Victory

My friend Brett Jones has a saying that always echoes in my head: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." It is as if Brett is always sitting on my shoulder whispering this into my ear whenever I set out to train. I see to logic in Brett's quote. Basically he is saying just because a person is capable of doing something, doesn't mean they necessarily should because they may have a price to pay later, if not immediately. Yeah, Brett's way of saying it is much shorter. 

Anyway, I agree with what Brett says. It makes sense. Until I start to want to do the thing I think I can even though I probably shouldn't. That's why I seem to hear Brett on my shoulder so frequently: I often start thinking I can do things I probably shouldn't. But then, I hear another voice - the one from my heart: "You can do anything. Just use good judgement." This is the voice that often wins! My heart cries for a victory. 

Yes, I'm a dreamer. I have always wanted to be Superman. But don't miss understand me yet. I believe I should be capable of doing anything as long as I want to do it and I use good judgement. To clarify, my definition of "anything" is anything I want to do. 

To be sure, there are things we probably shouldn't do like trying to perform an Olympic Snatch with 200 pounds when we haven't prepared our body to lift such a weight or practice such a technique. That would not necessarily be using good judgement. Could a person do that without training and knowing how to do it? Maybe. Maybe once. But there could be a price to pay. 

But that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about pushing yourself, seeing what you're made of, what you can do. I believe it is good to test your limits once in a while if for no other reason than to just feel alive. Yes it would be reasonable to always play it safe and train within your means. But where is the fun in that? While I do believe training should enhance your life and enable you to live life well when you're 80 years old. I also believe that it is good to feel alive in the present too. Besides, It can be good to expand your territory every-now-and-then. 

You can use good judgment and still push your limits. You can attempt to do physical tasks that others would only imagine and do them with reasonable safety.  My point is, sometimes pushing the envelope, pushing your limits, can make you feel like a conqueror. Don't miss this: We are conquerors, and sometimes we just need to conquer something. Sometimes we just need a victory. It can be good for the soul.

Okay, enough weirdness. Today's training was great:

Double bottoms up squats with 2 24k bells super-setted with pushup-burpees.

I did 100 of each in 30 minutes. I was stoked. Never done this before!

Followed it up with 10 minutes of velocity training on the Battling Ropes.

Have a great week!

Tim