Ego, Goldfish, and Weightlifting

It happens all the time.  An e-mail or a phone call which goes something like this:  "I am interested in learning how to be better at the Olympic lifts.  Can you help?"  Some of these potential trainees are powerlifters, life long weight trainers, former athletes, Crossfit enthusiasts, etc you name it.  The point is:  a new lifter coming into the gym.

The trainee enters the room.  He may be strong, fast, athletic, and experienced in the weight room.  He is used to it and is ready to show off.  After all, it is a new crowd and he wants to leave a good impression.

He may have to work through flexibility issues which are always humbling.  He may have to start off with the pipe, the broomstick, or just an empty bar.  All of these are blows to the ego.  To combat this, the trainee tries to impose his will on the bar during the process.  Of course, this does not go well.  Ego is at stake and the lifter must let this room full of strangers know how good he is. 

Many times, even after just one visit to the gym the ego is so fragile that the trainee never comes back.  Maybe he lifts a few  more times, but he just fades away. 

A potential weightlifter coming into the gym must surrender his ego.  It must be checked at the door as he arrives and begins to warm up. 

When you bring home a goldfish from the pet store, it comes in a little bag.  You take goldfish and bag of water and place it in the aquarium.  Slowly, the water in the bag and the aquarium reach the same temperature and you release the fish.  A new lifter must do the same thing when he enters a gym to start his weightlifting career.

A lifter must be lowered gently into the gym.  There is a vibe to the gym which must be understood.  There is a language in the gym, a rhythm to the lifts, and how the other lifters conduct themselves.  A new lifter has to slowly get accustomed to these things.  Of course lifters are not goldfish and each lifter will become acclimated as his own rate.  But suddenly the bag opens and the new lifter is no longer the new lifter.  He is like the goldfish now swimming around the aquarium with the rest of the fish.

A new lifter must be patient and let this warming up just happen as it cannot be forced.  A new lifter would have to allow himself to become one with  the gym, the coaches, the other lifters, and the lifts themselves.  Once a trainee becomes the goldfish that has been released from the pet store bag, it becomes a mere matter of   "Reward?  More weight!"