The Strongmen's Secret
by Steve Cotter
Do you ever find yourself wishing that you were as good as so-and-so in a certain skill? As you continue to train and achieve progress you want to be good at everything, strong in every lift. Perhaps you marvel at the 500 pound bench presser and wish to equal his feat. You see a guy like John "Pull-ups" Allstadt crank out one-arm chins and decide you're going to add those to your repertoire. And of course, you plan to achieve Master of Sport in Kettlebell lifting within the next few years! Well, I'm here to share with you the "secret" of the great strongmen and super athletes.
It seems that these super athletes are good at everything they do, and we want so badly to emulate them. But, are they really good at everything? Careful inspection will reveal that there are those that are indeed naturally gifted and seem to pick up very quickly and excel at a wide range of physical skills. These genetically gifted "freaks of nature" are the kids that are faster, stronger, and more aggressive than all the others throughout childhood. But examination will also reveal that even these "good at everything types" are really great at only a few things. This becomes more apparent as the child physically matures into an adult.
Looking at sport, we can see numerous examples of this truth in action. There may be no better example in sports of the "good at everything" athlete than the decathlete from track and field. This super athlete has to excel at 10 different events. However, if you test the decathlete in any 1 of the 10 events, rarely is he even one of the world's top performers in any particular event, and certainly not in more than one. The decathlete's greatness lies in his versatility, not in any one specific skill. He does more different things really well than anyone else.
In modern sports we see all types of incredible athletes in any number of games. But the best in any sport can only excel in one sport at one time at the highest levels. Take Michael Jordan for example. He is considered by many to be the greatest to ever play the game of basketball. But we all remember what happened when he tried to play professional baseball. He failed miserably because his greatness lied in putting a ball through a hoop, not in belting a ball with a bat. An argument could be made that the great Bo Jackson defied this notion of being limited to greatness in only 1 thing at a time. Those that remember his career saw him achieve superstardom in both professional football and professional baseball. But we also remember that his greatness in both sports was able to be sustained for only a short period of time. We can only speculate as to whether his attempt at greatness at two such remarkably different skills contributed to the brevity of his athletic career. It appears that even for the elite of the genetically gifted, one can only be truly great, and remain so, in one thing at a time.
So how does this concept of being great at one thing only apply to strength development? The key is to pick one area focus and stick with it for a while, until your goal is attained. Persistent, focused, dedicated PRACTICE is what anyone needs to achieve some level of excellence (if you don't want excellence, why bother?). If power lifting is your thing, stick with it. If it's KB lifting, stick with it. Nothing fancy, just hard and smart work over time. That's the "secret" to great strength, however one defines it.
