"Failure"

Failure will tell you more about a person than success.

Not the failure itself, but how they respond to failure.

Over the course of my weightlifting journey, failure and I have developed a pretty solid relationship. It is always there, like clockwork, and every training session is pretty much a guaranteed meeting with failure.

When I first started weightlifting I assumed it would be like most other sports I had been involved in, but the success to failure ratio in weightlifting is by far the lowest out of any other sport, not even sport, out of any other single thing I've done in my life.

I remember in my first year watching my then coach Ben Claridad of Occam Athletics talk about not having PR'd his front squat in two years and it blew my mind. I couldn't really imagine at the time what it would be like to try to improve something for two years and not make an ounce of progress, but as my journey through the sport continued I found out that's what it takes to be a good weightlifter. To not only accept failure, but welcome it. To accept it as an inevitability and not let it stray you from your course.

If we PR'd every time we stepped in the gym there would be no point in weightlifting. The reason PRs feel so good is because of the time and the work we've put in to achieve them. Our failures make success that much sweeter.

My failures used to bother me, I used to get discouraged after missing attempts, I would shut down and mentally remove myself from training. Failure was something I couldn't cope with, because I was not mentally strong enough to accept it.

Now I anticipate failure, I analyze it, and feed off of it.

My failures show me where I'm weak, they are blueprints to my success, and they let me know exactly what I need to do.

Miss it in front? Pull back harder.

Cant stand up? Squat more.

Arms bending on the catch? Catch it on your back, not shoulders.

Failures are our own personal coach, and should be treated as such. An opportunity to become strong where you are weak.