Mistakes When Developing Beginners
(Focus on the details now, watch them “send it” in the future)
When developing lifters from the ground up (or close to it), we have one job: make sure they develop great technique. Pure and simple.
We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to be in a hurry. But we need to go into it realizing that the more mistakes that we make early and the longer that we continue with them, the sooner their progress will stall. And this will create larger problems in later stages of their career. It's natural to want to push fast. Especially when we have a talented athlete in front of us to work with. They want to push heavy load. We want to see it happen. But it behooves us to look at things with a long-term perspective and make sure we are not sacrificing future success for short term glory.
We need to spend time really teaching the lifts. Talking about positions and tension. Stressing the importance of timing. But not only do we need to focus on this, we also need to think about what and how we program. We want to make sure that EVERYTHING works towards the immediate goal: building technicians. The following is a list of mistakes to be avoided when developing lifters (trust me I know: I have been guilty of almost all of them).
Lifting from the floor only.
Lifters need to learn the lifts from every hang and/or block position you can imagine. At this stage it does not need to correspond to working on their weaker angles (as we need to with more advanced lifters). We simply need to allow them to learn to lift from multiple angles so that they can learn to feel the different phases of the lifts and develop those neurological patterns. If a lifter has not done a significant number of reps from the above knee position, how do we expect them to know where the bar should be, how they should be balanced and how to move when the bar reaches that position from the floor.? Programming the various angles allows the lifter to build multiple movement options for making lifts…and that will give them an increased margin of error with heavier load in the future.
Going too heavy routinely in training.
Yes, to an extent one needs to handle heavy lifts to get the feel for max lifts. But as a beginner the downside outweighs the upside when it comes to this. If a lifter is routinely training with loads that leave them with the sympathetic nervous system in overdrive, they are not learning how to lift. They are simply in “make or miss” mode, and are not as able to process the difference between good reps/bad reps or why they may have missed. Staying below that threshold allows the lifter to be able to constantly process each rep and learn the subtleties needed to improve upon the lifts. A ton of well executed and mentally processed sub maximal lifts with beginners will allow them a quicker path to making well executed max reps than will chasing heavy lifts all of the time. These decisions on load are not based on percentages, but how much the load stresses them mentally. And aiming to spend the majority of time training with weights just below a threshold that causes the sympathetic nervous system to get overstimulated.
Thinking all technical errors are just technical, and not structural.
It is easy to get in too deep with technical cueing and not realize that if the lifter has structural weaknesses or imbalances, the lifts will not improve. All of the proper cueing we can do simply will not overcome any imbalances that may exist. We need to make sure that we can differentiate between when errors are from execution or from a physical issue. And if we identify that it is from a physical issue, we need to work to fix that. Immediately.. An easy way to figure that out is to assess when these errors happen. If they happen at any percentage, it is technique. If it does not happen until a higher percentage is on the bar; it is structural. Fixing the weakness or imbalance you have identified will not only help them improve their technique, but it will play a large role in helping to keep the lifter healthy over the course of their career.
Going to heavy with strength and assistance work
Yes, beginners need to work on getting stronger.. If we can get someone a ton of strength reserve AND develop technique at the same time; we end up with a lifter capable of handling advanced programming at an earlier training age. This sets them up for rapid improvement. However, it is a mistake to allow them to handle loads that are slow and or out of position. We want to replicate the speed, timing, and positions of the lifts with all accompanying strength and assistance work (yes, even squats). This will allow every rep to build up the movement patterns we need for success. Slow pulls with a back that is not quite set right will not replicate how we want the lift to look. What we gain in strength we lose in timing. Front squats with a rounded upper back will not replicate the positions in a clean. What we may gain in leg strength we lose in reinforcing poor torso positions. There is a time and place for strength/assistance work to be done like this, but the developmental stages are not it.
Wearing straps for the lifts.
This should be obvious.
But wearing straps should be used for pulls only. No deadlifts. No snatches. No cleans. When we wear straps, we 1) lose a chance to develop grip strength and 2) do not fully learn what the hands and arms need to do to finish turning the bar over. They can lead to a false sense of strength that will get exposed fast in a competition when straps can no longer be used. Straps for lifts should only be used when the training volume is so high that the lifters hands are constantly fatigued: hopefully we are not at the point with beginners. The reason to avoid straps with deadlifts is that the load is minimal at this point. The focus should be on positions and movement patterns, not maximal load. Due to this, the load use will not be limited by the grip. This is also a good chance to not only develop the grip, but learn the role of the hands in maintaining position. As soon as the lifter is developed to the point where deadlifts are for strength work, straps are acceptable here under heavy loading.
If you are a beginner and find yourself routinely doing some of the things listed above: it may be time to reassess what you or your coach are doing with your development.
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