When you get a whole bunch of "yes men" into an echo chamber (a monolift maybe), and they continually spout off on how good of a job you're doing, how impressive your totals are, and how the next meet will always be the last one before you finally take osme time off, get some blood work done, and get healthy, you get a whole lot of yeses. And every time it's uttered, the echo chamber does it's job and makes it sound closer and closer to hissing.
Now I'm the furthest from one of those "no new friends/don't trust a rat" circle jerk wannabes, but I have to make an observation here. Why is it that there is such a wealth of good information out there, that is SO easily accessible through sites like the one you are on, youtube, and through social media, but there remains SUCH an old school disconnect of "this is how it works, if you question it, you're either a pussy or just dumb"? It's getting to a point where it's inexcusable to stay silent about some errors people are making, and you may have to be willfully ignorant to continue ot take part in them if you are one of the transgressors.
Too many of us have become complacent with the different schools of thought in relation to strength training, and in doing so we have lost or vacated our abilities to critically think. In the loss of that , we develop contradictory mindsets and view things in an "us vs. them" mindset, which can be seen in my previous coaching log
Why do you think Westside and multi-ply disciples have always struggled with deadlifts? Maybe because they only train the deadlift 25% of the time they focus on squats. Why do they continue to do so? Because they are too indoctrinated into their ways to question them, and I along with many others harbor too much resentment towards them to offer any help for feedback.
Why are many "raw zealots", of whom I would more closely align with, developing such severe and chronic overuse injuries such as knee, elbow, and hip tendinitis? Because their mindset has always been "more is better" and if you cannot get stronger through submaximal volume, you will not ever get stronger. The disconnect here is located in the quality of the movement itself, and the fact that every repetition completed is drawing from a finite number, because ONE DAY you will squat for the final time, ever. And every rep you take is one step closer to finding it. And the failure to COMMUNICATE is located in the raw schools immature viewpoint of "LOL MULTI-PLY IS GAY" and their own indoctrination of "But my coach, who is one thousand miles away says..."
We all need to put the kool aid cups down sometimes, and use our fucking heads. Otherwise we're bound to lose them after banging them against a wall for years and years wondering why our knees are so fucked up, or why our deadlift has stalled for half a decade (too much real life). I understand we all have loyalty, and I understand some things WE ALL DO are dumb as fuck. But if we operate under the assumption that snakes are all around us, and that no one can help us, all we're are doing is becoming our own ouroboros and running around in circles
It's a snake chasing or eating its own tail.
What I'm saying is, don't shoot yourself in the foot. Be willing to take criticism and give it as well. You can't control how receptive others are, but you can control how much you contribute and that will be directly related to how willing others are willing to give back to you. The yes men will always be there, and it gets worse as you become stronger and stronger or more successful, but at that point you need to develop the skill of self examination and realize that the only way you can drown out the blind loyalty is through unwavering criticism of yourself. If you fall into the habit of blind loyalty, you get the zealotry and you get the individuals willing to die for one school of thought.
And I'd rather die for me, than anyone else.
