BUILDING SOMETHING THAT LASTS

If you have been lifting for several years, and you feel like the honeymoon period of your training is officially over, this article will find you well.

I want you to stick to barbell training until the last day of your life. I really do. No further convincing on its effectiveness is required on my side. Neither is it on yours, I believe.

Instead of looking at barbell training as a tissue for blowing your nose ('do the job - get rid'), I would like to point out three crucial parts of a process to you on how you can build something that truly lasts in this realm.

Not for the sake of hitting a PB today, tomorrow, or in three months.

But to create a version of yourself that stays strong until the last moment of your life, and inspires others to do the same.

THERE IS ONLY NOW

If you are willing to invest your time and energy in the gym into the here and now, you are building the very foundation for a long-lasting relationship with the barbell.

Being present means that you own every rep, every success, and every failure in your training. The steering wheel is in your hands. You are in charge.

There is something truly powerful about admitting to yourself where you currently are in your process. Take a closer look at your situation, analyse it, and proceed from there. The here is what matters – as often it is better to have a reality check than thinking about where you might end up in the future.

When the motivation to keep on hitting new PB’s wears off a little (and trust me, it will), take a step back, and remind yourself why you have decided to get stronger in the first place. Want to have stronger bones? Build more muscle? Have the ability to move things around the house without calling for help? Or perhaps you've seen a family member suffer the consequences of being weak and frail?

Bring your reason(s) into your next session, and use them as a catalyst to be present in everything you do.

Load the bar, and lift the weights with your fullest attention.

There is only now.

THE WILLINGNESS TO LEARN

To quote Frank Zappa, 'Your mind is like a parachute: it doesn't work if it's not open’, you must show the willingness to learn and evolve in order to build a body and mind that truly serve you for decades to come.

Take the full spectrum of your experiences - good, bad, indifferent - and develop a deeper understanding of all aspects of lifting. There is always something new to learn - whether it is how to make your warm-ups more effective, polishing technique on your movements, learning about pre-workout supplements, or simply treating every rep in your session as if it was the first time doing them.

In order for you to evolve, so must your approach to the process you have dedicated yourself to. With that in mind, change is the only constant in life. This doesn't mean discarding what you have acquired, but adding to and expanding what you already know.

To live means to learn, and to learn means to live.

Value both.

STOP HOARDING. START GIVING.

There is no point taking the knowledge you have gained over the years into your grave. How would this be of any benefit to others?

If you train for long enough, eventually you will be the most experienced lifter in the room. Why don't you try to make someone else around you better? Even if it's by 1%, you will have added something to a less experienced lifter who may not have encountered yet what you can teach him from being in the trenches way longer than he has.

Be the lifter and the teacher at the same time. It adds a whole new dimension to the process where win-win situations all of a sudden become the norm.

If you give to others what you yourself have accumulated over years under the bar, you are making sure that this kind of work can keep existing and evolving in ways that is of use to those who come in touch with it long after you (and me) are gone.

With every bit of information you are willing to pass on to others, you are making a contribution to creating a legacy. One that can only be built on the skills and knowledge of those who are here at this moment, as well as those who came before us.

Appreciate the now, be willing to learn, and give what you've got. The three are not sequential, but symbiotic in nature.

With that, you are building something for yourself and the rest of barbell world that truly matters.

Not for today, but for years to come.

#strengthtraining #getstrong #teddington #hamptonwick