More Plateaus

Plateaus happen… they happen regularly… you can prepare and do whatever you like but they will come. And it can be beautiful. It was during one of my plateaus that I decided to change my workouts completely - a year and a half later, after some additional variation and trying things differently, I pulled a PR in my deadlift and got certified in teaching Body Pump. Both at the age of 49.

I have met some great folks through both of these changes - and it would not have happened if I didn’t embrace the plateau vs. fighting it!

What I was doing got me great results… and they were things I "understood" and could do without even thinking - I KNEW what to do…how and when to do it… and it stopped working… this new stuff forced me to THINK, to ENGAGE, to LEARN through trial and error and research, to STEP BACK and actually do less, to get HELP from others with more experience, and to WORK my ass off…

PR in Deadlift… teaching others to love moving weight…

It is not easy for me but I now understand that at eventually… down the road… in time… I will be better for it… stronger and more able. I learned to take the long-view and to look beyond the visible horizon.


It happens in business (and the rest of life, too)… what got us where we are becomes a trap - comfort in the known vs. the fear of the unknown… small progress and slight improvement give us the illusion that what we've been doing still works… this is the most deceptive place to be in… when growth and improvement slow significantly - beyond a season and beyond a few months…. They become the new norm and we become complacent… that is where courage needs to step in and when the work should begin…. THINK, ENGAGE, LEARN, STEP BACK, GET HELP, WORK! Or whatever formula you like.

Plateaus

It is a natural part of any process where continuous growth is the desired goal… you reach the period of time where your strength improvements and increases seem to STOP! PRs are not happening as often as they had been… you are stuck…

in your business it can look like a shift in the competitive landscape, that year-over-year growth has slowed or "flat-lined"… GASP!

In the last blog I talked a little about preparing yourself for these periods in your lifting and in your business by "teaching" your organization and training your body to get good and confident with change. It is important that change be something you plan on and prepare for - NOT in anticipation of avoiding BUT to condition the body and the organization so that WHEN CHANGE COMES the body and the business can both react in a healthy way. The time to train for this is BEFORE it becomes a necessity… there is an ancient proverb that tells us that "The time to dig a well is not when you are thirsty." It is very true… so, expect change, train for variation, anticipate and prepare for it… it will come…

And yet, no matter what, you will reach a point where any improvement is a struggle… where even maintaining status quo is a struggle … plateaus do happen… it is natural… you can sit inside this space for a LONG time - these are the guys who come to the gym and have been doing the same workouts, the same way, with the same weight for years… and years… you can usually find them using the hamstring curl machine.

The joy I get from lifting weights is the sense that progress is potentially endless - limited only by my will and my muscles… there is always a little more to do.

Plateaus are tough for me. My psychology is such that my first reaction is to press against the wall and lean in… harder and harder… it still is, but as I've matured I have learned that at those moments I need to take a step back, reassess, adjust, and start working on similar movements in a different way or work on the simple movements inside of the compound movements - find the "weak link" and press to strengthen that…

In business, you can do the same approach. Break the "compound" complex processes or systems in to their simplest components, apply metrics around time, expense, revenue, etc…. Break it down… find the opportunities to improve and focus improvements there.

Pursuing Adaptation / Change is Inevitable:

Change Happens

It is a truism... it is something we all know and understand. We want balance, we strive for equilibrium... consistency... stuff we can count on... and change just messes us all up! We resist it... normally, most folks dont like it or respond well to it... that is the beauty of really challenging your body: putting it into situations where it needs to discover something NEW about itself... personally, i love a little discomfort... change... the chaos associated with the unexpected and the unanticipated... and then we chase BALANCE again... that is why i love starting businesses or working with start-ups or trying new things that put me well outside my comfort zone...

the comfort zone - a lot has been written about it and discussed... we all have our comfort zone and our goal is to stay there - psychologically, mentally, spiritually, and physically we FIGHT to stay there... and yet at the same time we all know that Change is going to happen - we are going to be confronted with change! Preparing ourselves psychologically, mentally, spiritually, and physically to anticipate this inevitability will improve our fitness and our confidence and our ability to respond to further change.

IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!

In the gym, to get around it all, when we hit a plateau... it's time to change things UP... get a new coach, try a class youve never tried, push your self outside what you've been doing - mix up reps or "time under tension" - go lighter... or go heavier... move from barbells to dumb-bells... grab kettlebells for a while...

This also translates in to the work environment - the business world. The world is changing faster and more aggressively than ever before - think of all the new platforms that have developed... what has happened to the "record" industry? what is happening to the film industry? bookstores? record shops? and this is changing faster... it is imperative that businesses become skilled and prepared for the change(s) that are inevitably going to happen... and this means that the people need to understand how to deal with and be prepared to address change - People who can adapt and embrace change as a fundamental part of their character and personality should be valued - MORESO than the technology or other systems.

These are skills that can be hired... these are abilities that can be trained and nurtured... these are perspectives that can be understood and prepared for... these are the experiences that can be anticipated, trained for, and managed.

Successful organizations are able to understand, embrace, and develop Change as a part of their structure.

Adaptation… and Plateau… and Change

The goal of any natural “system” is equilibrium… that’s an incredibly broad statement and of course there are tons of various goals… but a system strives for equilibrium or a sense of balance. An ecosystem… or the body is no different. Your body strives for “balance”. If it’s too hot… it sweats or tells you to turn the air conditioner on… too cold and the heater comes on or, as my father used to say, “Put a damn sweater on!”

The same is true when the body is stressed, whether by extreme environmental conditions or by a challenging work out. If you have never run before, just getting up and running a mile is going to feel very different the first day vs. 2 weeks later when you have been doing it every morning. This happens because your body changes to meet this stress… or, said differently, it adapts to the new environment.

Your body begins to “get used to” this change of experience by adapting to this new norm. That space between “thiscompletelyhurtsandsucksandiwillnevergetusedtoit” and “this is so simple” is the body adapting. It is seeking balance.

This is true of any physical stress you put on your body. Your body begins to actually change as the stresses come and are sustained. At the hormonal level your body secretes different chemicals to anticipate activity and to achieve a faster recovery from that activity. Heck, the body knows this is good for you so it even will release a little “pleasure” in the form of endorphins. This happens at the nutritional level, too, as your “cravings” will begin to change so the body will get the fuel it knows you need. The way that fuel is burned changes. Muscles begin to change, bones and joints change… how your brain functions changes (and maybe even at the genetic level, but the jury is still out on that).
And you get better at that activity.

And then… you feel like you have plateaued. Most of the time, however, this first plateau is typically just not pushing yourself hard enough. FIND A COACH. Find someone who will look at what you are doing and they will be able to help you get a more than you ever thought possible out of yourself.

However, if you have been exercising hard for at least a year and had coaching… you will also at some time hit a plateau. You get in a rut… the level of improvement slows… why is that? Because your body has adapted… it has found balance… equilibrium… it has adapted. If you want to improve and continue to get stronger / faster / have more endurance / whatever … something’s got to change.

One of my favorite lifters, Donny Shankle writes about adaptation for the weight lifter here

In the past, when I was young and I would hit this place of slowed / minimal / feels like NO improvement, I would do what any young ego-centered male would do – continue to do the same things only HARDER and LOUDER … and … still … have little to no improvement.
See, our bodies are just so amazing that they can compensate and cope and adapt to pretty much anything we can throw at them. The body is really an amazing machine.

To get past these plateaus, things need to change. The stresses and challenges we put on the body need to change. Changing the type of squatting or deadlifting I was doing for several weeks or months actually helped me pass my previous plateau easily. By changing the exercise, the stress, shocking the body out of equilibrium has actually made me stronger and quicker when I returned to the previous lifts.

And, these changes have made me fitter overall. Change and variation will help you pass plateaus and will make you more fit and stronger overall.

Say what you will about Crossfit… I believe they have done a great job in defining fitness (constantly varied….. blah blah blah) and the way in which each workout is structured to create that challenge is a great approach. Of course, it may not be perfect for everyone… but it is a great way to look at things.
Seek change… keep the body adapting… it will amaze you.

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.