To twist the immortal words of Tatu from Fantasy Island...
The house has taken my attention, like it or not, for the better part of four months now. Got the big stuff finished last weekend: workers in the house last Friday til Midnight and until 11pm Saturday. And yes, I'm proud to say, I did set up my living room furniture and dining room furniture--for the most part. Now they're just dragging their feet on the punchlist...
Here are my thoughts in no particular order, based on what I've experienced this year so far, that I'm running by a few coaches who have some years on me:
- Life is short and priorities change. You're a young man when you're 24. You're a man at 34. If you are still chasing "the glory" at 34 that you were at 24, you may need to re-evaluate your priorities.
- Like it or not, your hormonal profile, recovery ability, interests, and responsibilities change between 18 and 34. If you don't change your behavior to accomodate these changes, chances are at the very least you're missing out on all that life has to offer and at the very worst you probably have a social disorder/disease.
- Fifteen years of heavy lifting, whatever form it takes, is probably all you have, unless you're a super genetic [possibly] juiced up freak.
- Nobody but you cares about your accomplishments/records/etc. Somebody will always better you and be better than you and somebody will always be worse than you.
- At the end of the story, the tortoise beat the hare. He just kept plodding along and wasn't distracted by all the...distractions (profound, I know). He kept the finish line in his [mental] sights.
- Life's activities are a combination of strength-endurance and power-endurance. Have high levels of both, and the physicalites of life will be relatively easy.
- Time is irreplaceable and precious. I've spent wayyy too much time allowing my training schedule to dictate my life. I think it's about time to work my training schedule into my life instead of vice versa.
- Olympic lifting is a young man's game. I am no longer a young man.
- Olympic lifting can longer be the priority it is. I am on the verge of making a huge transition in one of my businesses and that requires my attention.
So, my right knee doesn't like squatting right now. After taking last weekend completely off from all lifting and Z, my knee cooled off. I performed some bodyweight squats this week and inflamed it. I am running out of time, patience, and desire to figure out how to fix it so I can squat heavy. I no longer hurts to perform pistols, so I hit those this week along with primarily KB lifts.
Today, I capped off the week with the following:
A. Deadlift, barefoot, alternating mixed grip: 245/5, 335/5, 385/5, 405/5; ~3 mins rest
B. Double KB Clean and Press: 2x32kg, 10 sets of 5
C. 2 Hand Swings w/48kg: 7 sets of 10 every minute on the minute
That's all I felt like doing. I have to teach at the RKC next weekend so I need some KB time. The good news is that I feel like my conditioning is up so I shouldn't have any problem while there.
More thoughts on Z, O-lifting, and life as they come...
posted by Geoff Neupert at
1:49 PM
4 Comments:
Wow. That was powerful Geoff. I must say I disagree with you somewhat on competing in a sport you love later in life. Elite athletic performance is for the 30 and under crowd, that I know. But competing in sport after 30 and 40 can have very positive results in your life if not taken to the extreme. Perhaps that is the curse of the eternal athlete; once an athlete always an athlete. It is difficult to mentally and spiritually believe you can do something and then have your body respond otherwise (trust me, I know). And yes, priorities do change and should change as we enter a different part of our life. But, competition withthin the right context, can bring immense value and meaning to your life. It can continue to teach you about self control, discpipline, goal setting, patience and most importantly, PATIENCE. I think it humbles you because you appreciate so much what you were once able to do as you reflect back on your athletic career. It also teaches you how short life is and how fragile it is as well.
I ran a track meet last weekend, won my heat in the 100, but pulled my hamstring in the 200. Now if I had stuck with the 100 I would have been fine; that race is my distance and what I'm good at. The problem is that my EGO got the best of me and convinced me to run the 200, a race I don't do and haven't remotely trained for. So in once sense I feel as you get older you constantly need to refine and be realistic about your goals, but that does not mean completely abandoning all athletic goals. It just mean we must refine them and work them into our life as you said, and not work our life into our training schedule.
I hear where you're coming from, but, if I compete at something, it's not only against myself, but against whom I perceive is the best. So, I always swore I'd never be that guy who is a Master's National Champion (there's a story behind this...I'll most likely share at another time) or who's still chasing the dream at all costs when he's beyond his prime--that's called self-delusion.
I totally agree on the patience/humility thing though.
Good point. It is easy to deceive ourselves and convince ourselves that we are something we are not. I suppose I never achieved at sprinting what you achieved with Olympic lifting. For me to get back to my old times is more realistic than for you. Either way, sprinting like O lifting is a young man's sport. I guess I just love the feeling of sprinting fast and feel I have some more good years in me of competing.
I agree with Franz, once an athlete always an athlete. Just do it :) *insert Nike swoosh*
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