Rubes,
I ran across this article at T-Nation and thought of your thread.
A little "Food for Thought"
Read on:
Lesson #13: The gym shouldn't define you.
As sad as it sounds, for a few years, lifting weights was life for me. It's the first thing I thought about when I woke up, and the last thing I thought about before falling asleep. If I wasn't training athletes or clients or lifting myself, I was reading or writing about lifting. It absolutely consumed me.
And, much like the "newbie gains" we experience when we first pick up a weight, this worked for me for a while. The more I did, the more I needed to do. As I kept setting the bar higher for myself, the only way to improve seemed to work longer.
This year, though, I came to some profound realizations. I was really getting burned out, and was basically working longer because I didn't know how to work smarter. What once had been a passion was now something that consumed me to the point of exhaustion. And although I still enjoyed training, had it not been for a great training crew at South Side Gym, I probably wouldn't have been able to get motivated enough to make any progress.
Over the next several months, I put a lot of changes into place, most notably relocating to Boston to be involved with an exciting new facility and be closer to family and friends (not to mention Fenway Park). I cut back the number of hours I spent training clients and consolidated to more group training so that I could focus more on continued professional development through reading, writing, interacting with other coaches, and traveling to seminars.
I still answer all my emails and forum inquiries, but I just concede that people can wait a little longer for their free advice. Training is as fun and productive as it's ever been. I needed to take a step away from the gym in order to get better in it, as I'd hit the point of diminishing returns on my time investment.
I met Dan John back in January in Washington, D.C., and we chatted on the phone for the first time sometime in July. He probably doesn't even remember the conversation, but it really stuck out in my mind. Dan is a guy that really "gets it."
We were in a deep, meaningful discussion about lifting heavy stuff or something to that effect and sharing some good laughs. At one point, Dan asked me if I could hold on for a second. "Sure," I said. As I'm listening, I hear him ask his daughters if they have everything they need, tell them he loves them, and kiss them goodbye — while I'm still on hold all the way across the country.
Ask yourself, "How would I feel if I was put on hold for that 30 seconds?" Then, ask yourself what you would've done if you were Dan John. I, for one, was delighted to be put on hold because it made me realize just why Dan "gets it" and why he's been so successful as a lifter for as long as I've been alive.
At that point in my career, I probably would have just waived to my kids on their way out the door and mouthed "goodbye" because I was too fired up about deadlifts or whatever to realize what was really important.
I also remember Mike Boyle telling me that the critics don't bother him; all that matters at the end of the day is what his daughter thinks of him when they're playing Candyland. Pretty good perspective coming from a guy who's trained more professional athletes than you can possibly imagine.
Look at all the best in the business and you'll see that they have a good appreciation for the balance in life. The gym might have made them famous, but they don't allow it to define them — and they've all gotten better and better at what they do in spite of the fact that they still allow themselves to enjoy the important things in life instead of just thinking about the gym all day.
On one hand, I'm frustrated to think of all the unnecessary sacrifices I've made along the way because I overlooked the important things too often. I've missed time with family, ignored opportunities to become more well-rounded, and wasted away relationships that could have been. On the other hand, I'm excited for the future, as I've realized that I can have my cake and eat it, too — and continue to get better as a coach, writer, and lifter at the same time.
So, while the "ordinary folks" in the population make their New Year's resolutions to get fit in 2007, ask yourself if your best resolution — as a hardcore gym rat already — would be to take a step back and reevaluate your priorities. Chances are that learning how to "turn off the hardcore" sometimes is exactly what you need to make more progress in the long run.
About the Author
Eric Cressey, M.A., C.S.C.S., is a sought-after coach for healthy and injured athletes alike at Excel Sport and Fitness in Waltham, MA.
