I'm honored to have a blog here at M&F (hell, I'm even honored to be in the building). The object of the game here is to try my best to tell the truth about sports, lifting, and whatever else I feel like railing about here.
I've been a lot of things in my life. In context here, I've been an athlete, a coach (yes, an actual TEAM coach) and a trainer. Now I'm a writer. Who knew?
I've been a lot of things in my life. In context here, I've been an athlete, a coach (yes, an actual TEAM coach) and a trainer. Now I'm a writer. Who knew?
Don't Tell Me. Show Me.
I've been around training for the better part of 25 years, and there are some set-in-stone, unshakable conclusions I've come to regarding the weight room. Sure, I'm always trying to learn more in order to get bigger and stronger, but there are a few things I've established for myself that won't ever change no matter how much evidence I see to the contrary - although, to be fair, if something is established as gym law for me, chances are I won't be seeing much evidence to the contrary anyway. It takes years to form these conclusions, and at this point, it'll take years to un-form them. And, quite frankly, I don't really think I want to.
Here's rule #1 for me: I don't take training advice from people who don't train.
The only exception to this rule is that I'll listen to old-school guys who've been big and strong, and HAVE trained, but currently can't for medical reasons. That's about it. If you're under the age of, say, 80, and you're healthy, you'd better currently be training in order for me to listen, otherwise we can't possibly understand one another. You can't understand athletes because you've voluntarily given up on being one, so you can't presume to tell anyone else how to be one.
When you're looking for someone to coach or train you, here are the criteria you should be using (and if you're a trainer, here are some things you should be thinking about):
Has this person ever done what he or she is trying to tell me how to do?
If I want to get bigger, I'll go to a big guy and ask him how he got there. If I want to bench 405 pounds, I'll go to a guy who's done it and ask him for his road map. If I'm training for a bodybuilding contest, I'll go to a guy who has done one and succeeded. Don't even get me started about the training of football players. I also want to go to someone who's helped other people achieve these goals before I ever came along.
Assuming this person has done what he or she is trying to tell me how to do, does he or she know how to individualize a program to get YOU there?
This, my friends, is the problem with the first question. You can't just go to a guy and copy what he did to get big or strong or bench 405, because everyone is different, and what worked for him may not necessarily work for you. What you need to know is whether he's smart enough to see what YOU need to get where you need to go. That's where experience comes into play. The best trainers around will be right on point when it comes to individualizing your program for you. This takes experience as both an athlete AND a coach/trainer. I'll get into the ways trainers can do this better in future posts.
What I'm talking about here, at least for now, is experimentation. I'm just speaking for myself here, but even when I held jobs that had nothing to do with training, it was still the last thing I thought about when I went to sleep at night, and the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning. I'm in this industry mainly because I have a very narrow mind. Aside from the obvious - family, friends, etc - I really have no other interests and never have. Sports and training have always underpinned everything I've ever done in life.
And as a result of all the nights - decades worth - we've spent thinking up new s--t to do in the gym and new ways to train, guys like me have learned a few things that you maybe can't find in your personal training certification manual or the latest study from some exercise lab.
Long story short, if you're gonna tell people what to do, you'd better have done it yourself.
Here's rule #1 for me: I don't take training advice from people who don't train.
The only exception to this rule is that I'll listen to old-school guys who've been big and strong, and HAVE trained, but currently can't for medical reasons. That's about it. If you're under the age of, say, 80, and you're healthy, you'd better currently be training in order for me to listen, otherwise we can't possibly understand one another. You can't understand athletes because you've voluntarily given up on being one, so you can't presume to tell anyone else how to be one.
When you're looking for someone to coach or train you, here are the criteria you should be using (and if you're a trainer, here are some things you should be thinking about):
Has this person ever done what he or she is trying to tell me how to do?
If I want to get bigger, I'll go to a big guy and ask him how he got there. If I want to bench 405 pounds, I'll go to a guy who's done it and ask him for his road map. If I'm training for a bodybuilding contest, I'll go to a guy who has done one and succeeded. Don't even get me started about the training of football players. I also want to go to someone who's helped other people achieve these goals before I ever came along.
Assuming this person has done what he or she is trying to tell me how to do, does he or she know how to individualize a program to get YOU there?
This, my friends, is the problem with the first question. You can't just go to a guy and copy what he did to get big or strong or bench 405, because everyone is different, and what worked for him may not necessarily work for you. What you need to know is whether he's smart enough to see what YOU need to get where you need to go. That's where experience comes into play. The best trainers around will be right on point when it comes to individualizing your program for you. This takes experience as both an athlete AND a coach/trainer. I'll get into the ways trainers can do this better in future posts.
What I'm talking about here, at least for now, is experimentation. I'm just speaking for myself here, but even when I held jobs that had nothing to do with training, it was still the last thing I thought about when I went to sleep at night, and the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning. I'm in this industry mainly because I have a very narrow mind. Aside from the obvious - family, friends, etc - I really have no other interests and never have. Sports and training have always underpinned everything I've ever done in life.
And as a result of all the nights - decades worth - we've spent thinking up new s--t to do in the gym and new ways to train, guys like me have learned a few things that you maybe can't find in your personal training certification manual or the latest study from some exercise lab.
Long story short, if you're gonna tell people what to do, you'd better have done it yourself.
Leave a comment
