This is something I never even though about writing about. I have had a couple people who follow IronBar and chat with me on Facebook ask about this, and what made it click is I just watched a from the mill video from David Tate and it covered it as well. How does one train alone for a strength even such as a power lifting meet?
Seems crazy doesn’t it, a sport where you load the highest amount of weight on a bar and try to pick it up, squat down with it on your back, or push it off your chest…but then to attempt this feet alone. People who do this have to be insane.
I have personally been training alone for over a year now, and it seems at times I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once you get a partner or two around, it increases time between sets, which increases time in the gym. Also if you partners aren’t as focused on a goal as you, it can lead to increased talk time. I would first and foremost say if you can, find a partner that suits your style and supports your goals. Lifting alone is not for the weak hearted. You have to push yourself, protect yourself, and strive for every little inch yourself. How much can you trust yourself to reach your goals?
If you are choosing or have no choice but to train by yourself there are several things you need to look at. Number one is always safety. I am guilty of it myself but you should always bench in a power rack. You are pressing large amounts of weight above your head; we do not need anyone dropping this on their chest, or necks. The safety pins are there for a reason, use them. I have managed to drop 275 on my chest before from about 7 inches away, didn’t break anything but it did not feel great.
How much can you trust yourself, what do you mean I trust myself with my life. Imagine this, you are sitting at home and a great movie is on TV or your kicking serious ass in Call of Duty but you know you need to hit the gym, do you have the motivation to go on your own? People as a general tend not to want to disappoint others, we are all people pleasers, it’s harder to back out on your partner then it is yourself. You need to find that drive to get up and get yourself to the gym.
Now you got yourself there but man it is late and you are tired. Your plan for the night is to do some German volume training, 10 x 10 and you are on set 7 and your legs on fire. Lucky you, you are the only person around who knows you have 3 sets left, who is to stop you from saying man I did good enough, I don’t need any more. You just failed yourself, imagine your dad saying son you disappointed me, but you can say it to yourself bet that hurts worse than the 30 extra squats. You need to have the drive to get there, and once your there, do what needs to be done.
The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone is do not be afraid to fail. If your benching and you’re on rep 3 of 425lbs and set 4 may or may not be there, get in the game and push yourself to the limit. (Get In or Get Out). The biggest and strongest guys out there will tell you, that’s the rep your working for. No one goes into the gym today and says man I am looking forward to these easy first 3 rep, they want that hard 4 rep. This is where you learn how to push past the pain, and push yourself to the point you didn’t know you could go when you woke up today. When you’re on stage, you will thank yourself for pushing that last rep on every set, it will make your life so much easier when you’re on the platform.
Lastly if you fail at what you are doing, get to a meet and don’t get that extra 5 pounds do not say , man if I had a training partner I could have pushed so much harder and been able to get that extra weight. Leave all your shit in the gym, if you have more to go do it. I prefer sports like wrestling where if you lose, it’s your fault you cannot blame anyone but yourself. If you train alone and you lose, look at yourself and use it for next time. Learn from your mistakes and push ahead. People like myself have successfully trained alone, there is no reason you can’t.
Train hard, and lift big
Brandon Braner
www.ironbarfitness.com
