It’s funny that most of the stuff I learned from John Broz was not about lifting weights. It was more about building the mindset of a champion.
Who is John Broz
John Broz is an olympic weightlifting coach. He lives in Las Vegas and has a gym called Average Broz. Here are some beasts that he has in the gym:
As a lifter he was top 10 in the USA for 10 years and he won Worlds Masters 3 times.
What’s really amazing about him as a coach is how fast he can get people to start winning at a high level. That’s what interests me.
I want to know the most effective way to improve faster and win more. (Short answer: do more work).
I have spent the last week listening to every podcast and interview I can get my hands on and these are the great lessons I picked up from John Broz:
1. Work In = Results Out
The more work you do the more results you will get. A lot of people make things too complicated.
John Broz has his lifters lift heavy every single day. Usually twice a day. Some people freak out and say that lifting heavy on a daily basis will lead to overtraining.
But John uses a great example to illustrate his point. Here is my version of it:
Let’s say you want to squat more weight. How many times per week would you squat? 2-3?
Well how about if someone put a gun to your head and said if you don’t increase your squat by 100lbs in 30 days he will execute you and your family. How many times per week would you squat? Answer: every fucking day.
Right, more training = more work = more results.
This leads us to the next big lesson I learned:
2. Necessity vs Desire
When you NEED to do something, you will make sure that you get it done. Failure is not even an option.
When you WANT something, maybe you’ll get it and maybe you won’t. In the world of elite athletics, failure cannot be an option.
I can totally relate this to myself as a boot camp instructur. For the last few months I have been saying “I should get more clients in my boot camp.” But I haven’t done much to make it happen.
However if someone put a gun to my head and told me I had 30 days to get 15 more people to my boot camp, I would get it done. I may not get much sleep but I’d get it done.
Why operate from such an intense point of necessity? Because…
3. Your athletic career will probably begin to decline past age 35
You don’t have a lot of time. It depends on your sport and every person is different. Some people stretch it out. But for the most part sports are a young man’s game.
I am 27. I have to take time off because of my ACL tear. I get surgery in 2 weeks and then it’s 5-6 months before I start training sports.
I only have 7 good years left. I must train as much as possible in order to fulfill my potential as an athlete.
We don’t want to be old men and women wondering “what could have been”.
This is another reason to train every day.
4. You Should Set Really High Goals
At the Average Broz gym they only have the world records hanging on the wall. There is a TV in the gym and all it plays are international competitions.
Every time his lifters make a PR he says, “Great now we only have X amount to go until we hit the World Record”.
His athletes routinely break American records in the gym and not even know. They are only focused on the world records.
John explains that most people will fall short of their goals. If your goal is to “make the Olympic team”, you will probably never make it.
However if your goal is to beat a world record, you may end up winning Gold at Worlds.
Set your goals high.
Those are the 4 things that really stuck in my mind after reading and listening to John Broz. If you want to know more check out:
Average Broz Youtube channel
Average Broz Instagram
Average Broz Website