The world is quiet as I walk across the Pentagon’s courtyard towards the corridor that will take me winding down into the labyrinth bowels of the Pentagon to the PAC (Pentagon Athletic Center).
It is still dark outside and the only light is the dull yellow glow coming from the building’s windows and lightly illuminating the courtyard.
The trees in the courtyard are majestic. They are the multi-trunk trees that wind together as they grow, they are tall, lush, and you could forget you are in an office building.
There is no one in the courtyard yet. No smokers to line and depress the sidewall. No office jockeys slumped in the chairs that line the center. No one sitting at the picnic tables shoveling the food-like product the café in the center serves. It is simply peaceful and enjoyable.
I am walking with a purpose, but slow to take it in. I am geared up and ready to go to work with my mentor. This sight adds that additional motivation to my spirit to LIVE. I feel powerful, excited, and eager to attack the day. This is how you should wake up feeling I think to myself. THIS is IT! THIS is how I want to feel all day. Positive, excited, WANTING a challenge, what will the day bring?
I am on my way to my mentor…the gym…but more specifically…the iron. I am geared up physically and mentally, just as the iron requires. The iron doesn’t want excuses; I am to show up ready to work and work hard. I am ready.
The iron has taught me many life lessons that I cherish. You could look at them and think they are inconsequential but I know…I know these lessons are invaluable.
1. Train fasted. Throwing up sucks. Throwing up, while hugging the garbage can on the gym floor really sucks. As you beg your stomach to stop reeling and burning, you promise yourself not to do that again….people walk by, they nod, they understand.
2. To be humble. I am not quite as bad-ass as the rap blaring in my ears has me convinced. I have been humbled by the iron more times than I care to admit. I have been injured more times than I like. The iron is always right.
3. I AM as bad-ass as the rap blaring in my ears has me thinking. Attitude is everything. My attitude in the gym isn’t about you. Actually nothing is about you when I am in the gym, I don’t even see you.
Don’t think I am wearing those short-shorts for you, or that my stand-off attitude is because I think I am better. I am focused, I like seeing my muscles in the mirror, I like seeing my body work. I appreciate my hard work.
4. Journaling is important. I have the worst memory. I can’t remember what I lifted last time, or how I felt about the lift, or how my day was going when I did that lift.
5. Drink water. Because your muscles are 75% water, if you don’t drink it they won’t work.
6. I have a strong chin…..a mishap with a clean and press.
7. Focus on me. I am not concerned with how much weight you are lifting. I am not concerned with your good or bad form. I am focused on me. My lifts are about me, not you. They help me pursue and define my strong, lean body. My lifts are about my health, not yours. I cannot focus on those around me when I lift.
I have watched for years people meander like mindless robots in seek of their punishment at the gym. Steering clear of the barbells and flocking to the machines. I have watched people use too heavy a weight stack on cable pulleys only to perform the worst form ever on a triceps extension. I have watched people gear up to run, with dread in their every movement. I have watched people mindless elliptical their way to the magical 40 minute mark. I have seen many, many folks use the gym to punish themselves.
The iron has taught me not to soak in these negative vibes. To concern myself with my lifts, my sprints. Mine are the only ones that matter to me when I am in the gym to train.
8. Where you train is important. I have trained in so many gyms over the years. How you feel when you come into your gym is very important. I trained at a gym occasionally with my husband a few years ago, my husband was a member and I would go with him as a guest. As soon as you walked in you would get the once over look by the snobby staff, asking to pay for a visitors pass was an inconvenience to them. Once you got out on the floor you could immediately see the clicks. A lot of standing around, not much lifting. Some of the groups were even bold enough to mock form of patrons around them. This gym had an extremely negative energy and I never had good lifts there. At the PAC everyone knows me. I have been there for 10 years now. I know the staff too. I like going there, I like the head nod in between sets to different folks and I like the invites to work out with someone. It is a healthy, positive vibe.
It is never just about the lift. It is always about the mental game, the learning, the process and getting better each and every time you step up to the barbell. It isn’t just about the pounds you are lifting, or the repetitions you are completing. It is about the lessons. The lessons you learn on the floor with the iron will shape who you are when you leave the gym. The iron will mentor you to be of sound character, to have a strong mind, to be brave and, confident.
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