Being in a Team and what that means.

Hey Guys,

This weekend I was lucky enough to get some great training in that included a fantastic Seminar held by Chiu Kwong Man (highly recommended).

During the seminar he talked about being a good training partner and that it was YOUR responsibility to improve your team mates. That you had to push them forward.

This got me thinking.

It got me thinking not only about how lucky I am to have such a great team that put so much time and effort into improving everyone but also what a massive responsibility it is to be truly invested in a team.

Think about it for a second. If you are in a BJJ team and you make it past the one year mark then there is a high chance that you are going to be in the art for a good few years (it takes on average 10-12 years to get a black belt in BJJ). So that means that you are dedicating thousands of hours to not only your own improvement but also your team mates.

Think about it this, when you watch your team mates compete do you get nervous? I know that when I watch mine I get more nervous for them than I do for my own competitions! This is because you want them to do well, to succeed. You know how hard they work (or don't) and you know what they are capable of. You want them to display their hard work.

This all made me think of the videos and articles that I had read on Westside barbell.

Westside Barbell is known as one of (if not THE) most hardcore powerlifting gyms in the world. The drop out rate for lifters in their team is about 98%. Its not because of the insane amount of work they have to do, or how competitive the gym is, but because of the pressure to be 100% accountable and support everyone else. The pressure of building everyone else to be better than you is supposed to be insane.

Imagine that we had that passion for our teams? Imagine that the sole purpose of your training was to make everyone in that gym capable of kicking your arse?

What would happen if you half arsed your training?

You let the team down.

What happens if you skip sessions?

You let the team down.

What happens if you spar like a mong?

You let the team down.

See where I'm going with this?

Now I realise that this version of reality will probably never happen. Some people are more dedicated than others, people have different lives with different commitments etc. But wouldn't it be great to be in that environment (I think a lot of gyms are like this to an extent, just not to Westside levels). I really think that this would be an environment that would pull a lot of people forward in their games.

Now I realise that my experience and opinion doesn't hold much weight on this matter and that this post has been a collection of rambling, hippy, functionalist crap about something a lot more basic than I'm making out. But hey, it's my blog and the internet lets every looney with a keyboard have a voice.

Here is a pic of my dog :)

Stay healthy,

Mike