Pride Kills Progress
Everyone has his 'go to' exercise or routine. If you’ve been training for a while, you have a pretty good sense of what you’re good at. You know you can hammer out pull-ups better than anyone, stack plates on the bar for heavy benching, or just naturally crank out dips because you’ve always been good at them. The only problem is once you become good at something (and I’m talking total mastery of it), it means you suck at something else. And when I say you suck at these things, I mean you’re on the level of average or below average gym goers. If you have a great bench, chances are your upper body mobility sucks. If you have great looking quads, chances are your hamstrings and glutes are grossly undersized or underutilized.
Now, I'm not one to say that you have to be a 'Jack of all trades' when it comes to your lifting success. In fact, I’m more impressed with those who are superior in one or few areas because that entails a dedication and focus on a specific area—a refreshing change of pace in a culture where multi-tasking is lauded and 'uni-tasking' is going by the wayside. This is especially true for those who compete in bodybuilding, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, or Strongman. For those not interested in competing and just looking to maximize their God-given capabilities, you need to take heed and make a change starting today.
For many of us, we know something is wrong but refuse to do something about it. Call it laziness or weak mindedness. I prefer to call it pride. When it comes to your health and training goals, pride kills progress.
You’re hurt/overtrained and you don’t rest
Most lifters who train long and hard enough get nagging pains once in a while. It could be a result of overtraining or just a fluke injury where something bent, twisted, or planted improperly. Regardless of how it happened, you know it when you have it. The logical approach is to address it before it gets worse to ensure the longevity of your lifetime of lifting, but we lifters are a different breed and want to lift as heavy as we can now. So what’s the usual alternative? We tape it, wrap it, give it a few days (instead of longer), sleep it off, ignore it, and/or just push through it.
You may think you’re being tough or heroic, but I'm going to let you in on something you may not know yet—you aren't in the NFL. You don’t have fans, teammates, coaches, and a big fat paycheck riding on you gutting through the pain. Get over yourself and accept the fact that you’re hurt. Even Ferraris break down eventually if you drive them long enough. Go too long without addressing the check engine light and you end up with something way worse than what the original problem was. Isn’t it more reassuring instead to drive around without that little light haunting you like a ticking time bomb? The same principle applies to our bodies. Be the smart lifter and get it fixed now—sacrifice the days, weeks, or even months it might take if it means years on your lifting life. If you’re a beginner, don’t develop a bad habit, and if you’re experienced, shame on you because you know better.
Solution: If you have a nagging injury or pain, get it checked out. Or at the very least, give it complete rest until it’s 100 percent (not 70 percent, 90 percent, or whatever percentage is “good enough”). There are plenty of ways to get strong, a few ways to get hurt, and only one sure way to restoration—time.
You know your weaknesses but don’t address them
Want to know what you’re really made of? Find what you can’t do well and master it. Many lifters find the things they’re naturally good at and become content with doing it forever. For as big an ego boost as heavy lifting can be, ironically its participants sure have some fragile egos. Just appearing weak in any area is unfathomable for many, so what do we do?
We ignore full range of motion pull-ups because they’re too hard. We ditch heavy farmer’s walks because our grip sucks. And we neglect our hamstring and glutes entirely because you can’t see them in the mirror (therefore they can be hidden very easily). When we ignore weaknesses, we’re not only shortchanging ourselves physically but mentally as well. We don’t risk being perceived by ourselves or others as being weak, thus ignoring the chance to become stronger. Strength isn't a fixed point but rather a journey, and in many areas, you have to start off being weak.
Strength only yields herself to those committed to the journey. For many, the time it would take to make the weakness into a strength seems so daunting. While I’m not saying you should become a 'Jack of all trades' when it comes to your health and training goals, you need to quit avoiding stuff just because they aren’t fun or you aren't good at them. You may have weak glutes, but if you dedicate the next four weeks to targeting that area, your squats, deadlifts, and even standing biceps curls will go up as well. There’s value in addressing weaknesses—more giants to conqueror, a stronger body, and a stronger mind, which I can almost guarantee will translate into other areas in your life.
Solution: Find what you suck at and commit yourself to abolishing that weakness. Be dedicated with it:
- If your mobility sucks, buy a foam roller and use it every day, twice a day, and take a Yoga class.
- If you have small calves, start working them six days a week. You’ll obviously have to adjust the volume and intensity from day to day, but the point is to constantly address it.
- If you have a weak core (and most of us do), start doing it first before you do any other exercise in the gym to give it priority.
- If your conditioning is poor, dedicate two days a week to just that doing one of the following—suicides, barbell complexes, sled drags, or Prowler® pushing
.
You’re fat and you don’t clean up your diet
Training tenets operate on a bell curve. They start off basic in the beginning (eat lots of veggies, lots of protein, and drink a shake after the gym), get increasingly more complex as you get further along (i.e. daily macronutrient manipulation, insulin sensitivity, hormones), and gradually return to a more simplistic approach. Everyone goes through this cycle if they’re in it long enough, and that’s why I believe those at the tail end can appreciate the work of people like Dan John, Jim Wendler, and Dave Tate. For all the advanced techniques they tried and minutia they’ve sifted through, they deliver practical, simple advice that works.
I believe this is especially applicable to one’s nutrition. It’s good to know the complex, scientific background behind doing what you do, but plenty of people have gotten in great shape without it by doing the following:
- Don’t count calories.
- Consume a ton of vegetables and fruit[1].
- Eat a ton of protein.
- Get adequate fiber (at least 25 g).
- Take your fish oils.
- Drink 1–2 gallons of water.
- Throw in a protein shake or two if you really need something extra.
Follow these and even if you sit on your butt for eight hours a day, there isn't any reason for you to carry around excessive fat. It’s when people add stuff to the approach, make it more complicated by worrying about the smaller things, or skip a step that they mess themselves up.
Solution: Follow the above for a month and see and feel the difference.
Conclusion
Don’t fall for the illusion that pride is a masculine, admirable character trait. Proud people are powerless people. Their world is small, their ideas are confined, and their growth is limited. If you visit this site regularly, I assume you’re always looking for ways to be the best that you can be, but even tough pills need to be swallowed every now and again. Ask an eight year old what he wants for dinner every night and it will always rotate between ice cream, pizza, and chocolate cake, but it’s an adult’s responsibility to feed the child what he needs to grow healthy and strong. Do the same for yourself. Don’t gorge on pizza and ice cream for too long because you’ll stunt your growth and never reach your full potential.
[1] Blend them together to get in your daily requirements. Almost no one can eat enough. After chugging your first kale/broccoli sprout/cranberry/banana shake, you’ll feel like a contestant on Fear Factor, but your health and physique will thank you.