Your First Three Years of Training

Training is not practice, it's not lifting, and it's neither casual nor easy.  Having defined what training is not, defining what it is becomes a little easier.  Training is a purposeful and meaningful pursuit of a skill that is currently beyond your abilities.  

This is what makes training difficult; you're striving to achieve something you cannot currently do.  Imagine yourself deadlifting 500 pounds.  For reps.  It's possible if you really want it.  I promise it will not be easy.    

Mastery of a skill has been said to take 10,000 hours of meaningful practice.  Meaningful and purposeful practice with a plan that leads to success.  That is the definition of training.

So you've decided to begin training.  Maybe this was a conscious decision (you were tired of being low man/woman on the totem pole) or maybe you fell into it accidentally (you started casually but became gradually more infatuated with it) but here you are.  You've started for better or for worse and you're all in, full steam ahead captain I'm headed for the top.  Let me stop you there and give you a view of what to expect for the next three years.

The beginning is the easiest part.  Your technique, your form and your conceptual understanding will be weak at best but this is a good thing because your potential for improvement is tremendous.  Your potential to shit the bed is also at an all time high, so choose carefully how to proceed.  Getting started is the one place where I would say it is absolutely critical to have someone to help you.  Get a coach, a mentor, or hijack a friend to show you some basics.  You'll progress more quickly, more safely, and spend less time fixing broken habits later if you do it right the first time.  Everything will be new to you and you'll have to think hard before each attempt.  You may feel a little overwhelmed with how much there is to learn but you'll make quick and dramatic progress that will make it easy to keep hammering away at the little things.  This is the honeymoon phase and it's everyone's favorite phase of training.  Can't stop won't stop, the hype is out of control.  

After the beginning comes the middle.  This may be 6 months to two years after the beginning.  Everyone is different and I'll not put a hard timeline on your progress.  Progress is progress and I don't care how long it takes.  You know how you'll know when you get to the middle?  You'll start to fail.  Often, and with gusto.  This is the point you'll be hitting the wall of your beginner's 1) strength 2) technique or 3) conceptual understanding.  Basically, either you're too weak, your technique is off, or you don't understand what you're doing like you thought you did.  This is where you have the opportunity to define yourself as an athlete and as a person.  This is where most people will bail.  

Here's an example:

I trained with powerlifters and strongmen for most of my training career.  I love these guys for their brute fuck it attitudes toward training.  Weightlifters can sometimes be divas about training, but the powerlifters and strongmen (at least those that I trained with) gave no shits about your feelings.  It worked for me, though it was a special environment.  At this particular gym one of the strongest squatters had a goal of a 600 pound squat.  He busted ass for two years; two and three hour sessions four days a week, gained somewhere between 40 and 50 pounds, and gathered a group of bad ass dudes and ladies around himself to train with.  He did exactly what he needed to do.  The last max out day he was set to attempt 600 he fell just short and only managed 590.  That fucker was 10 pounds away from his goal.  That's 1.7% away from what he wanted.  HE WAS 98.3% OF THE WAY THERE.  And he walked away.  He said he wanted to "work on his fitness and lose some weight".  I've rarely been so disappointed, but it didn't mean enough to him to keep going.  He didn't have the drive to finish the goal he set for himself.  Don't be that guy.  Say what you mean, and mean what you say then follow through and hold yourself accountable.  

This is another important time to have someone there to guide you through the process.  These speed bumps will be happening more and more often through the rest of your lifting career so figure out a way to deal with them now.  Trust your coach, break down your technique, work your weaknesses and keep busting ass.  You'll hit another PR streak soon enough.  Then you'll stall again, and the process will repeat itself.  Don't worry you're in good company and anyone who's trained for a significant length of time has been where you are.

