Life’s Non-Linearities
I got to watch K-State football blank Texas today which is always enjoyable – I mean who doesn’t like to watch Texas lose in any sport? On the drive back I had time to ponder a variety of topics and, as usual, my mind drifted towards fitness and my own training. A couple of months ago I suffered a minor injury that kept me from squatting for about 2 months, and in that time I saw my squat drop 50 lbs. I’ve never been a great squatter to begin with so losing 50 lbs is beyond frustrating.
I’d love to jump right back into the thick of things and be back to a 100% within a couple weeks but this is the real world. The only thing I can do, right now, is to honestly assess where I am and make a plan to get better. Pretending or wishing I was stronger than I currently am isn’t going to change the reality. So that’s what I’ve done – I decided to squat relatively heavy every day (at least 4x/wk) rotating between front and back squat. I’m not doing a crazy amount of volume but simply trying to get my body used to moving weight again. I’ve also taken off the weightlifting shoes to work on flexibility during this time.
So what does this have to do with you? Well, nothing I suppose other than the fact that we all experience setbacks at one time or another. And when these kick you in the nuts it’s good to remember that progress for any endeavor is rarely linear. It would be nice if we could all set goals and pre-define our life such that we are making perfect progress towards those goals at any given time. Rarely is anyone so lucky. Instead, we struggle for every step towards the goal and sometimes we fall a few steps backward. But we don’t have to give up and nor should we. Goals aren’t worth achieving if they come easy – we celebrate success because we understand the journey it took to get there.
I’ve cut my 50lb squat deficit to about 30lbs and the goal is to be better than I was by the end of the year. I may or may not meet that time table but I do believe that I will eventually be stronger than ever and that’s progress…