At the New Year, we experience an influx of motivation in our gyms—we set New Year’s resolutions where we promise ourselves and our loved ones all the ways that we are going to become better humans this year. And as we all know, most of these resolutions are abandoned by February.

Those familiar with my work at The Forged Life know that I distrust motivation. Motivation is like a chemical high, unsustainable and fleeting. When we learn to rely on that high in order to reach goals, our progress is the same: unsustainable and fleeting. We gain the weight back. We discontinue our gym membership. We start eating sugar or drinking soda again.

When Love Turns to Dread

But what happens to the person who once loved to train and now dreads going to the gym? I have known so many athletes who become lost as they lose the motivation to train. They feel alone, isolated, and they often don’t understand why they feel the way they do. They fight as hard as they can to regain that love, but their mindset remains uninvested in training. It has turned what was once a joy into a burden.

Conversely, some athletes experience periods of extreme motivation, followed by periods of little to no motivation. This up-and down-swing takes its toll on our progress: one week, we’re PRing and hitting our workouts hard, and the next week we’re feeling weak and tired and we’re back to dreading WODs and are self-sabotaging our efforts.

How do we break these cycles, where our mental state is dictating the quality of our training and our progress on our goals? How do we break our addiction to motivation?

Whether you are an athlete who hasn’t felt motivated to train in years or an athlete who switches from super-motivated to completely unmotivated, the one thing we need to address is mindset.

The Goals of Mindset Work

It is first critical to understand what the goals behind mindset work are. Many may be surprised to learn that our goal is not to become thrilled to train every single day, but to maintain perspective over the natural dips that occur in training.

Regardless of whether we are a brand new athlete just learning to squat for the first time, an athlete who’s been training for years to maintain health, or a competitive athlete striving to reach the CrossFit Games, optimum results from our training come from a mindset that is process-based versus results-based, focused on the self rather than on others, and a mindset that embraces adversity. These components of a great mindset, perspective, process-orientation, self-orientation, and seeking out adversity lead us to maximize our potential.

Because of our culture’s addiction to motivation, we have built an idea around how we are supposed to feel about training: amped up all the time, super happy and focused, and always, always making progress.

This is an unrealistic expectation of anyone, from a competitor to a grandfather who’s working to walk without a cane. Sometimes we’re sick, we have work, or we have family stresses that are distracting us. Sometimes we’re experiencing self-doubt. As any coach will tell you, no one constantly makes progress.

Every single athlete experiences setbacks and plateaus, even the ones who do everything “perfectly.” One of our goals through mindset work is to maintain perspective over these temporary emotional perturbations so that we can rely on the habits of training we’ve built to withstand them.

Being a process-oriented athlete translates to remaining motivated to train. Accepting ourselves as a work in progress, and therefore currently imperfect but capable of limitless improvement, is critical. A process-oriented athlete can view setbacks as opportunities to grow and can emotionally withstand the inevitable plateaus that come with long-term training. Embracing the process allows us to sustain our motivation.

The Self-Oriented Athlete

A self-oriented athlete knows why they are training within the broader context of their life. So often, our training reflects what we see on social media or what the best athletes in our gym are doing or what our peers are focusing on—in other words, what everyone else’s goals for their training are.

A self-oriented athlete knows why they are striving for competitive greatness, if that’s what they’re doing, or they know how their training supports the hobbies they enjoy outside of the gym. Everything they do at the CrossFit box has a purpose, and that purpose is self-directed, uninfluenced by whatever is in fashion at the time.

The final piece to building great mindset, a critical component of maximizing our potential, is to embrace adversity—sometimes even seeking it out intentionally. If we think about how and why we give up on the goals that are deeply important to us but that we can’t pull the trigger on or sustain long enough to see results, it is often when we experience adversity that we give up.

Adversity triggers a protective set of behaviors (self-sabotage) that are intended to return us to a state of comfort. We self-sabotage by eating what we said we wouldn’t eat, by skipping workouts, or by allowing ourselves to become distracted from our goal. Maximizing our potential requires that we break free of that need for comfort.

