19 Apr 5 of the Biggest Mistakes I see Younger/Newer Strength Athletes Make
Social media and the world wide web (haven’t used that phrase in a while) has shed a lot of positive light on strength sports, but as always, with the good also comes at least SOME bad. At just the click of a mouse, you can interact with a host of strength athletes (some legendary) who, for the most part, are very approachable and willing to help. But, I also believe that this ‘availability’ has taken away some of the ‘rite of passage’ that one used to have to go through as they evolve as a strength athlete and in turn: mature, succeed, fail and learn through adversity.
Now, in the age of the internet where everything is instant, most of the top athletes are pretty open in training logs, YouTube/IG accounts, while providing video tips, open Q&A sessions and the like – all for free. Another cool bonus: athletes these days are not as secretive as they were when I came up in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.
Lucky followers/fans may even be granted a shout-out, or some words of encouragement on their latest video, or post! Again, all awesome stuff. As always, respect those you reach out to and their time, especially if they work in the industry. Hell, we even have a FREE Q&A located on my website which you can utilize here: http://www.powerrackstrength.com/team-qa/ where we answer pretty much anything sent our way.
When I started, if you didn’t know the athlete personally, or weren’t being mentored by he or she, you simply didn’t get this type of feedback. You had to either see them at a meet and wait for an opportunity, or have a direct connection to them. Even email contact was hit or miss. In the early 2000’s, I met Louie Simmons for the first time and had the luxury of having his ear for a few minutes and this is something I’ll never forget: June, 2004 APF Seniors in Baton Rouge, LA.
With this said, I think this leads to some big mistakes beginners tend to make. So, here are my 5 biggest mistakes I see newer strength athletes make in this day and age.
1. Now, with the availability to interact with some of the greats bring problems. Advice and training is everywhere and cannot be applied all at once. Unfortunately, some follow to the “T” what their favorite lifter/coach does, even to a fault. The problem is some newbies think what works for their favorite lifter will work for them and they emulate them. This is highly flawed thinking in many ways. Everything done should be custom-applied to each athlete’s weak-points, injury history, experience level and so-on. Most of the time (pretty much ALL of the time), your favorite lifter is quite advanced and has been through the trial and error process you are trying to circumvent. Learn from the greats, but listen to your body. Gain knowledge, but don’t try everything at once. Most of all: stick to what works for YOU. This takes time!
2. They think short term, not long term. This is the way things are these days – instant gratification and no patience, no time and no more enjoying the process. The best advice I can give to a new lifter is to simply have short term goals that parallel their long term goals, but one must make them realistic. In the book Gift of Injury, coauthored by Stuart McGill and myself, we have a quote in the book that says something along the lines of, “You will never train a St. Bernard to beat a greyhound on the racetrack, what you will get is a broken dog.” What this means: map your goals out, but be realistic. Now, before a Gary V clone comes attacking me, I’m not saying you need let anyone tell you that you “you can’t.” The reality is, if you aren’t best suited for a given strength endeavor from a physiological standpoint, you will likely have a much longer, tougher path than the more gifted athlete. You must keep this in mind!
3. They program jump and are always looking for the next big thing. This dove-tails from point 2. They stop making those ‘beginner’ gains and instead of adjusting/customizing their approach, they throw the baby out with the bath water and completely go a different route. This is another huge mistake. The better, more efficient path would be to adjust and fine-tune the current program instead of doing a full reboot. This is why my 10/20/Life philosophy is more than a sound approach for strength training. Customizing for individual needs is key to long term success. The only constant we have is change and your weak-points and load/volume/intensity threshold will change. And you must be able to roll with the punches!
4. They don’t bring proper help/coaching when competing. This is a pet peeve of mine. You spend all this time and money prepping for a competition, or event and you want to cut corners (or simply overlook this, or assume ‘someone’ will step up) by not bring sufficient help to see your goals? This is something that is 100% in your control and especially for beginners, this must be handled and most certainly cannot be an afterthought. Beginners already have enough to worry about when new to competition, and the problem is an athlete may prepare well in training, but fail to bring proper help and of course, most times fall on their face as they don’t have someone to keep them accountable, on task, motivated and help them with loading/spotting and general guidance through the day. Don’t overlook this and please, don’t expect to ‘borrow’ (steal) anybody else’s help as this is rude, selfish and absolutely obnoxious. Now, let’s be sensible: there IS a difference between getting an occasional hand loading a plate, mono pull, heads up about flights, or the like vs. asking people all day for help and depending on someone else who is there, and likely sponsored (trip paid for) by another lifter who is counting on their presence all of the day and not just when YOU don’t need them. Strength sports and their respective events are an awesome community that should be respected and not treated like a subsidized daycare. Come expecting to give more than you take, in every way.
5. They don’t focus on just one discipline – ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ (to quote Rick Hussey’s constant saying). This doesn’t just mean different divisions of powerlifting i.e. wraps, no wraps, equipped (but could apply in some cases) etc., but for this point, I’m specifically talking about mixing completely different sports and jumping back and forth without really putting some time in, and mastering one. Bouncing back and forth between strongman/strongwoman, powerlifting, CrossFit, bodybuilding, Olympic lifting, Highland games etc., which all require completely different skillsets, mindsets, training approaches, not to mention physiology! This is not a sound path for most if they are wanting to excel in one venture, nor is it a way to remain resilient and injury free! Those who are more seasoned & experienced can get away with this more to a certain extent, but unless you’re an absolute genetic freak, or a Stan Efferding (nobody is as a rookie) I don’t suggest this until you have gotten your feet wet for a number of years and conquered many of your goals in sport/discipline #1 that you have mapped out, as discussed in point #2.
Brian Carroll
Latest posts by Brian Carroll (see all)
- Brian Carroll Coaches the Birddog - April 24, 2024
- Protected: -Header Image Post Template 2024 - April 18, 2024
- Brian Carroll X Professor Stu McGill full interview 2024 - April 16, 2024
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.