The thing you should be working on the most is the thing you spend your time actively avoiding.
Everyone hates push-ups.
Even people who like push-ups don't like push-ups.
They look easy enough. Lay on the floor and push yourself up without looking like a total asshole. It should be simple, right?
Wrong.
(simple is rarely easy, we will get there)
Aside from steady-state cardio, cause really, I cannot stress this enough, you do not need it.
If you enjoy it, then go on with your bad self… (but watch the volume, too much and you are probably burning muscle, but that's a different topic), but if you hate it, here is your permission slip to NEVER do it again. No one needs it. If you hate and avoid steady state cardio, that is A-OK.
Everything else, squats, sprints, deadlifts, sprints, rows… all of it. If you are avoiding it, then you need it.
Avoiding it means you have yet to master it, or the movement is a weakness for you.
Therefore, work on it. Make it stronger.
Whatever you are avoiding in the gym is what you need to make you a better, stronger athlete.
Real-life- the conversations you keep putting off are the conversations you NEED to have.
The task you put on your to-do list but never do is what you should be prioritizing. Make the call. Do the hard thing. You will be better for it 100% of the time.
Sometimes things just seem dull or not necessary because you are not doing them as often as you should be.
This is often the case with carries. So simple. Seemingly boring, and that is the problem, to most these movements are. Not because they are not an incredibly challenging exercise, but because no one is actually challenging themselves with them.
For those of you who do not know, a carry is precisely as it sounds. You pick up a heavyweight, normally a dumbbell or kettlebell, and carry it 15-30 (or more) yards. The goal is to be able to hold your body weight split between your two hands.
That is hard. And takes strength. But most people don't do that. They pick up around 1/5th of their body weight.
Because gym truth number two…
If you are not challenged, you are probably wasting your time.
Look, before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I am not suggesting you work at 100% all of the time. That would be disastrous. In the gym, we should spend most of our time working between 60-90% off our strength… but here is the thing. 70% effort is still going to be hard work.
If you can goblet squat 100 pounds for a few reps, that is your max. Squatting 90 pounds isn't going to be easy by any stretch. Neither is squatting 70 or 80. Even 50 pounds, HALF of your maximum, if done correctly, is not easy with solid form and concentration. It is work. It is a challenge.
Ben Bruno has a great tagline, something like you don't have to train today; the world needs mediocre people.
He's right. You don't, and we do. But did you pay for a membership do to the least? To pick up the same weights every day, never attempting more, never trying to improve?
Fuck no. Here is a hard truth: Some people will never do hard things on purpose. (but make no mistake, they will do them, it will just be hard things not of their choosing like dealing with the results of not caring for their health) Some people will never leave the couch. They will never seek to improve themselves, to become stronger, to be better…. Those folks don't go to a gym.
If you are reading this, we can both know with 100% certainty you are NOT those folks.
You're on a path of improvement.
Don't be fooled thinking because something seems
easy it should be easy. Anything done with intention and purpose takes work, and much like a carry, you can get better. You can pick up your full body weight. But why stop there?! I'll take more than my body weight; please,
I want to know what I am made of. Don't you?
You should never be aiming for 100% all the time, in life or in the gym. That is a recipe for disaster (and it is entirely impossible) but aim to be uncomfortable as often as you can.
Do something every day that scares you.
Test your limits. If something feels easy, see if you can add on something else to improve it.
In the gym, this is moving up a weight. In life, this is taking on another habit.
Already have going to bed by 9pm down? Cool! Now see if you can get off your phone at 8pm and see what cool changes happen…
Know when to rest and know when to push. But don't be fooled.
Gym truth number 3: "Boring" is ALWAYS the most effective. And boring ain't boring. It is ALWAYS where you find the Magic.
Boring is everything I already said. Carries, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, rows…..
The basics. The things that will never go out of style. Movements that if you go to a good gym and have an educated person writing your program, you will be doing over and over and over.
There will be variations. You will do single-leg deadlifts, trap bar deadlifts, deadlifts with a kettlebell, deadlifts with a functional trainer. Single leg squats, squats to a box, squats from a box… you get the point.
If you think to yourself, we just did these, GOOD. You are in the right place.
The dumb shit you see online, the Instagram "save this workout for a bigger butt," and in Beachbody workouts are a waste of your time. Yes, I said it. Beach Body has so many trash movements it is hard to watch. 90% of their "training" is pointless fluff to keep you entertained… you may not be bored, but you sure as hell are not getting an effective workout.
Turn off the TV, do a set of push-ups, some goblet squats, and rows. Far better use of your time than jumping around doing those weird Donkey kicks they like so much. But I digress.
Boring isn't boring. Boring is GOLD!
