Everyone who comes to see me, who comes to train with me, wants me to record numbers.

They want to record their weight.  Their bodyfat level.  Their heart rate.  Their VO2max.

They want me to record the weights they use.  The number of repetitions.  Their speed.

And that’s fine.  I’m happy to oblige.

But I’m not always happy with what lies beneath those requests.

When I’m unhappy about it, it’s because my clients are looking only at their numbers.  They’re succumbing to the externally-focused drive of our culture.  They’re looking at magazine cover-models, movie stars, their neighbors and friends, or anything other than their own bodies.

It’s fine to track your progress with different measures.  However, the primary concern of anyone engaging in an exercise program should be to become more who they are.  To be more in their own body – to learn how to move, to build strength, and to feel the full measure of that strength-in-movement within.

When a month has gone by, and the weight on the scale has gone up, it’s usually because relatively heavier muscle is replacing relatively lighter fat in the body.

But the externally-focused individual just sees the higher number.  And that blocks them from feeling themselves what the effects of the exercise have been.  Do you feel thinner, more fit, happier?  Do your clothes fit more loosely (or more tightly, in new areas, like the shoulders and thighs, perhaps)?

The other thing that happens is that people become fixated on strength goals.  “I want to bench press 315.”  Ok, great.  What happens when you plateau at 285 for a few weeks?

The externally-driven person will tend to want to push past this plateau, instead of allowing what the body actually needs at this point – more time.

There are many methods for getting past plateau’s – focusing on the eccentric (lengthening) portion of the movement, doing partial reps, overspeed/power work, etc.

But usually, what the body needs when it hits a plateau (that is, if you’re still applying the same level of mental intensity to your lifting), is some time to accommodate to that load.  The plateau is your body speaking to you.  It’s saying “give me eight or ten weeks at this load,” “play with this weight for a while,” or even “back off.”

If all you can hear in your head is a number (315), you won’t be able to hear that voice, telling you what you really need to be doing.

This tendency is cultural.  We put the Type A personality on a pedestal in this country.  To our own detriment.  It is also a choice.  You do not have to push things all of the time.  You can choose to slow down and listen.

However, that’s extremely difficult, because everything around you says you should push.

The tendency for people to constantly quote scientific research to support their claims, and the equally damaging tendency to believe people who do that, is another example of this external-focus.

Science is based on the law of averages.  It is not concerned with the individual.  And you are an individual.   You are not an average.  Nor are you average.

First, listen to yourself.