high density: Do an Incline Bench and a Chest Supported Row with 75lb dumbbells for 5 reps and alternate those two exercises with minimal to no rest for 15 minutes. Then track the number of reps you were able to complete. The progression would be in the volume lifted from week to week by either increasing the number of reps in the time time period or increasing the weight.

Tonnage is volume and there are many ways to express or track it.