We're Here to Pump You Up - Vol. 1 Ed. 26
Jan 13, 2021 3:06 am
World Builders' Guild Newsletter
Nothing about weight lifting seems normal or natural at first glance.
What do you think when you hear, "weight lifting"?
Is it: neckless meatheads wearing barely a stitch of clothing flexing in 360 degrees of gym mirrors? Headbanded hardbodies in neon spandex huffing and snorting, cascades of sweat pooling beneath?
Or, is it that time you pulled a nasty injury doing a big lift for your personal record and had to give up for months (maybe forever)?
More commonly, it means, "An opportunity to fail in front of a lot of people doing something that feels unnatural and dangerous."
More than once, that's what it meant to me. My weight training story began back in the old high school gym learning shoddy technique from coaches who were, pun intended, unfit for the task. Football fanatics. Not fitness professionals.
We jerked and strained and yelled and bro-slapped each other after every cocksure display of harebrained heroism. Ironically, restrictive weight belts inflate the ego to dangerous proportions.
I gave it up the minute the senior season ended.
Nobody is born with those quads. (Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash)
Later in life, one realizes that their potential is only constrained by their willingness to play the beginner again. Whether that's because of a ballooning midsection, looming threat of chronic illness, or arrival of a child. Parenthood carries the need to feel strong, capable and set a good example. There comes a time when you have no choice but to swallow your nerves and take the plunge into the depths of fear in hopes of surfacing an improved, upgraded version of yourself.
You have the tools to succeed, even in pursuits that eluded you far in the past. You can erase the shame of missed opportunities and short-lived, painful attempts by committing to a plan and holding yourself accountable to the process.
Spreadsheets and a agreeable professional go a long way.
It turns out that you don't have to flex like Arnold to consider yourself strong. You don't need to put up five times your body weight on the bench to feel accomplished.
Little victories, every day, add up to a lifetime of success.
Sometimes, building your world means building your body first. It's hard, but what will your world look like with a stronger you inside it?
You can do this.
To future worlds,
Matt Ventre
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