Boring Makes You Stronger: Understanding Repetitiveness in Weightlifting Training
A question I received recently from a new client asked why her program was so repetitive. It was a great question and one I thought would be great to share with you guys here.
The sport of weightlifting contests three lifts. The snatch, clean, and jerk, which means these are a non-negotiable to include in training. Along with these, squats and pulls have a clear carry over in developing the contested lifts, therefore we will train them. With only 5 exercises GUARANTEED to deliver results, training can get boring.
Along with the lack of variation in exercises, program structure is another contributor to the boredom. Any structured program typically utilizes a linear progression of some kind. This means we will use the same exercise for 4 weeks, and attempt to increase the weight each week. That means on Mondays we do snatch volume, attempting to increase weight each week, Tuesdays we do squat volume, and again attempt to increase the weight each week. This will continue for the entire week, and makes it easy to plan your progress, and thus, your potential!
Say we were to switch things up each week, changing movements, weights, and rep schemes. You would not have enough exposure to each exercise to learn the skill, nor would you be able to create expectations for what weights you could hit for each rep scheme. You would also not be able to plan for when you might hit PR’s. You may hit a PR two weeks into a program, but not be able to hit 80% on competition day. Instead, having structure allows the lifter and coach to better plan their training to peak on competition day!
While structured training may seem boring and repetitive, this is just part of the sport. Any pursuit of greatness will eventually become boring, but champions recognize that doing the boring work is what makes them champions, and push themselves as hard as possible through the boredom.
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