When I started lifting, I prided myself on how much I did, versus the quality of my session.
I would do 5-6 different exercises, and blast through them as quickly as possible.
There was no time for rest, in fact, in between sets I would do sets of crunches off the floor to fill any time I had which could have been spent resting.
Why did I do this I hear you ask?
I didn’t know any better.
Then, I started working as a coach and it changed everything.
I developed an understanding of what it meant to “train” versus “workout”.
I learned different philosophies of periodisation and programming.
But I fell into a trap that I know a lot of you reading this may have, or currently fallen into.
This trap is called “Training ADD”.
ADD, is an abbreviation for “Attention Deficit Disorder”, and in this specific context, it refers to the person that starts a program, sticks to it for a period of weeks before finding a new, shiny program and hopping to the next one.
If you:
- Struggle to stick to a new program
- Hop from coach to coach
- Find yourself constantly asking yourself whether you are doing this whole lifting thing right
You have more than likely got Training ADD, and it’s not conducive to you, or your goals.
My Experience
Naturally as a coach new to the industry, I became a sponge for knowledge.
I read books by Charles Poliquin, Jim Wendler, Mark Rippetoe, Mike Israetel – the list goes on and on and on…
This also meant that every time I digested a new piece of information, or philosophy of training, I wanted to try it.
For some time, I hopped from program to program, method to method, without having any level of consistency in the training.
Please heed the following piece of advice.
If you are hopping around, you will not achieve the results you are after and you will barely scratch the surface of your potential. You need to follow through!
There is simply not enough consistency in your thought process, to merit any type of reward! Learn from me!
It’s that old saying, “I have made the mistakes so you don’t have too”, and it really couldn’t be truer in this context.
If you are a lifter and you can get the help, hire a coach.
Follow their system, trust them fully and see it through to the very end.
The problem is this, lifters will often hit the first bump in the road and give up!
They will either think that this doesn’t work, or it’s not suited to them and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
For a system to work, you need to give it enough time.
Of course, if you have been running around in circles for years without any progress, you need to start questioning what you are doing.
But after a few months or a year?
You need to give it time.
Knowing who to trust
I can already hear some of you asking, but how do I know who to trust?
This can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it, here is the simple truth of the matter.
You are never going to have 100% certainty over anything, so let’s get that out the way.
Secondly, has this coach achieved results for other people like yourself, consistently over time?
If the answers yes, then the system works!
Strength coaches get very dogmatic with their approaches to training.
It’s true that I have my own biases, I have my own system. I think that’s a good thing and a quality coach will have a framework in place.
I’m not referring to that, but instead coaches that think that their system is the only way… and this is complete BS.
To be frank, to think your way is the only way, is quite narcissistic in a sense.
The truth is, there are plenty of coaches and systems out there that produce amazing results, how they get there might be a little different, but the product most of the time is the same.
It is your duty to trust them fully, invest yourself into their way of thinking and follow through.
Don’t be the person that has done 5 different programs in the past year.
Follow it through, you won’t regret it!
