A Recipe for Change

What does it take to workout?

1 cup of motivation - Gotta get to the gym
1 cup of determination - Gotta get through whatever is on the whiteboard
1/3 cup of inspiration - Why are you doing it?
1 barbell - 45 lb or 15 lb, they are both cruel
A dash of weights - Face it, your tastes are different than someone else, season to taste

Read on . . .




Have you ever noticed how the easiest "looking" workouts, you know, the one's that have one movement that happen to be right in your spectrum of your favorite exercises, always become the hardest relatively quickly?

Interestingly enough, some of the Coaches at my gym recently did the 500m row workout.  500m!  And we were all spent afterwards!  The all too familiar "3, 2, 1. . .Go!" shot out like a gun shot at a track meet, I began my pull from the "Catch" position.  My arms are locked out as I push off the foot plate, driving my body away from the fan blade, going through the "Drive" position until my legs are fully extended, pulling throughout the movement, and the rowing handle is received by my body in the "Finish" position.  The handlebar quickly moves away from my body, once the handlebar clears my knees, my knees bend and I go into the "Recovery" position. After the 500m row I was spent, they were spent.  Exhausted. . . curled up in some sort of fetal position or laid out on the floor in the ever famous pictures of sweat angels.  Cruelty and fun come in all forms of working out, right :)  ?

I bring this up because it seems simple enough.  You can replace a 500 meter row with a 5k run if it makes this any easier to relate to.  Whatever the workout is, you are always bringing the recipe to workout.  All too often the distractions of the day interfere with our workouts.  It is difficult to push that to the side and just focus on you.  All too often we want to change the workout, maybe add some weight here or remove some reps there, change a box height, or change a workout in general.

First things first - consult your coach.  If you have a ailment or injury, let us know!  Your safety is our concern.  Second, do the workout as prescribed, as closely to prescribed, or consult your coach.  If you cannot perform a movement, then let us give you a movement to perform that mirrors what you would be doing, i.e. ring rows instead of pull-ups.

"The great recipe for success is to work, and always work."
                                                              -Leon Gambetta

I personally would like to add some spice to that quote and state on the record that having a little "fun" with your workouts can be just what you ordered.

-Coach Tony