Man in the Mirror

The Man... The Myth... The Maker of Happy Little Trees....

While in the middle of my workout the other day, Jon North strolled in, sat down in front of me, and began coaching me.  He reminded me to stop lunging my hips into the bar, to bring that bar back into my body, and to move my feet.  Soon he was ripping weight off my bar and having me build back up with lifts every minute on the minute.  He watched every single lift.  He got more excited than me when I put it all together, and even on lifts I knew I didn’t execute well, he was encouraging and continuously coaching and motivating. 

   Then Jessica North appeared with a camera, taking some shots and looking at the feedback after a few lifts with Jon.  When it was all over, Jess showed me the still images and how my “Step One” was not where I needed it to be, along with some other tips and encouraging words.

   I was frustrated and angry at myself for not hitting the numbers I wanted and not executing as well as I wanted.  And that's when I remembered two things:

   First, I am the luckiest son of a gun in the world.  I have the greatest job in the world with two of the greatest people I have ever met… and I get to be coached by them in weightlifting here at the Attitude Nation Gym on pretty much a daily basis… either from watching them and learning or having them watch me and instructing. 

   Love my life. 

   The second thing it reminded me of is progress takes TIME.  And that is not an easy pill to swallow.  Having been self-taught in the lifts as well as dealing with 3 forearm surgeries and various titanium implants in my arm, I had always struggled with the snatch and clean and jerk.   I consider myself a damn good athlete, and not being able to perform something and perform it well right off the bat is not something I handle very well. 

   It’s why I don’t golf.  It’s the one sport I can’t figure out.  And it drives me nuts. 

   Back to my point… so this lifting session today reminded me that expecting results with anything less than 100% dedication and effort to improve will often lead to disappointment.  I looked back and had to be honest with myself: I had not given this 100%.  Not for lack of effort, but for a shift in focus.  For instance between January through March of this year I had spent my time focusing on training for a marathon, placing running as my priority and often missing lifting sessions to make sure I got my runs in.  I had also stepped up my coaching game, investing even more time, energy and effort into my athletes.  Improving my weightlifting and continuing to break old habits in order to implement what I know and have seen to be a superior style of weightlifting was placed on the back burner and as a result, progress was stymied. 

   Why the hell am I telling you this?  Because I see it all too often with many people new to CrossFit and/or weightlifting.  Frustration quickly settles in when the technique you JUST learned isn’t clicking right way, or when you have been stuck on the same PR for what you consider to be too long.  Before blaming this or that, GO THROUGH THE FOLLOWING CHECKLIST:

-       -   Look in the mirror.  Ask yourself, “Am I doing everything in MY power with things I can control (i.e. rest/recovery, nutrition, focusing on technique and NOT weight to show off for the hot guy or girl next to you…)?”  Be honest with yourself please.  Be sure you are doing your part to improve and be prepared to humble yourself when you realize you aren’t. 

-        -  What are your goals and where has your focus in training been?  If you are mad you haven’t snatched 300 lbs yet, but have been doing twenty minute plus conditioning workouts 5 times a week, plus running two or three days on your own… and only actually snatching relatively heavy once a week…there is potentially a problem there.  Figure what your goals are and make a realistic plan to achieve them.  Talk to your coach about this.  That is what he/she is there for. 

-         - Seek out the best coaching available and do everything they say.  When they change your technique and as a result you start failing at 70% of your max, do not say “Screw this” and go back to doing things your way again.  Your way will get you where you have always gotten.  Let a coach help you, and be willing to take many steps backward in order to be able to take many, many, many more steps forward. 

-         - Give it time!  Believe it or not, Donny Shankle did not come out of the womb cleaning 200 kilos (I heard it was only 180 kilos).   Learning technique and more importantly developing the requisite strength TAKES TIME.  Do not throw in the towel after a few weeks or even a few months.  Stick with it for however it longs it takes YOU to improve.  Just because someone else gets a response sooner does not mean you will too.   This brings me to my next point…

-         - WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF DAMMIT.  Stop looking at so-and-so’s numbers and what they are posting on FB.  You have one person to worry about and that is YOU.  Continue to strive to make yourself better every day and don’t worry about anyone else.  Besides, never forget there is some teenage Chinese girl over in the Chinese Olympic Training Center warming up with your max… I can pretty much guarantee it.

-        -  Have fun.  If you are not having fun than I can promise you two things: 1) you will not get any results from your training 2) you will be so miserable that you won’t be able to appreciate your results you are getting.   If you cannot find the joy in what you are doing, than you shouldn’t be doing this. 

   Developing strength and skill takes time.  Improvement takes time.  Much like everything else in life worth obtaining, these things do not come “cheap” nor do they come easily.  I often talk about how what we do inside the gym translates to so much to what we do outside the gym.  This is one of those lessons.  Learn to be patient in mastering complex movements such as the snatch and the clean and jerk, and I promise you will see the benefit when you need to remain calm while dealing with your child’s middle-of-the-mall nuclear meltdown tantrum.  If you can be disciplined enough to invest the time, energy and dedication needed to become strong, I can assure you that those seemingly insurmountable obstacles at your job or in your home start to become more like mere bumps in the road. 

   And most importantly, before you look to blame someone or something else for your lack of progress in the gym, take a long hard look at yourself.  Review my checklist.  With help from your coach, assess what needs to be done and DO IT.  No shortcuts.  Do the work.  Get the results.  End of story. 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

   Ankle flexibility.   I know for a fact a majority of you reading this do not dedicate enough – or in some cases any – time to developing the ankle flexibility that is so important in squatting, particularly in weightlifting.  Watch world class weightlifters and what they look like in the bottom of the snatch or clean and jerk.  While we may not need to go to that extreme, we still need to give it proper attention.  Here is a great video with some band-assisted stretches you can do to help improve your ankle mobility:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2RRpr63zLE