Articles: March 2008 Archives
We're bringing personal responsibility back. You can't do what we do while shirking your load, depending on other people, or otherwise passing the buck. Your WOD time is yours and yours alone. You cannot turn in a fifty-minute "Fran" and then scold your classmates for the result. Blame is not cast in the gym.
Conversely, I can't count the number to times I've seen an athlete turn in an epic time and then thank everyone in the room for making it happen. Adulation is shared.
I view the gym as a microcosm of the moral world, one in which control of success and failure ultimately lies with the individual. There is no fatalism in the gym. Your maximum pull-up number is not preordained by some higher power. It is determined by speed, strength, coordination, accuracy, agility, and mental fortitude, all qualities that are within your domain and solely within your control. Others can give to the effort through correction, encouragement, and support, but they cannot make your chin clear the bar.
Link to continue reading: http://www.againfaster.com/articles/to-a-greater-world.html
I was at the Y this morning when a group of dudes came in to do some weightlifting. I was apparently in their way. Not trying to be the poop-stirring stick, I decided to finish up the set I was in the middle of and hop on the treadmill so they could get their lifting on. I am nice at 6 am.
Pure crap. These guys were coming up on their toes, not fully extending, totally unstable and just flat out sloppy. It was like watching baboons lift weights. It took a lot of restraint for me not to jump off that treadmill and hit all of them over the head. But then I realized that these guys obviously don't have the solid training that we get at our gym. Their form stunk. An injury is just around the corner.
I decided not to be bullied out of my workout by a bunch of choads who didn't know how to lift. I hopped off the treadmill, grabbed a couple of weights and went back to doing my renegade rows, one-arm snatches, and split-jerks. Yeah, I got some sideways looks and heard some mumbling, but you know what, it is MY workout and I know what I am doing.
I guess my point is that we don't always feel confident in our form or weight we use, but having the opportunity to see what bad form really looks like, it made me very proud to be a part of our group. Yeah, some days we are off, but all–in-all, you guys do a fantastic job and are very disciplined. I am not sure if all of you realize how good you really are. I'd put any one of you up against all of the guys I saw at the Y this morning. That isn't to say that we don't all have room for improvement or that we have mastered anything, but man, we are a kick-ass group.
Love ya,
Jamie
