We Don’t Do Birthday Parties

I find that men and women can get extremely picky about what they don’t want to do in the gym. A common declaration is, “I don’t want to use the barbell” or “My ego doesn’t need to go heavy anymore.” While I’m hearing these suggestions and where they come from, I’d like to challenge them.

Let’s start with an important premise before we move forward. It’s very rare that someone seeks out training simply for the things that happen in the gym. People don’t sign up at DEUCE to do pull ups, but they do sign up at DEUCE to lose weight (amongst other things). We do pull ups, because it’s a mechanism for a result like weight loss.  Most literally, the reason for getting a trainer or signing up at a gym is for some other reason. What brings people to the gym are things like weight loss or improved confidence or better energy or improved performance on the weekends or in sport.

Given that the reason for training isn’t the training itself, we ought to be open to the best practices available to produce the result we want. So, while I empathize with a lack of desire to use the barbell or going heavy, for example, these are important tools for things like developing posture and lean tissue.

Liking the barbell isn’t required to reap it’s benifits. Preferring hard work isn’t, either.

If we took this logic to homestead, we’d never do laundry despite our desperate need for clean clothes. Unless you’re in the gym just to have a good time, training isn’t about your preferences. There’s a reason we don’t do birthday parties…

Logan Gelbrich  

@functionalcoach