BACK IN THE DAY, when I was involved in sports (high school) or military training (college), I knew what I was training for: A FIGHT.
At Penn State in the ROTC Special Warfare program, I was in a serious fight club – Thursday mornings were training jiu-jitsu with no-shit instructions on this is how you break someone’s arm, got it? Sunday mornings were intense with swim training, usually including some “lifesaving skills” that involved underwater wrestling, after a ton of fatiguing laps in the pool. Most other mornings were with the regular ROTC midshipmen, but it was always a battle to make sure you were at the front of the pack on a run or you could do the most push-ups. We were training to fight, and training was a fight every day.
It’s the same in high school sports – you practice and lift weights and run so that you can compete against another team, or individually against an opponent. As a football player, I had to be stronger than the kid in front of me. If not, right off the bat, you lose. Touchdown, other team. Battle lost.
Fast forward to today, and I feel the need to invent reasons to train. There is no more fight. As much as I try to provoke Ron the in the 6am class, nobody in the CFKI community is threatening me with violence. And I appreciate that! But where does that leave me with my training? What am I fighting for?
Peace.
As I get older and more mature (I’m sure some would argue that), I find reasons to train hard, like ultramarathons and long swims and CrossFit competitions – things to look forward to and be ready for. But they are just checkmarks on a list of accomplishments. So what?
Peace.
Maybe I train so that I can maintain my body in a war-like state, for peace. Maybe I train so that if someone does come to threaten my family, I am ready for it. Maybe I train so that if everything goes wrong, I am ready. Or maybe I train so that if my oldest son who is currently playing high school football wants to wrestle, I can take it to him, NO PROBLEM. That is currently not the case.
If you’re having a hard time getting motivated getting to the gym, think about WHY you’re going.
Are you training for an upcoming event? If so, you have that short-term motivation, and you’re probably crushing your gym time, nice work.
Are you showing up to the gym without motivation, maybe not showing up at all? Think about WHY you want to be there. What are you training for? What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to be ready for?
For me now it’s about life, and maintaining PEACE in my household and in my community. I train so that I can be ready physically and mentally to respond to any situation that might occur, so that I can maintain that peace. And it’s kind of fun to approach training in that way. Train for the unknown and unknowable. Train hard now, so that you can perform when it’s absolutely necessary.
So, what are you training for?
Peace out,
Ryan