The Barbell

In my opinion, this is the greatest asset in the pursuit of your fitness. Time spent under a barbell may be the richest and most valuable training of your life. The barbell is always there waiting for you, waiting to make you better, waiting to give you a dose of reality. It will always be heavy, it will never lie, it will always remain constant. Life has many ups, and many downs, but a back squat will always be a back squat.

A great quote from a tremendous  blog (Iron and the Soul) by Henry Rollins reads “But 200 pounds is always 200 pounds.”  For me, these words sure do say a whole lot. Amongst all the struggles we have in our day, we can always come to the barbell and find peace. Some look at lifting weights as a chore. The more I find myself around it, the more I know it truly is a part of my day that is vital. This is my opinion, but I find it very simple:

Barbells make us better!

They can make us give everything we’ve got. At times, they make us fail. And, if you ask me, failure is great. If you can give everything you’ve got, and be OK with failing, you are living at your best.

So, lets have a little respect for these barbells. Let’s not drop empty barbells on the floor. Let’s not bang them into racks. Let’s not pull the weights off them and let them clank on the concrete. Let’s rack them properly. And, let’s pick them up each time like we care, like they are 500lbs. Let’s not pick up a barbell with a rounded spine. Let’s not drop it into the cups on the uprights, and let’s guide the bar down from overhead.

We are fortunate enough to have a beautiful place to train, and gobs and gobs awesome humans to train with. Lets ‘Hold the Standard’ with the barbells.

 

Danny Lesslie

@dannylesslie