Someone asked me one time why training can occasionally leave us feeling a little beat up.
Now, let's not get things confused: that's not the goal. We cannot chase the constant feeling of being rundown and ragged at all times. That's a quick way to make no progress and can eventually lead to things like injury and even hormonal imbalances. The goal of human movement is to improve our lives. We should chase proficiency of movement, proper mechanics, and actually learn how to better utilize what we have.
Along the way though, some bumps and bruises are normal. When you take part in any physical style of training, you are going to eventually manifest some physical changes in your body. Whether that be losing or gaining weight, getting stronger, getting faster, more explosive; whatever it is, you're demanding something of your body every time you walk into the gym.
Yes, sometimes we will be sore.
Yes, sometimes we will be tired.
And sometimes things will compound. We don't sleep well for a few nights, we don't eat enough or drink enough water. Maybe our kid is up sick or we get into a fight with our partner. Outside factors can compound into making us feel a little more rundown then we want to when we're in the gym.
Yes, sometimes we will be sore.
Yes, sometimes we will be tired.
But this is never the intention of training and shouldn't be. We won't get anywhere constantly chasing the beat down feeling of fatigue.
So, I told this person that feeling tired sometimes is part of training, but is it consistent for him? He said it wasn't. I asked him how training had been lately. He had hit a couple PR's.
He had reached a point where he was able to do something he never had before, which means his body encountered a stimulus that it had never run into before. He demanded something new of his body and it had reached a point where it could deliver.
Yes, sometimes we will be tired.
Be sure to pay attention to how you're feeling--always--but remember that we are doing something that is hard here. You will eventually ask something of your body that it's never done before. That would make anyone tired. Hitting a new PR places such a demand on a persons Central Nervous System that fatigue afterwards isn't a sign of doing something wrong; it's just how we feel.
But also consider how much this feeling of being just a little bit tired the evening after a good workout or a PR is hit... consider how that feels. There's some pride there, right? We know that we did something. People want to know that they did something when they leave the gym. Unfortunately, lots of people out there have people walk into their gyms each day and don't do anything real with them. They're just spinning their wheels and making it look sexy... and that does not equal progress.
Training will, at a certain point, be difficult.
And it should be.
That also makes it worth it. The feeling overcoming something difficult and achieving a goal is one of the best feelings in the world. That's why people jump around, yell, shout, scream, cheer, or fall down and weep when they hit a PR. It's a sign that we're actually doing something. We're actually making progress. We're actually headed that way.
Do your best to listen to your body. Avoid unnecessary fatigue, but don't throw it all away when we're sore after a workout.
I don’t like new and nice things.
Never have.
I've used the same pair of knee wraps for the last two or three years.
Something being worn down and torn up a bit is a sign of progress, in my mind.
There’s been some work put in and the time under tension has occurred here.
A coupla’ dings and bruises?
Some rips and pulls?
Few scars never hurt nothin.’
Just shows that work has been put in.
Progress has been made.
Anything that’s pristine has never been through the work.
Probably never tasted any dirt or sweat.
When was the last time those shoes your worried about keeping clean took you on an adventure?
So, yeah, I probably need new knee wraps.
But...
Maybe just one more squat session with these.
... or two.
Stay Strong.
- Coach Bean
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