My LTT6 Experience: Reality Check

My LTT6 Experience: Reality Check

By Joe Schillero
Published: June 17, 2013Posted in: TrainingTags: breaking mental barriers, Buddy Morris, Coach X, ed coan, iron game, Jim Wenlder's 5/3/1, Joe Schillero, LTT6, motivation', perspective, strength training, training with a group
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The sixth elitefts™ Learn to Train (LTT) seminar was a once in a lifetime experience. Several of the elitefts™ athletes and attendees have written about everything that took place over those two days. I just want to focus on one big take away from the weekend that changed my perspective and could change yours.
A common theme that you’ll hear from people who attend the LTT seminars is that they felt like they came to the seminar as one person and left as another. There is something about being surrounded by the best lifters and coaches in the world that changes your outlook like you would never imagine. The individual attention given by the coaches can lead to some incredible conversations. When Ed Coan or Buddy Morris says something to youpersonally about your training or potential, it flips some serious switches in your head.
To give you some background, my powerlifting journey began a few years ago when I was recovering from a heart infection and was a weak 170 pounds. I decided that I was tired of just working out and needed a goal to train for. Without really knowing anything about powerlifting, I went online and bought Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 book. I began training and signed up for my first meet.
Since then, I’ve come a long way from where I started and have been competing at 220 pounds, and most recently competed in the Ohio Invitational at the Arnold Classic. I’ve met many other competitors, but I’ve always primarily trained by myself because that’s what I was used to. I learned a lot from working through things on my own, but I couldn’t help but feel (especially recently) like I wasn’t performing to my full potential.
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This concern grew into a reality during the second day of the LTT seminar. We were going through the squat station and one of my coaches was ‘Coach X’ Buddy Morris. After squatting, Buddy looked me straight in the eye and said what has been burning in my mind every day since then: “You are much stronger than you think you are. You just don’t know how to display strength.”
The same sentiments were reiterated to me from several other coaches throughout the weekend, and it really got the wheels turning in my mind. Is it possible that I’m expecting too little of myself? As I processed through these recent experiences, I realized the source of these low expectations. By training alone and staying in my comfort zone, I was allowing myself to live in a reality where weights seemed heavier than they should and where I was ingraining some bad habits without anyone to keep me accountable. This had to change. Even though I enjoyed training alone and have made a lot of progress, I had to decide what I wanted. Do I want to do what’s comfortable, or do I want to reach an elite level someday?

Following LTT6, Dave Tate said in a Facebook post that “A take away we always build into every seminar we do is to surround yourself with people who are better at something than you are.” It really hit home with me that humbling myself and getting into that type of environment was what I’d been neglecting. The hot topics these days always seem to revolve around the importance of choosing the “perfect” program or the best nutrition plan. However, a discussion about the importance of your training environment is much more rare, probably because it’s something you can’t just pull out of your wallet and buy. Everyone has different areas that need improvement in their training and different things that they take away from the LTT seminars. I’d found the biggest issue that I needed to address and I wasn’t going to waste any more time.

Immediately following the seminar, I started training with an awesome crew and coach at Duke’s Iron Zoo. At Duke’s, we’re constantly pushing each other to become better. It’s an environment built on the foundation of passion, experience, and accountability. I know that when I step into that gym, I had better be ready to not only train harder than ever before, but do everything in my power to make the guys around me better.
I also began an internship with JL Holdsworth at his strength and conditioning facility, The Spot, in Columbus, Ohio. He and his coaches are the best in the business and I’ll be spending these next several months making the drive to Columbus every week to spend time working and training with them. My own training, as well as my ability to coach and program for others, will only continue to improve with this experience. Whether I’m in Columbus at The Spot or at Dukes in Akron (where I live and work), now I have training partners who I can rely on and constantly learn from. The coming months will be challenging, but I’m confident that it will leave me with no regrets.myltt6joesquat060713.jpg
The LTT seminar was the reality check I needed to make me realize the direction in which I need to go. I’ve started the ball rolling and I’m not looking back. In a recent max effort squat session at Dukes, I hit my old max for a triple. It wasn’t that I necessarily got that much stronger in a couple weeks but that I put myself in the new environment that I needed. Now every time I get under the bar, I have eight guys who are stronger and more experienced than me yelling cues and ready to chew me out if I don’t strain through the lift. I know that if they put a weight on the bar, it’s because I can move it and it’s up to me to make it happen. This is the kind of accountability I neglected for too long and the decision to change that is already paying off.

I’ll be forever grateful for what the LTT seminar did to change my perspective. My path is still evolving and I am just beginning this next chapter in my training. However, I wanted to write these thoughts down now because I know there are people reading this article who are in the same position that I was in. This isn’t just about training alone or with a group. It’s bigger than that. Your comfort zone may be different from mine, but whatever it is, it’s holding you back from being the best that you can be.
We all have unlimited potential and the resources to excel. The tough part can be making the decision to simplydo it. Mediocrity and self-imposed limits aren’t for you, so ditch your comfort zone and start down the path to becoming strong(er).