Know Your Enemy

Close-mindedness is a one-way street to ignorance.

In the world of strength and fitness, ego and vanity are the driving forces behind so much of what we do. It’s not a bad thing because we’re programmed to want to be the best, the boss, the alpha male.

So often, we size up everyone we meet and assume that we’re right and they’re wrong. Powerlifters scoff at bodybuilders for being fluffy pretty-boys who are “all show, no go.” Bodybuilders laugh at powerlifters for looking more like Larry the Cable Guy than Larry Scott.

Marathoners bag on sprinters and Olympic lifters hate on CrossFitters and the list goes on. We obsess over differences in training methods and philosophies and forget that we’re all fighting the same battle. We get so caught up in trying to rationalize why we’re better than everyone else instead of going out and actually getting better.

We need to set aside the notion that our way is the only way. 

The truth is that there’s something to be learned from everyone. Oftentimes, we can learn the most from those whose views directly oppose our own views.

I’ve been as guilty as anyone as far as hating what I didn’t understand. But some of the best lessons I learned this year were from the most unexpected of sources.

I started grad school thinking I had all the answers. Since our exercise science program was full of aerobic-minded people, surely I was the resident strength training expert from the get-go. What could I possibly learn from a bunch of 10k-running ninnies who stay as far away from the weight room as I do from the elliptical?

Well, turns out the science behind what fuels different forms of exercise is pretty damn important for all athletes, especially those involved in team sports. If I wanted to be the best strength coach I could be, I needed to swallow my pride and open my ears to what all these non-lifters had to say.

I did other unimaginable things along the way, like befriending a CrossFitter, learning to appreciate scientific research and adopting a less dogmatic view on training and nutrition. Hell, I even dragged my heavy-metal-worshiping self to a Grace Potter concert with my girlfriend and enjoyed every second of it (it helps that she’s a total babe, sings like an angel AND Warren Haynes made a guest appearance for a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”).

So rather than butt heads and burn bridges with everyone who doesn’t see the world your way, get to know your enemy and they might teach you something.

No matter what little umbrella of the strength and fitness world you’re under, you can learn something from the other disciplines.

• Powerlifters teach us that strength is the simplest foundation for gains in muscle and performance.
• Bodybuilders teach us that if you really wanna get huge, volume and variety are two of your greatest tools. And that the “mind-muscle connection” is a very real thing.
• Olympic lifters teach us that strength is a skill and the big lifts must be practiced perfectly to attain mastery.
• CrossFitters teach us about teamwork, camaraderie and how to truly work your ass off.
• Strongmen competitors teach us that heavy lifting doesn’t impair athleticism.
• Marathoners teach us about preparation and the insane amount of thought that goes into a well-designed long term training program.
• Gymnasts teach us that body weight training can build an amazing physique and is never “too easy.”
• Yogis teach us the value of mobility and that exercise doesn’t always have to be chaotic and overstimulating.
• P90x-ers teach us… well, not much. Except that mass-marketed cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all programming doesn’t work very well.

And the list goes on. You see the crossover benefits of multiple disciplines utilized by some of the best strength athletes in the world.

IFBB pro bodybuilder Johnnie Jackson powerlifts in the off-season to help gain strength and prime new muscle growth.

.

World class powerlifter Matt Kroczaleski used his bodybuilding-inspired “Kroc Rows” to help build an 810-pound deadlift.

.

Strength coach Joe DeFranco takes a page out of the Westside Barbell manual and uses box squats with chains to build explosiveness with his athletes.

.

MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre combines gymnastics, Olympic lifting and CrossFit-style conditioning circuits to prepare for the octagon.

.

You don’t have to subscribe to every belief and every mantra of every discipline. Nor should you want to, because being a jack-of-all-trades is a quick way to be average at everything and great at nothing. But don’t close your mind to the lessons to be learned from all areas of health and fitness. Being a specialist doesn’t mean being one-dimensional and certainly doesn’t mean you can’t be well-rounded.

I challenge everyone to learn something about an area of the fitness world with which you disagree. You’ll likely pick up some tips and tricks that you can apply to your own training.