Consistency

By:
Alex Campbell
www.notldonline.com


He stepped out from under the bar and I could see the look in his face. It wasn't just a look of disgust, but also of bewilderment. He had just missed a 5 pound personal record in the squat and didn't know why. He shot a glance over to my watchful eye. I think he saw in my eyes that I had the answers, but he didn't say anything. Instead he just quietly walked into the dressing room. Sure, I knew why he had missed the lift. It was the same reason that so many young lifters miss their lifts. He lacked the number one ingredient to be a successful powerlifter, consistency. This young man had been working hard for the 6 weeks after football season had ended. He was also looking forward to a starting job on the offensive line the next year in football and knew the extra strength would help. The problem was those 6 weeks was just the first half of his twelve week off season program. The next three weeks were during Christmas break. I never saw him during that time. He lifted hard when school resumed, but that was not enough to right his sinking ship. The lack of consistency has to be the number one factor in lack of success of young or new lifters. Many older or more experienced lifters will remember what it was like training that first year or so. It seemed every workout got easier, every new assistance exercise improved your total, every new program made you stronger, every rep scheme always equaled progress, and every meet held a new personal best. It was so easy to be consistent when there was always a tangible reward at every workout. I see a lot of lifters that will work hard for three months, six months, or even a year; but when those easy gains slow or disappear, so do they. I coach several high school lifters right now that also play football, although I don't know how. Even the head coach agreed they have no place playing, much less starting in such a rugged and physical sport. A 140 pound full back has no place in high school football especially at a school with over 600 students. Surely there must be someone better suited to the position, but how can he be denied when he has worked himself into the starting job by becoming stronger than every one of the linemen? That is consistency. That is not one summer or even one season, but four years of consistent dedication. Sure it would have been easy for that 90 pound weakling to accept his physical handicap as a freshman and just be content to be a part of the team, but he didn't. Instead, through consistency and hard work, he earned his place at the table and an all-conference selection. In powerlifting, as with any other endeavor, a person must be dedicated to repetitive consistency. This does not stop at training either. Let's stop looking at examples from my life and start examining examples from yours.

Consistent Training
Do you ever skip a workout because you had something more important to do? Sure, things come up that supercede lifting; funerals, birthdays, marriages, church activities, etc. But did you plan a time to work in your training? Did you consider postponing or rescheduling your workout or did you just conveniently skip it? I have lifters every day give me excuses for not making their training sessions. I did not know if we were supposed to lift. Did they bother to ask me the day before, call me at home, drive by to see, ask for a written schedule, etc.? I always say the same thing, “I don't ask for excuses; only results.” Training is the time when you destroy all of those weak and puny muscle fibers and give your body a chance to create worthy replacements.

Consistent Recuperation
Most experienced lifters know that training is just a part of powerlifting, albeit a very large part. How is your recovery? Do you stay up late watching some mindless television show when you should be sleeping? Do you hang out late at the local night spot consuming countless empty calories until the early hours of the morning? I know plenty of lifters that do, then complain that their training isn't going well. I hear my high school lifters talk about having a hard time making their 10 am workouts. I would have a tough time too if I stayed with a friend, ate 2 bags of Doritos, and only slept 4 hours. My number one complaint from my teen lifters is that they can't gain weight. I just stand there waiting, and eventually it comes. They start telling me when, how much, and how often they eat. I always stop them and say, Whatever you are eating it is not enough. Anyone can gain weight. It might not be as easy for one as another, but it can happen. All it takes is dedication. Most young people do not eat an adequate breakfast. I see them eating a bowl of refined sugar with milk on it called breakfast. When I ask them why they were not getting enough protein, fruits, good carbs, etc., they always say they didn't have time or got up late. Probably from staying up too late eating snack food. Recuperation is what allows your body to rebuild that tortured carcass into a lifting machine. Don't neglect it.

