Hands up who smiles and laughs off a missed lift!!! You have your hand up? No – didnt think so! 😉
I hate missing lifts…like I really really hate it! Doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a 1RM attempt or a low percentage lift, if I miss it I get seriously pissed off! Generally I then go on to try and reef bars off the floor at a much heavier weight to prove to myself I have infact NOT lost all my strength..I generally then miss all those lifts too. And actually what I’m doing then is ingraining bad movement patterns into my head – not good!
The more I train, the more I focus on technique, the more I retrain my movement the more ‘bad days’ I have – not because I’m getting worse at lifting but because I’m focusing on improving my weaknesses and my body and mind need to get used to a new way of moving. It could be something as teeny as the width of my stance and my whole lift will change because of it.
Im a year 1 athlete with some shitty movement patterns ingrained into my head – so yeah I need to realise that and trust the programming to get me where I need to be in the time period I need to get there..but what else?
Well Ive learned a few things that make those bad days a bit easier:
STOP!
If you’re performing shitty lifts that you can usually make and they are not getting any better – you are having a BAD DAY, don’t add weight to shitty movement. Drop the weight to a point where you can perform the lift with correct technique and stick at it for a number of good reps – ingrain GOOD movement and on your next training session you’ll make the lifts you couldn’t on your ‘bad day’.
Example: 20kg Snatch – nice, smooth, fast, flowing movement
25kg Snatch – nice, smooth, fast, flowing movement
30kg Snatch – awkward, uncomfortable, slow, shaky movement – STOP
Go back to 25kg and perform for 5-8 reps – ingraining good movement
DWELL!
Or in this case dont dwell, easy to say I know but dont beat yourself up! Every single lifter has bad days, sure if we didnt then there would be no such thing as competitions – everyone would just be lifting perfectly all the time! I find it really useful to find the positives in a bad day. Just one or two things that went right – you will always be able to find something! Actually – if you cant – well you might wanna check the negativity chip in your memory! 😛
TALK
Talking it out really helps me! Name it! Its great to say I had a bad DAY – saying it out loud reminds you of the most important thing. It was just ONE day, one training session, one out of how many hundreds of training sessions!! I find talking to my Coach and my friends at the gym really helps – just saying ‘hey I had bad training day today’ generally is met with ‘ah yeah these things happen, its just one day, I have faith you’ll be back on it soon’ etc etc etc. There is nothing like the support of a good Community!
SET GOALS
If there is something that you are REALLY struggling with there’s a chance you may have set yourself an unrealistic goal, its great to check-in and make sure your not getting ahead of yourself – its so easy to do! You hit a 35kg Snatch and then BOOM a 45kg miss the next day becomes a ‘bad day’ – REALITY CHECK – its not! Adding 10kg to a PR in one day is ridiculous and not gonna happen. The next goal should be a 40kg Snatch a month or two or even three after – now thats realistic.
REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED
THIS – this is what gets me through every single bad day. I LOVE weightlifting, holding a barbell makes me happy – it doesnt even need any weight on it. I live for that feeling – standing on the platform, holding the bar, hands chalked up, thumbs taped, sitting into the Power Position, I fucking adore it! There are always more good days than bad days – always. Because I love it! So remember why you started…it will make you smile and it will make you come back every single time.
A GOOD DAY CAN EASILY FOLLOW A BAD DAY…
Michelle X
