No one teaches anything because they believe it to be unnecessary. I am convinced fitness professionals teach the doctrine they do because they believe it has merit. That said, I also believe there is a trend currently underway to teach stuff that is flashy, cool looking and designed to make the client feel as if they are Olympic hopefuls- at least for that training session.
Recently I heard a member from the club, complain about spending too much time working on weight training fundamentals. Let me make this perfectly clear: weight training fundamentals are absolutely necessary; they’re indispensable and essential. It doesn’t matter if you are weight training recreational or competitively, your ability to control the weight with correct tempo, maintain proper posture, unhindered movement through full range of motion, and breath correctly is non-negotiable.
While they might not be as fun as “advanced” skills, it would be wise to remember the words of Bruce Lee: “Advanced skills are the basics mastered.”
I have been training individuals for over seven years and I wish I had a dime for every complaint I’ve heard while spending training time to anchor these essential skills. I often hear “They’re boring.” or “We’ve done these before!” My response is usually something like: “Yes, you have practiced these before. The problem is you suck at them.”
The goal behind instruction followed by practice is to absorb and then master a particular skill, to try to anchor it in one’s skill set as best as time will allow. Just because one can perform a particular essential without stress doesn’t mean he or she can perform it well enough to move onto the next progression. Thus we continue to practice.
The brain is a funny thing. It can remember doing something in the past, but the brain leaves out the part where it takes three to five seconds to complete the given act, which when it comes to Olympic weightlifting is mechanically unacceptable.
The take home point is this; be patient, learn the fundamentals and master the basics. Only when you master the basics can you rise to full potential.
Please leave your comments in the section below. Thanks for reading.
Vincent A.
“I wasn’t real quick, and I wasn’t real strong. Some guys will just take off and it’s like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.”~Larry Bird