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Occam's Barbell*:
Putting An End To Paralysis
By Analysis

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
http://www.staleytraining.com

Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. This is often paraphrased as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.

What's that? You're confused? Here's a little news-flash: I'm confused too! The only difference between you and I is:

I take action in the face of confusion, and you don't.

In my experience, "paralysis by analysis" is the most common barrier to action, and by extension, successful action. Because after all, analysis is the preface to action- it isn't action itself. Analysis can certainly serve a useful purpose, but for many, it's both a crutch and an excuse for delaying action. Here's a typical brain-twister that novice lifters often find themselves confronted by: Should you do 6 sets of 2, or 4 sets of 3?

My advice? Don't even think about starting a training program until you've resolved this critical conundrum, because after all, both options involve 12 reps with the same weight, so obviously if you go down the wrong path, you'll be screwed, glued, and tattooed. Another critical decision: should you bike or row for cardio on Tuesdays?

God help you if you should happen to choose the wrong exercise or repetition bracket, or if you stupidly decide to train 3 times a week instead of 4. Because now you're stuck for the rest of your training career. Too bad you didn't think that decision through more carefully before you got all irrational and went and wrote yourself a stupid program. OK, on a more serious note…

I really like the old carpenter's adage "Measure twice, cut once." But this philosophy is absurdly over-cautious when applied to training program design. A program isn't a piece of wood- if you make an error, you have my permission to edit it. Honest. And don't even ask me to evaluate your 18-week off-season developmental conditioning cycle, because it'll make my eyes glaze over faster than last night's episode of Oprah where that Dr. Oz guy is telling me to do some kinda meditation stuff for stress-reduction.

Because let's face it- 18 weeks from now, lots of things can happen. You could get sick, or even injured. You might break up with your girlfriend. Or find a girlfriend. Or lose your job. Or join some extremist religion that forbids the use of barbells. Or even more likely than any of the above, you might read some new article or book about some new training program that seems a hell of a lot more interesting than what you're doing now.

So look: let's just focus on the here-and-now, and further, let's focus on the "big rocks:" the stuff that really matters. The rest we can figure out later- maybe next week, maybe next month, but later. Now obviously some of you are now expecting me to tell you what a big rock is before you can ever touch a weight again, so here are a few examples of big rocks (stuff that matters) and small rocks (stuff that doesn't matter):

Big Rocks

• Squat Heavy.
• Eat Protein.
• Set Goals.
• Record Your Training.

Small Rocks

• How much? How often? How deep? What kind of squat?
• How much? How often? What kind of protein?
• How many? How hard should they be? In writing?
• How? Why? What kind of paper?

Now in most cases, people worry about the small rocks without even getting the big rocks in place- they've got the cart before the horse. So look- just squat. In the beginning, you'll probably do it all wrong, but even that's a lot better than not squatting. Then, little by little, you'll figure out how to do it correctly, and guess what- you're already great progress will get even better! And eat protein. Don't worry about how much- just eat a lot. Don't worry about what kind, we'll get to that later. Get your big rocks in the jar first, then we'll worry about the little rocks, and maybe someday we'll fill the rest of the jar with sand. Maybe.

In Summary:

• Action precedes progress; analysis precedes more analysis. Act first, analyze later
  
• It's easier to go from something to something better, than it is to go from nothing to something
  
• Ever notice how lots of people make great progress doing "stupid" stuff? It's because they're doing while you're not doing. Doing stupid stuff will always beat not doing smart stuff.

That's it - you're done. Go squat and eat some protein.

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About The Author: Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Recompensa vs. castigo, la fórmula para la mejora continua

The Punishment/Reward (PR) Method

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS Director, Staley Training Systems http://www.staleytraining.com

What qualities, attributes, or behaviors should you be focusing on in your training? Are they the attributes that you truly prioritize, or maybe not?

• Do you spent most of your quality training time chasing new 1RM's when you've got chronic orthopedic issues that threaten to sideline you in the very near future?
  
• Do you have impressive "gym numbers" that you've never replicated in competition?
  
• Do you have a terrible time cutting weight for meets, and yet your diet is still a mess?
  
• Do you have circus-level wobble-board skills but an embarrassingly puny deadlift?
  
• Is your paused bench press 90 pounds less than your "touch and go" bench?

