It’s always something, isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times I have felt tweaks, aches and pains and repeat that very same line “it’s always something… isn’t?” I wish I could tell you it gets easier but it most certainly does not. I wish I could tell you that the smarter you get at therapy the easier your training will be. I wish I could all you that after being injured life will balance out and be fair for once and you wont suffer a new set back. As my back is feeling better than ever and my bicep is finally looking like I used to lift, my knee is really bugging me. I moved a little wrong on the GHR and I’ve had a nagging yet distant pain in my left meniscus. Although it is far from a serious injury, it is one of those small pains that can pepper your day with frustration and doubt. I’m writing this, aside from very needed mental therapy, to remind you and myself, that shit is only going to get harder.

I’ve been out of the game of real training for quite some time and I’m feeling the aches of a new born lifter. I have to tell myself that although things will be better, they will most certainly be much harder. I have to rebuild something I have put together and destroyed over the years. Trust me, I wake up some days with the “what’s next” face and no amount of cold brew drown. I wake up with new tweaks and aches I never had before my back injury. I have to replace and remold the mind set of an insane person and chisel it down to a refined piece of perseverance. This are all very real feelings and day to day reminders for me. So I approached this new block with the same outlook I had for my back: patience, avoid pain triggers and remain positive with the work I can do. I took my event day as revisiting some implements I had to avoid due to bicep. So although the knee is currently taking some squats out of my program, I hit some post bicep surgery PR’s with a new yoke speed time, 150 pound farmers and my old friend the keg carry. Keeping the sets low, the weight light and the discipline high, Saturday was my most successful event day in many months. Won the day, finished strong, no knee pain during events and most of all… I left the training session with a very competitive mindset which I had missed so, so, so much.

Events:

• yoke 4 sets for 50ft (505, 555 belt less then 555 with belt for a PR at 6.7 seconds)
• farmers 4 x 50ft (150# each hand)
• keg carry 6 x 50ft (keg is 175#)
• single leg RDL 4×8/8
• suit case carry 3×150/150
• stir the pot 1×100/100

After Thoughts:

Every yoke, log, deadlift, curl, press, every training session and every time I belt up there is the echo of “what’s next?” It’s a bitter sweet cocktail of nostalgia, pain, tears, rage, hope, ambition with a splash of a sobering fear of re-injury that I know all to well. Don’t let them lie to you. Anyone who has ever been seriously injured has drank this bitter refreshment. It’s not whether if it’s your drink of choice or not, it’s what you do with this smorgasbord of emotions that proves your worth. Some days I wake up and slam this drink like a frat boy champ. Other days I spill it all over myself and spend the rest of the week crying over spilt self pity. I wish I could tell you it gets easier but it doesn’t and you know what? Good. Good, because I am being forced to trouble shoot, to be patient, to re invent and become crafty. I’ve had to re structure my training as an athlete and as a coach. I am being pushed down avenues I have never gone before, or harder yet, avenues I haven’t felt in years but dealing with them all over again as an older lifter and man. Things get harder, more detailed and the value of every training session, movement, weight and lift has grown exponentially. Knowing this value and this tumultuous relationship with pain has only made me that much more adamant in the quest to be as strong as I possibly can be. This roller coster of ups, downs and everything in between has no breaks sometimes. I really wish I could tell you it gets easier, but it’s like Dave Tate told me once… “It’s always hard” and you shouldn’t want it any other fucking way.

Never Stray from The Way

MDLP