So now you're still training.  You've progressed passed the middle but you're far from the end.  It's somewhere around you're second or third year and you're hammering away as best you can to reach that next level, always that next level.  By this point you've made it through your first plateau's and "why do I do this to myself" existential crises.  You have the tools you need to continue improving and hopefully you've settled yourself into a gym with an atmosphere that is fun for you and supports your goals.  You're still refining you're technique, it's not quite subconscious yet, but you look like you know what you're doing and you're clothes don't fit anymore because your hips, legs and shoulders have finally grown out of the jean jackets and slim fit pants you wore in high school.  If you've trained 10 hours a week every week no weeks off up to now you'll have hit just over 450 hours of practice, and chances are you'll look around at the people around you and still feel like a rank beginner.  If not the pond you're swimming in is too small my friend.  If so take a minute to appreciate that you've done something that many others are unwilling to do.  You began something with no expectation that you would be where you are today.  There is still much to learn but take solace knowing that you are on the right track. 

What can you expect for your first three years of training?

1)  The beginning is the easiest part.  Progress is quick, small changes yield big results and you're on track to be the strongest in the gym.

2)  You'll need a coach in the beginning.  Someone needs to be there to show you what to do and correct you when you're wrong.  Do it early or risk wasting time later in your career fixing the basics while your friends numbers keep flying.

3)  You will stall.  It's ok and it's normal.  Talk to your coach, talk to your friends, take this time to fix yourself and support the people you train with.  You're a family and it's not always about your PR's.

4)  Most people are not mentally determined or committed enough to stick through the plateau's.  If you set a goal without knowing what it will take to get there you better evaluate how much that goal means to you.

5)  Once you make it through the first major hurdles of your career you'll come to the other side with an understanding of what "grit" really means.  I can't describe it, it can't be taught, but you'll know it when you see it.  

6)  By the end of those three years you'll have amassed just over 450 hours of practice, assuming you trained 10 hours a week every week with no weeks off.  You may not be a master yet so don't make assumptions, but you've attained a level that most never attempt.

I write this on the eve of my 4th year of training.  

Yours in strength,

Nate

Olympic weightlifting level charts from Catalyst Athletics:

Olympic Weightlifting Skill Level Charts

Weightlifting Ratios From firstpull.net:

Use of Ratios for Weightlifting

That Chip on Your Shoulder

That Chip On Your Shoulder

"Even before I knew I was"

I'm not the best athlete.  I'm not the smartest in any given room.  I'm average by all means.  I will, however, die before letting you outwork me.  

You may be a good athlete.  You may be naturally intelligent.  You may be above average.  Or you may just think you are.

You may be talented, intelligent, and something special.  If you don't believe in your ability, you are a waste.

Cassius Clay.  Muhammad Ali.  When I think of an athlete I'd look up to he is always the one I think of.  He was an athlete of unmatched caliber.  His presence outside the ring was commanding and personable.  He was loved, and he fought for his beliefs.

"Even before I knew I was"

The problem with idols, heroes and role models is they will always fall short of your expectations and when it happens it hits hard.  Even when they pass away your idols may one day be revealed to be less than superhuman.  That is life and it's why you must develop your own moral code of conduct.

Mine has always involved a massive fucking chip that sits right on top of both shoulders.  This is not about picking fights and being aggressive.  This is about knowing what you want, lowering your head, and running through anything that wants to stop you.  This is about bullheadedness.  This is about being unreasonable and demanding perfection.  This is about a fuck you attitude towards life.

"Even before I knew I was"

Stand for something.  Stand the fuck up for something.  If you believe in it and it matters do not let yourself be overrun by those who are simply louder.  Just because they are hierarchically positioned above you does not mean you are less capable.  Be someone, do something, help people along the way.

Respect yourself, you deserve it

Respect others, they deserve it

Give, and give again

You have more to give

You still have more to give

Look out for your people

Solutions, not complaints

Love it, or change it

Be the best at what you do

Study, you're not good enough

Practice, you're not good enough

Work.

Work.

Work.

"Even before I knew I was"

We all start at the beginning.

Before Ali became the champ, he proclaimed himself the champ.  Before he ever knew he was, he proclaimed before the world that he was the greatest in an era of greats.  That is the chip that you have to carry.  That is the fuck you attitude to adopt if you want to succeed at something that is hard.  Yes it is difficult; you bury your frustration.  Yes it's frustrating; you bury your negativity.  It seems impossible; you bury the self doubt.  Don't look back, what's back there for you?  You take your lessons you learn and you move forward.  If you live in the past you will waste the present and you only get one life to live.  Wasted time will never come back around.

