Show The Fu*k Up

 

This might sound like it’s a given, but it’s not. This extends to more than just “being” at every training session – the most advanced competitive lifters will NOT miss training sessions, so this isn’t the issue. The issue involves what they do while they are there and what impact they are having on others.  I want to focus on the difference between being a coach and a captain. I’m using these two as examples because it’s easy for people to relate to.

 

In sports, the coach is the one off-the-field who makes the decisions that oversee all aspects of the team. The captains are the team leaders who are on the field leading by example. 
As Pro or Elite Competitive lifters, most of the time you will be the “top dog” or one of the top dogs in your gym or group you train with. By meathead rules, this makes you a captain and the guy others will be looking up to in regards to how to get to the top.
You are being “watched” much closer than you think and you are setting the examples they need to train by. 

If you have shitty training partners, it’s usually due to one reason: you are setting a shitty example.

 

If you need verbal cues with your own lifting, then you need to be giving them to everyone else. The standard you establish with your own ACTIONS will be the standard set in the gym. While a coach can accomplish this, I think this only goes so far because in most cases the coaches are no longer competing at the level they used to and the fact is the guys in the training group DO NOT want to be like the coach. They WANT TO be like you…the Pro Lifter. If you expect more of yourself than any of them could ever expect from you, think of what this will do for their training. Think of what it will do for yours.

If you're are the top dog in your gym are you being a "Captain" or a "Chump".

To add to this, if you are the top dog in the gym and do not train with any groups you need to know as soon as people there know you are a Powerlifter or Bodybuilder EVERYTHING you do forms their perception of what this sport is and what it's about.