Road to Nationals 5: What to do when training isn’t going your way

Road to Nationals 5: What to do when training isn’t going your way

Craig Gilbert

If you train for any length of time, you will run into the situation where a training session, or maybe a series of sessions doesn’t go the way that you would like. You could be run down, tired, lacking focus or preoccupied, but whatever the reason you just feel like things aren’t going your way. This pretty much sums up my week. Work and insomnia are conspiring to derail my perfectly laid plans and compromise what I had hoped to accomplish over the last few days. Weights that should be manageable are feeling awfully heavy, I seem to be moving slowly and I can’t seem to work up a sweat. It’s apparent, and my coach is limiting what I’m doing as a result. Ugh.

This is perfectly normal, and you can expect to encounter difficult days like these. However, they can still be productive and beneficial training days if you take the following points into consideration:

1.     Accept that they will happen! Don’t make a big deal of it, talk about it or dwell on it. It is a normal occurrence. If you are new to a sport you might have more bad days than good, but this will not always be the case.

2.     Stay positive! So things are not going perfectly, that is no excuse to shit talk your own efforts mid-lift. So you botched your last clean. Instead of standing there with the barbell in the front rack position and announcing to the gym “Hey I know that I just blew that clean, but it’s OK because I’m so good that I knew that I blew it before it was even done and I’m letting you all know so that you all know that I know that I blew it because I am that good” just focus on your jerk instead. Save the commentary for the coach.

3.     Leave the drama in the car. Maybe you have a bad day, but guess what? I have bad days and so does everyone else in the gym. Don’t bring the negativity into the gym by pouting in the corner, or worse yet walking out. It’s unfair to all of your teammates who are working their asses off to have to see you bellyaching. Suck it up.

4.     Look for alternatives. If you are having bona-fide difficulties with a movement, ask the coach for an alternative rather than wasting your valuable gym time. Instead of snatching poorly for an hour, maybe you can be doing good quality pulls or squats instead.

5.     Remember that your mind will quit before your body does. Dig deep and get some good work done!

Your training time is valuable, so instead of accepting defeat at the hands of circumstance look for ways to overcome the challenges of the day. Remember, you could walk out of the gym and get hit by a bus. If this were to be your last training session ever, what would you want it to look like?