And if it feels boring, see above. That is almost always on you. Use a heavier weight, challenge yourself to NAIL the form and I promise, it will no longer feel easy.
Think about what you are doing. Really drive home the mind-body connection. Think about where your feet are, what your knees are doing, where you are pushing from, and how you are pulling the floor apart with your heels while keeping your chest high, neck neutral, and core braced… squats aren't so boring when you are paying attention.
Boring in life is going to bed on time. Eating your veggies and getting in enough protein instead of chasing some bullshit diet and protocol. Getting up early, so you have at least ten minutes to yourself to breathe before life starts…
Boring can set you free. Lean into it. Focus on the big, beautiful boring foundational things in life and in the gym. That is where you find all the Magic.
We all know this work is not a sprint, but it also is not a marathon, it sure as hell isn't a journey… it is a commitment.
What does a sprint, marathon, or journey have in common? They all end. They all imply we will arrive somewhere, and that is it. We are done.
Wrong. It is a lifelong, never-ending commitment.
It is marriage to your best self, a vow to your highest self that states you will aim to take care of
you until forever.
I hate goal weights for this reason. WTF happens there? You weigh 140 pounds, and then what? Are you done? Don't even get me started on fat loss contests and the trash people who run them? What are you winning?! I'll fill you in secret. Those folks NEVER stay at that weight. Ever.
There is no finish line at the gym.
You have nothing but time and nowhere to be. Let that set you free!!
You have your whole life to work on you! To get better! Who cares about PR's and mile times, none of that matters.
What matters is your commitment to yourself, that you care enough about your future to show up today. Because of that, there is no pressure to do something, to be anything.
All you have to do is show up, and then show up again tomorrow.
Because gym truth number four: Perfect is the Enemy of Good. (and perfect never happens).
Aiming for perfection in the gym is akin to going to TJ Max and find precisely what you are looking for.
It is possible, hell, every now in that you luck out and get an entire isle of shit you were looking for. Other days feels like nothing but crap to sort through. And most days, most days are right in the middle. Some stuff is worth picking up and looking at for longer, even taking home and some stuff you can live without seeing ever again.
Perfect does not happen every day. Excellent does not occur every set.
Show up. Try. That is all you have to do, ever.
Perfect is not going 5 or 6 days a week for an hour and fifteen minutes and getting in a full workout, including the time to stretch after…. That shit is not doable for almost all of us.
Show up. Show up even when all you have is twenty minutes. That is twenty more minutes than you would have done if you stayed home.
Show up if you can "only" make it three days (side note, for almost everyone, three days is all you need. The rest is icing).
Show up if you can only make it ONE day.
Just show up. Always. Aiming for perfect is aiming to fail.
Take pride in yourself. That isn't boastful or ego running wild.
It is telling yourself you matter and you are worth doing hard things for. Your life is always worth improving, and while none of us will ever be perfect, that isn't the goal. The goal is showing up. Working on being our best selves so we can show up in life as we are meant to be; cool, enlightened, kind, caring, present beings who know how to do hard things. Because turning away from self-improvement is not what you do.
Folks think you go to the gym to get a tighter ass, and maybe that is what brought you there, but folks who STAY at the gym know the truth. You go there to be better. To test your limits and try new things. To remind yourself as often as needed how strong you are. The gym can teach you so many things if you are willing to listen...
Other Gems from the Gym:
Try.
Fear of failure is a bullshit reason to not try.
Failure is feedback. Listen to it. It is your greatest teacher.
Do not fear failing. Be scared as hell of never trying.
Show up.
Challenge yourself.
Lean into discomfort that is ALWAYS growth.
Know when to push, and on those days, PUSH LIKE HELL. Go ham. Be a monster. Get after it and feel like a total bad ass. BASK IN YOUR WORK AND ACCOMPLISHMENT.
And know when to rest. Lean into those days hard.
Be present.
FEEL.
Don’t aim to look a certain way, don’t try to hide yourself as you do them. Aim to FEEL.
Let yourself FLOW by letting yourself FEEL.
Boring is only boring if you are being lazy. And
rest isn't boring, it's needed.
If something feels easy, that’s on you. Work harder, pick up something heavier OR allow yourself to have that rest… but don’t bitch about it. Own it in either direction.
Being able to workout is a gift. Treat it as such. You don’t have to do this. You GET TO.
It’s a miracle that you can. If you abuse that by bashing yourself then you are doing it all wrong. Celebrate yourself through movement, anything else is unacceptable.
With life, and in the gym, your time there is what you make it. You can be amazing, you can do incredible things, you can become stronger and more capable than you ever imagined. Just show up. and keep showing up…