Blog 8 – Weekly Challenge Update, Reframing Why We Train
Hi! (Totally running out of unique ways to start these…)
WEEKLY CHALLENGE UPDATE
A few folks have asked, so I wanted to add a little clarity around the weekly challenge. The individual challenges will remain the same week-to-week. Our goal with these are to try and help maintain, or build, our routines in a longer term way. We don’t have any expectation that you’ll reach 10 points each week, but we do want to help you build more time for you in some uncertain times.
The 5-point team challenge will change every week. This challenge should be all fun, our intention is for folks to participate with their coach and team to build a little camaraderie.
I’m excited to see the mottos and hashtags that folks come up with.
REFRAMING WHY WE TRAIN
FAIR WARNING – This section is going to get a little more feelings-oriented as we revisit and build upon one of the previous conversations. This one a little more pointed towards why we train and reframing how we talk about PRs.
There is no question that the four walls and all of the equipment at PDX Strength provide us tools that physically challenge us. Some of us may have used those tools to find your first pull-up or push-up, or run a mile faster than you thought possible, or lift more weight than Atlas. All of these things are fantastic, and they provide us an easy connection to rationalizing why we go to the gym. They are tangible things – gold stars of achievement, if you will. Infinitely motivating as long as the tools are available… But now, most of us don’t have the same tools and our physical setting is not train-dodging through a park or finding a level spot to deadlift. The PRs aren’t coming, the faster times aren’t there, and cathartically throwing heavy shit might be manifesting in a differing form of anger or stress. All of that is ok. Emotions are as normal as they are hard.
But the coaches at PDX Strength know that all of you are capable of making it through a very odd and hard time. “How?!” you might be asking. Well because every time you set a new PR, we see you change and grow as a person. We see you fight. We see your resilience. And we see that in you now. You see when we are in the gym, we’re not growing bigger butts; we’re growing bigger brains. The butt stuff is just a nice side effect (For those of you wondering my “No touching in the gym unless you consensually touch outside of the gym” is still strongly in effect… Perhaps now more than ever.). When we recreate, we slow things down, remove the clutter of stress, recharge our batteries, and come out the other side a better version of ourselves. It makes us better people, better friends, better partners, better professionals, better handlers of adversity – like a global pandemic.
So I’ll give you that your PRs aren’t coming and you might even lose a little strength and conditioning along the way; hell, our bodies might even change too. But Strength Tribe, we’re prepared for this. We’re slowly adjusting and learning that the four walls of PDX Strength down by the tracks exist in you and your home or park or garage as much as it does down around a stop sign on N Bradford.
This is hard. No one will deny that. But you are more capable and stronger than you know.