We all have goals, dreams, and ambitions some achieve them some fall short. The ability to take pride in what you do is what will inevitably set you apart from the rest and will allow you to reach those goals. To many times people quit because they don’t take pride in what they do. They hit a bump in the road and they quit because they were more concerned with the outcome of what could have been instead of taking the time to enjoy the process of getting there.

Quitting is the easiest thing in the world to do, it takes no real effort to quit. Quitting becomes a habit though and if you start quitting on things now it will affect you and the people around you for the rest of your life. The thing you have to understand is, taking pride in what you do will set you up for success in anything you do. My father told me one time when I was considering quitting football when I was about 14 years old. I wanted to hang out with my friends and I sure as hell didn’t want to spend 2-3 hours everyday practicing. He told me “you started this so you will finish it, we don’t quit.” At the end of the year he said I didn’t have to pursue it if I didn’t want to but that I had to finish out the season.

My dad had and always will have a way with words that without fail hits home for me. This is the same guy that worked all day and all night, to provide for us with everything we needed. So he didn’t have to say much he lead by example in everything he did, but when he did talk I listened. My whole life I watched that man do all kinds of thing and when he did something he worked his ass off to get it done and be the best he could at it. Whether it be his job, yard work, golf, etc.. he gave it everything he had. 

                                             (My Dad)
 

You see for him it wasn’t about anything else other than he took pride in everything he did and he instilled that in me. The problem I see with people today is they get involved with something and if it doesn’t go the way they want it to or if it is harder than they thought it would be they quit. Its a society of entitlement meaning that people think if they just show up they deserve what it is they are reaching for. Instead of working hard to earn it. I set out on this powerlifting journey to be the best in my weight class and although this year didn’t go as planned for me I know that if I keep putting in the work and being consistent with my actions that I will achieve what I want. It may take me 10 years to get there, but for me its not about the outcome its about the process and the journey that it will take to get there. If you get to caught up in the outcome than you start to miss out on the great things that go on in your day to day journey. Would you still do what you do if the accolades were not there? Take pride in what you do and wake up every day with a sense of urgency to be the best version of you you can be day in and day out.

No matter how strong you are or how long you’ve been lifting there will come a time where you hit a plateau and the PR’s quit coming. It’s at this time you have two choices, one crawl up in a little ball, cry and quit lifting all together or you take the time to find your weaknesses and build on them. The problem is figuring it out and having the wherewithal to stay the course and do the work. In a society of instant gratification I know the idea of putting in work is a farce but bare with me here. 

Its not an earth shattering revelation to know in order to improve you have to build up your weaknesses, but the way its gone about is sometimes wrong. There are a few steps you can take to eliminate them. First you have to diagnose where the weakness is. Secondly you have to find the exercises to build them up. Lastly you need to know how you should incorporate these exercises into your program.

First things first although a miss in training is not ideal it will provide you with some great feedback as to what may be the weakest link. When I say a miss I mean a miss within the 1-3 rep range, misses outside of that range may be from fatigue or loss of tightness than an actual muscular weakness. The importance of recording your working sets comes into play here,yes your videos can be used for more than just social media. Going over your sets and your missed reps is a good way to figure out whats going wrong. It will allow you to critique and analyze you set up to your movement patterns and to where the actual breakdown occurs. What I like to do when i am breaking down my clients videos, is i first look at the set up, have to make sure thats good or else the lift may be doomed from the start. Secondly I look from feet to waist whether it be bench, squat or deadlift and make sure things are were they are suppose to be. Finally from the waist up I’ll go over the rest. After you do this you should be able to pinpoint where the weakness is and start to hammer it away. If you can’t figure it out still try using a different angle or hire a coach who’s been doing it a while and a real coach not someone who just reads research papers and trains in his moms basement.

Now I can’t go over every scenario if X happens do Y but here is a quick run down of things to look for during the big three lifts.

Squats

• Feet, rotating in and out or forwards and backwards
• Knees, are they tracking right or caving in
• Upper back, does it round or over arched
• Breathing and Bracing
• Does ass shoot up

Bench

• Legs, tight and are they being used
• Elbows, to tucked or flared to much
• Stabilization in the movement
• Breathing and bracing

Deadlifts

• Feet, where the pressure is going
• Upper back, rounding or over arching
• Knees caving in
• Neutral Spine
• Breathing and Bracing
• Does ass shoot up

Once you have determined what the underlying cause is behind your weak ass lifts and you’ve come to the realization that excuses won’t fix it, then its time to get to work. A few things to consider in the scope of picking exercises to fix your weaknesses, one don’t just follow what the masses say, meaning if you have a weak lockout don’t just go immediately to board presses. Remember your muscles are weak not your movement, so find exercises that will build on that specific muscle group. Two if you find a good exercise don’t just do it once and think that you fixed everything. I see a lot of people say “I have weak hips so I did block pulls today to work it.” and instead of them doing that every week to build up their weakness they do something different. Don’t be afraid to do the same exercises each week if they work and how do you know they work if you don’t give them time to. Building up a weakness takes time it won’t be fixed in one session so be patient.

Building up a weak area takes time, lots and lots of time. To build up a muscle, you have to first increase the size of it. The best way to increase the size of a muscle you have to train it in the higher rep ranges with sub maximal weights, think like a bodybuilder. A bigger muscle will eventually become a stronger muscle because you’ve increased the muscle size you’ll be able to recruit more muscle fibers when it comes time to contract it. Now that you know how to build up a weak muscle you need to know where to put it into your plan. Always keep in mind when building up a weakness you DO NOT want to neglect what you’re already strong at. So keep your strong complex lifts first and second. Your exercises after the first two should all be dedicated to building with hypertrophy work. Here is an example of a squat workout just so you can get a visual of how things should be laid out.

Main Squat Movement- 3-5 rep range for 3-5 sets

Secondary Squat Movement- 4-6 rep range for 3-4 sets

Weak Body Part Accessory- 8-12 reps for 4-5 sets

Weak Body Part Accessory- 12-20 reps for 4-5 sets

Weak Body Part Accessory- 8-12 reps for 3 sets

Keep in mind these accessories are geared towards building up your squats, Your bench and deadlifts will look similar but make sure they are specific to your main exercise. If you can’t get it all in during your split maybe think of adding in anther day specifically for accessories.