We are a Pimple of A pimple.
A tiny speck of dust on the unimaginable size of the universe.
A blink of an eye in the timeline of the world.
And we will all look like idiotic apes in 10,000 years.
These thoughts come up from listening to Graham Hancock talk about lost civilizations, the future of the human race and everything else that is entirely more important than what we do as sport coaches.
Figure 1. We are a pimple of a pimple
And I bring this all up to set the stage. To hopefully make us understand that most likely we have no idea what we are talking about. That when we debate Olympic Lifts or get into throat-cutting arguments over whether to use Triphasic Training or The Westside Approach, we are most likely wasting our time. I know because I’ve been through it before and lived it.
As an athlete I always chased More. I always chased harder! I always chased the cutting edge.
Figure 2. Always more, always harder. If you think I’m kidding…Think again
In high school, I thought it was the Olympic Lifts, if only I mastered those I’d become the athlete, and more importantly and what most athletes are really chasing, the person, that I’d want to become.
5 days a week of Jerks, High Pulls, and a 350 lb clean later, I had done it!
Then I stepped onto the collegiate football field and moved like I had spent my entire summer Olympic Lifting and not playing my sport. I had “the answer” and I was rewarded by being a 6th string tackling dummy for my teammates.
So, I dug deeper and saw the flaws in my ways! I read the great Joe Defranco’s work and realized I had it totally wrong, I needed to start jumping, throwing, sprinting, and adding bands to my lifts. WHAT A FOOL I WAS FOR OLYMPIC LIFTING!! That next season I stepped onto the field moving better, feeling better and I even got to play, as a backup, but still was a huge step up for me.
Figure 3. This was my GAMECHANGER
But as the season ended in a crushing National Championship defeat, I went back to the drawing board. Why were people ahead of me on the field that worked out less than me? Why did people that had nowhere near the strength of me in the weight room look stronger on the field? How were they able to be faster, get in better positions, outplay me?
So, I dug even deeper and this time, I HAD IT! I opened Cal Dietz book Triphasic Training and learned what I had done wrong, my unilateral work was nowhere near where it needed to be! Then I read Kelly Starett and realized that my mobility was nowhere near where it needed to be. Then Cameron Josse put out some sprinting articles and I couldn’t believe I had missed so much of my sprinting work.
So I added it all. I chased more! I worked harder!
Figure 4. Again if you think I’m overexaggerating this was a 565 lb single-leg squat that left me destroyed for a week and I felt proud.
And in some sense it worked…I graduated as a captain, an All-American, the lineman of the year, etc.etc.
Figure 5. Photos and videos are for the meatsticks that were like I was in college, whose eyeballs are bulging out of their sockets right now because I’m calling out their favorite lifting ways. I’m not some movement yogi, I’ve put my body through the wringer. I’ve pushed the limits of my sporting abilities and at heart, I want to be a “meathead” and I want it to be simple, but it’s just not…
Yet, when I look back on it I question if it worked at all. If any of my training really made that much of a difference, or if it was actually hurting me. I still moved worse than most players on the field, I just played a position I could get away with that in. I still saw the game worse than most players on the field, I just had good enough football coaches to get me through that. I had two pass rush moves, run my face into a guy really hard or pull a guy to the ground really hard. Probably not the best options 99% of the time. I never missed a game but always had some kind of injury that kept me from performing 100%. (Rolled ankles, shoulder and elbow issues, torn meniscus)
Did all of that training really pay off?
Had I really figured it out?
Or did I just survive my own stupidity?
Did I really have the answer that physically made me better than everyone else, or was there a ton of other factors that played into my success? Right time. Right place. Right team.
Figure 6. Right time. Right place. Right team. Being surrounded by teammates and coaching staff in which these stats are possible probably had a lot more to do with it then my meathead training.
