Making your strong points...stronger

One train of thought for years now in athletic training and powerlifting, etc is to concentrate on your weak points.

In theory this sounds great.  You attack whatever area is holding you back, make it stronger, and then like magic your lifts/performance improves.

It sounds great in theory, but in reality it doesn't always work that way.

First off, most guys don't know how to diagnose what their weak points really are.  They just assume because they have read a thousand times that they have weak hamstrings/glutes/triceps/vastus medialis whatever, that those are the areas they should be hitting.

I fell into this trap as well.  I read that hell, you don't really need quads for squatting.  It's all hips and hamstrings and glutes.  Who knew that you didn't needs quads for squatting????  Shit, all this time I thought that squats would put quads on a skeleton.  Now I know!

So I quit doing quad work, did box squats instead.  After all, if you want to know what your squat is just add 90 pounds or whatever to what you can box squat, and there you go.  Seems easy enough!

Oh except that quads are king for squats.  Anyone that tells you quads are useless for squatting should immediately be ignored and never listened to again.  Period.

When I went back to squatting, I couldn't squat the Sunday paper.  Sheesh, maybe because my quads had weakened because I lived on the box like a retarded monkey for 6 months, all the while expecting my raw squat to improve?  Yeah, that was smart.

I was told it was weak hamstrings that were holding my deadlift back.  Well I'm a shitty deadlifter, and I was willing to sell my soul to the devil to deadlift more than 600.  I was pulling a measly 5-something at the time, despite the fact that I was decently strong in most other areas.  After months of busting hump at good mornings and eventually working up to 425 and 455 for reps, I went back to deadlifting, and low and behold I couldn't get 500 off the floor.

Let me spell something out that most guys don't really talk about or will argue with you to the hilt about.

Weak point training is bullshit.  It's a complete myth.

If you don't wear equipment, your weak points are always going to be your weak points in relation to your strong ones.  Duh.  Sounds straight forward, however just search for "weak points" and "powerlifting" on Google and see the kind of bullshit that gets spewed by some people.

If you want to get stronger...get stronger.

Weak point training is fools gold.

Pick 6-8 compound exercise that get you stronger from top to bottom and get stronger on them.

Squats
Deadlifts and Deadlifts off of boxes
Rows of various kinds
Chins of various grips
Overhead Pressing of various kinds
Bench
Incline
Dips

When you can squat 500x20 the truth is, you don't have weak points.  Sure, something could be weak relative to something else, but I don't know of anyone who squats 500x20 that is going to benefit from worrying about other bullshit.  Do you?  No.

There isn't any special weak point training that is going to take your lifts up to elite status.  When you look at the strongest raw guys they do basic shit and go after the main lifts.  Some may say they are at the top because of genetics, and I completely believe that to be true.  However I also think there is a reason why those guys rise to the top as well.  They attack the basics for long periods at a time and don't worry about bullshit like bands and dynamic workouts and foam and all sorts of other witchcraft and horseshit.

I know and understand the frustration that comes with a lack of progress.  The problem there is, is that most guys need something in the way of gains to at least make them believe in a program or theory.  They aren't patient.  I had to learn this lesson as well.

What finally got my dead up to the 650 range?

Deadlift and pulling from mid-shin.  Basic shit.

My squat?  I've always loved squatting so just sticking with the squat got it up over 600, no belts no wraps.

After my pec minor issues were resolved my bench went right back up into the 400's simply because I could bench again.  If my elbow heals up I know I will hit 450 this year close grip if I can stay injury free.

I don't do anything to work weak points, because that would take away from the time and effort I put into trying to get stronger on the big lifts.  You can't be good at everything, so get really awesome at a few things.  Make your strong points even stronger, and the rest will take care of itself.