I can't say that anyone is a real inspirational person to me. Seems as if I find inspiration in nostalgia more than anything else. An old movie that I watched during a certain time of my life. Maybe a song that left a memory and a mark. Maybe it is an old video that someone made "several years ago" that hit me at the exact right time with the exact right meaning that I needed to hear. I have done a pretty good job of hiding my pain levels from everyone around me for the last several months. When I train with the guys on Sundays I can normally train and they won't even have a clue that I'm in pain. I can step inside the gym or the back room and just "let go" for a moment and I can go back outside with them as soon as I can compose myself. When we deadlift I normally just do low rep sets where I crank up the ACDC to a level that nobody can hear me making noises as I stand up, I can just do my set, loaded with a ton of adrenaline, and walk back to my seat before anyone knows how much I hurt. I'm good with turning on and off the adrenaline when needed...I always have been and sometimes it has gotten me into trouble. Normally, I edit out these parts of my training videos but last week I came to the gym and I could barely stand. The bones inside my upper thighs hurt so much I could barely fight back tears. During warm-ups I was looking through my media player in the gym and I came to an old audio folder that ONLY contains audio files from Dave Tate and Chad Aichs. By the time I got to speed deadlifts, Dave was up and he had the exact right words to say to get me through what I had to do. How do I define being Locked In? When failure is no longer an option...

Clint Darden
Tagged: Coaching Logs

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