Lift - It Helps [Advice and Warnings]

Don't Think - Feel

It's kind of like in Star Wars. You release your mind, and only then can you make it. Every time I put major weight over my head, or squatted it up from the hole, I did not think much of it beforehand. Rather, I had already put myself into a mindset in which I connected with my physical being and put my thoughts "on hold". Thinking before attempting to complete a major physical challenge you have never yet made will inevitably make you "think twice" as your brain sends you warning messages using its psychological defence system, which is exactly what it is for. That's why it is sometimes necessary to shut that part of your mind off in order to go about executing the task, since has much more to do with becoming one with the animal part of yourself rather than the thinking part. Once you have successful entered such a mindset and no longer experience interfering thoughts, you can proceed with your lift, and the chances are much higher that you will end up succeeding.

People who haven't done sports that requires personal growth will have very little understanding about controlling one's mind in order to become one with one's body, since very few other engagements require you to that, especially in the West. Talking for hours in the gym is NOT one of them.

"My mind was clear, and it made my body free and strong and able to squat several tons in total this session."

Rest - Don't Kill Yourself

A lot of people believe a good workout is when you spend every second either doing an exercise, jogging in between sets or hyping yourself up towards the next set by screaming at the top of your lungs so loudly everyone outside the facility walls hears you, and then you leave the gym drenched in sweat unable to think straight. That's CrossFit, and they're suicidal. They can go like that without issue for a few months. Then they die. So rest, but not too much. You're working towards a goal, remember? Today is not the day where you kill your body, and neither is tomorrow. The truth is that most pro-athletes actually take their lifting sessions very lightly, and only burst into animalistic energy a few times a week, if even that, when they want to attempt new personal bests. CrossFitters can do this every day, and they don't last very long, even even a year. Pro olympic athletes last until they die of old age.

"Sit down and stay for a while. Calm down, but don't lose focus."

Most people go to the gym to talk

And you should hate these people. Not only do they mess up your session by making noise to your left and to your right, but they lower the average morale of the entire gym environment, which should be that of a spartan training camp.

Talking also releases positive brain chemicals and tricks your brain into thinking that it is OK. It is only "OK" when you have done what you are there to achieve.

I had surpassed most guys, pound for pound, by the time I had been training at the lifting club for a year and a half. This is because I did not talk.

I personally witnessed people going at it with the same weights for the entire period of time I trained there without ever making a major leap. They talked about everything but the task they were actually there for: to make good lifts. I'm all for talking, but give it to yourself as a reward after you do what you need to do, because otherwise should leave, because your presence is ruining the environment.

"Shut the fuck up! I'm not joking!"

The Light Weights Miss You!

So tend to their needs! They need you as much as you need them. Why? You'll die if you don't go see the light barbell once in a while, because you will be dead after a few years of having believed you are Super-Man; you're not. Unless you're a CrossFitter (slang for being on suicide watch), you should not go at it heavy too much. Get off the stimulants so that you get a sensation of how you really feel, and if you feel like a sick sea cucumber, then take the day off. If you feel like a carrot the next, then take another day off. You should be able to fly out of bed without the help of stimulants. If you catapult out of bed in the morning, then, by all means, crack up the caffeine pills and head off to the gym, but if you insist on doing a PR even though you've done 3 this week and despite that your organs are failing and you feel like you have a constant fever, you should probably make a public announcement about this on Facebook so that everyone you know gets a chance to invest in several different kinds of CrossFit funeral service company stocks.

I was stupid myself, but not super stupid, as I am well on my way to doing a full recovery. But not everyone gets lucky, and people that REALLY ignore their bodies will end up screwing up their bodies for life as early as in their twenties! Have you ever known anyone that said they couldn't go with you to the gym or play a sport with you because their shoulder has hurt for 5 years, or that their back get fucked up once every two weeks? Well, that's them! These are the people that never listened to their bodies, worked out with terrible form every time, and now submit to the fate of their biological organisms because they were so stupid beyond words. Don't be like them.

Greed and iron don't mix, unless you are an average Russian teenage girl. If you don't treat your body the way it is supposed to be treated, you will go down on a slippery slope to a hell worse than a 90 year old man's. Weights can be the best thing to build up your body and reach monstrous levels of strength, but take too big of a bite of the cake too fast and it will be the best way to ruin it as well.

Be careful, my friends.

"Sometimes a 100-lb barbell is the best pussy around."