A Work in Progress
The Drapers, when not at the controls of Stealth bombers, drive old vehicles, early 90-something Toyotas; one’s a pickup, the other’s an SUV. They do the job, look presentable after a washing and don’t break our hearts when another ding appears after a visit to a parking lot. We treat them with care and respect, yet suitably short of affection so as not to be dopey. I call my truck Bill, or Billy, and Laree’s rig is Babs (I call it Boobs, but Mrs. Draper would rather I didn’t).
We drive our wheels hard, but don’t beat them. We use good fuel, change the oil regularly, check the tire pressure occasionally and replace the wipers, fan belts and such as needed. When there’s a sput or putter, they get a tune-up. Everyone’s happy. Zoom, zoom.
Always after a tune-up -- and sometimes after a good washing -- the cars run better; they’re smoother, peppier and more responsive; gas mileage improves and they seem to rattle less.
I find this both pointed and personally encouraging. We are not much different from our vehicles, really. I don’t socialize or read much, but intelligent folks often refer to vehicles as representations of themselves or others. Think about it: He’s as strong as a truck; she moves like a sports car; he’s not operating on all eight cylinders; she might shake and rattle, but she can still roll.
My pickup has collected plenty of miles and a few nicks to prove it. Furthermore, it’s had some masterful bodywork performed to repair a sideswipe and a front-end collision. But old Bill, he keeps on truckin’... get what I’m saying?
Responsibility, good provisions, cleansing the system, checking the pressure, using but not abusing what you have and tuning up the works regularly keeps the buggies going for a long, long time. I keep on truckin’.
I equate a tune-up to a workout. Sputs and putters accompany us from day one of our arrival and we attend them consciously and unconsciously the length of our lives. Burps, discomfort, growing pains, injuries, aches, plateaus, slumps and bumps -- we work around them, through and over them.
When muscles are our goal and power our destination, the weight room is the place where we and play... sput and putter. And a weight room without a well-tuned workout, though packed with iron, is an empty place, useless and dead. The workout keeps us running smoothly, moving efficiently, progressing, enduring and enjoying the ride.
More often than not, an out-of-tune workout slows us down, predisposes us to injury, diminishes our drive and causes us to sputter. It gets tricky, this training stuff. Building muscle and strength and health is not exactly a cruise on a country road.
I’m not an advocate of routine change before the routine has been adequately installed, applied, practiced and squeezed lifeless. It is often the squeezing, the disciplined and focused insisting, that releases a routine’s sweetest, most-coveted fruits. And I’m not saying it’s always the routine that accounts for a sputter. It could be the guy or gal whose hands, heart and will doth move the iron devices of the routine that is causing the sputtering. I told you it’s tricky.
Having said that, let’s continue the original topic, the well-tuned workout. In the early days of weight training, almost anything works. Just standing before a hunky barbell causes the juices to flow and excites the beginner for the deed ahead. Of course, moving the immovable objects adds considerably to the task.
I began training before there was anyone to tell me how (early ‘50s), and at a time when instruction would have gone unheeded. Do you give a toy to a kid and tell him how to play? I don’t think so, particularly when the toy’s a mound of rusty metal. The learning comes from the playing.
The first days in the gym can be valuable when the eager trainee is free and left to his own devices -- commonsense, curiosity and exploration, and the observation of others. Nothing like independence -- self-reliance -- to teach us a few basics. As the learning continues, smart guidance and direction from the humbled and enlightened come in handy, along with encouragement and affirmation.
We now have a healthy, resourceful and authentic process of development at work: the development of muscle and might, discipline and perseverance, technique and style. Let the body, mind and spirit grow. Let the being unfold. Let the good times roll.
Time goes by, sand through the hourglass. Watch it or not, the grains shift relentlessly at a pace that is neither fast nor slow. Time just moves, on and on. And with its movement things age, things change and we -- you and I -- obediently fall in line.
Knowledge and understanding accumulate, skills improve.
A day arrives when our training is regimented and we respond like racehorses at the track galloping for speed and time. Our workouts are carefully prearranged, designated and routinely pursued.
Another day, another time, the race is over -- win, place or show. But the days at the track never end; workouts become more important than ever. Exercise and smart eating do not fade like a passion in the spring; they are for all seasons. You simply adjust them to match the day, the time, the set and the rep.
Well-tuned, tuned-in workouts are like music to the system. They are intended to excite, sooth, heal, release, strengthen and tone the man or woman in charge. Finesse, a child of focus and awareness, adjusts movement and form. Instinct, the eye behind the eyes, determines the direction you should go. Logic, trustworthy master, regulates the flow. Love leads you on.
The trainee who starts the iron-bound journey alone acquires assistants day by day. Before long he’s surrounded by friends who sing out in silence. He achieves his FILL (Finesse, Instinct, Logic and Love).
A medley of today’s refrains: What aches, where’s the pain, how’s the energy, can you pump and burn, which muscles need work, what regions are fatigued, is overtraining a possibility, are you weak-minded and submissive, will you respond and aspire as you apply yourself, are big movements appealing or smaller isolated exercises the key? Should you stimulate the muscular system or blast it? Exactly what exercises are the best to meet your needs this day of your life? Forget ‘exactly’!
Doing what was prescribed a month ago was meaningful then, and is sometimes appropriate for the day at hand. But today is the sum total of many days and many workouts, earned muscle growth and accumulated injuries, experiment and experience and learning and knowledge. This hard-earned collection of valuables and variables enables you -- demands you -- to think and act now, this unique moment.
Go with the flow... hmmm... nothing to it. Not exactly! This is not a simple methodology to apply; easy to grasp, hard to accept. It requires skill and understanding. Fine! It requires trust, trust in yourself. Oops! Courage and strength are musts. Oh, no! No hesitation, no doubt, no worry. But, I... I...
Just do it!
You don’t think twice when you grab the throttle and pull back to reach for the sky. You don’t waver when you thrust it forward, nose to zero and dive downward through space. Of course not.
There ya go... Godspeed... DD
IOL Online Personal Training Program
Did
you sign up for Dave's expanded
email yet?
It's
free, motivating and priceless!
We'll also send you a link to Dave's free Body Revival
Tips and Hints booklet with your confirmation notice.
BILL PEARL/DAVE DRAPER LIVE SEMINAR DVD
The Package includes a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute tape of the July seminar, two muscular slide shows, plus a 32-page booklet outlining the subsequent interview between the mighty one, Bill Pearl, and me in which we discuss some favorite subjects untouched by the seminar. ~Dave
Cut through the confusion! Grab your copy Brother Iron Sister Steel to make your training path clear.
Readers agree: Dave new book, Iron On My Mind, is non-stop inspirational reading.
Our IronOnline Forum will answer your training and nutriton questions right here, right now.
Golden Era fans will rejoice in this excerpt from West Coast Bodybuilding Scene.
Are your shoulders tight? Do your shoulders hurt when you squat? It's practically a miracle! Dave's Top Squat assists sqatters with shoulder problems.