When I was studying for my Ph.D., I had the privilege of working with some of the greatest strength athletes in history. My advisor, Jan Todd, set over 60 world and national powerlifting records and was named strongest woman in the world by Sports Illustrated. Her husband, Terry, was arguably even more accomplished: he won a junior national championship in weightlifting, two national championships in powerlifting, and coached an entire roster of earth-shattering athletes, including Jan, Mark Henry, Bill Kazmaier, Lamar Gant, and many more.
Terry once told me that the best strength athletes are lazy: they do just enough in the gym, and then go home and rest until the next training session. While laziness isn’t exactly a good trait for anyone to have, Terry had a point. If you want optimal results, you can’t go overboard in the gym. Of course, you can’t constantly undershoot, either.
As a coach, my biggest challenge usually involves helping athletes to find that balance. In the rest of this article, I’ll attempt to explain how you can do the same for yourself.
Inside the Gym
Inside the gym, I find that athletes fall consistently on one side of the spectrum. Those who have a tendency to overreach always overreach, and vice versa. That makes sense if you consider that one of the most prevalent theories of psychological motivation for athletes is dichotomous. It’s an oversimplification, but in my experience, athletes who are intrinsically motivated work hard for the sake of working hard. In contrast, athletes who are extrinsically motivated tend to need incentives or accountability metrics if they’re ever going to put in the work.
Remember: neither over- nor underreaching produces optimal results. In fact, I frequently find that my athletes who chronically underreach still outperform those who refuse to ever back off. It’s my job to help both groups find a middle ground.
Overreaching typically looks like:
Overshooting RPEs
Adding extra work to the program
Skipping rest days and sending early check-ins
Now, I will admit that it’s much easier to get an athlete to pull back than to have to constantly push him (or her, although in my experience women rarely underreach) forward. For example, if I have someone who constantly overshoots assigned RPEs, I’ll put a limiter on sets: require nasal breathing only, use a very slow tempo, or cap AMRAPs by time or rep count. For someone who skips rest days, I’ll assign some of the passive recovery modalities I’ve written about in the past.
Underreaching typically looks like:
Undershooting RPEs
Skipping assigned sets or exercises
Not training on a regular schedule and sending late check-ins
If you’ve frequented this website for a while, you know I’m a big fan of the assault bike. It’s a great tool for athletes who chronically underreach, because it’s very difficult to half-ass an assault bike sprint — especially when assigned a goal time. Pushing hard on an assault bike sprint can make pushing hard on an RPE 9 set of squats feel easier, too.
For those athletes who struggle to stick to a schedule, I usually lean towards the pragmatic side and implement a flex schedule. I’ve used other strategies like more frequent check-ins and shorter training sessions, too — it really depends on the athlete’s individual needs.
Outside the Gym
As I mentioned above, athletes tend to consistently over- or underreach in the gym. That hasn’t been my experience with regard to out-of-the-gym factors. The vast majority of athletes exhibit inconsistent motivation when it comes to following a diet, performing their GPP work, and getting enough sleep. Again, this makes sense: while most people can cordon off a few hours of dedicated gym time per week, daily life involves a nearly infinite number of tradeoffs. Friends, family, and work obligations often supersede the factors that don’t obviously and directly impact the amount of weight an athlete can lift.
In these situations, I try to think more like a lawyer than a coach. I’m obligated to present my client with all available options, no matter how good or bad they might seem to me. So, if a guy says he can’t follow a strict diet, I might assign him a macro-based plan, or use a damage-control strategy like carb backloading. Of course, admitting that the plan might be “too much” requires a great amount of trust and self-awareness on the part of the athlete!
If you’re struggling to find balance in your own training, click here to learn more about my coaching process.
How much do outside-the-gym factors matter? Well, as with most things, it depends. If you’re a middleweight powerlifter planning a big weight cut, diet matters a whole heck of a lot. If you’re a superheavyweight with a big appetite, following a good diet will still improve your health, but it won’t make or break your total.
Wrapping Up
I’ve been posting a lot of content lately, and while I feel pretty good about what I’ve put out, I haven’t received a lot of feedback. I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts (about both this post specifically and this website in general) in the comments below!
I really enjoy your articles Ben. You are a very thoughtful, articulate person and you craft a narrative that is a careful blend of both science and personal experience. And on the latter, your achievements are certainly something to be desired!
I get the impression you sincerely love helping people, which is rare in an athlete at your level—where most would be just focusing on themselves and how to get their next gain. While you may not be getting many comments here, I implore you to keep up your hard work, because you are certainly helping others by sharing your wisdom, even if they remain silent about it.
Wishing you the best in your recovery and looking forward to seeing some new PRs.
Cheers from Canada,
Mitch
Overall, I am enjoying these articles very much. I find your advice relevant, practical, reasoned, and actually useful for my own training. I sense that you are writing on topics that are on your mind rather than crafting “content” for the algorithms to rate highly. If I am correct about that, then all the more praise for resisting the more myopic strategies so often being elevated above all good sense.
With respect to this particular article, I have been overwhelming my recovery since I started lifting. It has taken many years to even consider doing less after getting used to wrecking myself every session--even with manifestly poor results. One of your programs provided my first experience with proper strength training (recovering between sessions, feeling mentally ready to attack lifts, and actually getting stronger) so it is no surprise that this article spoke to me.
Appreciate your efforts here, and look forward to more.