This pretty much sums up my post :p
Strength is a key attribute many gym rats are trying to acquire but in my opinion people don’t respect strength enough. Now I’m not talking about respect the positive effects of strength, I’m talking about respecting the acquisition of strength. Fitness marketing schemes and crappy personal trainers constantly promise fast results that they can’t deliver or if they do it’s by PED’s which is fine if you’re into that but it should be fully disclosed.
Being a NYC personal trainer, I have to deal with this on a constant basis. I try to explain that strength gains take time but once we’ve built the right foundation, we can really start to push weight with minimal risk of injury. With that said, here are some common mistakes I’ve seen people due in an attempt to gain strength:
Always Going Heavy
Photo by Graham Covington
Most people say that you need to lift heavy to get strong. While this is true to a point, you need to earn the right to lift heavy. Regardless if you’re just starting off or a competitive weightlifter, powerlifter, athlete, etc… you still need to go through a physical preparation phase to ensure your body can handle heavy weights. Ignore this and as you go closer to your max you’ll have a greater chance of a compensation = increase your risk of injury.
Building a strong foundation better prepares your body to work on all cylinders. Keep in mind that after each competition block you should go into the next physical preparation phase stronger than before, which will allow you to have a greater foundation to work off of for the next competition cycle. Unfortunately many people are inpatient and by pass the basic fundamentals of developing strength.
This leads me to the next point…
Not Patient Enough
Fitness marketing is at a all time high now, promising all different types of results. The fact is that if you’re looking to gain strength, size, or lose body fat it takes TIME. Of course it’ll be very subjective, as each person will start at a different fitness and commitment level and then of course theres the genetic factor. The point being is that just like dieting, you need to focus on consistency and sticking to the game plan.
I know it’s easy to get caught up with youtube and seeing other strong athletes in the gym will get you fired up to really push yourself but you don’t know their past history and what they’ve done to reach the level they’ve obtained. It’s easy to see the positive outcomes but many people fail to see all the efforts put to get there. Talk to a NATURAL strength athlete and I’ll confidently say that they didn’t just hit the gym and start doing singles and doubles to get their gains…it takes time.
Which leads to the next point…
Train Smart
I believe a big misconception in the fitness field is to follow what an elite athlete does and think you’re going obtain the same gains. Let’s take me for example, I’m trying to get back into shape to compete for Olympic weightlifting. I train x5-6 a week in the lifts, work as a NYC personal trainer, coach a team, and also building my business. If I was given the same program that Ilya Ilyin does, I’d be crushed! Both mentally and physically…
In case you don’t know Ilya Ilyin, he’s a professional Olympic weightlifter and is one of the best in the world. The fact is, he has incredible genes and has built his body to withstand the volume and intensity a world class athlete needs since he was in elementary school.
Trainer Wrap Up
I know the information is common sense and it’s not flashy but it’s the cold hard truth. A majority of us amateur athletes, strength athletes, weekend warriors, fitness fanatics, or whatever you want to call us just can’t handle the same training volume and intensity as an elite level athlete nor do most have the proper foundation to do so. For the majority of us, we need to learn to balance the stress of work, life, and training. If one gets out of balance it’ll take away from the other and we’ll need to adjust. The bottom line is to respect strength, it takes time to develop, despite what “Jane/John Doe” weekend personal trainer says… respect the process.
Train smart,
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