Coachability Trumps Willpower

I want to let you in on a secret. Training isn’t simply arithmetic. If it were, Orange Theory would work and you could stubbornly willpower your way to super human capacity but that’s not what happens, is it? One of the things that gets in the way of straight line progress is skill uptake. If you consider that all movement is a skill, then not only can we do the work we can do the work better. This is critically important beyond some moral high ground, as well. 

You see, failing to improve the skill of your movement creates invisible barriers to your potential. This is the reason why highly motivated, chronic runners can log all the miles and not get faster (or fitter). It’s part of the reason that men and women can weight train for years and not get, wait for it… stronger. 

In fact, the best chance you have at turning your training into simple math of doing more equalling getting more, you’ll need to be coachable. Eventually, you’ll need to move efficiently enough to break through barriers built by a stubborn attitude. Consider that there are no exceptions to this skill-based rule, either. The fastest people in the world run extremely efficiently and the strongest people in the world are remarkably sound in their technique. If there was a bone headed way to do it, surely someone more bone headed than you would have proved it by now, but, hey, run your race.  

In this Gary Vee, hustle-harder culture, maybe we ought to value coachability above willpower. On a scale of 1-10, how coachable are you? Since this rating is a choice that is one hundred percent in your control, it’d be a shame if you chose anything but a resounding “10”, wouldn’t it?

Let us coach you. It makes everything you want easier. 

 

Logan Gelbrich  

@functionalcoach

12/4/19 WOD

Every 2 minutes for 12 minutes, complete the following for time:

Sprint Start +  100m Row

 

Then, complete 8 alternating rounds with a partner of:

12/10 Calorie Row

9 Deadlifts (135/95)

6 Hang Power Cleans

3 Front Squats