To most of you, this will come as a surprise, because I haven't discussed it
with many people. This whole thing may come out a bit jumbled, but I hope it
makes sense.
My time as a competitive powerlifter has officially come to an end. Whether or
not I pick it up again in the future is really something I can't say, but I
think it will be unlikely.
As with any big life decision, the reasons are many. Those of you who read my
log regularly may remember that I had recently decided to give up the squat and
bench, competing exclusively in the deadlift. I think this unconsciously served
as the beginning of the end.
The main limiting factor in powerlifting within my control, was my size. Because
I have a great love for acting and comedy, I want to allow it to move forward
and I've had to stay somewhere within "normal guy" range in regards to my size
and bodyweight. Being 5'10” and competing in the 181 pound class is not exactly
ideal for having a good squat or bench. Due to my biomechanical leverages, I've
been able to build a pretty decent deadlift, but I still remain too thin at 181
or 198 pounds to reach my full potential.
Recently, several of my best friends had some very exciting developments in
their acting careers and it reminded me of how much I truly love the art. I've
been slighting my potential and growth in this realm in exchange for my
development as a lifter. Not only did lifting take away my focus from acting,
but I feel that my focus on competition and my own training held back my
personal training business as well.
Don't get me wrong, my powerlifting experiences taught me some amazing life
lessons and gave me a unique outlook on training my clients. But, I also feel
that I've gotten to the point where increasing knowledge in this sport won’t
further my clients' progress. I don't train any competitive powerlifters, so
learning how to raise my deadlift from 550 to 560 pounds over three months
cannot be applied to most of my clients' goals.
For the past four years, powerlifting has played an enormous role in my life. It
demanded more of my mental focus than anything else in this period, even when I
was outside of the gym. I remember sitting in my college acting class, thinking
about my next training cycle. I also opted to not be in any theater productions,
despite being a theater major, because I was worried that it’d interfere with my
training and eating schedule. Perhaps that's a bit extreme, but that's how I
operate. I suppose it's not all that different from Dave's "Blast and Dust"
model.
This brings me to a new direction for my training. There are many areas of my
physical development that have been neglected for the last few years due to
efforts to increase the competitive squat, bench and deadlift. Unilateral upper
body work, unilateral lower body work, overhead work, shoulder-girdle stability,
energy systems training and explosiveness have all taken a back seat. I’ve torn
labrums in both shoulders and whether or not the barbell bench was partly to
blame isn’t certain. But, taking a break from it and adding stability exercises
will help keep me protected in the future. I'll work with different squat
variations that don't necessarily include the competition-form squat. I'll also
transition into more trap-bar deadlifting and other variations that keep me out
of lumbar flexion. My lifting sessions will be a combination of metabolic and
strength work, rather than purely strength.
There’s no doubt that powerlifting tends to break people down in the long run.
Any sport will do this if you stay in it long enough and push hard enough. It's
simply a matter of whether or not the risk is worth the reward. One of the
things I love about powerlifting is that despite all of the bullshit and
politics over federations and gear usage, it's truly a pure sport. No one goes
into powerlifting for the money, fame or because it will get you laid. Anyone
who is a part of it is truly in love with the sport and the quest to get
stronger.
For the last few years, it was well worth the risk to me. Rather than giving up
powerlifting, I considered trying to take a few steps back and not competing,
but still training the lifts to try and maintain them. However, I know myself
and I know that seeing my lifts slowly travel backwards would defeat the purpose
of being able to devote more attention to other areas of my life. It’d
undoubtedly eat me up inside and consume me. Sometimes, the only way out of a
relationship is time apart. Yes, that sounds a bit fruity since we're talking
about lifting heavy shit, but I think it's true. If you and your girlfriend of
four years break up, sometimes it's best just to take some time off from one
another instead of seeing each other a few times a week. Slowly backing off
won't let you move on with your life.
As a result, my new outlook on training is t seek a "well-rounded" development.
