I recently read "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin, a really great read that I will be re-reading in the future and would recommend to anyone interested in becoming the best at whatever it is they're passionate about. The idea of "Investing in Loss" is just one of many ideas/quotes presented in the book that stuck with me.
It's basically the idea of taking a step away from what we know, what we're comfortable with, what works for us-- and pushing ourselves to get outside our comfort zone. The idea is far from novel, and has been expressed in a number of ways ("getting comfortable with being uncomfortable" comes to mind). Despite being familiar with this idea, something about the way he articulated it and tied it to his experiences in the book made something I knew-- new again. This isn't surprising, since I can think of a number of "lessons" or things I know/have learned in the past-- but take on a new meaning depending on how it's presented, or given a new experience/circumstance where the lesson can be applied (or maybe it's something I just forgot about/stopped applying once it "worked" for me/served it's immediate purpose).
Investing In Loss has led me to take a different perspective in how I approach my technique in some of the Powerlifts. While I've always known that what "works" in Powerlifting won't always "work", and as we grow, develop, age, get stronger, etc. etc. our technique may change/need to change. Recently things had been feeling kind off, especially with my Squat, and I just couldn't get things feeling "right". I knew how I had been squatting before, and what had been working for me (mental cues, how I set up, how I load the lift)-- but I just couldn't get my body to move the way I had been.
After essentially fighting my body for a few weeks of this, and getting extremely frustrated-- I decided to try a different approach. I started messing with my stance, changing something that had been the same for the past year or so. With the stance change (widening it a bit), I also widened my grip on the bar (this was an idea that came from talking to Casey Williams when we chatted back at the Compound in the spring). This was a good start, I started to feel more stable-- although at first it felt foreign and just kind of weird.
With these stance changes, I changed the motion of how I squat. I used to squat almost high-bar (but not quite) and stayed extremely upright. In the spirit of "change" I began to allow my torso to "lean" just a bit, not letting my chest fall, but doing more of a "low bar" type of motion. I did this while still maintaining tightness, and thinking about moving the bar in a straight path (down then up) despite my torso leaning.
All of these changes went against everything that I had been doing-- but taking that risk that comes with change ultimately led to me finding a "new"-ish technique that had huge results. The first couple of sessions felt as though I was regressing, learning a new style of squatting. But ultimately paid off-- I now am squatting pain free, moving smoothly, and feel more powerful and efficient than I did before.
Investing in Loss... something I'm going to continue thinking about, and seeing where I can "lose" more in order to ultimately win in the end.