The MONSTER GARAGE GYM/MAROSCHER COACHING LOG is a weekly Coaching Log by MGG owner, 2-Time WPC World Powerlifting Champion, Eric Maroscher, and is one of the Featured Coaching Logs at EliteFTS.
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THIS WEEK’S Monster Garage Gym/Maroscher Coaching Log: WHAT’S YOUR PLAN???
*NEW MGG COACHING LOG POSTED HERE EVERY WEEKEND!!!!
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You did your meet so you take your week off…..now what??? What’s Your Plan????
As you are a follower of our Coaching Logs, you know that a group of lifters at the Monster Garage Gym just competed and another pod is up ready to compete at the APF Summer Bash, with yet another crew about 7 weeks out from the AWPC RAW World’s. The meets keep coming.
With a couple of decades of competition under my belt, looking back there is an easily identified and repeating phenomenon that those of us who competed quite frequently would see, and still see to this day, especially with the newer to intermediate powerlifters. That is a post-meet lull. As newer lifters, the tendency is full speed ahead, with all the eggs in one basket. Meaning simply, the newer guys/gals compete, then they find themselves adrift with that meet in the books.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yJnZ9xi3Gk&feature=youtu.be]
There is that week off following the meet when you celebrate, or re-calibrate depending on how the meet went, and with no real plan, the half-hazzard lifting begins, and begins without a definitive vision to guide the training. Without a short term or a long term or a life time goal, lifters, especially newer ones can find themselves at the gym with no goal beyond that day’s training. It is like driving through the city streets with no street signs or GPS to guide you to your destination.
What worked quite well for me and my training partner Tom (some food for thought for you) is when finished with the meet, already having the next meet picked out. For Tom and I, after many, many, many years of competing, we would plan our year out (typically the state meet, Nationals, Worlds and what used to be the North Americas or CAN-AM meet, or some equivalent meet). Sometimes we would sprinkle in a tune-up meet (a non-stress push pull) to sharpen the saw and try new things without the high stakes, but always, there was a plan. Within that plan there were short term, long term, some very long term and some lifetime plans as well. Tom had his goals, I had mine and we trained together, all the while helping one another check off these goals, one meet at a time, meet after meet after meet after meet.
When I was a newer lifter, too new to have a lifetime goal, my plan was to compete frequently as meet-sophistication comes with time. So what worked for me (again, just food for thought for the newer to intermediate lifters out there) was choosing a year's worth of meets and planning for each meet down to the last detail. This was incredibly beneficial for me. I am by no means a genetic freak, so for me, by getting the most out of my body, making as few mistakes as possible and by leaving as little on the platform without missing the lift, for me, was a foundation, a bedrock for my competitive plans.
By competing quite frequently throughout my first decade as a competitive powerlifter, I found that if I were the second strongest lifter in my class, more often than not, by being better prepared for a meet (gym lifts are great for the gym….meet lifts are where your bread is buttered) I could still come out on top because regardless of what the social media lifters might think, there are no white lights for the lifts made in the gym.
None of us have a crystal ball and can see the road ahead for the year, but as a newer lifter, you can still plan for that year and make adjustments or modifications as needed, because without the plan, without the course laid out in front of you, your competitions become a reactive adventure not a proactive destination.
The last thing to consider with regard to this particular coaching log, you don’t have to jump into the deep end if you are a newer lifter, and go for all the big meets. Everybody knows the band Van Halen and we all know the songs Panama and Jump from their 1984 album. We all know from their 1978 self-titled album, Van Halen, the songs Running with the Devil and Eruption. Why is it you never heard a peep out of them during the years 1972-1977….because it was during those years the band played shady little dives and venues and it was those shady little dives and venues that prepared them for the albums you might hear driving to the gym. Said another way if you are not a Van Halen aficionado, your seemly unimportant little meets, competing frequently, learning how to lift during the meet, not just knowing how to train for the meet will pay off. Let those guys/ladies who might lift more than you in the gym continue to be “gym lifters,” because if you are a newbie who is awake, aware, living in the now and paying attention, you know that meet numbers, not social media footage, is what matters in the sport of powerlifting.
Wishing you the best in your training and competitions. Ever Onward, Eric Maroscher, Owner: MONSTER GARAGE GYM
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