Every now and then something happens at the gym that reminds me that I’m still working on getting stronger. I’m not there yet but I’m well on my way. Tonight was a tough cardio workout. It was 4 minute intervals, 5 rounds. 4 minutes of work which was 15 calories on the assault bike, 15 burpee box jumps (do a burpee, jump up on a box) and whatever was left of that 4 minutes you shuttle run between two cones. After that 4 minutes was up. we had 4 minutes of rest.
I live in Scale City. What does that mean? It means that I am not quite at the actual burpee stage which means I need to use the box I’m stepping up on to perform one. I’m also not jumping on boxes yet.
Did you notice I said ‘yet’? That means that I know with time I will be able to jump up on a box. It’s going to take some serious hard work on my part. Here’s the thing: I can back squat 115 lbs. I can dead lift 175 lbs. But that doesn’t mean I’m good at cardio. I get winded quickly because I’m still moving 257 lbs around. The point is that I’m still moving it around. I’m MOVING. I’m working harder than ever to get to the point where I can do a full and unscaled (RX’d) cardio workout.
I’m not gonna lie…. I think about quitting through these kinds of workouts about a thousands times. I imagine what it would feel like to tell the coach “I can’t do anymore.” I dream about cutting calories off when I’m biking or taking off reps of burpees I’m doing so I don’t have to do them all. Who’s going to notice anyway, right? It’s not like the coaches are watching me. They don’t know how many reps I’ve done.
You know who DOES know, though? Me. I have to go home and look myself in the mirror and know that I either did my best or I cut myself short so I could save a few deep breaths. If I’m not giving MYSELF the best how can I give someone the best of me? How can I tell someone who’s brand new to our 13 Stripes community that they can do this, that they can do one more rep, that they can fight through the voices in their own heads to get to the end of the workout… those wonderful words “Three! Two! One! and TIME!!!”
The harder we work, the better our results. Show up and show out. Does it hurt sometimes? Yes. Do I cry? Absolutely. Is it worth it? No doubt. AM I WORTH IT????? You bet your butt I am.
And so are you. Come workout with me. We’ll get through it together.
#fromcouchtofitness #mystandardsmyway #scalecitybaby #13stripesfitnessforlife