Selkow Reveals the Training Secrets Obama Doesn't Want You to Know

elitefts™ Sunday Edition

I train with many interesting people. With some, I have contrasting political views and with others I am exactly aligned. Needless to say, many heated conversations boil up between sessions. Just recently I was engaged in a conversation about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with a friend of mine. Those that know me know that I am about what those documents state and why they are written the way they are. You also know that on my platform, I am devout to those views. But my view is my view. I never ask for anyone to be persuaded by my statements because that is not my intent.

Disclaimer: When I say that I am against government (especially at this current moment) I don’t intend for you to discard your beliefs or constitutions. If you like the current executive branch and legislation, then fine. Good for you! Regardless of my actual beliefs, however, I am more interested in the debate I was having this morning about the total disregard for the documents that make us, well…US.

This brought up a point about how our forefathers had insight into what the future might hold for our country and those same men made provisions in those original documents for the growth of our nation and its people. They were already wondering, “what will future industry and governments be like and what will they try to do?”

They also did this in a time that mandated they actually read the entire document...probably not with the greatest of eyesight or light. They didn’t have the luxury of electricity, nor could they share the documents with copy.

They had only a piece of parchment paper, a quill pen, and candlelight. Yet they undoubtedly read through the document MORE than once. Perhaps over and over again. They took copious notes, shared those notes, took note of other peoples’ notes, and shared the final conclusions before any type of “approval” was set in stone.

At first, I was thinking that these were just men who paid attention to the details. But they were seers. They were men who made provisions for the “free will” of a society that would eventually become very educated and, at the same time, lazy.

We have become a technological GIANT and have eased our lives to a point where if we can’t scan a document, highlight it’s greater points, leave out the cool verbiage of our grand and GREAT grand DADS, we just won’t bother to read it. We won’t take the time to dig into the details. We take the word of others to inform us, creating bastardized, unoriginal opinions in our dwindling minds. Our thoughts become the summation of the thoughts of whoever is buying time on the news, so they can further their own agenda.

Even worse, we have become so technological, that we no longer engage on a personal level. We have become socially inept. We pay no attention to detail or how other people feel.

You may be asking, how does this pertain to training? Why is Harry stepping onto a political bandstand? Or…you may have already left this article because it took longer to read than your bathroom break.

The point is: we pay so little attention to the details of how our lives and our kid’s lives are going to be that we are putting the future at serious risk. I’ll also bet that even though most of us take our training more serious than our legacies’ futures, we probably have not paid attention to the details of our training. Often, I find myself telling people, "listen to your body.” Yet, they either have no idea what that means, or they outright refuse to address the signs. We pay little attention to the fine details until its already too late. I’d even venture to guess that elitefts’ Q&A has a higher volume of questions regarding rehab than it does squat, bench, and deadlift form reviews.

I’ll let you in on a secret…you are getting hurt because you aren’t paying ATTENTION to the DETAILS of your training.

The details could be, but are not limited to:

• Poor program planning
• Poor implementation of that plan
• Form breakdown
• Poor nutrition
• Poor hydration
• Poor recuperation
• Poor coaching
• Poor movement patterns

I have spent some time with Matt Ladewski over the last few years and he and I have watched some of the elitefts™ sponsored lifters train. We observed a couple things about the lot, but a significant trait among them all was that they trained with a laser-like focus. Matt made a statement about how all things got blocked out once they crossed the portal into the S4 compound. Later, I watched Matt implement his lovely wife, Julia’s program. He had it detailed out to the rep and weight increment she needed at that moment. I’m not sure what he recorded it in, but it was documented for future reference, I am sure.

Throughout my career, I have asked the top competitors in various sports where they were in their training. I have always gotten very detailed and descriptive responses of what their weaknesses were, how they were progressing, and where they planned to be in the future.

If we want to be the best at what we are doing, we need to plan better and pay attention to the details of that plan. Record our progresses and failures. We need to know the WHY's of the GR (Gym Record, PR’s happen only in competition). We also need to know what smashed us, why it smashed us, to how we can avoid getting smashed again. We need to follow through on all of our thoughts and implement a well thought out plan.

To do so will require us to slow down, and take the time to get it and do it right. Read it, re-read it, strike it from both sides of the debate table, and understand what is in store for future generations, whether that’s the new you or people that you’ll eventually coach or train. We need to step and approach issues in that manner, just as our forefathers did.

So, look up from the Smart Phone and engage in a slower world that has vivid details.