GOOD HABITS

If there is one thing you ever take away from barbell training, then let it be this: pay attention.

One of the paramount things to do in order go get stronger is to learn correct technique – and therefore good habits – very early on. This has to do with the fact that you are creating new connections in your nervous system every time you move with a load on your back. Different muscles develop an interplay to move you through space with greater accuracy; your timing of performing certain parts of a lift becomes better; and your proficiency of making quick corrections becomes greater.

What you learn early on becomes ingrained in your body and brain as a solid movement pattern. This is great as it sets free attention capacity for other things. For example, if you have automated the skill of reaching back with your hips and setting your knees early in the squat, then you can now focus on staying tight all the way to the bottom in order to get a stronger rebound in the upward phase.

Where things get problematic is when you start learning faulty movement patterns early on. A coach can help with this – but he can only help if you are paying the utmost attention to what you are doing while you are moving. That means, if you receive a cue or instruction, work with it. There are only so many things you can focus on in a given moment, and we are trying to correct the most important thing at this moment in time, in the rep you are currently doing.

If a cue given by the coach does not work, we will repeat it one more time – and this time, you have to try harder. If it still does not work, we will find a different cue to get you corrected. If several cues in succession do not work, we will find a different angle from where we approach your movement error. But you have to pay attention and be receptive to instructions. Like Frank Zappa said: “Your mind is like a parachute: It doesn’t work if it’s not open.”

This also implies the following: do not lift if you're afraid of getting hurt. Because chances are that you will get hurt if you approach your training like this. Cueing and instructions will be ineffective as your attention is on not getting hurt instead of the actual movement. This means you cannot correct your movement pattern, and likely, your coach will also get frustrated in the process. Lose-lose.

So get into the routine of paying attention to what you are doing while you are lifting very early on.  If your coach instructs you to try harder, then actually do make an effort to correct what needs to be corrected. Incorrect movement patterns are a gigantic pain in the neck to correct once they are established. It takes a lot of focused and dedicated work to get you un-stuck again.

Good habits allow you to lift with better form. When you lift with better form, you become better at producing force. With this in place, you get stronger.

And this is the number one reason why we started lifting weights in the first place.

#strengthtraining #barbells #hamptonwick #teddington