A Little Sweat

Did you ever notice how a workout posted on a whiteboard can look like an eternity - but only last an hour. . . or less?  And sometimes, you can sweat a lot or not sweat at all. . .



Regardless of the workout, it was the first time you started to sweat that you started questioning the workout.  That first drop trickled down your face, slowly making it's way down your forehead, across your eyebrow, and down your cheek, only to pause for a moment on your jawline before hitting your shirt or hitting the floor.  Maybe you were in the middle of a kettlebell swing, possibly a push press, or maybe even a squat.  It could be any number of movements.  It could be a workout like the CrossFit Total, 3 attempts at a 1 rep max of three different movements (remember yesterdays post - squat, deadlift, strict press).  Regardless of the workout, its your effort that made you sweat.

That sweat can wreak havoc.

It makes your grip slippery - both dangerous and extremely annoying.  A little paper towel and some chalk will fix that.

It can cause your eyes to sting - that to me hurts the most.  Cause you gotta do one of two things - press on or stop and wash it out, and we don't stop, not for a little sweat.  And besides - headbands are still in, aren't they?  If you wear the headband, please, PLEASE - wear the wristbands too.

That same sweat is your gauge also.

If you poured heart and soul into that workout, you were sweating.  If your shirt is covered, your probably in that heaping mess on the floor, panting, trying desperately to catch your breath - and wondering where someone put all the oxygen at the same time.  And no - you don't have hyperhidrosis (excessive perspiration).  The sweat was there when you struggled - at the beginning when things may have started to get difficult, got difficult, and at the end, when the workout was finished and you were done.  The sweat was there to cool you off.   

A little sweat is a good indicator of how you are doing and how you did.  Less doesn't more and more doesn't mean less.  Take Teddy Roosevelt's following quote:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Who cares how much you sweat, just sweat and achieve . . not a bad tag line - so do it.

-Coach Tony