Wish you were stronger? Yea, me too. Cut yourself some slack, though. Adding strength is one of the most difficult things to do in fittest. Strength comes slowly. Endurance and stamina, on the other hand, come and go much quicker.
Load ’em up, mom!
As a coach, I see a common mistake that glaringly affects the strength building process. Think back on all of your workouts with a barbell in it. When the last time you missed a rep? I don’t mean when’s the last time you made a mistake or didn’t quite move well, either. I mean, when is the last time you walked up to the bar, gave it hell, and flat out missed the rep? Have you dumped a front squat recently, or fought for a deadlift to knee height and was forced to drop it?
I see many competent lifters making decisions based on comfort with regards to their loads. If you’re going to get stronger like you and I both want to, you’ll need to be willing to get uncomfortable. Many of you are able to make attempts with good body position and fail safely, yet you’ll choose a weight based on your ability to be successful throughout the workout rather than the unknown that comes with a challenge.
Want to get strong? Start missing some reps!
This isn’t about being irresponsible, either. Your coach will always give you some sort of context in choosing the load for your workout. If he/she says. “I want you to choose a weight that you think you can do 10 times,” I’d encourage you to choose a weight that keeps such context in mind, but that your 10th reps is an absolute war. Sure, if you can do it 14 times you can obviously do it 10 times.. but given the context we just discussed a load you can move 14 times is comfortable and many times it’s too light to build strength.
The bar is meant to be dropped. Workouts aren’t supposed to be “aced.” As a coach, I’d love nothing more than for FFOTB to be a place where you feel like you can fail and do so comfortably. If this is the only place in your life where failure is accepted, appreciated, and even encouraged, at least we have that. If you’re not a newbie anymore, you know the movements, & you want to get your strength numbers up, it’s time to get aggressive.
Today you have a unique opportunity to find your two rep max power clean. If in your search you are successful in all of your lifts, (spoiler alert) you probably haven’t found it.
To succeed together, we first must feel comfortable failing together.
Logan Gelbrich
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Friday’s Workout:
Find 2 RM Power Clean
Then 4 rounds:
400m Run
-Rest 2 min-
