I have only been in the sport of powerlifting actively for almost two years but, all through high school I weight lifted, competed in strongman meets in the south, and then joined the Military straight out of school. So I have been around men and women who live a life of extreme physical and mental stress for years. In these years I have had the privilege with working with, training with, and talking to some of the best lifters and physically fit men and women in the country. Also, in these past few years I have had and seen more than a few unfortunate experiences whether first hand or second hand of many failed aspects of successful lifters and athletes. I want to just briefly discuss a few of those here in order to allow some beginners, and even advanced lifters to try and miss some of those pit falls; hopefully allowing a longer and happier experience in powerlifting, or any strength sport for that matter. These are not listed in any order of importance.
1. Mobility Mobility is an extremely popular and often controversial topic in strength sports at this time. However, in my experience and opinion mobility should be addressed from day one of a lifters program. Whether the lifter has impressive mobility in all aspects it should still be practiced and utilized in the program. Mobility is kind of like that awesome girlfriend or boyfriend you had at one point who bent over backwards to please you, and yet for whatever reason you just pushed them to the way side and finally lost them. Now you are sitting alone missing them and working your ass off to get them back unfortunately, sometimes you never get them back, and if you do the relationship is often never the same. In the words of Sam Byrd “Stretch, foam roll, and do everything you can and need to do to stay flexible. Mobility is a lot easier to keep than it is to try and get it back… trust me.” I am not going to go into a massive article on how and what to do for every specific movement and body part but, simply summing up with if you do not utilize stretching, soft tissue work, and the such you are most likely missing out especially for some of the larger lifters. I will save the finer details for a later time and date to save time.
2. Nutrition Do not sell yourself and your goals short because you refuse to eat quality food at least eighty percent of the time. Our bodies are machines and like machines we need proper fuel to feel our best and work as efficiently as we can. I am not talking about eating to have a six pack I am talking about eating for performance. If you are able to have a six pack, eat plenty of quality foods, and still hit PRs on the platform then great if not oh well, you won’t get any extra points for looking sexy anyways. However, there is a balance here the “See Food” diet is not exactly always the best option either. If you are 140lbs at six foot tall then sure eat everything you can get your hands on but, there will come a point when simply adding weight for the sake of adding weight will begin to do more harm than good. Not to mention your numbers on the platform could eventually suffer but, more importantly so your health could suffer. No matter how awesome you are if you are dead because a heart attack you cannot exactly increase your total. I made this mistake very recently and am paying for it now. I let some people influence me into just simply eating everything and getting “bigger” in order to put up bigger numbers. Unfortunately, after 6 months of this and going from 215lbs and being in the best shape I had ever been in to all the way up to a chubby 240lbs. I am sad to say really the only thing that increased was my blood pressure and waist line. Do not make this mistake. Eat to perform not just to do it. Show some self-discipline and eat clean eighty percent of the week. You, your heart, your total, and your appearance will thank you for it.
3. There is more to life I am one of the most dedicated powerlifters you will meet. I do not miss sessions, I obsess over bad sessions, I plan sessions, meals and almost all of my life around training sessions. My family, girlfriend, and friends know exactly when and where these sessions will be. They also understand that unless you are dying chances are I will not miss these sessions. However, they also know that other than those six or eight hours a week I am open to go out, have fun, watch movies, cook out, play games you name it. Powerlifting is a massive part of my life but, it is not the only part of my life. I have seen and heard so many men talk about losing a good friend or even a wife because they just could not set time to live where they were not obsessing about the gym. One of the hardest things for “hardcore want it all strength athletes” is to turn the training and hardcore mind set off. You have to remember that the gym is going nowhere. As long as you paid your dues it will be open on Monday however, unlike that building full of barbells your wife or family may not. Spend time with your friends and family, pick up a hobby that is not in the gym, have a dedicated date night every week with your girl or guy where you are just yourself and enjoy one another, hang out with friends and just laugh, read a book, go to school, take a vacation that doesn’t involve a 12 hour powerlifting meet. Just remember there is more to life. I hope this helps some people and I know it got a little deeper than you most likely wanted or expected but, none the less these are three of the biggest mistakes I see day in and day out. There is no reason any of us have to learn the hard way. Take care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally I promise it will carry over and show the benefits in your training. I hope all benefit from this, the ones already practicing all of this I hope you continue, and I hope all of you have a great week and until next time hit some PR’s.
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