Work Your Weakness Month

Boris over at SquatRx, one of the best training-related blogs I know, has pulled the trigger on Work Your Weakness Month. The implication, I guess, is that one should work one perceived weakness. So besides the fact that I’ve mapped out a three month program, I suppose my plan is equally (and characteristically) over the top in terms of its goals. I aim to increase my 1RM on each of my squat, deadlift and bench by 100 pounds. On the other hand, I think that what’s been impeding my progress lately in all my routines, including my non-training-related activities, is lack of concentration. This has two faces: lack of concentration itself and failure to sustain concentration from workout to workout (I generally don’t have a problem remaining focused during a training session - as long as I’m switched on to begin with - unless and until I hit the wall physically). I’ve come to this conclusion because of my experience over the past three weeks - yeah, I started before September. What I’ve discovered is that I may have set my goals too low. In the squat for example, before I started, I was pretty much stuck, after two years of training starting at age 55, at ~255 pounds. In three workouts, however, I’ve already gotten to 2×5@315. Here are this morning’s full squat stats:

20 reps@42.5 lbs; 20@95; 10@135; 10@185; 10@225; 10@285; 5@305; 5 @315; 10@225×5.

Total weight: 14,180 lbs. ET 59 minutes.

I think the dispositive factor in making these uncharacteristically quick gains is my concentration; settling 300+ pounds in the low bar position on my upper back seems to focus my mind without my having to make much effort at it. That comes with deciding actually to attempt squatting it. And then holding my glutes, hams, quads, core etc. together in order not to collapse under the weight. (I work in a proper cage w/ safety bars and, with anything over 275, a spotter; but psychologically, those don’t really help, since what’s intimidating is the felt potential of the weight to crush you.) But the initial shock of taking the weight on my back seems to prime the pump and make it easier to take the decision to squat. And once my focus is engaged, I find the weight very tough but, also, very moveable.

I’ve made gains of similar magnitude in the same time frame in the bench and deadlift.

So for now I’m considering concentration as my weakness, and I’ll concentrate simply on making gains of the most weight possible from week to week to challenge, test and strengthen it in the spirit of Musashi Miyamoto’s aphorism:

The purpose of today’s training is to defeat yesterday’s understanding.

Who knows? Maybe by the end of twelve weeks, I will have surpassed my numerical weight goals by not having aimed for them.