You Don’t Have a Choice

The juxtaposition of how critical and how corny this stuff can be kills me sometimes. I’ve always maintained that everything that’s corny is also true. It’s my view that you don’t have a choice in the matter when it comes to a pursuit of movement skill and capacity.

The trouble is that the folks that need to forego common misconceptions about squatting heavy, learning gymnastics, and breathing hard aren’t in the headspace to listen anyway. My experience coaching Laurel (pictured above) the other day, however, was too good not to share.

Like every one of you, Laurel has built a brand for herself, at least in the the coaches’ eyes. I’ve heard magnificent stories of her effort and attitude, and was excited to see for myself in the Monday 4:30PM GPP class. Her “brand” is one that contributes to the environment, she’s here to learn, and she makes everyone better. This brand is also known as the brand of the ideal student.

Based on fitness level, age, societal norms, and the like, she’s the last person you’d think that should be concerned about a barbell complex on a Monday afternoon. However, there she was deadlifting, power cleaning, hang cleaning, and jerking a barbell for the first time.

She didn’t bring big muscles, a slew of past trendy LA gym experiences, or save-face-excuses and war stories to class. The only thing she brought was herself and an incredible attitude. The corny side of this almost demands rolling of the eyes, except Laurel is in the gym getting better and those rolling their eyes aren’t.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach