Back in 2010, I had knee surgery, a meniscus repair that turned out to be a pretty simple procedure, fortunately. I was walking without crutches only a few days after getting cut, and I was able to start some light squatting and deadlifting a few weeks later. I was also bored out of my mind because I had to take some time away from the Olympic lifts while I recovered. Even though the surgery slowed me down a few steps, I still wanted to get on a platform and compete…in something. I just had the itch.

Eventually I found a powerlifting meet in New Mexico where the competition lifts were curl, bench press, and deadlift. Obviously the curl and bench were fine for me because my upper body wasn’t affected by the surgery at all. And I didn’t notice any pain or problems after doing a couple of deadlift workouts, so I decided to enter this thing.

Now, I need to give you some context about this story. I was 38 years old at the time. And in case you don’t know any of my history, I had a pretty successful career as an Olympic lifter back in my 20s and early 30s. I was a national-level competitor for several years, winning medals at the most prestigious meets in the United States and competing in the Olympic Trials. I’ve competed against World Champions in front of TV cameras. I’ve had my pictures in magazines. I know I sound like an ass by talking about myself this way, but you get the picture. I made it to the big time.

That’s why it was a deeply profound moment when I stood on a powerlifting competition platform in a middle school cafeteria in Las Cruces, NM getting ready to compete in…the curl. There were about forty people in the room, including a janitor who was fixing a leaky pipe. The meet awards were little bowls of Hershey’s kisses, there was a poster on the wall of Snoopy drinking a glass of milk, a lady was changing her baby’s diaper on a table next to the platform, and I was up there in front of three judges, wearing a lifting singlet, getting ready to pick up an EZ Curl bar and go to battle. I actually chuckled right before I grabbed the bar because I didn’t really realize until that moment just how far down the ladder I had fallen.

You want to know the best part? I had a lot of fun that day. I curled 160 lbs., benched 295, and deadlifted 545 for a 1000 lb. total. It wasn’t a badge of shame to be there. It was a kick in the ass, and I’m glad I did it.

Want to know why I’m telling you this story? It’s because that little competition caused me to change the way I looked at a few things. You see, back when I was in my prime, I never would have considered stooping low enough to lift in a curl-bench-deadlift meet in some small town in New Mexico. When I was a serious player in Olylifting, this meet would have looked like a complete waste of time, not to mention humiliating. It sounds egotistical to say this, but I would have thought it was beneath me.

However, I changed my thinking as time progressed. The experiences I’ve had in weightlifting and life, combined with age and maturity, have led me to a point where I can find positive value in things I never would have even contemplated as a 20-something.

That’s where we get to the subject of this article. I want to talk about having the willingness to change your ideas when the time is right. When we say “change,” we’re talking about training methods, priorities, and all the other factors in your weightlifting life. This sport is made up of stubborn people who like to stick with a chosen course of action until they make it work. Okay, great. So when is it the right time to switch something up? Are there some things that should stay the same forever? How do you know? When should you consider changes? Lots of questions, and I want to look at a few specific areas one-by-one.

Training Programs

Let’s hit this one first, since it’s one of the biggest topics in our sport. People scour the earth for the right training program because it’s a deal-breaker for a weightlifter. If you aren’t training correctly, you won’t reach your potential. Everybody knows you have to commit some extended time to a program to determine if it works or not, so here are a few considerations that might be important:

1) Frequent injuries are one of the largest indicators of a training program that needs to be changed. If you’re constantly getting nailed with those minor injuries that require chunks of time for recovery, there’s a pretty solid chance your workout routine needs to be adjusted by reducing the volume and frequency. Weightlifters are driven animals and have a tendency to overtrain. Going too heavy, too often…it’s not rocket science. Our bodies can break, and the breakage is usually a result of pushing things just a little too far. So the answer is right in front of your face with this area. If your program is wrecking you, make some reductions.

2) Take a look at your daily physical status. You might not be injured, but are you walking around just feeling completely shot to hell all the time? This isn’t a fun way to live, and it can cause some serious problems if you’ve got professional and family demands. It’s hard to be a good employee, parent, or spouse when you barely have the energy to compete simple life tasks. This could be another indicator that your training volume needs to be cut back, if you’ve ruled out any possible issues you might be having with illness, hormones, or other medical circumstances.

