Workout Meets Reality - Week Five

I stopped in at the end of last week at The Anvil to connect with Ken about scheduling for sessions on the heavy bag and to mention that I had referred a client to him. There I ran into Tom, one of the real people Clar and I have gotten to know over the years. We talked about his upcoming powerlifting meets and my program to return to racing. He was benching heavy (or it sure looked that way to me) and I said that perhaps we would see him on Saturday. He told me he was working his back and I’m guessing I looked a little surprised when he told me how many sets of pull-ups he had scheduled for he told me “You gotta do the work”.

I understood what he meant.

“You gotta do the work”. In the de-loading week of our first 4 weeks, September 28 I was tempted to not do the work. I had convinced myself I was tired and blah, blah, blah. (Or would it be bleat, bleat; bleat because that’s what sheep do?)One person said to me after reading my last post that I probably did the work because I didn’t want someone the size of Ken pissed off at me. I told them while Ken may care if I do the workout ultimately I would be the one pissed at me if I had blown the workout off.

I am not a sheep and Ken is not my shepherd.

Now fitness clubs will attempt to convince you that you need them to be successful. They sell the idea of “accountability” to the masses, using charts, check-in trackers and of course t-shirts, water bottles and other shiny things to generate camaraderie and market their personal trainers.

You do not. You need you to be successful.

So week 5 ended last Saturday. We had been lifting on S/M/W/F but shifted the sessions to M/T/Th/S to better accommodate Clar’s work schedule. It felt kind of weird not to begin a week with squats but instead we’re kicking off the week doing speed bench with bands, standing military press, face pulls and lateral raises plus at least 15 sets of a mix of pull-ups and chin-ups. Tuesday is better because we get to squat and RDL – I like the way our squats now play off the squats we did in the first four weeks. My squat weight is up about 15%. Thursdays are new to us as we are doing board press and then our lifts diverge a bit as we work on weaknesses to improve our strength. Saturday was new as well and those little red bands are deceptive buggers. Our requirements for improvement have increased and we are doing the little things, “the work” that will add up to success in the end.

Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand talks of the prime movers and the second handers in her writings. The prime movers care if they do the work. The second handers want someone else to care if they do the work.

I choose to be a prime mover. I know “I gotta do the work”.