Success is defined as "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose." Let's be honest the definition is pretty basic, and many of us understand what it means to be successful. But the real question I have always had, is what does it take to be successful? The obvious answers could be listed; hard work, time, patience, grit, maybe even a little luck. Now, let's take the same question and apply it to strength athletics. So, I pose a question to you, what does it take to be successful in strength athletics? Heck, what does it take to be successful in athletics as a whole? Now I know many of you will be thinking, "Strength, Speed, and skill." I'm not going to say you're wrong; technically, you are correct. I want to take a deeper look at this, or as I tell my class when I teach, "Let's break this down to the basic nuts and bolts." For this entire essay, I will be referring to the sport of weightlifting.
So, other than a high skill level, what else does a person need? First off, strong legs and hips (butts). In this sport, you just can't have strong legs OR strong hips. You must have BOTH. It's an odd relationship when discussing how legs and hips work in tandem during a snatch or clean & jerk. First and foremost, a weightlifter won't be able to lift the bar from the floor, let alone propel the bar high enough to get underneath it for a clean or snatch, if the proper leg and hip strength isn't developed. Not only does the lifter have to have the leg and hip strength to be able to lift the bar high enough to get under it, but the lifter also needs adequate leg strength to recover out of the catch. Whether it is a snatch, a clean, or a jerk, catch recovery strength is paramount for success.
Backs, more specifically lower backs, are critical when it comes to weightlifting. We could consider the back or "core" to be the most important aspect of the entire body during any athletic event because it links the upper body (chest, arms, and shoulders) to the lower body (legs, hips, and calves). If the "bridge" is weak, then power transfer from the lower body to the upper body will not be as efficient as it could. Also, due to the continued stress placed upon the lower lumber and upper hips, sufficient stability and strength in the lower back is a must to decrease the occurrence of an injury.
Now for the final aspect, the boatload of faith. This aspect can be interpreted in many different ways. First, it could be faith in your coach. Second, faith in the training program that has been designed. The third point, faith in yourself and, above all else, faith in God. I have never been one to openly speak of faith or believe. I have always lived under the premise "as long as it doesn't directly affect me in any way, what a person's spiritual believes are, isn't any of my business." However, over the last handful of years of my life, my viewpoint on my own personal faith has changed.
I attribute the slow progressive change to my wife, Amanda. She has possibly one of the strongest senses of faith I have ever met in a person. She has been the person to push me to be a man of God and, most importantly, the father who teaches his children about faith and belief.
To be rather frank, I have never had a strong sense of faith or belief. I always had doubts about what was true and what wasn't. I was never sure if scripture was more or less fabled stories a collective group of people happened to create on their own or if the different stories of the bible truly happened. I guess you could say I was always skeptical of faith, which caused me to never dive in like many of the other things that caught my interest. It could be because I took scripture stories literally and never saw the deeper meaning to them. It could have been I because I never truly identified as a Catholic, let alone a Christian, due to fear of being mocked by my peers. It could be due it was never really a topic of conversation growing up. It is a multifaceted topic as to the reasons how I got to where I was.
Of course, growing up, I participated in the church with the youth groups, Sunday schools, and different fundraisers, first with the Methodist church during my grade school years and then the Catholic during my junior/high school career. But even during the times of participation, I looked at it as more of a chance to socialize with my peers than I did to learn a deeper lesson. In the end, it just never clicked with me, it was never a true priority to me. This continued during my undergrad career. I would attend mass when I went home, but that was really it. I never attended regularly on my own.
So how did I get to the point where I am now? As I mentioned earlier, my wife has played a major role in my "faith journey." She accepted me for my ignorance of faith and has supported me the entire time. She has subtly pushed me to express my concerns, fears, and troubles in prayer and always believe we will be okay as long as we have faith. Needless to say, as a person who has relied on himself and one to never really express my personal concerns to anyone, I can say prayer has been an interesting thing to learn how to do. Yes, I said, learn. At the age of 31, when a lot of this started, I had to learn how to pray and, at the same time, listen. You'd be amazed at the things you can hear when you calm your mind.
So, you're probably wondering, "what does this have to exercise, or sports, or strength?" Well, to quote Rush Limbaugh, "Talent on loan from God." I heard that phrase about 2 years ago, and it always stuck in the back of my mind. A lot of people might disagree with what I am about to say, and that is fine. I thought for a long time about what it meant, and I concluded that it kind of sums everything up. Everything we are, know, and can do, is on loan from God. That's every talent, every skill, every ability, and every bit of knowledge we can absorb and apply is not something that is not actually our own, but something that is given or "loaned" to us.
Faith is best described as "a feeling, conviction, or belief that something is true or real without any evidence." Coming from personal experience, faith can be a difficult thing to fully understand and wrap your mind around. But if I can hold faith in my coach and his skills, my athletes and their abilities, or even my personal skills and abilities, why can't I have faith in the Being that granted all of this to us? Why can't I have faith that all of us were loaned these different skills and abilities for a reason? Then again, instead of having it all figured out, why don't I just allow myself to believe and do what I feel I was placed on this earth to do. I've got the legs, the butt, and the back strength I need. I like to believe God gave me great strength to hold up a world if needed. And, like my body, I need to continue to strengthen my faith. Because just like increasing my physical strength, my ability to lift and compete at a high level increases. The stronger my faith becomes, the stronger my trust in God becomes.
Take Care,
Coach A
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