Remember through your life, and I'll use Ali as an example, that we do this for the people around us.  Ali destroyed opponents.  He could take you ten rounds or end you in three.  However, outside of the ring he always respected and even loved those around him.  There's a story about Ali.   He was training for a fight at his mountain lodge training center and took a trip to town to visit a young man in the hospital who was dying of a terminal disease.  Ali asked this young man what he could do for him, not IF but WHAT.  The young man requested that Ali win his next fight by knock out and Ali said, "I'll give you a knockout by the third round".  For a child he did not know before that day Ali put his reputation on the line.  He gave his word, he took this child's wish on as his own responsibility, and by all accounts he trained harder following that day. I'll let you look up how that story ends.

Love and respect, but not for his opponent.

Love and respect, but not for what will stop you.

Love and Respect

And a massive fucking chip on your shoulder

Yours in strength,

Nate

Naysayers, Doubters, and Those Who Hold You Back

Naysayers, Doubters, and Those Who

Hold You Back

Sometimes negativity is blatant and obvious. Open judgement regarding your lifestyle, encouraging you to pursue more realistic goals off your chosen path, name calling and belittling all come to mind.  This is easy to recognize but less common.

Other times negativity will be more insidious, and perhaps even disguised behind well meaning colleagues and friends.  A friend who, for all their good intentions and offers of help, cannot be relied upon to follow through and leaves you hanging.  Family who don't openly negate your wishes but subtly push you in a different direction. You may know exactly what I mean.  You may not yet have recognized this in others, but maybe this will cause you to examine your relationships more closely.  Either way it is time to purge them.

Understand this, I have found these people to be too deleterious to be allowed to remain in my life.  That has meant letting some of my closest family members and friends drift away.  And to this day I am happier for it and do not regret it.  Those people took too much energy away from my life, my goals, my dreams.  My goals are inarguably unrealistic but I fully subscribe to demanding the impossible to achieve the best result.  It’s terrifying and the possibility of failure is very real.  Even if you fail pursuing your dream, the journey holds the adventure not the destination.  If it scares you; go after it.

 "If it scares you; go after it."

I want to be a national level weightlifter and strongman.  I want to be one of the strongest competitors in the nation at two sports.  I don’t know if it’s been done before, I don’t know if I can do it, but I mean what I say and I live what I preach and I want you to know that.

There’s a rule of life called the “80/20” rule and it seems to hold true for so many things that it’s applied in business, nutrition, strength training and fitness.  I’m sure it would apply elsewhere but these are the world’s I spend 80% of my time in so that’s what I know.  It goes like this:

“20% of your effort produces 80% of your results”

As an example, in business the rule would predict that 20% of your clients produce 80% of your profit.  It also would predict that 20% of your clients produce 80% of your headaches.  

In strength training it would predict that 20% of your training produces 80% of your results.  It would also predict that 20% of your exercises are producing 80% of your improvements.

In life, and in this context, it would predict that 20% of your friends and family help create 80% of your happiness.  Conversely 20% of those same groups are help create 80% of your unhappiness.  

Don’t get caught up in the math.  This is a sociological principle used to make a point, not to designate 20% of your social circle as expendable.  

Personally there were two people who were extremely negative influences on my professional and personal life.  Emotionally I became dependent on their approval precisely because it was so difficult to attain.  They were also two of the most prominent figures in my life.  It took many years for me to realize just how negatively they were influencing my self image.  I will not lie, cutting them out was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do.  I will never regret that decision and I will never look back.  Most things worth doing are difficult.

I am unrealistically demanding.  I am an unrealistic perfectionist.  I am an unrealistic hopeful.  Being realistic will not help you find happiness.  Being realistic will make you fall in line with the status quo.  Enjoy your lifelong mediocrity.  OR you can be unrealistic, cut out the negative influences, demand your best at all times and see where it takes you.  

