I was reading an article the other day on Gym Jones and it concerned getting old. At first, it appeared to be focused on getting old in general, but after looking deeper and thinking about the topic it made me thing about getting old in training years. The short of it is, the longer we train the more our expectations of what that training should look like changes. This can be a good and a bad thing. We at CFA pride our selves on top notch programming and coaching and expect that from our selves and our coaches. While that is and should be an expectation, we need to be careful about what perfection is and how it can be gained.
The barbell does not lie. A 5×5 squat done at the proper percentage is as hard today as it was 4 years ago for me. And Fran is as daunting as it was the first time I did it..maybe even more so. So if the workouts are the same what changes as our training age changes? In the good, we ask more of ourselves, we are satisfied with less and we dial in the nuances of our endeavors. But on the bad side, some of us expect EVERYTHING to be perfect…at least perfect to our expectations. We want a solid hour or more to train, we want our favorite shoes, we want the music just right, we want our favorite shoes, we want our favorite barbell…you get the idea. Then we use the lack of this perfection as an excuse to not live up to our potential, or even worse, an excuse to not train. Life isnt perfect. Training isnt perfect. It wasnt perfect in my garage the first time I did Fran and it wasnt perfect in our old tiny gym. But it WAS perfect because we didnt care. We didnt care if the the bumpers were old, or the heater was broken, or the jump box was crooked. What we cared about was the challenge, and the excitement and the opportunity to find greatness…even for a moment.
The barbell doesnt lie. It’s a hunk of metal that weighs 45lbs. It looks, feels, and smells the same way it did the first time you picked it up. So if you are getting old in your training, reintroduce yourself to the barbell and come out fresh and ready for the imperfections…because the imperfections come from us, not our environment. Embrace them and get back to your roots.
