War at the Rack

I recently finished a book (The War of Art) and was at a meeting in which the topic was ‘getting ready for battle.’ It got me thinking real quick about how much we learn in the gym and how the physical battles prepare us for life in other realms…

I'm often intrigued by my fellow brothers in the iron game and wonder what is driving them. There is often very little glory in the sports of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Most of us toil away for years in garage gyms and warehouses or with our hoodie and headphones on in the corner of Globo Gym. Why?

It's Personal

It's a personal battle each and every time we step into the gym. Breaking personal records, stepping on to a bodybuilding stage—these are the things that make us stretch and reach a part of our subconscious that we were previously unaware.

We know that we will never wake up pain-free. It's a choice that all athletes make once they're out of high school. The average person would look at this as crazy; we look at it as a right. The way you train and the way I train always has us on the verge of physiological and psychological injury, but we know that it makes us a better person in every other area of our lives. In the heat of battle at the rack, we become better businessmen, better athletes, better husbands, better friends, and better fathers.

Prepare for a Battle

We know that each and every time we get ready for the gym to train, there is battle on the horizon. Some days we win and some days we lose, but we come out better all the same. The rack teaches us the principle of ‘delayed gratification.’ Sometimes we will train a whole year for just twenty more pounds on the bar, a whole year for just one more pound of muscle the next time we step on stage. What in the hell else would anyone in their right mind do for such a large investment of time to have so little to show for it? But to us, it isn't little…

We learn to fail over and over again. At the rack, we've learned to be miserable. Through dieting, we've taught ourselves to push through to the end, to succeed despite being uncomfortable.

We've learned that there isn't any such thing as fearless, but rather we feel the fear and march straight into it, learning the principle of ‘fear nothing.’ And once you succeed while marching into the fear, there isn't anything else that you can’t do in the world.

Doomed

Friends and family members are there at every turn to tell us to stop. They say ‘we train too hard' and that we're 'too hard on ourselves.’ People will always be there trying to drag us back down to the land of the average, the land of the lizard brain. And we know that if we pay it credence, if we listen for even a second, we're doomed.

The war at the rack has taught us the value of seeking out the wise, the ‘teachers’ who know more than us, who have been there before. We know that we can only get so far by ourselves.

Strong(er)

We know that it is far better to be in the game rather than sitting on the sidelines wishing and hoping that we could ‘be that strong’ or ‘get that ripped.’ Our bodies will be worn and beaten at the end of the road, but our spirits will be formed and our minds will be steel. Where else in the world could you learn this and become a champion?