Yours in strength,

Nate Schwartz

Transitioning from CrossFit to Strength Sports

                   Making the Transition from CrossFit to Strength Sports

               

Confession:  I started in CrossFit.  Everyone at my gym knows me as the guy that won't run because it'll mess up his squat day, but there was a time that I was head over heels for the sport of fitness.  You've found your way to this post so I'm going to assume that you're a strength enthusiast or are considering making the transition to strength sports.  My advice: do it.  It's awesome.  There's nothing cooler to me than loading a 300 lb atlas stone and snatching 250lbs.  My girlfriend agrees and if we're being honest we all do it for the ladies so there's that to look forward to.  So, you're thinking about changing from CrossFit to full time strength training?  You, my friend, are in for a rough, rough transition.

However with that transition come so many rewards that it's worth every bit of struggle.  Ever tried a 20 rep squat test at 225?  That's your max squat you say?  Imagine if your max was 400.  How much easier would that 20 rep test be?  Ever had to push your broken down car onto the shoulder of the highway?  Same premise.  Being strong just makes life easier.  

Transitioning from CrossFit to Strength Sports is a bit like graduating from high school and moving to college.  You're in the big leagues now, there are ego's on the line and you're out in a great wide world of knowledge with only (if you're lucky) one or two resources to keep you on track.

Never had to study before because your coach programmed for you, corrected your form, and modulated your intensity with all kinds of neat tricks?  Good luck.  You'd better learn to review videos of yourself every day or get in touch with a coach who knows the ropes.

Used to 60 minutes of intensity 2-3 times a week producing results?  Good luck.  Meal prep alone might take two to three hours a week now.  If you want to get strong you're in it for the long haul, and you're looking at 4 sessions a week at around an hour and a half a pop.

Used to getting participation points for showing up to class even if you half ass the WOD?  Adios to those days.  When someone half asses they're strength work with me they get left out on their own.  Don't waste my time.  You're looking to get strong, which means lifting heavy, often, and in large volume.  Welcome to a whole new world of fatigue and soreness.

If you're still reading then I'll take this moment to acknowledge the fact that you probably already experienced everything I just mentioned.  You're a strength athlete and everything above goes without saying.  The deeper you get into the strength world the more comfortable you'll get with your own style of training.  It may be 5/3/1, Westside, 5 by 5's, the Cube, Olympic Lifting, Strongman etc... but every single training style is designed to get you as strong as possible.  Here are a few things to expect from your new training program.

CrossFit has built up a huge base of conditioning for you which will be helpful, but now you need to prioritize your main lifts.  Any conditioning work has to be accounted for in your program.  Don't fall into the trap of trying to push both your conditioning and your strength at the same time, you're setting yourself up for mediocrity.  Your strength will suffer from the conditioning and your conditioning will suffer because you'll be fatigued from your strength work. 

"I'd rather be dead than average" - Mad Dog Bell.  Don't settle for mediocrity.

You have to eat more. A lot more.  I know you think you're eating enough, but you're not.  Here's my challenge to you.  Get on My Fitness Pal and spend one week tracking how much you eat.  If you're under 1 gram of protein and 2 grams of carbohydrate per pound of bodyweight you're under eating.  Every ex-crossfitter struggles the most with their new nutrition plan.  You will be fluffy for a while.  We can bring your body fat back down later but in the beginning you will have to put on weight.  Those abs will disappear for a bit and your pants will be a little tighter but when you go from deadlifting 225 to 400 it'll be worth it.  As an added bonus all that extra muscle mass is going to look really good in a speedo, even if there's a little extra fluff on top.  Trust me.

This is not the time to think about cutting weight and trying to drop a weight class.  If you're transitioning from CrossFit you're relatively weak compared to the rest of the playing field (even for the weight class below you) and putting on weight is the best way to make up some lost time.  Bigger humans are better able to produce force, and mass moves mass.  Build your body mass to move more weight.