3) Lack of progress? How about it? If you’re not moving forward, does that mean you need to change the way you train? This is one of the trickiest questions in weightlifting because there’s no answer that proves correct 100 percent of the time. Sometimes, lack of progress could absolutely be caused by improper training. However, there are other times when the program is right on the money and the athlete is experiencing a lack of progress simply because that’s how real-life weightlifting goes. I’ve seen athletes who jump from one program (and coach) to another whenever the going gets tough. They make rushed decisions without considering the fact that there’s a process involved in this sport, and plateaus are sometimes going to be part of that process. In other words, there’s no way to definitely answer your question about whether your program is holding you back. You’ll have to use your own judgment and instinct. One good question to ask yourself is this: has the program you’re using produced success in the past? If you’re using a system that has taken many other lifters to great heights, it’s probably something that works. It’s proven. That might be a factor to consider before you change directions. Maybe you’re having a hard time with it because…you’re just having a hard time. Maybe the program isn’t the problem, and you need to stick with it until you break through.

Coaching

Jeez…talk about a sensitive subject. Switching coaches can be one of the most stressful experiences you’ll ever have as an athlete. It’s almost impossible to do it without some hurt feelings. Walking away from a coach is a rejection, on some level. It’s like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. But if it’s the right thing to do, you just need to bite the bullet and get it over with. If you make the correct choice, it’ll be a lot easier to deal with because you’ll probably start having some success with your new coach and the excitement will make it clear that your move was a smart one. The really awful situations happen when you make a coaching change and it blows up in your face. You walk away from a coach, and then things actually get worse because the new coach isn’t what you thought, or something along those lines.

If your coach is a complete jackass, don’t stick around and go through B.A.S (Battered Athlete Syndrome). Your weightlifting career is supposed to be one of the most exciting, special things in your life. And you’re only getting one shot at it, just so you know. Why would you waste it on a coach who has a dysfunctional personality and makes your daily training life a miserable swamp? This is an easy call, in my opinion. If a coach is treating you like garbage, walk away.

If your coach is a wonderful person who you care about very much, and you become convinced that you need to leave him/her because the weightlifting aspect just isn’t going anywhere…you have my condolences. You’ve probably got one of the most awkward and painful conversations of your life straight ahead of you. I just have one piece of advice: make damn sure you’re right before you pull the trigger.

Priorities

When do you start to change the ranking order of important things in your career? Let me explain this one a little better by going back to that story about my curl meet in New Mexico. Back when I was in my 20s, my priorities were very simple: go to the national championship, break my personal record lifts, win medals, and try to qualify for international teams. That was the mission.

However, my 30s sent me in a different direction. That’s where you can see the point I’m trying to make. Mother Nature and Father Time will take care of this one for you. As you get older, you’re going to lose the ability you once had as an athlete. Making the Olympic Team won’t be a priority anymore because your advancing years will send you down the national ranking list. When this happens, you’re forced to step back and ask yourself some new questions: Why am I doing this sport? Do I want to continue training if I know I’ve passed my prime? Will I be happy with a lower level of performance?

By the time I got to my late 30s (the time of my knee surgery and the infamous curl meet), I was fully settled into the “I’m just happy to still be doing this stuff” mentality. Smaller lifts, reduced prestige, limited hopes of competing at the “big time”…I was fine with all of it. Because I love training and competing so much, I’ve found it’s entirely possible for me to still have fun as I get older and my lifts decline.

Will you look at it the same as me? I have no idea. This is a personal journey, and the answers will be inside you somewhere. Take your time and avoid hasty decisions, and I’m pretty confident you’ll wind up in the right spot.

Overall Mentality

Continuing to grow and develop your ideas demands continually revisiting and reconsidering the things you say and believe. This can obviously create a situation where you change your views and contradict past opinions. This is not an indication of hypocrisy or waffling. This means you’re a thinking individual who looks at multiple sides of an issue. It also means you have the courage and maturity to change your mind and potentially admit you might have been wrong (or maybe just not totally right) in the past.

This is not to say there aren’t certain principles and ideas that can (and should) stay constant. There’s nothing wrong with sticking by bedrock fundamental rules. Obviously, this raises the question…which ideas should stick forever and which ones should be subject to change? There’s no way to provide a universal answer to this question. All we can do is understand the idea that this is a continual experience for each of us. The individualism of it contains all the answers.

Putting yourself under a qualified expert and working at the “learner level” is extremely helpful in the early years because you can establish a baseline philosophy that has the benefit of experience. When is it appropriate to start asking questions and possibly break away? You have to rely on the strength of your own mind to answer that. Make sure you go into all of this with the understanding that you’re not perfect and you’re going to make mistakes. Don’t live on them, and make sure you get angry when they happen. Angry…not discouraged.

Continually learning and adjusting the way you do things will be a necessary element in this whole journey. How many times have computers and medicine been changed, modified, and improved over the years? All of these modifications have led to a sharper, more effective finished product. This is how your weightlifting career will function, as an athlete and a coach. Remember, there was a time when the smartest men in the world all believed the earth was flat. They were wrong. If their ideas were subject to change, I’m pretty sure yours are, too.