Where would you be if you had a mentor...

[Matt Meinrod]

Do you ever sit back and wonder where you'd be in the iron game if you had a mentor from day 1 telling you how to lift, what programs are great and what are crap, what supplements are great which are bogus, which diets (for weight gain and weight loss) work....basically all the stuff you've learned throughout the years all wrapped up in one without having to go through the trial and error...or time spent grilling veterans in the sport in person or online, etc...I mean I guess that's why countless books have been written, but wouldn't it be great it there was a holy grail of weight lifting - with no B.S. or any fluff of any kind.

[CharlesDMickey]

Some of us started before the internet and wasted YEARS reading bodybuilding magazines, doing four exercise 16-20 sets of 8-12 reps twice a week. And that's just for biceps! Oh! and getting BIG by eating chicken breasts, tuna and anything fat free.

I think with the internet many young lifters can at least get some exposure to solid programs. Or with boards like this new lifters won’t be steered in the wrong direction.

[Jesse Marunde]

JV was an awesome mentor to me in highscool. then I had Bret Tudsbury and Steve Gough in college. I am where I am today in large part because of what those guys taught me.

[Mac Smith]

I had great powerlifting mentors in high school, Robert Patterson, Jim Vironin, Scott Warman, Jeff Maddy, Steve Goggins, and OD Wilson. But I really didn't listen much to my college S&C coach. I went through a hard-headed time while in college. Now I'm working with Nick Best so we will see where that takes me.

[MattxBurns]

One of the first guys I really trained with was a great mentor to me, he introduced me to a lot of solid training ideas and powerlifting as well.

Now that I am training with the KC Strongman guys, all of them are mentors to me and are showing me the ropes since I am brand new to strongman training.

[lhprop1]

I didn't get started until I was in my early to mid 20's and I didn't start training for strength sports until 2 years ago. If I'd had a mentor from day 1, I'd have to say I'd be a hell of a lot stronger than I am right now.

On the other side of the coin, if I had a mentor or someone spoon feeding me everything, I wouldn't have nearly as many learning experiences with doing stuff the wrong way. Sure, you can have someone tell you the right way or wrong way, but if you find out on your own, you know why it's right or wrong and you'll be sure not to repeat your mistakes.

Fortunately, I'm lucky to have some very experienced, world class strongmen to work with. I may not have had a mentor from the literal "day 1," but I have had mentors from day 1 of my strongman career and I'm always learning and improving because of them.

[chrisklavette]

[QUOTE=lhprop1].

On the other side of the coin, if I had a mentor or someone spoon feeding me everything, I wouldn't have nearly as many learning experiences with doing stuff the wrong way. Sure, you can have someone tell you the right way or wrong way, but if you find out on your own, you know why it's right or wrong and you'll be sure not to repeat your mistakes.
[QUOTE]
I HAVE to learn everything the hardway. That's just the way I am programmed. I would like to say that if my high school would have had a weightlifting team I would be a much greater athlete or blame bodybuilding mags for never showing me the deadlift. But at the end of the day and in reflection of everything I do realize that the only reason I am where I am at is because of me...for the good and the bad. I think SOME strongman influence at the right points in my life might have shifted things a bit. For example if we had a weightlifting team in junior high I might have gone that route instead of the punk rock kid who smoked cigarettes and wasted his body, but who knows.

[Jonathan Forrest Riggs]

JV was an awesome mentor to me in highscool. then I had Bret Tudsbury and Steve Gough in college. I am where I am today in large part because of what those guys taught me.

Jesse,

JV always spoke highly of you on the forum(s) back in the day. I remember him always writing about this Jesse Marunde kid and that he will be a force in strength sports. JV seemed like he was a very good mentor.


btw,

Remember me? Your first strongman trip to Boston in '01.....tacky?

[Andreas Møller]

The thing with the internet is that you sort of "drown" in different information.
Its like having 10.000 mentors who all disagree and pull you in different directions.

That`s what was so good about working out with Odd. He kept it simple. When I asked him about different training routines he simply said "as long as you lift heavy and work out consistently you`ll eventually get strong".

He also said something about throwing all body building magazines I might have in the toilet I think. Good advice.

[Jared Enderton]

a guy named Jerry Jackson started getting me into lifting in about 6th grade... he is really big into benching and he got me hooked on lifting overall at a young age... nicest guy you'll ever meet, and a solid guy, too... Now I go to a Oly lifting coach, Greg Kustra... he is also a heck of a nice guy and I am still learning tons of stuff from him every time. I am glad I found some great people early. Wish I would hae found an Oly coach in like 3rd grade haha. :mag:

[Joshua Davis]

I would be exactly where I am now, because as a teen, I never listened.