I'm going to say something that may be unnecessary but nonetheless was a mistake I made as a young lifter so I'll touch on it briefly. Let go of your preconceived notions of strength training.  CrossFit has opened the door for you to begin your strength journey and taught you many things.  Don't let those lessons close your mind to what you could learn from veterans in the strength and conditioning world.  Even if you disagree just hold your comments and take a look around you.  If you're surrounded by people stronger than you then maybe it's time to bring back the student mentality.  It's normal to have questions, but be respectful of those who have been in this game longer than you especially when they've clearly been successful. 

That's all I have to say about that.  Welcome to the world of strength my friend and I'm glad you're here.  You're in good company.  This is a journey that will take a lifetime but strength is a gift that keeps on giving.  Keep this in mind as you progress down your new path:

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general".  

Yours in strength,

Nate Schwartz

If You're a Coach, You Need a Coach

Hey strength seekers,

Tank here.

I consider myself a pretty good coach. I've been in the lifting game a long time and produced a lot of good results for myself and my clients. Since I opened the Primal Strength Gym, I've had a real good run of Strongman finishes. I spend a great deal of time reading and investing in my knowledge so I can keep improving my craft.

But if there is one thing I've learned in my lifting journey, it's that I really don't know much at all. I've learned that if I want to keep progressing, I can't be my own coach and that I need someone smarter than me.

A lot of strength athletes would say, "I am a coach, why the hell would I need to hire a coach for myself?". Or, "If I'm trying to be reputable and credible to potential clients, why would I discredit myself by hiring someone to do what I'm supposed to be so good at?"

 Well that's your ego talking.

Strength athletes, especially amongst business owners, can be very prideful.

Nowhere else in the sports world have I seen some people so resistant to coaching. Everyone wants to be a guru and everyone has the answer. For contrast, in team sports for example, every position player has multiple coaches for the most part.

Look, I know you think you're an awesome coach. For those I surround myself with and follow across the interwebs, I know they are awesome coaches actually. Coach Sean Murphy? Check out his website and all of the transformations he's done. Nate Schwartz? I PR'd my keg clean and press one day when he visited my gym and was helping me out.

I'm sure you've done a lot of great things for great people and you deserve all of the credit for those results. But I can also say with almost certainty that you can't do the same things for yourself, or at least to maximum potential. Outsiders will have an entirely different perspective on your lifting without the inherent biases we carry through our own education and lifting experience. And that outside perspective is healthy...

I recognize the power of an outsider, which is why I hired Mike Westerling to coach me. If you don't know Mike, he's one of the best in the biz. He's had a ton of success in his career, including coaching 5x America's Strongest Woman, 3x Worlds Strongest Woman Kristin Rhodes.

I hired Mike because he trains far differently than I ever have before and how I even train my own people. But his success speaks for itself and it's obvious his methods work.

As a coach it's your job to serve, and you can't truly serve your people if you're only trying to serve yourself and preserve your ego. To get better, you need to learn from those who are better.

It's not a knock on your skills as a coach, and if anything, it's a testament to your self awareness and your willingness to do whatever it takes to be better yourself, which obviously has tremendous upside to your success as a coach and ultimately your clientele...

What is Your Training Philosophy?

What's up strength seekers?

Let me open this with a quick intro of who I am and how I got linked up with the Barbell Strength Sports mastermind, Coach Sean Murphy.

My name is Charles Tankersley, but most people call me Tank. I was a Texas boy for the first 22 years of my life. After graduating from Texas A&M University, I took a government with job with the Department of Defense that took me to Washington DC, overseas to Iraq among other "friendly" places, and ultimately to Central Virginia where I now reside.

I was always an athlete and started to really pound the weights in my early twenties. After years of training myself and helping others, I studied and picked up a few certifications, and trained in a lot of gyms. It didn't take long for me to figure out that to reach my true potential and to train the way I wanted to train, I needed to branch off on my own.

I founded Primal Strength Camp LLC, my online community, and ultimately opened the Primal Strength Gym located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Primal is a performance based facility where everyone is serious about their training, and most importantly getting stronger. We have Strongman competitors, powerlifters, semi-pro athletes, desk jockies, and stay at home moms. Despite our various crafts, we are all united in strength and our burning desire to be ass-kickers.

