Thursday, August 02, 2007

Serious.


I have always been a serious person. Too serious, really. Even when I was a kid I was always very serious about everything,and then I found gymnastics. It was like I had born to do this thing and I was as devout in my attention to every aspect of getting to be a better gymnast as the most fervent monk.Gymnastics fed this devotion with large amounts of adrenalin and glimpses into the ethereal worlds offered by intense training and intense mental focus on one thing.
So I was serious about my training and my life was, and is, still devoted to it( hence my way too much time spent talking and thinking about the details). And it's actually hard for me to remember than not everybody is as gonzo about their physical self and it's abilities as I am. ANd probably for the better but as Popeye said " I yam what I yam" and that so holds true for me.

It's actually better now than when I was a bodybuilder and getting to train with professional bodybuilder Scott Wilson. I worked at Golds San Jose and trained for competition. Life was good.But it showed me what perfection was in devotion to a training goal even more than I saw in the world of elite gymnastics. Scott lived and breathed his coming competition 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He created his body with his mind, as Arnold has so brilliantly pointed out, and never varied from that course. I LOVED that. Still do and for years held training partners to that standard.You were either serious or you were not. You were either training for your next competition or you were playinh pretend.
Power lifting and the incredibly passionate and INTENSE men I got to train with and learn from was even further down the road of serious seriousness. Real deal shit. Because with powerlifting you can get very seriously messed up very fast playing with very, very heavy weights . Like, go to the hospital now hurt. That helps develop one's concentration and puts the entire workout on a very serious plane.

You either had to be very comitted to doing whatever it took to make progress, no matter how small, or you were holding yourself and me back. That wouldnt do and I would choose train alone so I could get it done right. BUT, when you found kindred spirits, like minded souls, that lived to be better, to have a chance at being Elite, then the synergy and power created by those forces set the gym on fire.
Serious.
I loved that it was open to all, an equal opportunity chance at greatness. All it took is everything you had, plus a little more. But it could be had and that was the point. It was up to you and what it took was will, not luck, not money, not connections. Will and desire. I had that. Plus, it can be developed, just like any muscle in the body. By the same methods: Hard Training and Discipline.

But hey, not exactly the life of the party( " uh I have to go home, now, tomorrow is squat day and I have to do 450 for six triples".And being so serious all the time wears on you. It's a young man's game it seems and I was young then.Being old and injured has given me a much better perspective. I appreciate so much more deeply the little things that I can still do and the feeling that I still have the chance to keep getting better. To get a little closer to the ideals and images in my head and yet not feeling jealousy or anger for what I can no longer do. To smell the training roses and get better by going deeper not just lifting more.

But still, if you're my training partner DON'T not show up for a workout without calling. I'm serious.

17 comments:

Geoff Neupert said...

Great post, Rif.

I hear ya. My problem has been the following: I pick a competition. I start training for it. I get injured. Competition comes and goes. I'm not in it. I'm injured. Repeat cycle.

I think I've finally broken that cycle. I felt so good this past weekend at the I-Phase--tired, but good. I climbed a rope with only my arms for the first time since I was wrestling--man, I don't even know if I did it then--I seem to have a faint memory of it. I'm feeling great! My hips are great and I think I've finally got my knee figured out. Go to R-Phase in August. You will be just as serious and that seriousness will allow you to apply the Z to you craft much faster than those who aren't as serious as you.

Mark Reifkind said...

geoff,

that is one thing about powerlifting: it's much more forgiving in a lot of ways on the body because of the gear.artificial connective tissue and all that.
glad you love the I phase. I am getting closer to signing for R phase. It's not going to be closer

Brett Jones said...

Rif,
A quote from Mike Myers - "Serious is only something you are until you have the chance to be silly again."
Don't get me wrong - serious is necessary and serious can be good but too much is a bad thing.

R-phase....

Aaron Friday said...

If I don't laugh my ass off for at least a half-hour every day, I'm screwed as a human being. But when I work out, it's like "leave me alone, I got things to do."

As far as I'm concerned, if exercise doesn't increase my ability to laugh my ass off about more and more things (but not during the workout), then it's not the right program for me.

Mark Reifkind said...

like I said Aaron, I'm too serious.

Mark Reifkind said...

brett I didnt say I thought it was good,lol :))

Aaron Friday said...

you're not as serious as others, so I don't think you need an intervention. A regular program of watching Spongebob Squarepants wouldn't hurt, though.

JR said...

Rif,

Try GS.

:)

B.A.D.

Mark Reifkind said...

thats one of the reason I like you so much aaron, you crack me up!

Mark Reifkind said...

jr,

lol, man I said I was serious, not depressed.

Aaron Friday said...

If you can't laugh at that show, you have troubles. I'm totally super serious.

Mark Reifkind said...

I prefer ren and stimpy or duckman.

Jim Ryan said...

I'm somewhere between you Rif, Aaron and Brett.

Could I just have my 3 stooges or Monty Pith-on please? Bugs bunny/warner bros (old stuff only) will also work well...

Chris said...

Cheers Rif, nice post. I was always serious but I was never really good enough to justify it if you know what I mean. That sounds like a moan, but however I eat or trained I did not have hte genes to get where I wanted to be.

Mark Reifkind said...

chris,

to be honest, neither did I.But I didnt care. What I cared about more than anything was getting as good as I could and I realized I could beat most just be outworking and then outlasting them.
And as I found, the process of being totally committed to something gives you things you never expected.

Royce said...

Rif, whatever happens don't piss on the electric fence!

Man I love Ren and Stimpy.........

Christine said...

When I trained for football I found that I was very "tuned." for lack of a better word, PL is so much more forgiving in that department.

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