Greetings!
About a week ago I was chatting with a gentlemen at the gym about some lower back and knee pain that had been troubling for some time, when I helped him experience an epiphany. While I was showing him a few stretches and corrective exercises we got to talking about his training style, previous experiences with exercise and his goals and we discovered that he had been doing the same style of training since high school (man was in his late 30's). He had always tried to be the biggest and strongest man in the gym, which he was both a very large and strong man as he was squatting upwards to 600 pounds the previous day. The only problem with his method was he really had no idea why he trained this way.
What I mean is every time he came to the gym, his only goal was to load up a lot of weight, work really hard and repeat the next day. Now, when your a 16 year kid, sure that is usually the typical M.O. of weight lifting, but as we get older priorities change. When I asked him about his current plot on the road map of life, I found out that he was married with three kids and worked at a job, which he was on his feet or traveling most of the day. So as I was stretching his hamstrings, I asked him how training like a power lifter was helping him in his overall daily life, especially since he was not actually preparing for any type of power lifting competition When I finished my question, he just looked at me for a minute with no answer. It took another minute and mediocre rationalization before he came to the simple conclusion; he had no idea why he trained the way he had been or how his results were helping him outside the gym.
Other than pure strength and power, which I'll agree is very helpful in real world situations, his training seemed to be doing more harm than good overall. Sure he could move a house, but his back and knees were so sore that he had to wear belts and wraps just to make it through the workout and than pop a few aspirin to relieve the excess pain afterwards. He didn't have any flexibility what so ever and his range of motion was very poor. To me that didn't seem like his hard work had been paying off in the grand scheme of things, but I'm not one to judge, I mean each to their own, but as I like to say; in most situations your training in the gym should be assisting in your day to day life outside of the gym.
After we finished up a few movements I helped paint a picture of his future self. In one scenario I had him at age 50, chronic pain in his knees and back and struggling to pick up the paper outside his door. In the second scenario, he was the fun grandpa wrestling around with his grand kids and getting out of bed without having it become a chore. That's when he achieved his epiphany. He realized that perhaps there were a few things in life more important than just being the Hulk. He'd like to be able to play ball with his son without having to take multiple breaks. He liked the idea of being the fit and active "old dude" as he put it as opposed to some of the older fragile gentlemen we see very often. Envisioning himself down the road helped him realize that perhaps he could alter his training methods in order to maximize his results outside the gym.
This man's situation is nothing but common place with men around his age, but sometimes we don't realize we've entered that "twilight zone" of training because we never set measurable goals or we don't realize that what we do in the gym can and should be benefiting us outside of the gym. Let it be known that I know many bodybuilders and power lifters that successfully take the results from their workouts and use them to benefit them very much outside of the gym. I don't mean to belittle any form of training or purpose that one style is the be all end all way. You can train in any style you wish, as long as you can justify what the end results are doing for you. In this situation, the results were doing more harm than good and if continued, could lead to a very painful future. I think it's important to find a style of training that you not only enjoy, but can benefit from once you step out of the gym.
In conclusion, I just wanted to share a story about a situation I see very often. Sometimes, we fail to set goals for ourselves and I don't just mean reaching a specific weight or achieving a certain poundage, but what is really important in our lives. Sometimes it's easy to overlook the simple things, things we take for granted now, but down the road, could become more of a task. Playing with your kids, enjoying your physical freedom, traveling around the world, any of these are great examples of aspects of our lives we may wish to obtain, which training can be a great tool to help reach these goals. There is no true method to attain all the goals, but sometimes we need to take a moment and re-evaluate what we are doing and how it is fitting into our goals and needs for our daily lives. I'm proud to have been able to help this man re-evaluate his methods and at least give him some insight as to what he could be getting out of his training and it's what I like to do when I meet with new clients: helping them enter a Regenesis of training in their lives.
Thanks for reading!
"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it" -Lou Holtz
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