Workout Meets Reality - Week Six

Over the course of years I have officially finished single ironmans, double ironmans, triple ironmans, 3 UltraMan triathlons, ridden my bike 451 miles in 24 hours, run marathons many times under 3 hours, won my class in bodybuilding shows and so on and so forth.

I have never learned to jump rope. It was never on my radar.

As I moved into my sixth week of learning a new way of lifting I have added some new dimensions to my training – learning how to hit a heavy bag and learning striking drills. I don’t plan on climbing into the boxing ring or MMA octagon anytime soon nor do I plan on adding a fourth discipline to triathlon – I just felt it would be a good way to open my mind as I return to racing.

Last week I went down to train with Ken. I had learned that hitting a bag is not just putting on a pair of gloves and jamming out to the words of Carl Douglas and his one hit wonder song “Kung Fu Fighting” in a session the week earlier. This time Ken was with a client and told me to go warm-up with 200 rounds of jumping rope and he’d be down soon.

So I found a jump rope and tried. And tried again and again and again. When Ken came down I told him that I had never learned to jump rope and he laughed out loud. He said that he found it curious I had done all the things I had but had never learned to jump rope. So he showed how it was done. He’s very dainty on his feet, it’s a little bit frightening, that cat’s as fast as lightning…

After our session I went out and bought a jump rope. I still suck at jumping rope.

Week Six marks the second week of our current four week cycle. The principles remain the same with the addition of tailoring the plan to address specific weaknesses. My benching is getting better and my squat working weights are up over 30%. I know the gains made in the amount of weight lifted will be great at first and then it will level off. It will take continued application of the lessons learned to see gains. That’s just a simple fact many overlook. I do like knowing I can squat, dead, military press and bench increasing amounts of weight safely.

It’s also good to feel as though I fit in at The Anvil. I never really felt like I fit when I was in the McGloboGym World. I was always told that I couldn’t say things like the time as a trainer in a gym I was asked for a quote to put under my picture on the staff wall. I submitted “Go Hard - Go Long - Go Home” and it was rejected as inappropriate. So I submitted “Everyone Is a Winner” or “Kool-Aid for Every One!” – something sanitized and safe and that was accepted.

So after my session with Ken last week I worked out on my own. There were lots of people in lifting as I went through 5 rounds of 3:00 Schwinn Airdyne / :30 KB Swings/ AbWheel Rollouts x 10 / 250 meters Concept II ergometer / GHR x 10. among the people there working out was a little boy with his Dad – the same little boy Ken stopped to show how to execute KB swings safely as we came out of the MMA room.

For you see the way we learn is to not let ourselves or others convince us that we can’t or shouldn’t by drinking a big glass of Kool-Aid but by handing ourselves or others the jump rope, the textbook or the kettlebell and learning how to use it.

That is what it means to “reject the awful normal”©