That Rare Breed Is You
Dave Draper image drawn by Steve Wedan
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It’s been a long day and you feel pummeled.
The key slides into the ignition and cranks over the engine with a zoom, signaling part one of the day is over, no small feat. You feel free for a moment, the tether that binds you is given slack by the forward lurch of your vehicle, your private space that moves you to your next workplace or playground, objective or challenge. These small interludes provide time to collect your thoughts, envision your day, converse with yourself and otherwise glean the chaff from the wheat.
What’s your plan, where are you headed and what’s on your mind as the first mile rolls away? I’m expecting a large number of folks across the fields and fences and cities are headed home to couch, fridge and TV. Good to kick off the shoes and let the hair down. Some need to take a deep breath and wrestle a second job or a long list of unending chores. A moist handful, of course, moves quickly and without obstruction to strategically placed watering holes. Whatever it takes, I guess, to move the pieces across the board.
But wait a minute. There exists a rare breed unaccounted for in the above collection of characters. In a certain place where the sun shines and the air is full of oxygen, the navigator of the vehicle steers clear of the traffic and heads to the gym. Thoughts are on grander things, life, love and the pursuit of happiness, or, as interpreted on another level, discipline, patience and the pursuit of pain.
That rare breed is you.
And the time and place you spend before entering the gym, be it on Main Street or in the garage, are rare as well. As the gym is a refuge and an area for productive work, so is the mind in preparation of a solid, bold and mighty workout. A powerful workout is established in one’s head before entering the inner sanctum of the gyms walls.
Compromise, sacrifice and long-suffering, no one said the task was easy and no one knows but the one who performs it. The groundwork begins in the mind, is affected in the body, transferred to the gym floor and finally to the iron, where it is consummated by the fortitude, courage and heart of the pursuer.
That doesn’t mean we don’t love it -- even when we hate it we love it. How can you hate that which is so beneficial and, more often than not, fun and fulfilling?
Anticipating your training with a brief yet energetic review of its benefits -- health and strength, the afterglow, the mental and physical purge, the admirable steps toward achieving goals, the personal investment -- and a positive overview of your exercise scheme is all you need to fill your mind. Fill the mind with these magnificent thoughts and there is no room for the twin enemies of doubt and apathy.
Of course, the well-organized, efficient and successful person makes sure the energy and muscle-building stores are supplied in advance. Sufficient food and water must be part of the simple plan.
That bottle topped with cool water and a protein drink at the right time make the difference in superior mind and body performance.
So simple, so smart, so effective.
Stopping by the gym on the way home for a quick session is admirable -- in this day and age, it is remarkable. But to be profitable and long lasting, a workout must be more or it will become less. As you must not let training and thinking about training dominate your life, so is it unwise to squeeze it in like a wedge of lemon in a cup of tea. Unfold that list of your top ten priorities and you’ll recall that exercising for your health is among the top five, not a cup of cozy Constant Comment.
Ninety minutes, four days a week is your contribution, from the time you park your car to the time you pull away refreshed. Diligent work in the focused yet unrushed minutes between defines the physical investment. The rest of the week and the rest of your life are yours to give freely and generously.
This is not to day that good things don’t take place without psychological and intellectual preparations. I rely heavily on the unseen work of the subconscious.
The gym is down the highway and on my mind. Though it’s the weekend, I’ll probably go in to make up for a workout I missed due to some emergency during the week attack of warships from the planet Stomp Goth, house center of 8.9 earthquake, whatever. These unscheduled training sessions often turn out to be some of the best. I’m drawn to the iron by desire, not obligation. I don’t have to lift, I want to. There’s no pressure, no rush, no ground lost, no ground to make up, just the playground where time floats rather than flies.
And so it goes with physical preparation and mental psyche. They happen.
What do you want to do, what stirs you, what would you like to perfect or investigate, create or devise? The field is open, and letting the workout evolve is a relief and can be most instructive.
Sufficient spontaneity is needed to provide freedom in training without allowing it to become random and loose and unproductive in the long term. Here you may wallow in your favorite exercise combinations, try a personal best, switch to high repetitions for a pump, or you might exact a dumbbell movement to work that part of your deltoid no standard exercise ever has.
A little creativity and thinking on our feet goes a long way to add to self-esteem and training maturity.
Invention rings a bell loudly.
Dave
*****
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