https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgPnsJWWvMY
Powerlifter Ed Coan: Motivation is in the brain. Passion is in the heart.
Ed Coan is an American weightlifter widely regarded as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time. His lifts are legendary and have allowed him to set more than 71 world records in powerlifting throughout his career. That kind of talent and success doesn’t come without a heavy dose of passion, which is why he was brought on the podcast this week to talk about how passion intersects with diet and training to turn an athlete into an elite champion. In Generation Iron and barbend latest episode of The Mike O’Hearn Show, Ed Coan advises athletes to worry less about motivation and find the true passion behind the plank.
Motivation in bodybuilding, strength sports, and fitness has become its own industry these days. Simply open social media or YouTube to find dozens of channels and videos dedicated to cheering you on for a workout or competition. Motivational fitness playlists flood Spotify and words of wisdom from gurus go viral daily.
But Ed Coan and Mike O’Hearn have a possibly opposing view of physical motivation: It’s all bullshit.
While that may sound shocking at first, it’s coming from a much more thoughtful place than you might originally believe. Motivation can come in handy when you’re having a rough day or when life gets you down. It can also be used as an excuse to avoid hard work. If you don’t feel motivated, you have an excuse to avoid the gym or maybe skip that healthy meal for a cheat snack. It’s like an artist waiting for inspiration: what if it never comes? Will you never make art again?
That’s why Mike O’Hearn talks in depth with Ed Coan about the difference between motivation and passion. While motivation is not inherently bad, it will only take you a little bit towards success. Motivation must lead to passion. Passion is the only thing that will get you along the way. It is what will allow you to delve into new places. It will also give you the patience to not cut corners or rush to success.
Let’s jump into a recap of Ed Coan’s explanation of motivation vs. passion, and how it plays a critical role in maintaining your training and diet routine.
“The motivation is absolutely zero. It does not mean anything. It is the passion that is everything.”
– Mike O’Hearn
Motivation vs Passion
Mike O’Hearn begins his interview with Ed Coan with a simple question: how do you define motivation? How do you define passion? Coan doesn’t mince words when he answers. Motivation is in the brain. Passion is in the heart.
What Ed Coan is essentially pointing out is that motivation is a psychological tool. It’s a way of tricking your brain into wanting to do something. Passion, on the other hand, is something vital to a person’s existence. If you are passionate, you will never again need external motivation to drive you forward. Why? Because there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing.
Of course, passion cannot be manufactured. It is something that needs to be evaluated and determined in the background. Maybe you are not really passionate about being a bodybuilder. Maybe you just think it’s a fun hobby and decided you wanted to compete to try and make money. Mike O’Hearn argues (and has argued in previous episodes) that this is a recipe for failure. You will never become a high earning champion without true passion, because there will always be someone else with that passion who will snub you.
“When you go slow, you move faster.”
–Ed Coan
How passion plays into the law of diminishing returns in weightlifting
There is the old commercial that jokes bodybuilders just “pick things up and put them down.” While on a basic level that’s true, repetition in weightlifting will eventually lead to diminishing returns. As your body adapts and grows, you must find ways to adjust your goals and continue to push your limits. This can become extremely challenging as you hit plateaus.
It is at times like these where motivation is paramount. But again, external motivation is only temporary. You can fail when you hit a plateau that you just don’t know exactly how to break. But if you are passionate, you will do what it takes for as long as it takes.
Ed Coan talks about how being patient is key to true athletic success. Ironically, moving slow is the best way to succeed faster. Coan points out that too many lifters change their routine midway through the program. Why? Because they overestimate their strength and want to improve faster. Ultimately this leads to exhaustion which can lead to reaching a plateau.
Ed Coan emphasizes the importance of adapting and evolving your program, but do it in chunks. When he sets a goal over the course of, say, a 10-week program. Do not change the goal or program until those 10 weeks are up. Once this is done, you can reassess, change your goals, and improve. However, if you get impatient and switch midway through the program, you may be denying yourself real results. Sometimes these things take time.
Passion often allows us to have that patience. Instead of running for the trophy, the accolades, or the money, you just focus on your love of the sport. It could be argued that this problem has led to many worrying habits. This includes increasing to higher doses of PEDs and bodybuilders turning to steroids at a much younger age. It can also cause people to overtrain, burn out, or give up when they might otherwise have been successful.
“It’s like school. You can’t jump from first grade to tenth grade. Everything in between. All the basic components are there to take it to the end result.”
–Ed Coan
To wrap
The hardest part about passion is that it’s something you have to find. You can’t create it. It is the inner journey that all individuals must undertake to determine what satisfies them in life. But hopefully, Mike O’Hearn and Ed Coan’s words here provide the tools to better assess and determine what drives you.
You can see Ed Coan’s full comments on our latest episode of The Mike O’Hearn Show above. Be sure to watch new episodes every Friday only on the Generation Iron Fitness Network or wherever the podcasts are downloaded.
