Below is our next blog post in our Core Values blog series, written for you by Coach Matt! Enjoy the read!
Dedication
We work hard. We commit everything we have to achieving our goals. We succeed and never quit. We do not take the easy way out. We continue to pursue excellence in every facet of our life.
“Greatness is a lot of small things done well” – Ray Lewis
The beautiful thing about being dedicated to a goal is that it makes every decision much simpler. “Does this get me closer to my goal, or does it move me further from my goal?” It does not just make the right choice simpler to find, it can also leave that decision easier to make.
The key to dedication comes in deciding on your goal. What is your goal? Is it a body weight clean? a pull-up? an unbroken Fran? Maybe it’s a longer term goal, or a less concrete goal. It doesn’t matter. This isn’t about setting attainable goals, or even writing out a timeline to achieve them. This is about the fuel that fires the drive towards your goal.
Once that goal is set, we cannot take our eyes off of it. Every morning we wake up becomes another chance to fight anything that may get in our way. Every day we get to make a hundred small decisions that put us closer and closer to our goal.
Some people will rely on motivation to get into the gym. Motivation is a pretty picture with artistic words over scantily-clad Instagram fitness models.. but this is a short-term solution. Dedication is a lifestyle. Motivation is skipping dessert at a work lunch because they got the lemon-tart Italian ice, which is gross anyway. Dedication is knowing that you have to increase your protein at dinner because you didn’t hit your macros at that work lunch. Motivation is a short spurt of a sparkly pixie dust that gets you excited to crush the workout that you’re already good at. Dedication is a warpath that leads through the dark corners of your brain that are well beyond your comfort zone. Motivation is deciding to scale sit ups for pull-ups because your hands kind of hurt and you’re going to be in a bathing suit next weekend. Dedication is working on your hollow hold before class starts because you know you lose tension on high-rep pull-ups.
I’m not saying that you should not fight to stay motivated, of course it helps make the whole experience more enjoyable, but I am saying that you should not rely on motivation. Rely on dedication. Like everything else we train, dedication is a muscle. At first it may be hard to tell the difference between motivation and dedication. Weak dedication could be fleeting. If, however, that goal remains constant over time, then you’ve found the source of your dedication. Use it. If you choose to dedicate yourself to the cause, the goal, the idea of a better you, then every decision already has an answer.
Dedication makes the “hard thing” easier. It gives purpose to whatever you have to suffer through. Inside the gym, or out, we choose to make the hard decision, if that is what leads us closer to our goal. Even if your goal has nothing to do with a physical accomplishment, I guarantee that learning to enjoy the discomfort of 13.1 will help you get closer to your goal. What we do with a barbell builds the strength and character to be able to withstand whatever may make us want to bail on our goals.
Find your goal. Dedicate yourself to pursuing it with excellence, and enjoy the process.
Oh, and spend more time in the hollow position.
New Strength Cycle- 1 Rep max Back Squat!
We are starting our new strength cycle focusing on our 1 rep max back squat. Getting stronger in this lift will carry over into essentially every other barbell movement we do here, and it will make your lower body stronger and more explosive when performing body-weight exercises involving running and jumping- which is a lot of what we do here. Since this will be a 1 Rep max cycle, things will be getting pretty heavy. Make sure whenever you are going for max weight to use a spotter. Also take into consideration things like how you’ve eaten, hydrated and slept over the past couple of days when attempting a max lift. You should feel prepared physically and mentally going into a heavy lifting session.
Strength WOD
Take 20 minutes to find a new 1 rep max back squat