Athletes – Take Control Of Your Training

Athletes – Take Control Of Your Training

Two PRs on two un-programmed attempts for Abbee and Brandi (CLICK HERE). Abbee was programmed to retake a 365lb. single that the week prior did not move so great, but instead went up to 380lbs. and smoked it. Brandi was on her secondary deadlift day with some light conventional singles planned, and instead hit a sumo deadlift PR of 303lbs. Neither of these attempts were programmed, but both are coached approved.

Online coaching is an imperfect format, with the obvious downside being that as an online coach I am not there in person with the athlete. Therefore, athletes at times need to take control of their own program. Am I stating that athlete’s should be going off program all the time? No, 99% of the time they should probably stick to the plan. But I am saying that at times they should feel like they have the confidence and ability to make judgement calls. I would rather have an athlete who feels empowered to make decisions rather than one who feels they can’t do anything without my approval.

In the case of Abbee, 380lbs. has been in her head for a while. She has missed it in competition and she has missed it in training. She has had the strength, we just needed her mind and confidence to catch up. She made the decision going into this session that she was going to overcome this hurdle and went in and made her previous mental block now her new squat PR. Even if for some reason she missed it, I appreciate the attitude and empowerment she had within her training, and wanting to take control of her destiny.

Brandi has been struggling with conventional deadlift. Leading up to her meet last April we experienced some massive progress with conventional that we just haven’t been able to replicate again. On Saturday, she grinded out 303lbs., 30lbs. under her best. She came in Monday with a chip and something within her said to try sumo. It felt so good that she just kept going up, eventually to the point that she came back around just 2 days later to that same 303lbs. and smoked it for a new sumo PR. She is just under 3 weeks out from her next meet. As a coach, I am probably not making that call to switch to sumo out of nowhere unless Brandi finds some evidence herself that shows otherwise. Which is exactly what she did. She felt empowered to take control and followed what felt good, and 3 weeks out we are making a drastic switch to sumo.