“But I never had no problems cause my body’s pretty strong”

We hope you enjoyed the first week of our website. 70’s Big is a lifestyle worth living. It requires a lot of hard work in training and eating, but the lessons learned from such hard work resonate in life.

Click “Read more” to see an article on this topic that was originally written for Melissa Byers’ blog “Byers Gets Diesel“.

Do Hard Things

Justin Lascek

I’ve trained here at Wichita Falls Athletic Club since I arrived in January and have been fortunate enough to have Rip’s coaching eyes on me. I haven’t had any coaching in weight training since high school, and that early coaching wasn’t at the caliber of Rip. I’ve exponentially become a better coach and lifter since receiving the concise, efficient methods that Rip has groomed and utilized through years of experience.

Within the first month of being here, I actually trained with Rip while he coached me. Keep in mind I didn’t know Rip then as well as I do now. I’ve seen him train numerous times since, but this was the first time I experienced what he goes through when he trains.

I had been awake that morning since I opened the gym at 6:00 AM. I trained in the manner of the “Starting Strength” protocol (a novice linear progression) by squatting, bench pressing, and power snatching. Throughout the day I coached a class and a few individual sessions. It was after 11:00 PM when Rip started training, as is his custom. Rip planned to clean and press while coaching me on the push-jerk. Before we started I was already drained; dead if you will.

Rip had already started warming up, and I could almost feel him crackling and creaking. He is not a particularly old man; however he was a competitive powerlifter for a decade and has been through all kinds of comically horrible injuries. Being a powerlifter (and injury prone) is an incredibly different situation with an incredibly different demand on the body than someone who is simply training for fitness. In other words, when Rip warms up, it looks like an incredibly painful endeavor.

So, what was I going to do? Tell him I was tired and sleepy?

I went and got my lifting shoes.

When you watch Rip lift, you can see that he is in pain. His face contorts like twisted leather and as he struggles to lockout each press, his grimace darkens with intensity and concentration. His right elbow and left shoulder cannot lockout very well, yet he presses nonetheless. When Rip locks a press overhead the best he can, he lets the bar fall to the ground. He immediately walks away from the bar, and sometimes mutters an obscenity while squinting his eyes closed before he opens them as wide as he can. It’s the kind of thing a person would do if they are experiencing immense pain.

“Does every rep hurt like shit?” I ask him.
“Yes. Every fucking rep.”
He makes a note in his log book, and says over his shoulder, “I haven’t had a pain free workout in twenty years.” And he hasn’t. I’ve seen his workout logs from that long ago.

Imagine every rep in your workout being one of the more painful experiences of your life. Imagine knowing that it’s going to be that painful every time you step towards the barbell. Imagine having to actively ignore the current and future pain you are and will experience every set. Imagine doing that for every workout. Now imagine doing that for twenty years. A lesser man would have given up long ago. And that’s the point.

No, I’m not here to build up any kind of legend that might be Mark Rippetoe. I’m breaking him down to what he simply is; someone who does something really fucking hard on a consistent basis knowing that it is going to be really fucking hard before he does it. This concept is infinitely important to us all.

First, we should never avoid doing something (like training) when we know it will suck. Avoiding doing something that is hard makes you a coward and you can never experience or learn anything valuable by being a coward.

Next, by convincing ourselves to do something that is hard when we don’t want to, we are growing. We are displaying a quality of strength that will correlate and resonate far from the barbell.

Lastly, by overcoming hard obstacles on a consistent basis, we set ourselves up efficiently for success. Our thoughts formulate our feelings, our feelings compose our emotions, our emotions are exhibited through actions, and our actions define who we are. If we can structure our thoughts in a successful mindset, one that strives towards success regardless of the obstacle, then it makes us a better person. One of the best ways to train to do this is to do something that is really fucking hard. And then do that on a regular basis.

When you skip doing deadlifts at the end of the workout because they are hard, you are a coward. When you give up on trying to grind through a press, you are quitting. And you’re sure as hell capable of training if you are experiencing pain. There is a difference between injury pain and regular pain. There is a difference between hard and less hard when you can choose the former. This is the difference between a chickenshit and a Man.

If you don’t want to listen to me, you could ask Rip; just don’t be surprised when he rolls his eyes.