Kilos Do Not Matter - Train With Vision

“Do not measure your progress by numbers alone.”

As I have started to coach more people in the art and science of weightlifting this is a maxim that I have started to understand more and more every day.

As a coach you are able to watch your athletes day in and day out. This allows you to understand them. To know what is motivating them. To acknowledge their strengths. To understand their weaknesses.

You are able to watch their movements change. You are able to watch their bodies change. You are able to even watch their minds change.

As an athlete it is hard to see these changes in yourself. So it is easy to simply see the numbers ie. How much weight you can lift.

All you see are the colour of the plates on the bar.

All you see is how much the man or woman next to you is lifting.

It is a deadly trap to measure your progress based on the amount of weight you can lift.

There is so much more that goes into this sport than how much you can lift.

You must look at HOW you are lifting.

Is your front rack getting tighter and elbows higher at the bottom of your clean?

Is your overhead position getting stronger and more locked in?

Is your back that was once slightly rounded in your start position beginning to get pulled into extension?

Are you more confident in stepping up to the bar each and every lift?

Are you catching your snatch lower and lower every week?

Are you able to offer advice to newer lifters when they ask for your help?

Do you still get as frustrated and angry when you miss a lift or are you now able to shrug it off and attack the bar on your next attempt?

Do you accept coaching and learn from it?

Do you spend time on recovery in the form of mobilizing, eating right, and sleeping?

These are all forms of progress that you should be proud of and celebrate.

Instagram has made it easy to post videos of your latest PR, but remember, as athletes and as coaches, there are other more meaningful forms of progress than increasing your total by a kilo or two.

You may have just set a PR, but always ask yourself “How did I set that PR?”

When you see elite level lifters setting World Records it often seems effortless. “Like butter on a bald monkeys head” as my imaginary Grandfather used to say.

Why is it that when you set a PR it looks like Quasimodo, and a bowl of mashed potatoes had a baby, which turned out to be twins who they named ‘Clean’ and ‘Jerk’.

Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t try to lift heavier weights. You should.

BUT you should understand your limits and look for progress in other areas before you get pissed off because you aren’t as strong as you are ‘supposed’ to be.

You should not be disheartened if it seems like everyone else is making progress but yourself. You are not alone. Progress can be slow depending on where you are looking for your progress.

Look to how you are moving, how you are feeling, and how you are thinking when you are on the platform. Or better yet find a coach who can look for you. It often takes an honest and unbiased eye to shine a light on our greatest flaws and our greatest strengths.

Helen Keller once said that “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”

Make sure that you have vision when you train.

Make sure that you realize that it is a long road to where you want to be.

Make sure that you consider the kind of person you are becoming through lifting.

Make sure that you are helping others along the way.

Make sure that you are having fun.