You wouldn’t cheat on your girlfriend, so don’t cheat on your reps.
I say this as a passionate trainer who cares SO much about his clients, their progress, but it ‘effin KILLS me when I see people cutting reps, or stopping squats high just to use more weight.
It happens on bench press, squat, push ups, pull ups, basically anything that doesn’t have a definite end and start point (hell… the bench does – your chest, but people still do it).
But why?
Maybe our culture in RevFit is the problem… Maybe because people think we prioritize strength over all other qualities it’s ok. But that’s NOT our culture. Our culture is movement first.
Good quality, full range of movement lifts, made stronger and stronger.
**You can watch the video here, or go on to read the rest of the blog below**
You must ALWAYS remember that the weight is just a tool. A tool to force your body, muscles, hormonal and skeleton system to adapt in a new way.
Your body doesn’t care what your PR is. It doesn’t care about any emotional attachment to it. It doesn’t give a damn if you’ve convinced yourself you’ve hit a 20kg squat PR this cycle because you squatted down 6 inches less.
Every time that happens a unicorn dies, and your chance of being successful in this game long term decreases.
If you constantly set unrealistic expectations of yourself you WILL eventually get pissed off and quit. It’s not just as simple as showing up to training sessions and “deserving” a PR.
Hell you might go 3 months and see NO strength increase.
You don’t just get to arrive, do your work and be guaranteed better strength levels than 90% of the population. Life doesn’t work that way unfortunately. Your body hates you.
What you DO have to remember tho is that you’re doing the work – that you’re digging your foundations deeper and wider, and that long term it will pay off. You might just need to be a bit more patient.
There’s so many factors that go into the time period around when you test that you’re never assured you’ll be at your best on test day.
> Some people respond differently to training cycles and peak at different points
> If you were out the weekend before you’re almost certainly guaranteed lower numbers
> Not getting enough kcal’s in or trying to reduce body fat? Decent chance your strength will suffer (mass moves mass)
Just remember WHY you’re in this – to look, feel and perform better. The numbers on the bar are just a measurement tool.
A cold, unemotional, objective tool which call you on your bullshit, and keep you on your toes.
The one major downside of training at RevFit is that you race thru the beginner stages faster than a dodgy curry goes thru your stomach.
That means that while you might see smooth consistent progress training on your own for a year or 18 months, you’re probably going to hit that point and exceed it inside 4 months of training with us.
That’s kind of cool – because now you’re 8-12 months ahead of schedule. BUT then you have to dig in – then you have to start fighting hard for every gain safe in the knowledge that you’re moving forward at a faster and safer rate than you will anywhere else.
I always think of Sean with this one. I did some programming for him ages ago, and he PR’d. Then he came to train full time in RF and started dieting. Lost TONNES of body fat and got very very lean.
…but then his PRs plummeted. His bodyweight multiples were still fantastic, improved even, but the absolute number when down. Fair play to him tho – he knew it was coming, and just dug in.
Now, like almost a year later, weighing about 13% less than he did before, he’s crushing his old numbers and is just getting stronger and stronger. He respected the process, dug in, and is now thriving.
Sometimes it’ll take that long.
But before I finish – I’m going to tell you one last thing.
Despite winning numerous national championships, world championships, setting national, european, and world records…. I’ve only ever been happy with ONE competition.
One single competition over a 7 year competition period.
What does that tell you??
You’re your own worst enemy when it comes to training.
A bad day in the gym shouldn’t ruin your week.
So if you do have a bad run of it, remember – it’s part of the process and it’s building towards something bigger and better long term.
And worse case scenaio, even if you do miss a rep, or your PR goes down for a cycle – no one is coming to kill your family. It’s not the end of the world.
***You can apply to join the pack on our next Alpha Blueprint Transformation group which only has 3 spots left in it and kicks off on Monday 25th August by filling in the application form below.***