Consistent Competition
Training is great, but there is no better place to truly learn about ones self than at a competition. And believe me, one local push pull every two or three years is not consistent competition. I fell into that rut early in my powerlifting career, and I thoroughly believe it hampered my progress. I would do the local meet, pull over 500 at 198, collect my first place trophy, and go home until next year. I became stale, complacent, and content. I didn't really begin to grow again as a lifter until I went to my first sanctioned meet. That first place pull was good enough to get my fifth out of sixth. I saw girls that squatted as much as I (there are many that still can). It was time for me to consistently reevaluate myself, my training, my goals, and my progress. Do you conveniently pass up chances to access yourself by competing? Do you say you don't have enough money when you waste it on lottery tickets, pay-per-view wrestling, and (possibly the worst) body building magazines? Do you say you don't have enough time when you sit around every autumn afternoon glued to the sports channel? Do you say the meets are too far away when you will drive 16 hours to see a person dressed as a mouse dance with another dressed as a duck? It may be time for you to consistently set a time and place to reevaluate yourself. Competition is not about you versus anyone else; it is about you versus yourself. Powerlifting meets are where you find your focus, discover your weaknesses, and get a blatant and honest appraisal. The iron never lies.

Consistent Preparation
I can't tell you how many times I have heard lifters blame poor performance on poor preparation. When I ask them why they didn't change it, I always get the same reply, I don't know. Have you ever heard someone say the reason they bombed in the bench was because they were using a brand new shirt? Who's fault is it they didn't order their shirt until the week before? Sometimes I hear people say they miss squat depth because they weren't used to the wraps. Whose fault is it they didn't train in their wraps until the week before? The old adage “Those that fail to plan, plan to fail” also pertains to powerlifting. Stop using it as a crutch and plan your training cycles, meals, and contest preparation. I am not saying that people don't make mistakes. I once used a thirteen week precontest deadlift routine that peaked me way too soon. The next time, I tried an eight week routine, but still peaked one week too soon. For my next meet, I will be using a six week routine. After saying all of that, this six week routine might not work either. But I will not try what did not work last time, blame the routine, and then do it again, that is for sure. Preparation is where you learn from your past competitions and use that experience to adapt your training to get stronger

Consistent Influx of Knowledge
Just the other day, one of my lifters came to me obviously very excited about something. He told me that his bench press was on the rise again after I had changed his flailing routine for him. He had been doing my workouts after school and his dad's workouts at home. This quickly led to an overtraining in his bench. I told him to take a week off, only do my routine, and restart his program with lighter weight. Now, four weeks later, he was already working out with more than he ever had. When I asked him if he was surprised that listening to what I said had helped him, he look shocked, thought a minute, and replied “Yes.” Talk about an ego adjustment. I learned a long time ago that I have very little knowledge about training compared to many in the sport. Instead of just surrounding myself with my own ideas, I began to look elsewhere. I went and trained with a teenage national level competitor, questioned a high school strength coach that consistently produced champions at local meets, called a friend that is the state record holder, etc. I subscribe to several powerlifting magazines, read internet forums, talk with other experienced lifters, but most importantly I coach others. As I said before, I am not the most knowledgeable in the sport of powerlifting, however I do believe that my 10 years of powerlifting have given me enough knowledge to help a few high school students get started and avoid many of the same mistakes I made when I was their age. The most amazing thing is that when I help others, I learn about them, the sport, teenagers, life, a few new words, and myself. Your knowledge is like a big tank of water. If you constantly spew out but never take in, it won't be long before it is empty. If you let a lot in and leak out a little every once and a while, it will always be full.

Conclusion
He stepped out from under the bar, undid his belt, but never said a word. He began to walk across the room, and he glanced over just long enough to see the look on my face. It was not a look of disgust, but bewilderment. I thought he would be smiling, jumping up and down, giving high fives; but instead he just kept on walking. When he finally stopped, it was right in front of a tattered piece of paper hastily taped to the wall. He peered intently at the tiny writing and stuck out his bony little finger as if searching for something. He finally emphatically jabbed his finger into the paper and motioned for me to come over without ever letting his eyes leave the paper. As I approached, I recognized the paper as the most recent list of the top 100 lifts in his weight class. I followed his finger up to 78th place. There I saw that his lift had just placed him in that place for the entire nation at only 17 years old. I stuck my hand out, looked deep in his eyes, and said Consistency.