The Intermediate Weightlifter
Be very cautious about listening to young people who have been training for about a year and think they’ve got it all figured out.
I’ve been in the gym, thinking about the gym, and talking to people about the gym for about 20 years. During that time I’ve noticed a trend that I feel I have to address. When someone first starts lifting, especially depending on their starting point and age, they can often make rather impressive progress on their lifts (usually the powerlifting lifts: Bench, Squat, and Deadlift) in relatively short time. If they focus almost entirely on the powerlifts, those three lifts can increase rather dramatically in just a few months. Something seems to happen to, (sorry to be sexist) early 20 year old men as soon as they can bench press 225lb and/or deadlift 315lb. They are suddenly convinced that (1) Getting to a 225 bench means 315 is right around the corner, (2) they’re an expert on lifting, and (3) pretty much everyone else is doing it wrong, so they have to evangelize. Unfortunately, what they know is usually just regurgitating whatever program they used to get where they are without the nuance, without the self-reflection, and without really understanding what they’re talking about.
As anyone who has gotten strong can tell you, the pace at which you increase your lifts diminishes rapidly after a certain point. That point is going to be different for everyone, but it is pretty much universal. You can start out adding 5lbs to the bar every day you train and get to the point where you’re happy just to add 5lb a month. The problem for the intermediate lifter is that those gains are addictive and they usually can’t accept that they aren’t increasing as fast as they used to. They start wildly searching for something that can keep their gains coming. They start chasing supplements, programs (add 50lb to your bench in 50 days!), or anything they can think of to keep them coming. This can sometimes increase a lift, but often leads either to injury or total specialization where they get good at a specific lift at the expense of everything else.
Despite the fact that they’ve hit a wall, they still consider themselves experts on all things lifting. They look at how quickly they got to a point where they felt strong and think that this is the “one true path” towards any and all fitness activities. They start to scorn anything that doesn’t fit into this box. A lot of lifters start with something like Starting Strength and when they hit their wall, have already convinced themselves that barbells are the only tool to build strength, that no one should be running, and that getting fat is just part of getting strong.
Further, despite the fact that, unless they’re exceptionally lean, being able to bench 225 or deadlift 315, especially if they specialized in those lifts, simply isn’t impressive enough for other people to pay attention. These lifters can be very fit and happy with their accomplishments (and they should be!), but they won’t have random people asking them gym questions. Family and friends will nod and smile as they talk about fitness but won’t give them much credence. So they’ll go online and try to give advice to anyone who will listen. Unfortunately, the people who will listen are often complete beginners. While a lot of more experienced and knowledgable lifters will give nuanced and “it depends” answers, the intermediate lifter will decisively and confidently tell the newbie what to do. The blind end up leading the blind and the cycle continues.