It is easy to see how we maintain the motivation to train when our mindset is constantly directing us to maximize our potential. Motivation is no longer a high, but a state of doing what needs to be done each day to make progress on our goals.

When we recognize a weakness in our training, it no longer defeats us but provides us with an opportunity to grow, a challenge that we can rise to. Should we sustain an injury, we can see how the rehabilitation provides us with an opportunity to focus on weaknesses. When life throws us the inevitable curveball that affects our ability to train, we can maintain perspective and find creative solutions, rather than allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed.

When we step out of our comfort zones, we rise to the challenge rather than returning to old behaviors that no longer serve our goals. With great mindset, we can maximize our potential. Without great mindset, we will always get in our own way.

Building self-awareness is the first step in maximizing our potential. In order to move forward, we must intimately understand what has been holding us back—ourselves. To begin this process, ask yourself these questions:

1. Why am I training?
2. What purpose does training fulfill in my life?
3. What are the goals that are most important to me?
4. Why are those goals important to me?
5. How do my goals fit into who I want to be as a person?
6. How do my goals fit into the purpose that my training serves?
7. When am I having the most fun training?
8. What makes me feel the most like myself when I train?
9. How do I respond to discomfort when I train?
10. Am I avoiding discomfort? If so, why?

Mindset for a Lifetime

Much like nutrition, mindset work is not a short-term project; it is a lifelong practice. The habits we build through mindset work require as much dedication as weighing and measuring food. As we know in nutrition, the more consistent we are, and the more committed we are to maximizing our potential, the better our results will be.

In July of 2018, the International Weightlifting Federation announced the new bodyweight categories that the sport would compete for in the years to come. This came as a result of a desire to erase all old records which many felt were drug-tainted, but also because of developments ”upstairs” within the International Olympic Committee.

The Categorization of Athletes

The IOC seemed to have an agenda with two motives and, as expected, weightlifting was again cut, this time to 98 athletes of each sex. The cut was bad enough but we were also told that they had to be spread over only seven categories each. This was very disappointing, especially after we had lobbied so hard to get an eighth women’s category.

The International Olympic Committee no sooner had allowed an eighth women's 90kg category, matching the men, then they dropped weightlifting to seven categories each. The IWF then decided that this further drop would not be workable outside the Olympics. It was then decided that they may as well return to the ten category format, this time with both sexes. The IOC would decide which seven categories would be on the Olympic schedule while the IWF could run their many championships as they wished. Note the chart below.

Here we see the new categories and also the absolute and percentage change (a delta for you math nerds) with each category jump. Also note that for youth athletes (U18), each sex has another category added to the lower end while the upper two categories are merged. The categories selected to sit out the Olympics are also noted.

There were a number of constraints that the planners had to work under. They could not use any category limits previously used by that sex (64 had been used by men but not women). All upper limits had to be in full kilo multiples, no fractions. As before, in order to avoid comparisons between men and women they tried to avoid using the same limits for each sex. But once again, they settled for one exception, that being at 55kg (last time it was at 69kg).

The first World Championships held under the new weight categories have recently ended. Every lifting fan was wondering how this would work out since the new limits were somewhat controversial. Some liked or hated the new categories solely on how it would affect their lifter, without thinking about the long-term future of the sport. Others had more legitimate concerns, but for the same reason. I think it is useful to note the observations collected during the first six months of the new categories. This is not much time to see what will happen in the long run but it will give some hints I think.

It seems that the IWF and its athletes will have to resign themselves to a de-emphasis on the Olympics. On the other hand, they will welcome the two new categories and the chance to win more hardware they bring. Some lifters like the narrower categories but others, especially those in the heavier categories, are disappointed about the lack of heavier limits in the upper ones.

