Information overload

(why you want a coach/mentor/friend who’s further along)

I’m going to tell a story today. Rather than my typical presenting information. I wanted to demonstrate what can happen if you have too much information with too little direction.

About 2016, I was about a year in remission. I was slowly getting over one of the worst kinds of cancer. Generally Induced Mental Media Poisoning or “gym bro” for short.

It was bad. I’d been lifting in an airborne post gym for 3 years. I came from a place where calisthenic work mixed with tires and anything heavy we had was a competition.

I moved home and went back to local gyms, like LUFC, the more upscale amneties focused Briggs Y or the dungeon in the bottom of the Franklin Y.
I’d say infantry bro-dog shit like “light weight!” With 135 on a bar.

I always showed off, especially for Pull up and Dips. I loved to do muscle ups for reps. Walking around the gym with a pink potion in a gallon jug. All the stereotypical shit.

I was only a year into my journey as a certified trainer. Which means I had wayyy to much information and not nearly enough practical application. NO experience with the potent formulas and training principles. I certainly didn’t even know yet there were training laws yet. So all theory, no application.
The only things I had were 3 years of military PT & the massage experience and mental catalogue of broken bodies. but those were all post demand what these forces were capable of, what we are capable of. But I thought it was enough!

Being fresh to the training scene, I knew I had no name. No rep. So I did what I thought would be the thing that would catapult me to the summit of trainer mountain and went about pursuing the goal of the illusive 6 pack.

Never mind going after something sustainable, functional or useful.

Fuck that.

Put me on a magazine cover! So the gym I go to will put me on “the wall”.  Droves of average Joe’s would seek me out! Gone would be the days of me asking for the oppurtunity to prove my mettle as a Bodyworker or not taken seriously as a health and wellness practitioner!

I would become their own hometown Adonis who was trusted and hired on the spot.

But that’s not what happened…obviously.

What did happen though: I was chronically broke because supplements are expensive. I was chronically over trained, because I thought I could work out enough to force the process. I was actually going backwards and getting fatter, because I lacked understanding of recovery and accommodation.

But I think what I was most guilty of, was actually over complicating things.

My volume was way too high for the condition I was in. It was way too frequent to allow for real growth. But most of all, it was overly complex, and actually bumped the things that would have worked off the workout.

So back then, Jaime and I were gym buddies. Coworking personal trainers. We would train together as a way to “demonstrate our Adherence to the lifestyle” or whatever.

So one day, she comes to what used to be Lacey Ultimate Fitness Center. We were going to train core and then use the awesome sauna they had since the Briggs YMCA didn’t have a steam or sauna. It also did not have a GHD, hanging core straps or a few other bodybuilding implements that LUFC had.

After we get through the whole work out, which was way to long in and of itself. Jaime reread my note card with the workout. After a minute or two of contemplation she says “where are your planks? Or any isometric core work at all”

It shook me to my (haha) core. It was a powerful blow to my ego as a competent trainer. It was immediately evident to me that I’d over complicated my workouts. I think it was 4 or 5 weeks into core training, so it was also a blow to recognize that amount of time had been spent finding out what didn’t work rather than what would.

It was however very insightful. I don’t think I returned any of her phone calls or texts about training for a few days while I nursed my bruised ego.

Taking those days to reflect on the arrogance of my ways. Actually bringing the benefit of recovery. I didn’t yet account for recovery in any form.

Most importantly, reflection on how to improve moving forward. I would go on to start look at making simple but effective workout’s, rather than big long complex isolated circus circuits.

All thanks to being conceptually challenged by a peer. At this point in our careers respectively: I had been experienced with big complex movements, some Olympic and Powerlifting movements. Jaime had more experience with Pilates, Balance and Core training.
So I knew her point was poignant and on the mark. What I didn’t know, and would find out the next day. It had been a missing piece and that I was actually at my goal. Following Jaime’s jab, I had done 3 rounds of Planks, side planks and elbow to palm get ups.

The next morning (before I rehydrated) I was shredded! There was the illusive full but exposed muscle 6 pack. Even after I had breakfast and a smoothie, just having seen it told me I’d hit a proper training stimulus.
I thanked Jaime in person, the following Monday. We both worked the Briggs location on Mondays. I also spent about 20 to 30 minutes pumping her for any more core training tidbits I could get from her to see if I was missing anything else. Turns out, I wasn’t, I actually just had too much stuff.

Moral of the story:
You don’t always need an expert-expert. But you do typically need someone who is further a long than you. They can expose you to your own blind spots. They can show you the fundamentals vs the superfluous, and help you get a real handle on the basics.

Jaime and I both like this saying as a demonstration for the efficacy of outside observers, mentors and coaching: “It’s hard to see the picture, when You’re in the frame”

Thanks so much for Reading today! If you liked this article, like the article and subscribe so you don’t miss out on upcoming posts.
If you have any questions, or want to see a specific subject matter covered, comment below and I’ll get that out there for you all.
Also Check out the below links for some previous posts you may enjoy!

The progression of time doesn’t care.
3 optimal ways to cardio
Don’t Have to be Great