Are You Insane?

Am I insane?

Of course I am. I want to win EVERY competition I enter. So, unlike the cheesey Muscle & Fiction magazine articles which mislead readers into believing that they can do 3 sets of 12 reps on a machine and then finish with 30-minutes of elliptical and look like a champion, I'm going to set you straight.

Soooooooo, NOT TRUE. Stop focusing soley on what you look like.

Must I really say it again? Hire a trainer.

It's time to expose your weaknesses and attack them.

Lifting novices often omit the more complex exercises that they don't understand how to perform or progress their way into performing. Instead of deadlifting and squatting, they stick to machine and isolation exercises that don't require much coordination/athletic ability.

Even experienced lifters make similar mistakes that slow or halt progress. Do not dismiss an exercise or new variation that reveals your weaknesses and forces you to use lighter loads. Be humble. Take as much time as needed to master an exercise before loading it. The reward will be worth the wait.

The first time I experimented with squats, I did the same thing. I couldn't load them heavily with perfect form; so, I dismissed them and avoided them. Come to think of it, I did the same thing with deadlifts, pistol squats, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, and Bulgarians when I first learned them.

Notice the pattern? If an exercise variation caused me to move down in weight or struggle with coordination, I kicked it to the curb rather than buckling down and sticking it out. Big mistake.These very exercises (and the pull-up!) are now my strengths (OK, 8 years later).

This is where progress is found: Assess your weaknesses, learn the skills, and master them: no matter how long it takes!