Most Weightlifters have a routine before training hall, it may look some thing like this:
- Drink energy/carb drink on the way to training
- Find the bar you like best
- Find the “nice plates” and platform (every gym has it).
- Go through regular warm up routine
- Warm up in your area
- While lifting focus on that specific point you always look
And the list goes on etc…
The problem I’ve found with young lifters and even some athletes is that they get comfortable in a repetitive routine, break this rhythm and they get out of whack. This is all too common among new Weightlifters who haven’t competed enough. This is why I feel it’s important to get exposed to as many local competitions as you can, depending on the trainings schedule and Weightlifter readiness.
Competitions for a new Weightlifter is not only about the challenge of setting a new PR but also adapting to the environment, pressure, pace of the warm up lifts and of your 3 attempts, and also lifting in front of a crowd. There are many variables that you can’t mimic from a competition vs. training hall that the Weightlifter get’s exposed to. The more experience the lifter is exposed to in this type of environment the more comfortable he/she will feel for the long term development of his/her Weightlifting career.
It’s also important for the Coach to move the Weightlifter around to different platforms, use different bars, bumpers, basically have the lifter learn to adapt to new settings during training, otherwise come competition time he/she may have trouble getting used to the setting, bars, etc…
That’s it for today, in short: Don’t get stuck in a routine.
Stay strong,
Team Fusion