Coach’s $0.02: Training with Strong Friends Increases Gains

I’ve recently rediscovered how important it is to be around people who challenge you. My total hasn’t increased during the 2 years I’ve trained alone in my garage. I’ve come to find out that a few in the Lakeshore Barbell crew have had the same exact problem. COVID caused many of us to go our own ways. As a result, we’ve been in different training communities or training alone.

When we used to train together all of us made 50lb+ increases to our totals during each work up to a meet. We think because we trained together, we saw what the other person was lifting and didn’t want to be out done. As a result, we added more weight to the bar than we would have normally. I’m not saying we were reckless. For example, if I saw one of the guys start to squat for 5 reps what I did that week, I made sure I always had more weight on the bar than he did the next time I squatted for 5s. That weekly encouragement pushed me to have consistent PR totals. Apparently I wasn’t the only guy in the crew who would do this. We’ve decided to get together once a week like we used to and train together.

Good training partners are those who push you to be better than you were. That’s not necessarily verbal. It’s action. Most people are competitive enough that they don’t want to be the worst person in their community. They strive to keep up with those around them. The desire to not be the weakest in your community is how being around strong(er) people makes you stronger.