If you come to my gym while I am working out and if you can hear over the Black Eyed Peas, you will hear me screaming “You are O-KAY” over and over. This is my mantra. This is my partner.
I have been without a training partner since October. And it sucks. I also switched gyms at the same time. I went from working out at the PAC (Pentagon Athletic Club) to working out in the fortress of solitude my husband built for me in our basement. Our home gym isn’t the typical home gym. My husband bought or built me industrial equipment. My husband can build anything, he’s like Jesus. I can do Crossfit, Parkour, and Olympic weightlifting all in the comfort of my own home. There is no drive to the gym, I can wear as little as I want (not wearing a shirt while you work out is a huge motivator – nothing like looking down and seeing your gut pour over your elastic waist band to keep you from cheating on your reps), I can use as much chalk as I want, and I can listen to my music as loud as I want.
But training in my gym with no one else around has turned out to be quite the challenge. No one is there to keep me honest on my reps, watch and correct my form and most importantly there is no one else’s energy to feed off of. I’ve dumped training partners in the past for bringing negative energy with them in the gym. I can’t do that, I can’t lift that heavy, blah blah blah, nothing but excuses – and wondering why they never make gains….or loses. Hmmm, I wonder. If it’s easy – it doesn’t work.
My partner has become my inner voice – the energy I feed from is my own. I convince myself to do one more round, to sprint 10 more seconds, I take pictures and video to make sure my form is good to go.
When I feel that burn in my stomach, my inner voice starts to whisper…stop…but then the voice gets stronger and louder and it is eventually screaming STOP! But I can’t – because I am OKAY!
My muscles are fatigued and they have that strange burn, heavy feeling and weakness to them. My head isn’t able to quite focus 100 percent and it is easy to placate and stop and take deep breaths to regain my composure. But I’d rather pass out sprinting on the treadmill and end up with skid mark burns on my forehead than fail this test. This is the most important test – this is the test that lets me know that ME, MYSELF and I am the only person I need to get this done.
I don’t have a training partner right now. I am without. This is a tough path to travel alone. But that’s OKAY, because I am OKAY – I am loyal and disciplined enough to train hard on my own. To push myself to the point where each training session is the best it could be. I can recognize that if I feel I can only do 2 I should do 3 rounds of shuttle runs – if I set out to do 5 rounds and at 4 I want to quit that I can’t. Not because anyone else will find out – but because I will know – and that is worse. You can foul others into thinking you are a bad ass – but you have to BE a bad ass to convince yourself.
So go train – and train hard – don’t cheat - cause YOU are watching YOU.
I have a similar story.... Mine is that, I HAVE to work out alone. I put in 3 Hours every morning, no one is hanging with it over here, they just talk. I train with 4 others during the last hour (boxing). Someone has to hold the mits, another the bag and clock, and 2 to spar with. I have no rest during my entire training until the 30 sec breaks between rds. If I am not completing a circuit, I am skipping rope between sets. I also wear a sweat-top. You will feel the difference when you body temp is elevated 10 degrees. It's 90 outside here when I get up. After a week I will train one day w/o the sweat-top. It's amazing. Anyways the top 3 reasons that keep me going:
ReplyDelete1. New music on my playlist; check this website out. freshnewtracks.com, it has all new hip hop, techno, dub, work-out music for FREE!
2. My family. For some reason, I don't use this often, but to get that last rep I know I need, I think about my family and energy comes, somehow from nowhere. It's a Cro-Magnon defense mechanism, i.e. "the defender" complex.
3. The story of the true believer... Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimal food or water, in austere conditions, training day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon and he made his own 782 gear. He doesn't worry about what workout to do - his ruck weighs what it weighs, his runs end when the enemy stops chasing him. This True Believer is not concerned about 'how hard it is;' he knows either he wins or dies. He doesn't go home at 17:00, he is home. He knows only The Cause.
Still want to quit?
Great post, Jake - I will definitely check out the music website. My little sister made me a CD with 127 songs on it and I have been listening to it since December - I'm ready for some new stuff =) Keep training hard!!
ReplyDeleteFor me, the burn of a good workout has no effect on me because I know how good I'll feel the next 2-3 days. I only weight lift once or twice a week, but I do spend the other days playing: frisbee, stand-up paddleboarding, climbing the monkey bars at the playground (much to the chagrin of the overweight parents watching their overweight kids).
ReplyDeleteWhen I play hard, I feel great for days. When I skip playing or weight lifting, I feel boring.
To add to Jake's music thread: I love Grooveshark.com. Check out the band "Beats Antique" and the DJ "Bonobo" -- great stuff!
I'll check out the tunes! Thanks for the tips!! Lift and be happy!!
ReplyDelete