"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." ~ Edmund Hillary
Above, Blair Wrestlers & Team Underground.... Drenched in Sweat, Some Blood, Aches & Pains But The Champions Always Do "Extra Credit!"
At The Underground Strength Gym, whenever the athletes finish a workout, I let our athletes know that they can stay extra and do "extra credit Champion workouts."
This can be ANYTHING, it doesn't have to be fancy, it can simply be doing an arm workout.
When you do extra credit champion workouts, you boost confidence KNOWING you do the extra work that others make excuses for NOT doing.
Confidence is 1 of the most overlooked aspects of the training program. I've seen athletes who work hard BUT without great confidence, they never achieved the highest levels of success.
I've also seen the opposite: athletes who were perhaps not the most gifted in their physical traits BUT they worked so hard and had such an awesome attitude they surpassed those who had LESS confidence yet MORE physical prowess.
It is amazing to see how it all works.
[youtube width="640" height="360"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4GUp0yfK9s[/youtube]
Questions To Ask Yourself.....
- Are you doing EXTRA in life AND lifting?
- After each workout, do you bang out the extra 100 push ups, or the extra 100 squat jumps or sprint that extra 1/4 mile?
- Do you stay after and attack the exercise that challenges you?
Or.....
- Do you pat yourself on the back and tell yourself how great you are?
- I've got no time?
- I'm too busy.
- It's too hard to train at school and with a Coach.
As athletes mature and get older, some of them become LESS Coachable.
They get busier with social life, their Coach tells them to "Be a Leader" and run the workouts for the team, etc.
What kind of team only has 1 leader? Certainly NOT a strong team. I want an ENTIRE TEAM OF LEADERS. Not 1 leader and 50 followers.
Pay attention to detail (Navy SEALs always say this) here: You can't always leave 10% in the tank if you expect to become a champion. Sometimes, you're gonna have to go 100% and sometimes you're gonna have to go 110%.
And truth be told, it doesn't take hours on end. If you've ready my Encyclopedia of Underground Strength & Conditioning, Coach Reeve wrote the intro describing his college workout that he did 7 days a week.
THAT workout only took him 17-20 minutes each time.
Nowadays the majority of kids rack up an easy 1 - 2 hours a day of test messaging. I am sure research shows it to be closer to 3 hours if I bothered to see this ridiculous statistic.
Lately I've been squatting 3 x week, sometimes more. I'll even go through a full blown workout and throw 225 - 315 on the bar and bang out a few sets of a few reps. I'm teaching the body AND mind to be strong even when under fatigue.
I want you to keep it simple and STILL challenge yourself with the little extras. The little extras are what add up to BIG victories. Remember, you're training for LIFE!
Live The Code 365
--Z--
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5 Responses
Coach Z, I haven’t owned a comb in years…but I do have some fat gripz! And after reading/watching this, I threw them on some db’s for farmers walks. 3x100yds with the fat gripz, 1x100yds without. Had already trained this morning – front squat, deadlift + ab wheel – but had to get my extra credit in! Happy Monday sir!
Simeon, oh hellz yea, brutha! There ya go, and I can tell by the “sound of your voice” that you feel MUCH more accomplished, your confidence and energy is UP!
This is exactly what I am talking about! NICE, homie!
#LiveTheCode
Zach, you’ve nailed it again!!! Extra credit work is essential for extraordinary success or results. Extra credit, you weren’t a teacher in the past were you? lol Too often we focus on the negative side of things or as you say “we get paralysis by analysis” or stuck doing what “we think” works. Every time I’ve had success, I’ve taken extra steps or done extra credit, not to mention, it develops mental toughness and its character building!!! Keep it coming you plethora of knowledge, thanks. Lead from the front and finish stronger than you started!
Brian, ha ha, YES I was a teacher
The motivation for this EXTRA work comes from me seeing too many people wanting a short cut or an easier path
A short cut is GREAT if you learn something better, but, an intentional short cut to avoid the necessary work is never something I agree with
Thru work builds confidence and strength, inner and outer!
Z,
I usually throw something un unrelated to the workout I did for the day, for example: After I rock my upper body with heavy pressing/benching, I’ll end the day with deadlifts for time, I usually load up the bar to about 235-255 and then go for 30 reps, keeping good form but also my eye on the clock. My best so far was 245 in 2:30. I did 255 with the trap bar after an upper body workout friday for 30 reps in 2:40. I know it probably doesnt sound like much but it’s a gasser for sure. I always feel better after doing crazy stuff like that, same with 20 rep squats. Starting this week I am mixig some HFT in with my regular routine along with some of the pyramid sets from your BWBB course. I am looking forward to your new book.