The 55kg category was probably added to balance out the extra heavier category (102kg). Adding the 55kg category will placate the Asian competitors, but some still question its need. The lowest categories have attracted criticism in past for their lower number of entries in some events. In addition, it was noticed that many of the old 52kg and 56kg lifters were taller than those in the next higher category.

From 55kg we go to 61kg, a reasonable jump. Same with another six kilograms to the 67kg category. But then they go up six more to 73kg then an eight-kilo jump to 81kg. I think it would have been better to go up in two seven kilo jumps than 6 and 8. Eight more to 89kg is fine, but then we only have seven to get to 96kg.

At the other end of the spectrum, it seems that there is one more category that is needed. We have only a 6-kilo jump from 96kg to 102kg. At this weight, this will hardly make a significant difference in performance potential. We then have seven kilos more to the 109kg category—again not too significant a jump.

The obvious alternative is to make ever-larger jumps in each increment, due of course to the law of diminishing returns with regard to bodyweight gain. They could have stretched things out, ending with 120kg or even 125kg as the highest limit. This would certainly make life easier for a lot of the bigger lifters, but I am not sure that would be good for the sport. Apart from the odd superstar, it might only result in a number of high body fat categories with little in the way of performance differential.

Things are even more mysterious with the women's categories. We start at 45, a full 3 kilos lower than before. Then we go up 4 kilos, again a reasonable jump at this end. Next, it’s up 6 kilos to 55kg. Kind of a big jump for women at this level. The next jump is only 4 kilos to 59kg. This makes no sense. Next is another 6 kilos to 64kg. This is more reasonable, then 7 to 71kg, again reasonable. But then we go up only 5 kilos for the next two jumps to 76kg and 81kg. Not enough at this level. After that, we still have only 6 kilos to get to 87kg, the highest category, a drop of 3 kilos from what we had before (after great effort).

We now seem to be top-heavy in categories. The mean height of most of the male population is somewhere between 5’7” (Asians) and 5’9” (most others), five inches less for women, all with a standard deviation of 3 inches. This means that most of the world, when muscled up to elite lifter level, will be crowded in the higher categories (89kg and above for men, 71kg for women). However, weightlifting seems to be a haven sport for shorter athletes. Height is desired in most sports while short people have far fewer choices. This results in the middle categories being very crowded. Taller people who might become lifters will often choose the more popular and/or remunerative sports.

On the other hand, the general public, most of whom are of average or more height, prefer to watch the larger athletes lift equally large weights. This is not lost on the sponsors as well. So, even though most of the world is taller, most lifters are shorter.

The Next Olympics

It is currently thought that since three categories will not be contested in Tokyo this will then force athletes to avoid those said categories. This seems reasonable since the Games are the major motivator for all elite athletes. The tweeners now have to reassess their careers. They will have to adjust their bodyweight, retire, or concentrate on the Worlds. Some can grow, a few might shrink, but many will not be able to do either one and remain successful. For lesser athletes, this consideration will not arise. However, the IWF has added an interesting change to their IWF rules, as follows:

5.2.2.3 IWF (Senior) World Championships are held every year with ten (10) bodyweight categories, except in years with the Summer Olympic Games. In the year of the Summer Olympic Games, IWF (Senior) World Championships can be held with at least three (3) non-Olympic bodyweight categories per gender to be included.

The addition of a World Championship during Olympic years is new. Some years ago the Olympics were also considered the Worlds that year but not anymore. This change will be welcome as it will be a sort of consolation for the tweeners. Interestingly though, the rule’s use of “at least” opens the door for inclusion of the Olympic ones as well. With only 196 Olympic slots open, and 600-700 qualifiers, there will still be many worthy athletes that will be forced to take a two-year gap between Worlds. Another point to remember here is that if the various continental games also start dropping categories this will leave lifters with even fewer high-level competitions.

With only one Worlds after only four months to get re-adjusted to the new categories, it is perhaps too early to tell what future direction things will take. But the rules are now set and these are the categories for now. Lifters will just have to adjust to the new conditions as they always have.

