You may have noticed my absence over the past week or two (or maybe, y'know... not).

My wife and I had a much needed vacation to Europe (while our son had a vacation to Grandma's house). We started with a few days in Ireland for a friend's wedding, followed by 4 days in London just because my wife has always wanted to go.

The trip was amazing, but there was the little matter of losing a week of XPC Finals prep. Fortunately I actually felt ahead of the curve strength-wise the week before the trip, and I did some stuff that was particularly taxing, so the week off served as a mini-deload. Now I feel good to hit it hard for the next 8 weeks leading in to the meet.

Sunday was a squat day, and I was psyched because I finally got my Metal canvas beck from the seamstress. The suit is great, but as a shorter lifter, the legs are a little long, and interfere with my knee wraps. So I had them shortened.

Worked up to an easy 740, just to make sure the suit felt good. It felt perfect, despite the fact that I lost a few pounds from all the walking on vacation. With a few weeks to fill back out to my training weight of 210, I'll feel even stronger!

 

Monday was a bench day, and I wanted to throw an older shirt in the mix to see how it felt. I already have a shirt that will work, but I wanted to give this one a shot because sometimes you'll "rediscover" a piece of gear that suddenly works better than it ever has for whatever reason (usually fit).

It it one of the new Pro shirts in the King material. last time I used it I felt like it had too much stop for me without enough stretch.

Felt the same thing here, I made 600 in it, which is pretty good for 8 weeks out, but I just wasn't feeling it. Just doesn't have quite as much support through lockout as I like. Original Pro material it is!

 

This is an extension of a discussion I had via FB with a couple of the other coaches on the site.

 

 

I'll call it the "stubbornness of the inexperienced".

Something you may have noticed if you've lifted (and especially coached) for a long time is that many beginners, who you'd think would appreciate your help the most, tend to be even more set in their thinking than more experienced lifters.

Usually the lifter in question has attached themselves to some author or online coach, despite the fact that they would be better off  either doing things differently, or at least interpreting what their new guru says correctly.  But If you try to lead them in the right direction, their first instinct is usually to look at you like you have 3 heads and ignore you.

This behavior has perplexed me for years, despite the fact that I was guilty of it as well early in my career, but i think I've finally figured it out.

Powerlifting is one of those sports that people get into for lots of reasons, and two of them are identity and status. Now as anyone who's been in the game for a while can tell you, these don't come easy, and are generally tied into what you can accomplish during your time in the sport.

But what happens when you don't have any accomplishments to speak of?

In this case, the lifter in question often digs their heels twice as deep into whatever philosophy they've aligned themselves with, resolving to defend it at every opportunity. So when someone who knows better tries to help them by questioning their current approach, they shut them down faster than you can say "hip drive".

Meanwhile, when you happen to notice a flaw in a more experienced lifters approach, they'll likely hear you out if they're reasonably confident you know what you're doing.

So how do you break through when you encounter this kind of resistance? Don't bother trying. It's a natural part of the progression of an athlete, and some people just need to make their own mistakes for a while before they're receptive to advice. Instead, spend more time on the ones that DO value your time and effort.