When you first start Weightlifting or CrossFit, it is the best thing in the world. You instantly fall in love with the rapid progress that you make week in week out. You're on cloud 9 and can't believe you didn't start sooner. However, as anybody who has made it past this first 6-12 week period knows, the mad gains begin to slow drastically. Those weekly PBs grind to a halt and it's very easy to become disheartened.
Tip number 1 for anybody who is about to embark on their Weightlifting or CrossFit journey is to "Be Hungry, But Patient". The hunger to progress drives you forward, and the patience allows you to drive consistently. You may have to work for 6 months for a 5kg PB, or maybe even 12 months, but if you're hungry and patient you will hit these targets and much higher in the future.
Tip number 2 follows on nicely from tip number 1. Weightlifting in particular requires a great deal of intrinsic motivation. To grow and succeed, you have to be very disciplined and be able to train even when you don't want to. No.2 is "Find The Small Wins". Every session, ask yourself what is the tiniest thing that you can do better than last time. This isn't necessarily more weight, this could be a minute technical correction that you have nailed. Did you catch that bar a little bit sharper today? Then there is your win. These tiny positive points once again drive you on to keep training.
Tip number 3, "Pennies in the jar". You collect enough pennies and you end up with an epic payout. If you complete enough reps, sets, workouts and sessions, you'll be rewarded with some superb personal bests. Consistency is key to developing and improving. It's said that it takes 10,000 repetitions to master a movement, or put another way, 20 reps a week for 5 years. If you snatch once a week every week for 5 years, you're going to have a pretty decent lift by the end of it. Use whatever means necessary to make your training a non-negotiable.
Tip number 4, dial in your mobility. I can't stress the importance of this point enough. If you're unable to overhead squat with a pvc pipe, then learning how to do so should be one of your top priorities. No it's not particularly fun to sit there stretching every night, but it's a lot more fun than being injured or hitting the low ceiling that you hit with poor movement quality. If you aquire adequate mobility, you will be able to train more consistently, be able to add more pennies to the jar, and as a result become better!
Tip number 5, find yourself a good coach. This applies to absolutely any form of training or sport. You will be able to progress further faster and safer under the guidance of a knowledgeable coach. They will help keep you accountable, ensure you're using the correct techniques, and also make sure that you're not YouTube learning your mind into oblivion.
Of all of the aforementioned tips, in my opinion tip 5 is the most important. Simply put, if you're under the wing of a great coach, they will be able to guide you and ensure that you are hitting all of the above anyway.
Happy lifting guys!
Josh Summersgill
Instagram @joshsummersgill
Instagram @joshsummersgill