I know that I won't be as strong in the powerlifts, but I'll also end up being a
lot stronger in some of my many neglected areas of physical development. Right
now, there are some remedial things that I really suck at, and bringing them up
can't be a bad thing.
My love of lifting as a whole hasn't gone anywhere, and I'm sure that it never
will. I first stepped into a gym when I was 14 years old, and since then my
experiences there have taught me so many lessons that have carried over to every
area of my life. It has taught me to not worry about everyone else and their
rate of progress, but to focus on myself. I’m the only one responsible for my
outcome, and dedicated education and aggressive application of that knowledge
will always result in success. No situation is permanent - you can change
anything and everything if you want.
A big reason for this departure from powerlifting is to throw me outside of my
comfort zone. For years, powerlifting was one of the biggest parts of how I
defined myself and by stepping away from it, I'll leave myself no choice but to
pick up the slack in other areas of my life that have been lagging behind. My
ultimate potential as a competitive powerlifter is not as great as an actor,
comedian or trainer/business owner. I think I owe it to myself to explore the
other areas a bit more.
Dave and I discussed this over e-mail and he thinks that my decision makes
sense. While I will no longer have a powerlifting training log on the site, I’ll
remain a member of the Q&A Staff to answer questions, and will occasionally post
training and other videos. If people want to see me doing squats on swiss balls,
while curling pink dumbbells and waving the Body Blade, then I’ll post some
videos. Just kidding...I’d never do the Body Blade AND the pink dumbbells
in the same workout.
Going back, I remember how unbelievably excited I was to first have a log up on
this site. There are many things that I've done in the two years that I really
couldn't have imagined myself doing. I have to thank everyone who helped me do
those things and believed in and reminded me of my abilities. I have the
tendency to doubt myself in many ways. As a result, I adopted the policy that
I’d take the outlook that the people I respected had of me – and believe it as
the truth. Since that sentence was a complete clusterfuck, I’ll try to explain.
Over the last year or so, if I came across a situation where I didn't believe
that I could do something, but someone that I trusted thought I could, I’d take
it as truth that I could do it. Basically, I stopped listening to the self-doubt
in my head and trusted those who I respected. Fuck, that took way too much to
explain! I mention this because the mere thought of applying for a sponsorship
and then mentioning it to Dave in person wouldn't have come about if I didn’t
stepped outside myself and take the chance. There's that cliche quote, "What
would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?" I’d advise taking a second to think
about that...it's a really powerful thought.
I'd like to thank Dave for giving me the chance to be a part of the EFS staff
and to represent this great company; the Angry Coach for vouching for my
abilities - that's all I'll say, he doesn't like it when things get too
emotional; Eric Cressey for first introducing me to the sport of powerlifting
and teaching me an unbelievable amount about training business and many other
things; Jim Wendler for his guidance and sense of humor; Nate Green for setting
the bar high in life and business for young punks like myself; Joe Dowdell for
close to ten years of guidance as a lifter and trainer; Shelby Starnes for his
expertise and awesome commitment to myself and our mutual clients; Matt Gary for
his friendship and passion to help others excel; Dave Bates and Eric Talmant for
opening my eyes to new ways of training; Hartley Sawyer for great memories in
the gym and out over the years; and every other training partner that I've had
for days, weeks, months, or years. I've met so many awesome people at meets and
in gyms. This is a huge part of what makes this sport so great. I can't leave
out the readers...I owe a huge thanks to all of you who read my log, watched my
videos, showed your support and stayed with me for as long as I've been a part
of this site. These "thank you's" are all specific to powerlifting and my work
with EFS. It's obviously an incomplete list in regards to my training and life
as a whole. This isn't my obituary, after all.
I'd like to leave off with this video that Dave posted just the other day.
Perhaps this is strange to say, but this really put my mind to rest when I
doubted my decision to leave powerlifting. If you love something, you need to
give it everything you have, not go at it half-assed because you're afraid that
it might not work.
Feel free to write in to me here or get in contact with me through my website;
www.MattMcGTraining.com
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
