Andrew Eischens is one of the amazing athletes at Undisputed Strength and Conditioning in Eagan, MN, the home of Mash Mafia Weightlifting MN. Not only is he a great athlete, but he is a real pleasure to call friend. Here is his take on “Expectations” which I quite on the money for a young athlete and coach. Enjoy!
Here is a link to their website: Undisputed Strength and Conditioning
We are hosting a Holiday Meet December 20th at the Mash Mafia Compound. Come hangout with the Mash Mafia Crew, some MDUSA Stars, Coach Mash, slam some bars, and of course KILL Some PRs! Click on the link to find out more:
December 20th Meet at the Mash Mafia Compound
We are hosting a New Year Learn 2 Lift Seminar at the Compound as well! January 10th and 11th come out and hang with Coach Mash and the Mash Mafia. Weightlifting Day 1 and Powerlifting Day 2. Come to one or both days just click on the link to find out more:
New Year Learn 2 Lift at the Mash Mafia Compound
Let’s start from the top. This is my first ever blog post, so I have no idea if people will even relate
with it. Not worried about it so let’s hop in. We’re going to talk about CrossFit and Olympic lifting and
their very complicated relationship. There are a lot of Crossfitters who Snatch, and Clean & Jerk, actually
I’d argue that all of them do (or should) because it’s a part of CrossFit’s idea of “Constantly Varied, High
Intensity, Functional Movement” and “Increased work capacity across broad time and modal domain.”
Being a CrossFit athlete turned Olympic Weightlifter I need to clear one thing up, it’s what I call
“The Alpha Mindset.” CrossFit and Olympic Lifting breeds incredibly competitive people and that’s
perfectly fine, but where I draw the line is with the constant obsession to have to PR every time you’re
in the gym. I used to be this guy, and I became so absorbed in beating everyone’s times, weights, reps,
rounds, that I became extremely unhappy with myself when I fell short. In fact, it’s impossible. It’s
impossible to please yourself when all you can think about is everyone’s results and how you must be
better than them. It’s impossible to please yourself when all you can think about are PRs instead of
progress. THIS HAS TO STOP.
As a coach at Undisputed, I have had athletes wanting feedback after every rep, or looking
around to the nearest coach or teammate and asking “What did I do wrong?” I also see athletes
watching their video after taking one rep on any given lift. This drives coaches and the team absolutely
bonkers. We all know that you want to get better, we all do, we know your goals, and in fact we have
some of our own. So here’s the deal. Your coaches are there to coach, if they see a mistake they will tell
you and you will correct it, but until then, JUST MOVE. After performing complicated movements, like
the Snatch and Clean & Jerk, you will know what feels good and what doesn’t.
Don’t worry about PRs and just follow the program and trust the process. You’re not taking
steps backwards because light weights feel heavy, your jerk was a little shallow or you had to save your
snatch by settling into the bottom for a few seconds. In fact that’s what makes you a good lifter, it’s the
reps, getting beat down and battling to come back stronger. The perfection of these lifts comes with
time and reps; it doesn’t come from the micro-correction of the itty bitty mistakes you make when you
lift a barbell.
If you can’t settle in and enjoy the ride, you need to LEARN to. Rome wasn’t built in day and the
World Wars weren’t won in a few hours. You need to learn to have patience with yourself and stop with
the mindset of “If I don’t PR or beat this person then I am a failure.” We’re all going to miss lifts and
have bad days when nothing goes right. What separates champions from the others, is the fact that
champions trust the process, allow change, and listen to their coaches. We could all learn by talking less
and working more. In fact I believe that if we stopped asking what we’re doing wrong and focused on
what we’re doing right, then we’d have a lot less frustrated athletes and a lot more coachable
champions.
To give back, here are a few specials that we are running until the end of Monday December 1st:
Online Coaching by Coach Mash $75 off use Promo Code: MASHCOACHING
All Apparel is 20% off use Promo Code: MASHELITE
Learn 2 Lift Seminar at the Mash Compound $50 off code: MASHSEMINAR
Consultation with Coach Mash $15 off use code: MASHCONSULT
To check out one of the Online Teams, click on one of the following on links:
Eat What You Want! Lift What You Want!