I would say it’s less humbling and better for my ego to focus on all the things I think I’m good at, but how we grow and get better is determined by the lagging areas.
The weaknesses are the easiest areas to attack because any change will make It better. What’s the old saying, “it’s only up from here”.
We start every single training appointment off with a talk about background/goals and an assessment. This gives the person I am talking to and myself an idea where the main weaknesses lie, not only on the gym floor but outside the gym as well.
What do you think we focus on first?
Yeah, it’s much easier to focus on your strengths but like we said, the weaknesses are holding back all those positives for what could be getting done. We set a ceiling for ourselves when we avoid the things that “could be” so much better.
Let’s say you drink a crap load of water everyday (and you’re damn proud of It too). But on the other hand your daily food intake is so low that your body is screaming for more nutrients. Well, all the positive benefits you would get from that high amount of water are going to be limited because of your food choices.
The same thing goes for weaknesses in the gym. They may not only be hindering your strength and progress, they are also a liability when It comes to injury.
If you are so weak in the upper back or in the hamstrings and try to do a goblet squat, your chest will fall forward putting unnecessary load on your spine and your quads have to do all the work because your hamstrings are useless making It more stressful on the knees.
Now, we don’t have to take 15 steps back in order to fix these things BUT we do have to make them a major priority. For the weak upper back and hamstrings–> Add some extra work in your warm-ups to get those areas working early on and maybe substitute the goblet squat with a deadlift.
Just like we discussed earlier, this doesn’t just work for things in the gym. Fix everything, even the things outside the gym. If you can’t stay consistent, suck at sleeping, don’t drink any water, can’t eat enough protein, have high stress levels–> Start by ticking your weaknesses off the list and I bet results will follow FAST.
Your strengths will be even stronger when your weaknesses are gone.
In good health,
Jeff