Had I listened, I'd be a pro wrestler or football player by now, certianly.

[ADAMBAUER]

I am not sure where I would be, I just really started taking lifting heavy seriously in the last few months, sometimes I afraid to go any heavier because I train alone and although I feel my form is good and I could do the weight I am afraid that I may royally screw up my health and not provide for my family, (stupid and unfounded but hey), I think that if I had a "mentor" I may not have these issues. Other times I just say forget it and hit the weights hard as I can and leave it all on the floor (literally somtimes lol). Those days I feel great. So who knows?

[chrisklavette]

I would be exactly where I am now, because as a teen, I never listened.

Had I listened, I'd be a pro wrestler or football player by now, certianly.
Josh, just imagine if a guy like you or I had had an influence of people around us telling us not to lift. The more they told us to lay around and do nothing the stronger we would be today! :)

[Kevin Klavetter]

Josh, just imagine if a guy like you or I had had an influence of people around us telling us not to lift. The more they told us to lay around and do nothing the stronger we would be today! :)

I now realize I should have just told you to stay in bed and sleep late when you were in high school instead of having to yell at you every morning like a drill sergeant to get up for school. Ya like that would have worked...

[Kristyn Vytlacil]

Well, I probably would've given up swimming well before my senior year of college so that I could focus on something I'd be really good at, rather than continuing to do a sport where I was simply decent and could never avoid injuries for more than a month or so. Now, if I had done that, I would have competed in many more competitions by now and probably would not have returned to this little town where I have found absolutely zero serious strength athletes. That means that right now I'd be living elsewhere and training with a crew, rather than by myself with limited access to implements. I guess I'd just be a much better strongwoman by now if I'd had a mentor...

[HunterHenzler]

No telling...most stuff I know is from message boards and strength websites like t-nation, or elitefts....

The Coach I've learned the most from is retiring this year..and a student coach who is very helpful to me hasn't been here lately...
Both have helped me greatly...and always seem to motivate me, intentionally or not...

I'm lucky that I'm into this at a young age currently (now 14)

[Joshua Davis]

I'm lucky that I'm into this at a young age currently (now 14)

So if you had a mentor, you would have been learned how to walk at 8 months instead of 10, right? Haha... You are lucky to have interest and be so young.

[MarilynCMickey]

Do you ever sit back and wonder where you'd be in the iron game if you had a mentor from day 1 telling you how to lift, what programs are great and what are crap, what supplements are great which are bogus, which diets (for weight gain and weight loss) work....basically all the stuff you've learned throughout the years all wrapped up in one without having to go through the trial and error...or time spent grilling veterans in the sport in person or online, etc...I mean I guess that's why countless books have been written, but wouldn't it be great it there was a holy grail of weight lifting - with no B.S. or any fluff of any kind.

Hi Matt,

I think one must truly believe that there is a purpose for every experience we encounter. Without that experience we are unable to grow nor are we able to teach. Every encounter, every mistake, and every success has it purpose.


M-

[jbeeks99]

Do you ever sit back and wonder where you'd be in the iron game if you had a mentor from day 1 telling you how to lift, what programs are great and what are crap, what supplements are great which are bogus, which diets (for weight gain and weight loss) work....basically all the stuff you've learned throughout the years all wrapped up in one without having to go through the trial and error...or time spent grilling veterans in the sport in person or online, etc...I mean I guess that's why countless books have been written, but wouldn't it be great it there was a holy grail of weight lifting - with no B.S. or any fluff of any kind.

i've been lifting for more than twenty years. i am still learning as i go. i've been an assistant strength coach and a power lifter for many years. i have learned to listen and take from everybody!

i do have a mentor! and he's younger than me. jesse has taught me more this year than i ever could have done by myself. i owe him, callie, breck, sarge, marshall, and jacob a lot! i'm an old man trying for the impossable. with the sequim crews help, i just might get there!

i do have a great partner here in boise! jay is a lot of help, and my best friend!

[TEXAS STONEMAN]

I lifted weights for 8 1/2 years without anything other than weightlifting mags to guide me. In 2003 (the very beginning of my Strongman carreer), I was very fortunate to find Jim Glassman who, in showing me the ropes of Strongman, became the most instrumental part of my success today.

Thanks asshole!

[Jason_Lake]

I was very lucky. When I realized the basketball coach that " taught" weight training didn't have a clue, I got a membership at Timber Gym. Don Bell, the owner and excellent pl'er, took me under his wing and helped me build a base. I was very responsive to his direction and gained quick enough to have some of the athletes catch me in the locker room asking me to "get em some roids". Unfortunately my consistency has been my biggest problem, taking years off at a time, and it makes me think I have squandered good fortune.