I myself compete in Strongman, and that's how I had the privilege to meet both Coach Murphy and Nate Schwartz. We all met at the River City Strongman competition in Richmond, VA in 2015. We all competed together that day, had a hell of a time, and have stayed in touch ever since. And now, despite our separation in distance, we are united in this Barbell Strength Sports page. Through the sport of Strongman and lifting (and social media), I also had the privilege to meet Chad Clark, another contributor here that I can always strike up a conversation with, especially reminiscing about the "strength days of old".

Which is what leads me to the post that I'm ultimately going to link at the bottom of this post. You see, Nate, Coach Murphy, Chad, myself; we all have different backgrounds and we all dabble in different things ranging from the Highland Games, to Crossfit, to cross-training, to Strongman. If you follow our Facebook page (Barbell Strength Sports), you'll see that we are always posting from a plethora of different perspectives. You will also see it as each of us posts new blogs here.

While I may have a Strongman background and my training philosophy is very specific, you better believe I can learn and adapt things from what guys like Nate, Sean, and Chad do. As strength seekers, this is what we should all be doing. Too often in today's society, we are quick to write off other people and justify it because "it doesn't fit what I do".

Well, I gotta tell you, Coach Sean Murphy put this site together because we all know this can be an awesome resource and a way for everyone, despite our specialties, to gain and share knowledge, and ultimately improve our end game.

So what is my training philosophy? Do you know yours?

What is Your Training Philosophy?

All the best,

-- Tank

Champions are not Born, They Are MADE!

This morning at the gym, one of my members, Danny brought his son, Jake to train along side of him.
They decided to take part of the Strongman Conditioning workout that I posted earlier this week.  You can view that workout here.

Jake is a 9 year old, 78 pound athlete who enjoys wrestling and football.

Today, he showed up eager for an early, Saturday morning training session.

His peers might of slept in, Jake didn't.

His competition may think they don't need to do anything because the season is over, Jake doesn't buy into that.

Some may say they can't, Jake wears how he feels about that proudly...

Jake came into the gym and wanted to see what he could do.  He wanted to challenge himself, he wanted to do the same workout as his Dad and he WANTED to keep going!

I love having this kind of WANT and Champion spirit in the gym.  

And I think you'd agree with me, no matter what age the athlete, no matter what their purpose, its that drive and passion that brings us all closer together.

People like Jake are welcome to train with me anytime!

Check out Danny and Jake training together in this video.

Get Work Done Everyday Iron Addicts.

Murphy

Upcoming Events and Competitions

Here are upcoming events and competitions that we are aware of to date.  If you are hosting a competition, please let us know and we'll add it to the website.

Upcoming Events - click event for more details

• River City Strongman Challenge - Richmond VA 27AUG16

• Brute Strength Gym's Summer United States Strongman Competition - Norfolk VA 13AUG16

• VA Strongest Man / Woman - Richmond VA 25JUN16

• NC Strongest Man / Woman - Raleigh NC 30APR16

• 6th Annual Capital Classic - Vienna VA 23APR16

• RVA Open and Invitational Weightlifting Competition - Richmond VA 15JUL16

• NAS Mongrel Strength Showdown -Elkton MD 23APR16

Continue to check back to this Blog for updates!

Brute Strength Strongman Competition January 16, 2016

Check out the write up I did about the Strongman competition we participated in at Brute Strength Gym in Norfolk VA this past January. We really had an awesome team and a great time competing. You can check it out here http://www.mayhemfitness.com/brute-strength-strongman-competition/

Strongman Conditioning Training 23MAR16

The boys got some serious Strongman Conditioning training in early today.  Give this one a go next time you're up for a challenge.

Strongman Sled / Carry / Tire Flip Medley

A. Sled Row - 50 FT

B. Sled Push - 50 FT

C. Heavy Carry - 100 FT

D. Tire Flip - 3-5 Flips

Repeat AMRAP