13 Apr The Missing Link: The Powerlifting Crew
By Daniel Dalenberg
Raw powerlifting, Crossfit inspired strength and conditioning centers, online distance coaching and the overabundance of quality information available at the click of the mouse has done wonders for the powerlifting community as well as strength sport in general. In many ways, these influences have made strength sport far more accessible to the masses. Being strong is becoming more and more mainstream, and the sports involved have gained traction in the public eye.
[wa-wps]
One group appears to be suffering though, the small powerlifting crews, the little garage gyms and hole in the wall key clubs.
Gyms on gyms on gyms
Strength and performance gyms are popping up all over the place. In the Kalamazoo area alone, I can think of 4 public gyms and 3 Crossfit boxes that are all well-equipped. This is a double-edged sword. The numerous options provide plenty of places to train and add a ton of convenience. I love it when I travel. Recently, when on a trip to Austin, Texas a quick Google search netted 6 gyms that would all work for what I needed to get done.
The downside is that the herd gets thinned quickly. With the very growing popularity of raw powerlifting, many younger lifters simply don’t need much equipment. A decent rack, bench and all-purpose power bar is about all you need to lift raw. You also don’t need much help to get it done. Maybe one reliable training partner, even just some random guy that happens to lift at the same time every week can work.
So, the lifters get spread out across these gyms. I once made a list of all the active competitors I knew of in the Kalamazoo area. I included the strongmen and a handful of others that train heavy but don’t compete. That list was close to 20 names and every time a meet is ran in this town I learn about a few more. They all have their preferred and most convenient gym that they belong to and we are spread out across the county.
Info is so easy
The internet makes learning about strength training easy. Yes, there is some absolute hot garbage out there too, but several sites and individuals are putting out quality content. Information that used to take several weekend trips to gyms like Westside Barbell to learn are now condensed into e-books, article series and blog posts. Making sites like PowerRackStrength a part of your daily web browsing will create an easy to digest education in a hurry. Better yet, use the Q&A and social media to interact with the authors and ask questions. Now you can learn even more!
Online coaching takes this education process to another level. With a good coach, now you are getting some 1 on 1 attention and a direct source of information. Your training cycle is written per your needs and new ideas that you haven’t considered are being presented to you. Ideally, there is some back and forth between you and your coach, an exchange of information to give you the best experience possible and learn as much as you can.
With the coaching, a lot of lifters seem to think they don’t need a group. They have all the information they have; they don’t need any extra help. In fact, extra help is perceived as a hindrance! The group will want to change what coach wants them to do and influence them in the wrong direction.
Well that’s wrong…
Look, I don’t care how nice the gym is that you train in. I don’t care how good your distance coach is. There is simply nothing better or that can replace a high-quality training crew. Even it means sacrificing the super nice, all Rogue equipped S&C center and going out to a hole in the wall with a 23 year old Forza bench and the first Sarden mono ever built. A great training crew will only add value to quality coaching.
I’ve used distance coaches for years. Brian has coached me off and on for 7 years, from gym rat strong to pro level strong. He is a great coach with a strong ability to adjust the process to make it work best for you. But he isn’t here in Michigan, he wasn’t there in Indiana. He can’t see my day to day, correct my technique and give the minute by minute advice. My training group does. They have seen hundreds of sessions and know what it looks like when I need to shut it down and can push me a little farther when the time is right.
It’s too easy to not have a training group in powerlifting today. Most gyms have the basics covered, the internet has the information. Raw lifters and even a rare few equipped guys get by on their own, plugging away solo. The vast majority (yes, there are exceptions, Blaine Sumner, Mike T, etc.) will be better to find a good group to get with. Trust me, most of these crews would be glad to have an extra hard working body to spot, load, and be a part of the team. Seek them out, you’d be surprised how close one might be.
Daniel Dalenberg
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