Lifting Iron

[Dzone]

TweetThis is worth taking a couple minutes to read. From Dave Draper

1 - Draper here... World Peace and Weightlifting

I know life isn't all about me and you know life isn't all about you,
yet the concept is tough for most folks to accept. The obvious truth
is you and I take care of ourselves so we are more able to take care
of those around us. We are extraordinarily generous and considerate
people, like a breed of our own. We lift weights that we may lighten
the load for our neighbors. We eat healthy foods that we may care for
the ill when they grow faint. We seek longevity because someone must
attend the aging and failing in their time of need. We sleep, rest and
relax with peace-loving diligence that we may serve others tirelessly.
We, through our consistent exercise, develop discipline, patience and
compassion, needed character qualities when called upon by God and man
to mitigate strife and negotiate peace.

Alas, there are envious and narrow-minded beings across our precious
planet who are unaware of personal responsibility and self-respect and
accuse us of vanity and self-centeredness. Of us they say we are
obsessed. We must understand their suffering, forgive them and try to
reach them through our noble purpose, stature and behavior. We must
work with them, for them and because of them, as we are all so vitally
connected. When our gracious attempts to draw them to the right way of
living and thinking fail, and ignoring them is unfair, immoral and
impossible, do not fret.

Fretting is one of the devil's secret weapons.

I hate fretting. Fretting is loathsome. Come to think of it, those who
provoke fretting are loathsome. Got a sec, Dude? Gimme a spot? Swell!
They're nincompoops and pipsqueaks. I’m going for 12 awesome ripping
and burning reps. They live pointless lives. On three: one, two,
three... oomph, ooph, ugh, thud. Yes! Fat-butt do-nothings. Put a dime
and a nickel on the bar. Clink, clank. They're the reason the world
is falling apart, ya know... bink, clink, dink... them and global
warming. They make me wanna scream... clink, thud, clunk? What are
they thinking... fools... ooph? Check out my tris...

So, what did you do today to strengthen yourself -- improve and
enhance your body, mind and soul? I went to the gym a little earlier
than usual to beat the traffic and take more time pushing the iron --
less stress, more comfort, total contemplation, undivided
concentration.

The older I get, the less I hurry. I don't know if this is a motor
condition, wisdom, laziness or helplessness, but I enjoy and respond
to slower and more deliberate training movement, between sets and
within each set and rep. This in no way suggests I'm slowing down.

Wake me when this is over...

The barbell and dumbbells must be grasped more thoughtfully, the body
arranged more particularly and the groove established more precisely
in response to the persuasion of time, wear and tear. Each rep becomes
a carefully engaged movement to the next rep, close attention
determining the way. The reps are calculated in reference to good pain
and abusive pain and the pain of wrath, a long and fascinating
journey. The last repetition comes as thunder following the lightening
strike of the prior reps. Don't you love a good storm... the fresh
air, the strong wind, the cool rain?

Concentration, an essential element of successful weightlifting -- and
every great endeavor -- that primary ingredient I struggled to attain
is now as natural as the iron I move with certainty across the floor.
Where once my mind wandered and progress slipped through gap in my
focus, I now cling to each rep as if joined by a sort of
musclebuilding crazy-glue -- devotion, affection, need and the
attention-grasping pain of persistence and burning and swelling.

The sets of repetitions are staggered according to my ability to go
on, my mood, the pain, the available energy and unhurried time, and
the flavor and favor of my purpose -- to build, maintain, rehabilitate
or revel. The pause between sets can last from 15 seconds to minutes,
depending on the exercise and mode of action. ... the intensity builds
and pain in the joints starts to holler. It was amid the latter
experience that I learned to eliminate hurry from my training program.


The between-set break is just long enough to prepare for the next
delightful onslaught: breathing deeply, unwrapping and rewrapping,
willing pain away, rearranging equipment, hydrating. No gazing out the
door, reading, conversing, texting, creating or resolving conflicts.
Mingling trite activities with the serious weight training dilutes the
iron action, and exposes an intrinsic lack of desire, fire and need.
Grow up, Dude.

I'm a volume trainer who incorporates four or five sets of six to
twelve or eighteen reps of any particular exercise, depending on
muscle group. I choose six exercises to comprise a workout. Some might
say, "That's it?" I take no offense, remind them I’m a B-68 and key
their cars while they’re in the shower. It’s the intensity within each
rep and set of exercise that determines the value of the workout, and
its duration.

The first few sets, whether single sets or supersets, are steady and
well-paced, each set increasing in weight and decreasing in reps. Pain
from wear and injury and burn heightens proportionately, as does
specific muscle fatigue. Sets four and five, the critical sets in
which hypertrophy is hunted down, begged for, manipulated or coerced,
require greater recovery time, slower execution and intensified
resolve. I slow down as the clock moves on.

I'm quite chipper during the first half of my workout, all grins,
walking upright, looking sane and acting sensibly. I'm bombing. It's
the second half when I slow down due to the wobbly legs, battle
fatigue and furtive glancing from side to side, all impediments to
form, focus and pace. I'm bombed.

I like to weave and blend the muscles at work, direct a course and
follow my nose, paint a picture on a large canvas with all the colors
and space I need, go this way and that way purposefully with my eye on
the goal, and travel a straight line full of curves and adventure...

Is that the exit? See ya... DD

[FUZO]

Tweet

The sets of repetitions are staggered according to my ability to go
on, my mood, the pain, the available energy and unhurried time, and
the flavor and favor of my purpose -- to build, maintain, rehabilitate
or revel. The pause between sets can last from 15 seconds to minutes,
depending on the exercise and mode of action. ... the intensity builds
and pain in the joints starts to holler. It was amid the latter
experience that I learned to eliminate hurry from my training program.

I CAN RELATE TO THIS EVERY DAY IN THE GYM