Training: love what you hate, hate what you love.

We all have our favorite exercise, that one thing that we are really good at. We thrive upon it. We are good at it and it makes us happy. For me it is Squatting, (if I haven't mentioned that before). When I say Squatting, I mean Back squats. I can back Squat really heavy, triple Bodyweight in fact. That makes me happy, it gives me a sense of achievement and accomplishment. What I hate on the Other hand ("Darren" for my South African Readers) is front Squats. Front Squats are so much Harder than back squats. Even though the weight is less than a back squat, having to hold the weight on your shoulders, and the emphasis it places on the upper back and core, makes it such a harder lift than Back Squats.

                                                         402 lbs back squat

So naturally what do I do, back squat, all the time. I neglect my front squats because I favor my back squats. This is something that we all do in the gym. We focus all our energy into doing something we know we are good at, (myself included) because it make us feel good. In doing so we neglect the thing we should actually be focusing on, our weak spot. Front Squats. I would rather be dragged across a field of broken glass tied to the back of a pick up truck than front squat. I know that I get into a deeper position in a front squat than a back squat. I know that doing front squats will only benefit my clean and jerks. Yet I still do more back squats than front, because I like back squats. 

                                                          300 lbs Front Squat

A few weeks ago I embarked on my " Screw You " Training regime. It entails front squatting every day for a month. I am not doing this because I particularly want to do it. I am doing this because I know that I will see the greatest increase in my Olympic Lifts by focusing on the one thing that I have neglected above all else. The strange thing is, after two weeks in, I am no longer hating front squats as much as I used to. While I might not look forward to the front squats every day I am certainly relishing in the fact that I am making daily and weekly progress. I was always told that if you want to Clean and Jerk a weight, you should be able to front squat that weight for 5 sets of 5 reps. Once you can do that, you should have no problem Clean and Jerking It. So I am focusing all my energy for the next three weeks on hitting 5x5 front squats at 275lbs. I guess we will know how it goes come New Year.