Story time. We are going to learn why we shouldn't get caught up in the minutia of things as it pertains to the effort required to reach a goal.
Its also a story of me having to chose to discontinue working with a client.
Not too long ago I had an online training client who I also trained in person at times. He was a new, young lifter and was very enthusiastic about it. He had set the very achievable goal of participating in his first ever full power lifting meet in the fall of 2017 and had roughly a year to pre-pare.
He came to me and asked if I could help him. I told him that while powerlifting is not my primary focus I knew enough about the sport but more importantly about the "big 3" lifts and how to program and coach to see some decent gains to his current numbers, especially as a beginner, and told him that if he was willing to give my guidance a fair shot that I would then be happy to help him.
He agreed and off we went. I developed a sound plan that was the first phase in a training block to see his numbers increase and get him used to some basic powerlifting focused training.
After I had sent him the plan and we met to discuss it in person as well as email back and forth about it as well as do some training in the gym it became very evident to me that he was very caught up in the minutia of the sport. He had been training for powerlifting for a VERY short time prior to us working together and he already had:
- multiple powerlifting belts
- multiple weight training bands
- several variations of knee sleeves
- several variations of elbow sleeves
-at least two pairs of both knee and wrist wraps
- a sling shot (a product that Mark Bell produces)
- heel elevated squat shoes
- a TON of chalk
- a gym bag big enough to cram all of this in
Now there is nothing wrong with having any of these things. They are tools that serve a purpose when needed.
But humor me here: Lets say you came across a big gym bag with all of this stuff in it. You might think to yourself "wow, this person who owns all of this gear must be really strong and must be able to handle a ton of poundage."
A very normal and observant thing to consider yes?
The problem? The client really had no business having any of this. He had advanced equipment, and he was a novice beginner.
But it wasn't just the equipment. I could tell from our initial consultation and my new client questionnaire I had him fill out for me that he was very new to the sport and so a simple and basic program would go a LONG way. He would see some awesome progress by milking the basics.
However he was very quick to want to try and do some variations of training techniques and philosophies that were very beyond him and not needed at his point in development at all. Frankly, he hindered himself when he chose to do these things opposed to basic and sound powerlifting training principles that have taken thousands of people to very respectable numbers on the bench, squat, and deadlift regardless of their starting point.
What was more difficult was that he was an avid reader about all things powerlifting. This is good and bad. It is good to want to learn and master your craft. It is bad when you read something and don't think critically for a moment to consider if it is appropriate for you to apply to your personal scenario whatever it is you just read, watched or heard.
He would have, and still could, make a TON of progress by simply following tried and true basics before throwing all of this extra fancy pants stuff at the equation. But his focus on the minutia was keeping him blind to reality.
And the worst thing about it was his progress was so small compared to what it could have been and his current ability did not warrant the use of any of that equipment. Sadly, this was a client I had to let go and not work with anymore because he was not willing to follow the coaching he brought me in to do.
He had the cart before the horse and missed the forest for the trees.
Point being is this: FOCUS on the" meat and potatoes". A ton of progress can be made via the trade and true basics. The cherry on top is when things like advanced techniques or equipment are needed.
