Enjoy the Ride

“Smile, breathe and go slowly.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

In a key scene of the 1982 science fiction movie “Blade Runner”, Roy Batty, a genetically engineered robot with super-human power but a fixed lifespan, faces his creator and demands more life. His maker tells him that it is impossible to enhance his operating-time and thus rejects Roy’s request with the words: “The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long and you have burned so very, very brightly.” Subsequently, Roy kills him ...but that’s not the point.

Be  a light that burns for twice as long.

The point is: don’t be the light that burns twice as bright. Don’t be Roy Batty in your training approach. If you are not making a living from your sport then your first aim should always be to enjoy what you do. Joy in terms of sports and training comes from having fun, making progress, feeling better, improving your health and keeping an aesthetic body (whatever that means to you). How you prioritize these goals is up to you but you will enjoy neither of those for a long lapse of time if you always enter the gym with a “go hard or go home” attitude. The goal should be to enjoy your passion for a lifetime. I, for my part, want to be able to step on the mat in my seventies, I want to be able to hit the gym and do chin-ups, deadlifts and squats while my contemporaries attend information events for the retirement home, and I want to be able to kick some youngster’s ass and leave them staggered with a smile on my wrinkled face. Steady, healthy and sane progress is key. I don’t want to burn twice as bright. I don’t want to be Roy Batty.

In his book “Interventions” strength coach Dan John nailed it when he wrote: “Really, the bulk of my rantings […] centers around this lunatic idea that somehow putting yourself next to death’s door is good for you. Oh, I know the T-shirts: Pain is weakness leaving the body. That which doesn’t kill me makes me strong. When did simple questions like, “I want to feel better; can you help me?” or “I would like to lose a few pounds; what should I do?” turn into battlefield tactics? I’ve never seen a T-shirt that said, “I want to walk to the mailbox on the day I die.”” Dan John is certainly not an advocate of sissy workouts and neither am I. There is nobody who appreciates a good old set of heavy high rep squats more than I do. But there is a thin line between hard work and insanity. In practice this means that although I like to sprint from time to time, I am very aware that my training journey is a marathon and not a 100 meter dash. I want to have fun. I want to enjoy my favorite pastime with a playing mindset. And yes, for me, having fun includes making myself suffer during workouts from time to time. But my overriding goal is getting better, not getting done.

Dan John. Certainly not an advocate of sissy workouts.
(from: http://www.t-nation.com)

If you now feel that this is just some pussy talk and you will go all Ronnie Coleman on your ass anyway that’s fine with me but I have another hint for you: injury management. Currently, I am recovering from a shoulder injury. Six months no bench press. Six months rehab. Six months no progress but a huge step backwards. The reason for my injury you ask? I progressed too fast. Short before the injury happened I increased my workload on the bench press over 15 percent in a rather short amount of time. It was awesome and I soon turned to tunnel vision ignoring all the warning signals my body gave me. My exercise form got from bad to worse and so did my recovery time. My body tried to tell me but I didn’t listen and, to use the trade mark words of two popular YouTube personalities, eventually snapped my shit up. 

Injury management is crucial to long term success. If you always work on your limit, chances are you will injure yourself sooner rather than later. If you are constantly injured your progress will (spoiler alert!) stagnate. If you stagnate you will never reach your full potential. And that what it is all about, realizing your full potential. 

Smile
(from: http://www.graciemag.com) 

Don't pound the mat with your fists if you get tapped or you lose at a sparring session. Don't curse if you couldn't increase your max on the bench press. It impresses nobody. We all get frustrated from time to time, that only shows a certain commitment but don't let your happiness depend on the result of your current training. Just be happy to be able to practice something you love. Have you ever realized that the gym's badasses usually are the most relaxed guys (and gals) in there? The ones smiling for no reason. "Smile", that was always the reply of my first martial arts instructor to the question what his favorite technique was. Back then I thought this was just some smartass answer. Today, I realize that that's liberation from the ego. That's enjoying something simply for the sake of enjoying it. There will always be good and bad days. Days on which you master a new technique and improve your deadlift performance and, on the other hand, days on which everything sucks. But remember: the only bad workout is the one that didn't happen. Develop a playing mindset, a fundamental attitude of joy. This way your training will always be a source of happiness and you won't become the light that burns twice as bright but the one that burns twice as long; the light which eventually surpasses the former with ease and a smiling face. Enjoy the ride.