Don’t take this article as a rip on any of the previous legends or techniques I mentioned above, I find their information incredibly valuable. What I want this article to take a look at is our approach to training (and life for that matter because I believe training is just a micro view of everything else that is happening in the world)
We always approach it as more, harder, faster! THE GRIND! MENTAL TOUGHNESS! WEIGHTS WEIGHTS WEIGHTS! This “expert” that “expert” and I think we have it totally wrong.
What if we were able to take that step back and realize what we were actually doing and requiring.
We build this huge battery of output for our athletes and for what? From my experience, most athletes have no ability to control the battery they already have, very few movement solutions, very few things they trust their bodies to be able to do. Don’t get me started on how many times we have done simple rolls and crawls and an athlete has asked me “will I get hurt doing this?”
We have survived millions of years of evolutions, your ancestors have survived everything mother nature has thrown at them, tigers, ice ages, massive wars, etc. and we are at a point where you are a 20-year-old athlete in the prime of your physical existence and you’re asking if a roll will hurt you…
What if we were able to take this step back and build athletes that were Anti-Fragile, that had these massive output batteries but also had solutions to the movement problems they will encounter. What if we gave our athletes the ability to understand what their bodies are capable of doing.
Figure 7. I promise this kid’s thought process was not on landing mechanics, biomechanics or safety. He was interested in one thing “Can I make this insane jump” or translated in sports performance terms “What is my body capable of doing.”
And this comes in the way of changing our thought process on what is important. Breaking the box of what the “experts” have said and understand again we are going to look like apes in the very near future so why not push the envelope on training: getting our athletes to play, crawl, fall, fight, roll, push, shove and be the humans they are capable of being. Having them understand that getting good at barbell lifts will get them good at barbell lifts and will accomplish very little of what they are actually looking to accomplish.
If you want to be a creative mover, you have to become a creative mover. You have to break the mold. You have to challenge things people don’t want you to challenge. You have to look like a fool.
And this is something many coaches aren’t alright with. I believe ego plays a huge role in this. Building that huge battery, increasing their squats and benches, and ripping shirts with the gun show looks good on excel charts and gives them purpose (and a job.)
We never lose sight of the things we can show people that will give us a pat on the back and almost always lose sight of the goal, which to me is developing a holistic and creative mover that can navigate any situation they find themselves in on the field and in life.
So, explore this. Challenge this. Will your program get your athletes ready for this? Will it get them Strong everywhere? Will it give them options to use on the field and not just when they are in a perfect position but when they just tripped over that lineman and are falling to the ground.
Figure 8. Our training sessions are feisty. We fight, we scratch, we talk shit and we prepare you for what you’re actually going to see and feel when it matters. Not pretty but neither is gameday.
Are they like water? Can they fit into any situation, can they flow when they need to flow and crash when they need to crash.
Or are they the stone, that over time gets washed out and forgotten.
Figure 9. Water always wins
I’d urge you to try it.
But don’t take my word for it…
There are no experts.
Understanding and accepting this is part one and it’s something I fight every single day to make sure I know. Part two is actually implementing these thoughts. Data is only useful if you can use it, otherwise it is just more noise. Now that we know to challenge, what does that challenge actually look like?
So in part 2 of this series, which hopefully turns into many more as long as Joel doesn’t get bored of me, we will dive deeper into how I go about implementing these thoughts. How to take beginner steps outside of your comfort zone of the barbell, rack, and straight-line programs. How to start implementing these things into your own training if you’re a washed-up mover, how to create holistic, creative, and robust athletes with your programming, and how to make sure we continue to grow our understanding of our field and not accept the fragileness we see currently.
Until then….
Keep Chopping Wood
About Austin Jochum
Austin Jochum is the owner of Jochum Strength where he works with athletes and washed up movers to become the best versions of themselves. He also operates The Jochum Strength insider which is an online training platform for people trying to feel, look, and move better. Austin was a former D3 All-American Football player and a Hammer Thrower at the University of St.Thomas, where he is now the Strength Coach for the Football Team.
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