Scaling Opinions

There’s a beautiful intangible with our training. It’s a sense of urgency mostly fueled by either real or perceived competition. We do these little things like start a clock and write scores on the board. The simple act of saying, “3, 2, 1.. GO!” does something for people.With the right mindset, this additive can be remarkably positive. With the wrong mindset, it can be just partially helpful and partially distracting at best. At worse, you miss the entire point of even getting in the car to go to the gym that day.

Stop.

Listen.

Every single word that comes out of our coaches’ mouths is calculated to guide every athlete to a specific relative experience. Listen. Let us help you. Most athletes can’t hear clear instructions amongst the blaring opinions about what weights to do in their own heads. These are men and women that miss the forrest for the trees and compete their way out of the context of training all together. They choose weights they know they can be successful with, they often go to light, or forego adapting skills all together.

No one cares what your score is. As a matter of fact, name the fastest time of the day for last Thursday’s workout. No one knows, because no one cares and it doesn’t matter. What does matter is if you do all the hard workouts for two years and pay all the money and aren’t any more capable than the same comfort zone you had twenty-four months ago.

There are times, many in fact, in which you should wrestle with the unknown in the gym. Give up control and knowing how it will be, and listen in to the context coach has for you. Until further notice, your coach has all the instructions you need.

If you’re winning workouts and aren’t doing them as prescribed, it’s time to reengage the intention of the day. No one cares. Get stronger, learn how to move, and plug-in because there are no prizes for scaling light and destroying the “competition.”

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach