Being an Apprentice

So I wrote about some of the characteristics I was looking for in finding a good mentor / coach and I was going to start writing about how to be “coachable” or to be in a state of mind where you can receive guidance, feedback, direction, learning etc. as we work to improve and to master something – in my case, it is my current process of working on the deadlift… and a whole lot of other things i'm working on....

Well, there are 2 new books out that cover this far better than I could…

These are by two of my favorite modern authors: Robert Greene (http://powerseductionandwar.com/blog/) and Tim Ferriss (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/)

Robert Greene looks at the historical perspective of becoming a master of something in his book “Mastery”. When you think about folks who become great, it doesn’t just “happen”… they spend years learning under others…

In “The Four Hour Chef”, Ferriss looks at how to become a life-long “learner”…

In his blog, Ferriss actually takes some pieces from Greene’s book, which is just pretty cool:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/11/12/the-magic-of-apprenticeship-a-how-to-guide/

So, here is the teaser for Greene’s book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bNiAADUh0FY

and the teaser for Ferriss’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-fkHUkCPs

I highly recommend either… but like my wife’s grandpa “Boppy” used to say, “I like either, but I’ll take both.”

Get a Coach (Mentor): Part 3

What to look for in a Coach / Mentor?

This is not a comprehensive list of characteristics, but these are the things that helped me make that choice.
Experience:
* Practical: this is really “table stakes” – someone who has real personal experience under the bar – they know what it feels like to have weight on their back…
* Certifications – external verification that they know something – are good but I really look for practical experience.
* Has “been there” so knows.
* More Experience: someone whose breadth of experience is greater than my own in order to call upon other resources outside of the primary focus.

Results:
* Performance relative to what you want to achieve. They have solid results.
* They hold you and themselves accountable for achieving the objectives.

Communication:
* Trust & Honesty
* Fact based
* Asks good, relevant questions

Problem Solver:
* Able to break things down into component parts to “rebuild”.
* Knows what the “end” should look like / feel like.

Focus:
* Focused on the problem at hand – not distracted by other activities, they are not employed in the business or at the gym to do something else. They are there to fill a role as a coach. Not another job… not their own workout… not doing something else.

Compensation:
* Trade? Money? Something – this is valuable… the quickest way to take something for granted is to not put a value on it or pay for it…

Get a Coach (Mentor): Part 2

I wrote about the importance of getting a coach or a mentor and I can’t emphasize that enough.

This doesn’t have to be a “forever” thing… people come into and out of your life at various times for a variety of reasons… It doesn’t have to be expensive and a good one will more than cover their cost.

But, find someone… try them out (I like to say, “Date before you get married.”)…. But find someone… ask around… hit up your network… find someone…

While you are looking for someone, you have to know what you are looking for, so make sure that you have a clear / specific objective:
o What, specifically, are you looking for in a mentor?
o What are you hoping to achieve?
o What are you asking them to help you with?

With TJ, my initial objective was simple: I was looking for someone who had the experience, time, and ability to watch me as I do these lifts to assure proper form and technique. My hope was that I would reduce injury, find my sticking points and then develop a program to target those weaknesses in order to improve my overall strength.

It has evolved over time to be more, but this is where we started.

Get a Coach (Mentor):

“All coaching is, is taking a player where he can't take himself.” - Bill McCartney

I mentioned previously that I have a friend who’s been coaching me / watching me when I’m lifting (powerlifts or Olympic lifts)… the last 10 months, TJ has been working with me the entire time. He’s with me several times a week and helps me with improving my range of motion, my technique, my form, etc. He doesn’t write a program, he doesn’t do nutritional stuff or that kind of thing – he is an extra set of eyes and a completely unbiased feedback system.

NOT easy for me – I don’t like to ask for help… ever… I have been lifting for more than 30 years – longer than TJ has even been alive! What does HE know? I know that even the best athletes have coaches – usually more than one, actually… I know it… but I have this ego-delusional perspective that I’m that unique character that can watch YouTube, read books, and do research so I don’t need a coach…

And I ended up injured, not getting stronger, and not able to think about how best to move forward. I “knew” these things… but I denied them… However, I’m pretty anal about writing down my numbers (weights, times, etc.) and as I was reviewing them I started talking to myself like one of my clients – stagnation, even going backwards, etc.
And so like talking to one of my clients, I told myself to get some external perspective…

So, I reached out to TJ and we started working together…

It started simply enough… I was dealing with a very specific issue – my range of motion in my hips (dislocated hip, torn labrum, etc. all led to some severe impingement)… and I needed someone else to make sure I was improving and doing the exercises correctly… however, this has evolved into a more holistic feedback mechanism.

And throughout this process, everything has improved and TJ has proven himself to be invaluable. If you want to get better at what you are doing – lifting weights, running a business, or whatever – then find yourself a coach… you are not so “special” that you don’t need this… no one is…

Getting Stronger

i had one of "THOSE" days today... you know the one... you get to the gym slightly off your normal time... someone is at the rack you want to use (dont they KNOW THAT IT IS MY RACK AND MY TIME!!!)... i had that day... the bar felt really heavy...the pulls felt way too hard on way too light weight... my feet wouldn't set "right"... i just couldnt hold good solid position... my back muscles just seemed to not want to fire... it was like i was moving through molasses - nothing moved quickly..

You know those days... nothing feels right and you just dont feel strong... so you just want to pack up the gear and head back home...

But you don't...

from experience you know that the NEXT time will be much better and that the times before have been "right"... so you trust in the process and move forward - slowly, ugly, forward (that's how it felt today)... so you keep moving forward...

and, strangely, THAT makes you stronger - the self-discipline that makes you keep at it, that drives you to finish the workout - to suck SOMETHING out of what feels like a waste... the decision you made to get to the gym becomes a commitment to yourself that you will not break... and that makes you stronger - KNOWING that even when it just sucks, you can still finish...

that builds your strength... your Will... i believe that the weight leaves the ground through force of will as much as through the muscles...

it's the same thing in business - there are days where things just suck - paperwork, bureaucracy, clients, employees, the competition, new federal rules, not getting paid... there are any number of things that happen that make you wish you could get back to bed... you question why you chose this in the first place... you wonder what you did wrong to deserve this... you just want to get off the wheel today...

But you don't... and you get stronger... better... more determined... just keep moving forward...

Parts is Parts

One of the coolest things about weightlifting – well, for me – that keeps me coming back and never really being bored, is that there is always room for improvement… when you first start lifting weights the goal is to push or pull more and more weight… and then you realize that the pursuit of greater strength and pursuing the strongest your body can be is not merely in the amount of weight that is moved but it is in proper body position (foot position, knees, hips, shoulders, spine, neck, head position, etc. etc.), muscular engagement (core, back, chest, blah blah) and in the consistency of movement.

In fact, ignoring position, muscle engagement, and movement will often lead to injury and will always prevent the body from achieving its potential. This is where we get “stuck”. When we are young, we just want to see how much we can move... FORM BE DAMNED! I’ve just continued to do that – whatever means necessary to pull weight… and I have been stuck.

In January of this year, I was doing a deadlift and saw myself in the mirrors… back curved, shoulders wrapping forwards, “turtle” head poking up and out, butt tucked under… no wonder even light weight was getting harder to move. Even at 49, I was acting like all I had to do was just pull harder!! Force of WILL to make that bar move!! What I’ve learned since is that, If we want to do more… push beyond our current plateaus, then returning to refining and improving our position, movement, muscle engagement by breaking down the lift into smaller stages and identifying “problems” …

So, the last 9 or 10 months have been really hard for me.

I have been breaking down my lifts into the component parts… making sure i can see myself from the side and in front… I’ve been watching my lift and feeling what good form is, taking note of where I’m strong and really understanding where I’m weakest. I’ve been doing little sets of things like straight legged deadlifts, snatch grip deadlifts, “Dimmel” deadlifts, front squats, good mornings, etc. etc. focusing on great form and body position, going through the dialogue of engaging my muscles (hey, it helps me to “talk” to my core and my traps, etc.). I don’t do a lot of weight on these, just enough to work that “space” directly. I even dropped the weight on my heavier days to a place I could lift it without compromising the form… so I had to reduce my “max” for a period of time.

That was hard… was I getting “weaker”… at my age, losing strength is a hard thing to “make up”… the conversation internally around the paranoia of falling backwards is consuming… the ongoing challenge to part of how I have defined myself – I lift heavy weight – even though I KNOW no one but me really cares…

This was a big step for me - taking the time to work on the body’s position and allowing the proper movement to become the focus… and giving myself permission to let the weight itself become secondary. In that time, I’ve gotten stronger, hurt “less” and felt overall better… and in the last few weeks I’ve returned to my previous max… and I still struggle daily with letting it go.

When I work with start-ups or businesses where the owner and the founder have reached a “plateau” or are stuck or if the business is starting to fail or fall backwards, I go through a very similar process… we take apart all the steps and stages of the business or of key processes (usually, we end up looking at all the processes) and start to review where there are potentially some deviations from “best practices” often it is the result of a “short-term” work around that has become “how we do things”. I become the mirror and as they go through their “world” I reflect back where there may be room for improvement.

Often, like in lifting, this means focusing on smaller steps inside of a process in order to get stronger (better, faster, or eliminating… whatever) at the weakest places. I work directly with the folks responsible for those aspects of the business. Sometimes it is a lack of training, sometimes just a bad habit, sometimes laziness… Often it is because the boss has only focused on “get me that number” rather than “what do we need to get better”. It is hard to take a step back… it is difficult to set aside the “end result” to work in the steps (even if that end result is getting smaller or is stuck while the competition is growing).

When we start out, it is easy to just “muscle through” to push no matter how “ugly” to the end result… I will work on doing this right later, I need to get this out… but usually that “later” never gets attention… or worse, it becomes “it has always worked in the past” or “we’ve always done it this way”. These become mental barriers to which we become emotionally attached. It is hard to break these down.

It is difficult to set aside how we have defined ourselves for so long… but to progress, for things to improve, for business to survive, it requires an ongoing focus on defining and then pursuing perfection in movement, in position, and in the proper engagement of all resources.