If you see yourself in one or more of the above scenarios, my sole consolation for you is that its only human nature- we all tend to savor what we do best, and avoid what we do worst. The opposite of this (which few of us actually do) is what Canadian journalist and pop sociologist Malcolm Gladwell calls "deliberate practice." Gladwell's research indicates that it takes 10,000 hours of this thankless toil to reach a high level of proficiency in your chosen craft. To put that in numbers you can more readily appreciate, if you train 4 times a week at 90 minutes per workout, you'd have to train for over 32 years in order to attain mastery. And that's only if you're employing deliberate practice, which you're probably not: deliberate practice is characterized by 3 tenets:

1. Focus on technique as opposed to outcome.

2. Set specific goals.

3. Obtain immediate quality feedback, and use it.

Even if you've been exposed to this information, it's difficult to continuously perform deliberate practice, because by definition it requires attending to your weak points, while putting your strengths on the back burner. Which isn't all that fun (until much later of course, when you start collecting your medals amidst hushed rumors of your supposed good genetics and steroid use)

This article is about a system I've created to get you to do the right things in training- it's a way to make deliberate practice more palatable. I call it the PR Model, and it's based on a simple behavior modification system that's so effective, it's prominently highlighted in nearly every major religion: punishment and reward.

Your parents no doubt implemented this exact system at mealtime when you were a kid: if you ate your dinner, you got dessert. No dinner, no dessert. Anyway, that's how it worked at my house. The gist of it is simple: if you do the right thing, you get a reward. And of course if you do the wrong thing (or fail to do the right thing), you get punished. Before I explain how the system works in the context of your training, you'll need to determine three things:

1. What is "the right thing" for you right now?

2. What's an appropriate reward?

3. And lastly, what's an effective punishment?

I'll share how I answered these questions for myself recently, which should help you build a similarly-effective system for yourself. I've had a problem with my snatch for a long time now. What happens is that everything goes great until I reach about 85 percent of my max, and then I have a strong tendency to over-extend the finish of the pull, which causes the bar to loop away from me, which then causes me to miss the snatch behind me as I settle into the full squat. It's frustrating, because I've got plenty of horsepower to make these snatches, but I miss them due to this technical error.

In competition, missing my 2nd and/or 3rd snatches puts me in a psychological rut for the clean and jerk. Successful competition for me means a successful snatch. So I needed a way to solve this problem. My solution (which is still a work in progress) is what lead me to the PR Model:

I decided that I would plan to hit 5 singles with a weight that I typically have over-rotation problems with- 70 kilograms (154 pounds). The goal was simple: make 5 out of 5 singles with no misses (and more specifically, no misses behind). If I made all 5, I'd get a reward. If I had any misses, I'd go back to the drawing board next workout, and for as many workouts as necessary, until I hit all 5 snatches.

I'm sure you're wondering what my reward is. It's allowing myself to take one heavier single. To me this is "fun." To you, the reward could be anything from a post-workout ice cream cone to shopping for new workout clothes to skipping your post-workout stretching routine. Ideally the reward shouldn't be anything significantly destructive of course, but it should be gratifying on some level.

The punishment in my case is simply the denial of reward- I don't get to take a heavier single. For you it might be something different. In developing the training schedule for master's weightlifter Troy Paradiso, failure to hit the indicated numbers in the snatch or clean and jerk resulted in having to do clean pulls (an exercise he was relatively weak on, and one we theorized would improve his two competitive lifts): If he made all assigned Clean and jerks for example, he didn't have to do any pulls. If he missed one clean & jerk, his punishment was one set of pulls. Two misses- two sets of pulls. And so on.

The applications of this system are virtually limitless. Additionally, the system is flexible enough to change as your needs change.The PR method can be applied to diet as well. For example, if/when you reach a body composition milestone, you get a "cheat meal."

3 Steps to Making The PR Method Work For You

The first step is to make a list of your unproductive habits, behaviors or tendencies. This isn't about "good versus bad," it's just a matter of identifying behaviors that either take you further away from your goals, or that displace more productive behaviors. Your list might include things like staying up too late the night before workouts, eating too much simple carbohydrate, always focusing on maximum singles when your weakness is lack of hypertrophy, spending too much time on "fun" exercises that don't take you closer to your goal, being too reliant on support gear, or neglecting a mobility issue.

The second step is determining the "punishment." I personally like the dessert parallel here- if you do a lot of good things, you get to have a little bit of fun. The fun in question shouldn't be terribly damaging as I noted earlier, but it should be gratifying. The third and final step is developing parameters for your PR system. If you do this (what?) then you get to do this (what?). Make sure you define these parameters carefully, so there's no "wiggle room" for cheating.

Finally, if you have a coach, training partner, or group that you train with, alert them to what you're up to, and ask them to help keep you honest. Social support often makes all the difference when you're pursuing challenging goals.

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About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.