Pyramid of Futility

if you search pyramid weight you get this, note the similarity to d4

A seemingly simple principle in weightlifting is that one has to be strong enough to be able to move the weight they wish to lift. On the surface level, this seems self explanatory, however an often ignored underlying concept is that one must align their "lever arms", limbs, or what have you correctly. I use my triceps and pectorals in order to bench. However, I have to have a certain alignment of my pectorals and triceps in relationship to the barbell so that I can lift it. I have to be strong enough to allow my pectorals and triceps to fire and complete the lift. If my lats, forearms, biceps, shoulders, rhomboids, glutes, etc are not strong enough to keep the relationship of my triceps and pectorals to the barbell I won't be able to complete the lift.

In lifting there is a concept called strengthening the base which looks at one's ability to lift a certain weight as the size and stability of an imagined triangle. The height of the pyramid refers to a person's skill/technique/mastery of a lift and the base as the strength of their musculature. The base refers to not only the primary movers ie Triceps and Pectoralis, but to also the other musculuar groups which keep the primary movers in place. If one has a poor base of their pyramid they won't be able to keep it upright, it won't matter how good your technique is if you have weak muscles.

The imagined triangle is a tool one can use to assess what their weakness truly is. In my experience a very common problem most lifters face is overthinking. Most people will try to figure out what is wrong with their skill/technique/mastery of a lift rather than the simple fact that they may be weak. They then read up on what elite lifters do to fix their problems and seek to emulate them. They seek to elevate their tangle rather than to spread the base. I think this is a problem endemic to every hobby But I think it is most easily personified in lifting. Rather than trying to increase their general strength lifters will emulate the elites in their problem shooting with no regard for WHY the elites are doing those corrective measures.

After one lifting session where my team-mate and I spoke to a competitive bodybuilder we ended up talking about people incorrectly trying to solve their problems. Our friend (J) thought his quads overshadowed his hamstrings and as such he decided to stop training his quads rather than simply training his hamstrings. This struck us both as counter-intuitive and rather than correcting the original problem simply trying to mask it. Another fellow lifter we train with (D) has been trying to solve an issue of his overhead jerk stability and has been reading many articles regarding how elites train their stability. He has yet to actually train his shoulders/traps/triceps more.

I know that myself only recently focused on fixing my nutrition. I have been training for about 5 years now and am fairly competitive in strength sports, qualifying for drug-free power-lifitng nationals in the 220 weight class and hitting an unofficial qualifying total for USA weightlifting National open at a backyard meet. After focusing on hitting my macros there is a literal night and day difference in not only by body composition (lower body fat%) But I feel much more capable when I am at the gym. This got me thinking if there was a way to create a algorithm for excellence in order to not waste time "choosing a warm paint color for my living room, while ignoring a 5 foot gash in the wall, and not understanding why people were still cold."

So I compiled the following pyramid of futility, similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs but in regards to actually competent troubleshooting. It's shown below.


Figure 1: Pyramid of Futility Strength Sports Edition
The Top of this pyramid is things that are ignorable/unimportant

______

Carrying Negative energy, Alignment of barbell to ley-lines 

__________

Chakra Alignment, managing adrenal fatigue

_____________

Classical conditioning of working loads via music, circadian rhythm disruption, Micronutrient consumption

________________

Electrolytes, Dynamic/static training, mental training state analysis

___________________

Periodization/long-term planned fatigue management, Usage of Bands/Chains

______________________

Preworkout, Mobility/Prehab + Rehab

_________________________

Good/efficient form, assistance work

____________________________

General Programming in order to reach a goal 

_______________________________

Macro-nutrient ratios, Getting enough sleep in

__________________________________

Getting enough calories in, Consistent training

_____________________________________

Correctly doing a lift, Efficient usage of gym time

________________________________________

Consistently getting to the gym, Being injury free, Attempting to get strong

___________________________________________

When a lifter is having issues in training they need only look at the pyramid and check off things that they are doing right and then go up until they find something they need to fix. There is no reason for you to add chains to your overhead squat if you haven't slept in 3 days. I think access of the internet alongside sensationalized articles titled "top ten reasons you're not benching 315" written by a fitness blogger paraphrasing things another blogger paraphrased from someone else's blog. I feel the "extra ten pounds to your bench" dead horse is just too fun to beat. Honestly, I feel that the more ignorant a lifter is the easier they can get stronger. I know that from coaching this is entirely true, the more that someone reads online the more they fill their head with grandiose ideas. Though I realize this can go both ways as I saw collegiate athletes doing occlusion training as their coach felt this was the best way for them to get faster on the field. In an ideal world, we bomb bodybuilding.com HQ and in it's place host a single web page that reads "JUST LIFT THE WEIGHT".