As promised I am here to discuss the way that we outsource our
emotions when we have no surrogate to pin them on. This is a tad more
challenging than loaning out your fears and insecurities to a trusted someone.
In reality what is happening is you have to step outside of yourself. Do you
ever think about that? I like the question that I believe I first read in one
of Tim Ferriss' books, "What would you do if you knew you could not
fail?" It's an interesting question in any regard but especially
intriguing when applied to sports. You see sports in general, but especially
competitive sports, have one of the fastest feedback loops that are available
to us to gauge effort, work ethic, raw talent, genetic potential, stoicism,
charity, heart, courage, tenacity, leadership... The list goes on and on and
on. Why? Because you basically get to live out a life's worth of decisions
every time there is a match, or meet, or exhibition. There is no sport that
this is more obvious in than weightlifting. There is no fancy equipment. There
are very few rules to cower behind. Come on this isn't soccer, we don't get
pitied for someone stepping on our toes and freaking out. (That'll get you
thrown out)
So lets reapply the question for our purposes, "What would
you do if you knew you could not fail...on the platform?" Would you pull a
world record snatch that no mater your weight class would be forever
unbeatable? Would you squat jerk 400kg? No! There's no way that would happen,
unless you had put in the work to get there.
What's the deal then? How do we keep from
shaking in our Romo's while on that glorious platform? The answer is right
there, no not there. I mean right there, where it says, "You didn't put
the work in." So the new question is this, "Is this a cop out? Is
Lance just too lazy to write something insightful because he is ready for
bed?"
Possibly.
Are you just copping out because you
aren't willing to accept that work is the fountain of success? Maybe.
Before anyone get's worked up about this
whole work thing I supposed I better define what I'm talking about in this
sense, because it's not just endless grinding away under a bar.
When I think of the work that goes into
making an olympic level lifter time under the bar is actually very low on the
list. The two things that are highest on the list are as follows. Trust in the
process, and having a cause/purpose and I'll tell you why.
When you trust a process to the level that
they do everything in your life conforms in some way. You eat differently, you
sleep with a purpose, you plan days around training and not the other way
around. You see your sport spilling over into things that seem irrelevant like
your religion and how you perceive it, granting you clarity. You trust the
process so much that you are willing to do anything to find the purest form of
said process with those who know it best. You become the perfect reflection of
the process because it has molded you.
Living a life like that can't be easy,
which is why you need a cause or purpose. There has to be something so
invigorating that floors you so much that you are willing to give your life for
it (figuratively speaking...sort of) or you're going to fold before you ever
even hear the bell for round one. One great example comes to mind that I saw on
lifthar8.com. Kirksman was talking about how many people believe that the only
reason that China wins is because they all use steroids. Undoubtedly there is
steroid use in every federation but his rebuttal was profound and I'm
paraphrasing of course, "No I don't think that is why they win. They are
winning because these people are given a chance to save their families."
In other words because of the way thing are set up over there weightlifting
gives them a way to keep food on a table that otherwise might have none. I
don't know about you but that sounds like a killer good cause. So for some it
is responsibility that put's fire in their bones. For others it's patriotism
that defines how they live, or God, or fame and fortune. Whatever it is you
have to have one.
So you guessed it the only way to step
outside of yourself when there is no one available to wear your emotions on
their sleeve for you. You had better have been living your life in such a way
that it culminates in an advantageous way. Without either of those two things
you're not getting 100kg over your head let alone 400kg.
Fortunately though this is the way that
everything in life works (at least by my assessment). If you want to have it
and be it then LIVE IT.
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