I am a relative strength coach. I state this with the same boldness as my clients when they drop F-bombs during a workout session. My role as a relative strength coach allows me to focus on body recomposition, strength training, and corrective exercise.

I firmly believe this is the most effective way to bring the best out of clients despite varying body types and needs. The purpose of this article is to give you an insight into key points in my training modalities and share the experiences of a few of my clients.

The Role of the Fitness Assessment

A fitness assessment allows me to assess imbalances, overall fitness, and take body composition measurements. I also take additional time to go over nutritional goals and instruct the client how to progress and use time management skills in order to make their time spent in the gym efficient and effective.

My individual assessment as a coach will focus on creating a plan to develop better strength and physique proportion between lower and upper body while detailing out nutritional adjustments based on SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) and what I like to call my “litmus” test of personality.

People often take for granted the importance of how well certain psyches work with another. This, too, is important in ascertaining the likelihood of a person to “follow-through” with nutritional instruction and following training programs.

The Role of Client Interviews

After about 3-6 months with my client, I conduct interviews with them in order to get a sense of where they are and how we can work together to be the most productive moving forward.

After six months of training the client fall-off ratio tends to be high, therefore I highly recommend interviewing clients in order to keep them engaged and far more accountable than they would be otherwise. It’s no longer about “hand holding” but instead watching the fruits of your individual training style ripen. This is the perfect time for introspection as a coach to formulate a new game plan.

The Interview Questions

The interview questions used will vary from coach to coach. I use the following questions to give me a quick way to see where we started from, what happened along the way and help us decide where we want to go.

1. When you first met the coach what went through your mind?
   The reasoning behind this question speaks about the “first impression” you give as a coach. This is the time period where most clients are vulnerable. They will begin to go through a “pre-contemplation” phase in which, if you show moments of uncertainty in your ability, it will snowball into a consistent series of questions researched from YouTube and Instagram about certain planning methods.
2. What obstacles did you have at work or school that improved through strength training?
   This question refers to an idea of activities of daily living; ADLs for short. Most people do not want to come to the gym, however, if your training method makes their work and or recreation far more enjoyable this hits two issues at once. It helps to keep them engaged and their livelihood is positively impacted by your efforts.
3. What will be the most gratifying thing for you to accomplish?
   This is a reminder question. It helps to reaffirm the reason why the client has bought your package. Asking this question creates a stronger “bond” with your client and motivates the client to continue moving forward.
4. What do you feel is the most important thing you’ve learned so far?
   This question allows for a more objective moment of introspection. It asks about the idea of effectiveness; what do people tend to take away from my sessions? Do not expect a page explanation of the biomechanics of a squat or rep ranges for muscular endurance. Instead, let it remain an open question to allow the client to have freedom of expression. You may ask follow up questions to zero in on concepts that are crucial to moving forward.
5. How did you feel about this style of training?
   This question allows the coach to time macro and micro cycles more effectively. In addition, it allows a coach to gauge where a client is having difficulty and how to be more engaging. This is a great opportunity for the client to let the coach know if they are changing goals (running a marathon versus entering a powerlifting meet).
6. What is your advice to others for getting a coach? What are some qualities to look for?
   This is the perhaps the most important question in this interview. This secures three things: referrals, buy-in, and engagement. As a coach, referrals are an absolute necessity—whether it’s a combination of word of mouth, social media, advertisements, and the like.
   However, word of mouth and social media are so integral to cash flow. The buy-in question asks what will make me, the client, continue with you? The question of engagement piggybacks the question regarding personality. What is it about you as a person and coach that people enjoy? What makes you approachable? For example, I do weekly check-ins with my clients. Approachability and availability are things people look for in a coach.

Testimonials - Results Matter

At the end of the day, all that matters is the results that you get for a client. And results vary from individual to individual. If you are a trainee, you want to be able to feel the way the people below feel - I chose a variety of responses from different people to give you a sense of what everyone gets out of their coach.

