The other day I was thinking about cultures within each gym, whether it be a commercial, private, or in a collegiate gym. Each gym has it’s own intensity and understood rules, even each sport has it’s own differences in respect to training. This holds true for each Olympic weightlifting club too, some are more serious, some are more cheerful, and so on. But the ones that are the most successful usually have an understood rule to FOCUS when lifting.
In the Gym
I believe it was Zhang Guozheng that had said something along the lines of:
“When you’re in the gym, nothing else matters”
It’s simple and straight forward but I REALLY liked this quote. This may seem like common sense, but how many times have you gone into the gym and started to bitch about how your partner pissed you off, how much work you have to do, how little sleep you had, and yada yada yada. But if you’ve focused on the principle of that quote- once you’re in the gym nothing matters but the training- all that none sense is thrown out the window, it’s as simple as that. There isn’t anything you can do about it when you’re in the gym, so don’t let it ruin your training.
Culture
It’s human nature to be stressed out but it’s up to the coach and club culture to keep the focus on weightlifting. As long as you can keep your lifters/teammates or yourself focused on X lift or weightlifting issue of the day, you’ll come out on top. Developing a routine to clear your head before you enter the gym can help develop a culture of focused lifting. Here’s my typical routine to get focused:
- Pumped up music.
- Watch a few lifters that inspire me on my train ride.
- Take down a spike, 5 hour, coffee, or some other energy drink.
- During the general warm up, I’m usually talking and keeping it relaxed but once I head to the platform I’m usually off on my own to figure out what’s up with my positioning and what beat up old body part needs to be stretched out.
During the Lifts
I know some clubs like to keep it lively and fun but for myself, I like the guys to be focused. There really isn’t too much chit chat going on during the lifting portion, the guys are focused on the lift and only the lift, especially during a competition cycle. Once they get into the general strength stuff (squat, pulls, press etc…) than it becomes more “lively”.
LIfters
In the end each culture will change depending on the weightlifters personality. Some guys need to keep the environment a little more lively and cheerful, while others need to be off on their own. But the premise is all the same–once you’re on the platform you focus on the lift- no clowning around, just focused on the lift for QUALITY training.
Stay strong,