We’ve all heard the adage, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” Taking it a step further, we’ve even gone so far as to say – at least in the gym setting – that those people who focus more on the minutia are doing nothing more than spinning their wheels.
Take for example the guy who walks into the gym at 150 lbs soaking wet, and has always struggled to put on weight. Rather than, you know, walk over to the squat rack and use it for its intended purpose (squats), he sets up shop to get his bicep curl on – usually spending an entire hour training a muscle the size of a tennis ball. Makes a lot of sense, right?
Or, what about the female who, despite being 15 lbs overweight and admittedly sick and tired of always trying to lose those extra pounds, walks into the gym and spends the next 60 minutes on the elliptical machine watching Days of Our Lives.
Conventional wisdom would tell her that despite what the machine says, she didn’t just burn 750 calories (for the record, you’re an idiot if you really think those machines are accurate), and that her time would have been better spent performing some form of resistance training and interval work. And, even more importantly, it probably wouldn’t hurt if she skip the Dunkin Donuts pit stop afterwards. Just sayin…….
Basically, in short, when it comes to exercise, or life in general for that matter, people tend to spend the bulk of their time focusing on the small, intricate things that probably won’t even matter in the first place. Like the guy who’s struggling to put weight on, yet is concerned about his bicep peak; or the girl who’s struggling to take weight off, yet has been doing the same, boring, cardio routine since 1998.
At the expense of back pedaling a little bit, though, sometimes, focusing on the small things does make a difference.
Much like a director spending half the day trying to perfect the lighting to get that one aesthetic shot on camera; or the nuclear physicist triple checking his math to make sure the world doesn’t shit itself; or just doing something as simple as trapping your fart underneath the covers as sign to your significant other that you love them – it’s the small things can make all the difference in the world.
The world of strength and conditioning is no different. I can’t tell you how many times during the day I tell someone to tuck their chin while deadlifting, to sit back more on their squats, or to stop shrugging during their seated rows FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY!!!!!!!
People want to train hard, and I can respect and appreciate that. Hell, I want that; I strive for that. But oftentimes, when the “go hard or go home” mentality starts to take over, the little things tend to get thrown to the wayside.
Knees start caving in on squats. Elbows start flaring out during benching. Backs start to round just a smidge more during deadlifts. Athletes start compensating with more lumbar rotation during med ball drills. It’s a slippery slope to take, and one that I’m not too comfortable traveling down as a coach.
The last thing I want is for another coach or trainer to walk into our facility and freak the freak out when he or she watches our athletes train. Kinda like what would happen if I walked in and saw this circus going on. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
So, in the end, I guess all I’m trying to say is this: While it’s true that many people tend to place too much emphasis on minutia – as coaches, it’s often what’s needed in order to be successful in the long run. Sometimes, the small things DO matter.
