by Michael Stanwyck
I drive a great old Toyota FJ40 (it’s funny to me to call a car made in 1980 old — it’s in my lifetime!), a little run down but full of awesome character. Red paint job, white roof, huge 31″ off-road tires, turbo diesel engine; just a heck of a lot of fun. There are also a few things about it that I’d change if I could — it’s got some rust that needs attention, some of the gauges don’t work and little nagging electrical problems abound.
Even though it’s great, I used to treat it like crap. I’d throw trash on the floor, wouldn’t wash it and wouldn’t really clean it out. I figured it was kind of run down and someday, when I fixed it up, replaced the broken parts and repainted it, I’d take care of it. You know, when it finally mattered.
I’m not sure what happened, but one afternoon I was parked in the supermarket parking lot, throwing another piece of trash on the floor and it hit me — NOW is when it matters! Now is the only time I’ve got. There is no “someday” when things would be worth taking care of. It was worth taking care of because this was the only “someday” there ever was going to be. It was like a bolt of lightning. It’s worth taking care of because it’s worth taking care of. I was dressed to go to a meeting in about an hour and a half, but I raced home, stripped off my suit and cleaned the heck out of that car!
Now you can imagine, with 31″ tires, cleaning the roof can be a pain. I figured that it was so high no one was going to see it anyway, so I didn’t need to bother. Then BOOM, another bolt of lightning. How many other places in my life did I not take care of because I thought no one would see them? Doesn’t it matter that I know they’re there? I climbed up on my hood and scrubbed the roof until it shined.
Are there parts of your life you treat like this? Like someday, when it’s worth taking care of you’ll put the effort in? Let me tell you, it’s worth it now because this is the only someday you’ll ever have. Why would you want to wait to enjoy fully everything that you’ve got?
Incidentally, the very next day I stood in my second floor office and looked out of my window. Right at the roof of my car that no one ever sees.
Do you treat your body this way?
Coaches Notes:
- This is going to be more challenging than you think.
- It is meant to be heavy, but you still want to be able to to string reps together.
- This will be a mentally though WOD, as you will constantly need to keep pushing.
- Really focus on your breath during your :10 rest, to ensure you will be able to give it your all during your :20 of work.
- Power cleans will be more challenging than anticipated because you will have fatigued your posterior chain during your wall balls, which will be required during your power clean.
- As you will be fatigued when you get to your power cleans, really focus on your form and reset your back before every rep. You will be need to focus on hip drive to elevate the barbell.
- Total repetitions for the whole workout