If you are a coach, you want to get these responses because the variety of reactions is what determines how effective you are; you're not ever going to get the same two clients, exactly alike in every way.

“Even though I had some experience with working out, there’s still the initial intimidation to meet someone who does it professionally but all that went away when I met you. So friendly, knowledgeable, and I really got that sense right away that it was going to be a nice, long-term relationship where I could work towards my goals."

“Your training plan is completely different from others and I’ve made so much progress in such a short amount of time just by having someone who is objective. Someone who could see where I need to go but doesn’t like feel all the little day to day things that I feel. However, you know what’s happening because you’ve done it before, but you also know that that stuff really matters."

“It’s like we do similar workouts every time and I get comfortable with it and then you progressively make it a little bit more challenging and yeah, I’ve learned to have patience with myself through you. And then also with the nutrition as well, not just the lifting. It’s like you can’t go crazy one week and eat nothing so that you lose some weight. You just need to be patient. You cut out the things that you don’t really need and over time you make the progress that you wanted.”

“As you know, I teach martial arts also and my teacher always says people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. So, you need someone that’s caring—that actually cares about your progress. All the accomplishments and stuff like that are great, but unless they care about you, you’re not going to make progress. When you have a relationship that’s meaningful, that can help you progress.”

“I really didn’t know how to do any strength training around a hurt shoulder and my injured knee. This kind of feels like physical therapy in a way, but in a more extreme way. And not just to get better, but to get better and better instead of just to going back to normal.”

“The most important thing that I learned is that you have to have variety. You have to really push past this point that you didn’t think you could push past. I realize that there’s a wall with almost every exercise, and it’s discovering that wall and then trying to break through. It seems to be the most important thing. I really didn’t do any weight training like that before, you know. I would get close to the wall and call it quits. I didn’t realize that you had to hit the wall and then go over it.”

“Get a coach that’s going to listen to any of your ailments. I can’t imagine anybody over the age of 21 not having some kind of injury or something that they neglected that is now a problem area. So, definitely find a coach that knows what they’re doing and that knows the muscles—that knows how to work around the muscles and that knows a variety of different workout routines that could address those issues.”

A special thanks to the following people for agreeing to be interviewed and giving their opinion of a successful testimonial: Brandon Siedman, Jiu-Jitsu instructor - GeneDun Brooklyn Shotokan Karate, Jovanni Ramirez, Walter Martiniano, Alex Keath, Dr. Lana M, NYM Hospital, Samuel Searles, Broadway and Myrtle Bike Shop.

It’s the season of holiday parties, game days, and other special events that center around getting together with friends, family, and finger foods. Eliminate the stress of an elaborate spread with a simple and creamy pesto bean dip that comes together in just minutes.

Inspired by a winter caprese salad, this appetizer combines plain Greek yogurt with pureéd white cannellini beans, pesto, and sundried tomatoes to lighten up the amount of dairy as well as add nutrition. This dip can be served immediately or chilled for super quick preparation which is great if you’re running late. For a creamier effect, pesto bean dip can also be heated up while still preserving the probiotic qualities of the yogurt. To do this, warm it in a saucepan just until it’s warmed through but not hot. Serve alongside a variety of tasty dippers like crispy crackers and an assortment of vegetables for a healthy snack.  

Creamy Pesto Bean Dip

Calories 112, Protein 5g, Total Carbs 9g, Fat 6g

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: Warming Only (optional)

Serves: 10

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt
• 1 can cannellini (or other white beans), rinsed and pureéd
• 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup prepared pesto
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a bowl or food processor mix together all ingredients.
2. Can be served warm or chilled. To warm, place in a small saucepan or dip size Crock-Pot until warmed through but not hot.
3. Top with additional dollop of pesto or add a basil garnish, if desired.
4. Serve with toasted baguette slices, rice crackers, or an assortment of veggie dippers.