Mark Brown
May 3,2022
Once one has found the inner drive and kinetic energy to keep it going, they will find themselves getting quite a bit of traction on their goals. This is often referred to as momentum. The feeling of seeing a lot of positive results in a succession feels good and is a serious confidence booster. However, riding this wave isn’t always in the best interest of the one on it. When momentum meets progressive overload, one of strength training’s most important concepts, the outcomes are never inevitable. One could be stuck in the same spot for months while someone else busted through that exact spot in 3 weeks. It can be frustrating and mentally debilitating. It is the lifter’s job to stop or slow down their own momentum repeatedly throughout the process. Only then will they be able to attain that progress they are after. I will explain why getting in your own way intentionally is the best way to go forward.
I personally hate the word “momentum” in this use of this setting. I know how science defines it. It’s part of the metaphysical lexicon that we have been building for years. I always hear it when watching sports and it drives me nuts. When plays start to suddenly swing one teams way as a result of an injury or a bad call, the first word in my mind isn’t momentum. Moreover, too often I hear a “loss of momentum” being used as an explanation why something happened or didn’t happen and it bugs the hell out of me. When fans use it, it’s to excuse why a team won or lost. When players or coaches use it, it’s even dumber to me. One team is supposed to let the other ride the wave of confidence endlessly? The whole point of the game is to halt the other teams momentum. Completely, if possible. Generally, the team who can best deal with the momentum starts, stops and restarts wins the game. The reason why they won is because their discipline never broke in the face of negative circumstances. The key in that situation is confidence. It always is. Once that is lost, players inherently change how they play. Thus, the explanation behind the excuse.
A lot of what I just wrote about momentum in games is useful for translating to the the gym, wherever that is. The nature of strength training being a never-ending process, with short term goals like competitions interrupting here and there, makes breaking ones own flow of momentum necessary. Sometimes it’s done for the sake of physical safety. Think de-load and de-volume phases here. Other times it’s about really pushing the limits of what a lifter can do, hopefully safely. That will probably involve hitting a wall that takes quite some time to overcome. My goal is bench press 315 pounds down to my chest by the end of 2022. I knew by the end of 2021 that 315 was a reasonable goal based on how I was lifting by the end of it, having pressed 295 at the end of November. What’s transpired since then has made me even more confident of it happening. However, I know enough about the strength training game to know it won’t happen if I try to get it too fast. Moving too fast can lead to injuries, missed sessions and other things that hinder progress. Strength training is about playing the long game. There are stretches where progress starts, stops and restarts and one just has to keep working the program they are on. Too often lifters give up on the programs they are following because of a perceived lack of forward momentum. These are the people who never make progress then bitch about how a program sucked.
Progressive overload is a far more important concept to strength training than the metaphysical momentum will ever be. There are a few exceptions where momentum, the science version of that word, matters a lot. Progressive overload is the key to make progress in strength training, especially if the goal is to move more weight. The concept is to make your body be capable of lifting more every week. That could mean a lot of things: More weight on the bar, more reps done, more sets done, smoother reps, etc. If a lifter commits to progressive overload, then they will be stronger by the end of the year so long as they put in the work. New lifters will see the biggest gains while seasoned lifters will see lower returns on the time investment. That’s the nature of the beast. A personal example I can give my bench press again. I know if I want to hit 315 by the end of the year, I know that I need to be lifting above 265 pounds on a straight bar for most of my sets. I could physically do more reps if I used lower weight but the heavier weight is necessary to train my central nervous system for the inevitable 315 pound bench press attempt. Training the CNS is far more important to me than training the muscles. My jumps in my overload are small but they really do make a difference. I feel it every week.
One common metaphor for strength training is a wall. Yep! More metaphysical bullshit! Lifting weights tears down the wall and recovery builds up the wall bigger, stronger than it was before. This happens in an endless loop. Once I add progressive overload I can make the metaphor even more useful. The more weight that I can lift makes me capable of tearing the wall down better and faster. If I train correctly, eat well and get my sleep I can build the wall back up faster, better than I could before. If I keep the weights lifted to near max every week, then I keep knocking the wall down with greater efficiency every week. By intentionally trying to slow my metaphysical momentum down through lifting as heavily as I can, I am becoming better and more efficient at gaining it. This is why hard work will always be necessary. Momentum is “lost” when I stop working hard. Knocking the wall over time and again makes me physically, mentally and intellectually better at doing it. What I just described works just as well for people more concerned with muscular development. The process is slightly different and wall is just a metaphor for something else.
Slowing one’s own momentum is important to discipline because they way it keeps the ego in check. Confidence run amok can be every bit as dangerous as not having enough. This is commonly when “big” mistakes that have multiple layers of repercussions happen. Throwing oneself at a seemingly impossible task or one that requires layers of commitment is a good way of keeping themselves in check. Obviously strength training is the lead thing in my life that qualifies. Golf is another. Beating the course? Not happening because I don’t play or practice enough. Being better than last time I played? Pretty confident I can do that. Starting a blog about lifting? I’m back in college again! What was I thinking? The biggest thing that throwing oneself at an impossible task does is that it keeps them busy. They don’t have enough time to just sit down and say “Damn I’m awesome!” then reflect on why they are awesome. One doesn’t even need a “Ball don’t lie!” moment to see how that will end poorly. A secondary effect of it is that one gets better at a rate that is healthy, effective and actionable. It doesn’t help to go from beginner to expert too fast, even if it occurs as a result of one naturally being a fast learner. There are lessons within the lessons learned along the way one misses if they ace every test. Learning how to deal with setbacks is necessary. A truly disciplined person understands these things.
I said in chapter 2 that kinetic energy is what drives discipline. I stated that because I believe it to be true. Both metaphysical and scientific momentum are defined by energy in motion. That makes the former incredibly important to a healthy discipline. Momentum and discipline work together to make the progress that one desires. Making them move in the same direction isn’t as easy as it sounds because of all the things around the person making the decisions on what to do. Family, work, physical condition, mental condition and time are all things that need to be juggled in the decision making process. Their momentum might be pushing them forward but the mind and body aren’t ready to receive it. That is the worst case scenario here because the person isn’t controlling the rate of the push. One of the nightmares for a small business owner is outgrowing their liquid resources. Likewise, one could be ready for the boost and it’s not there. It’s truly a balancing act. This is why people hire coaches or personal trainers. Seeing the entire picture helps with those lessons within lessons I mentioned above.
Discipline’s effect is felt every day throughout the day. Every decision made is done to ensure the ability to perform the lifting that helps progress. That keeps the momentum moving in a positive direction. Intentionally getting in a way of one’s own momentum forces them to get better at decision making, keeps them more emotionally stable and helps maintain a healthy confidence level. When one feels their decisions having positive outcomes, the likelihood of rolling that kinetic energy over to the next day increases. When that happens, their discipline becomes much harder to break.
Life Through Lifting 