During high school I missed out on the soccer team my freshmen year, I was not good enough. So I needed something to do until baseball season started.
I stumbled upon powerlifting, easy pretty much all you had to do was show up and like to workout. I was a teenage guy, I had nothing but time to workout. It wasn’t until later that I realized the team was known on the state and national scene as the premier program, having accumulated state and national titles. I later found out just showing up only got you in the building.
My first two years I barely hung onto junior varsity but the summer before my junior year I spent almost everyday in the weight room. I finally cracked into the varsity level and by my senior year I was team captain and helping lead the team to state champions and 2nd in the nation. We had a hell of a team, some that I’m still friends with today.
Some speculated steroids, because that’s the easy route. I can emphatically say wrong and have had tons of drug tests to prove it. The secret to this team was hard work. And more hard work! And even more hard work!! We out worked everyone and took pride in it.
Also there was this man named Duane Urbina he was our coach and he was a man that could motivate. He could have asked anyone of us to run through a brick wall and we would have. He instilled in us and me a work ethic, taught us to set goals, and to uphold the standard of excellence that teams before us set. Ask anyone of us, he cared and so did we.
Could my teammates and I have worked out and gotten stronger without him, probably. Could we have learned these valuable lessons for this thing called life, maybe. Could we……. I for one am grateful and fortunate to say, No we were taught well.
Eventually I graduated and went onto college where I continued to powerlift and met many amazing and wonderful people along the way. I always carried with me the teachings of my coach. And then during physical therapy school, which was quite possibly the hardest thing I had done until that point, those lessons of hard work paid off.
Why do I share this?
Well I hear that he is retiring and it led to me reflecting on the past a bit.
Reflect on the lessons I learned while holding onto a barbell.
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Nothing is given to you, you want it work hard and earn it.
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You need someone in your corner to believe and say you can do it, even when the weight is heavy as hell and you don’t believe in you.
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Sometimes the answer is as simple as going into motion. You can’t lift the weight if you never take it off the rack.
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Squatting with weight on your back is synonymous with life. Things happen that push you down to a low point and you have to push hard to stand back up. You gotta fight for it.
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Sometimes you are not the best or the strongest but effort combined with determination can do wonderful things. Much like the deadlift, things in life seem impossible to move but determination wins out most often.
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If you are not prepared or get complacent, you might get hurt.
Some of the calmest moments I’ve had have come when I’ve been lifting some heavy weight. You tune everything and everyone out, it’s just you and the weight. Funny thing is I can remember this vividly being in a packed noisy venue and on stage with a barbell on my back lifting for a spot on the awards stand but unable to hear any of the noise. Just me and the barbell for those few seconds.
Lifting weights is very therapeutic because it clears the mind, releases endorphins which make you feel better, and give you a sense of accomplishment.
Like I have shared about my coach, the guy in my corner. Maybe you need someone in your corner. Maybe someone that simply says “yes you can do it.”
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