The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Lifters

Plan the Work

The biggest difference between an effective lifter and “everyone else” is that he or she follows a plan.

This is not to say every rep and weight is planned out in detail, of course, there must always be some degree of flexibility.  But each training session and training phase has a goal attached to it and is reverse engineered to bring forth that result.

Work the Plan

Ah, so now we must actually do the thing.  If you were smart about planning, there should be few barriers to successfully completing the program – ie – the workouts aren’t too long, you’re not handling weights that are too heavy, etc.

The #1 predictor of success is consistency.  Some workouts will feel amazing, some will be “punch the clock,” and there might be a few that you totally scrap the plan and go home.  But stay committed.

Sleep

It’s better than any supplement money can buy.

Effective training is not just about how hard your train, but about how much hard training you can effectively recover from.

Outside the context of healthy eating and sleeping habits, programs just don’t work.

Learn Continually

You don’t have to bury your nose in physiology textbooks.

Instead, scratch your own itch – identify your main problems and go to work finding out more about them.

Explore new training modalities and you’ll find new strengths.

Keep A Positive Attitude

Training is about celebrating what you can do.

It’s not punishment and has no room for unfair comparison.

Warm Up

Mobility. Correctives. Whatever.

Have a process for going from “cubicle” mode to “beast” mode.

Support Others

Strong people lift each other up… another true cliche.