Exercise and the Ethics of Hard Work

There are some things you do in life because it is available for you to do them. Your circumstances may allow better access to terrain, knowledge, culture, or tools that others may not have. People who are well read usually have access to books, skiers can frequent mountainsides, and surfers have roughly 70% of the entire planet to work with. It’s a common understanding that what you grow up with will have a high impact on what you do with your life. Then there are the dreamers: The people who have the tiniest exposure to something that they have never experienced and immediately get hooked on it. The internet has made it possible for nearly everyone to be a dreamer, which has also resulted in an exponential number of burnouts. We, the American Culture and All It Entails, have made accessibility paramount in the name of profit. Online ordering, knock-off brands, and free trials can make everyone get the equipment of a winner. Crossfit has the brilliant approach of promoting a system that can operate out of your garage or backyard. Who couldn’t resist that option? So what explains the abundance of burnouts? Surely with all the availability and the world to offer on the interwebs we would be content. Shoot, you don’t even have to travel anymore. Want to see Patagonia in beautiful 1080p resolution? National Geographic or Art of Flight can do that with a little help from Google. Feeling out of shape and behind the fitness zeitgeist? Rogue would be more than happy to help you out. However, while we are only a few keystrokes away from equipping our field of dreams (or garage gym), there is one thing that money cannot buy, ever: Hard Work. [Insert front squat picture here] My dad learned to lift weights in the Golden Years of iron (not sure if that’s official title for it, but I doubt many people would argue), reading as many articles as he could get his hands on, even purchasing Schwarzenegger’s “Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding” to get the knowledge he needed to properly use his home gym. When he wasn’t working 12 hour shifts in a missile silo 50 feet under ground in the frozen tundra known as North Dakota or helping mom take care of child number one, he’d spend those cold winter nights slamming bars for 2 hours 4 days out of the week with whichever neighbour was willing to work that hard. I still don’t know exactly where he got them from, but that small bench, a barbell with 310 pounds of iron, and a few dumbbells have seen a lot of action. He never had a steady workout partner, but my father has been lifting ever since I was born (and I’m 3 out of 4!). When I was sixteen and doctors had pretty much figured that my growing days were over at the solid height of 5 feet and a quarter inch shy of nine inches, my dad introduced me to the barbell. I was taught four movements: Squat, deadlift, powerclean, and the benchpress. Yet the most important thing my dad drilled into me so many afternoons after school at that age was that you don’t get stronger in a day. You can know all the movements by heart but if you’re not consistent, you’re as good as not doing it. So there I was, three days a week, warming up with sit-ups and push-ups, practicing my movements until I had them down perfect. I couldn’t put a single weight on the bar until my dad was satisfied with my movement standards. From an early point in my exposure to Olympic lifts, it was ingrained into my head that form always precedes strength. It is the foundation upon which you build hard work and results. [insert back squat picture here] So the point of it all is this: With just a little bit of opportunity and a driven mentality, you can make it happen. The Crossfit philosophy has one-upped the availability factor by emphasizing body movement. To start this, you don’t need to buy a single thing. Don’t waste time if you can’t find a box near you. Start on the floor with push-ups, sit-ups, and burpees. Go run down to the corner and back. If you can stay the course for a few weeks and you enjoy the burn in your lungs after a taste of Angie, get yourself a squat rack and an Olympic set. I have access to a small home gym (and do I mean small) that is my personal torture chamber, but that wasn’t what made me love working out. My father taught me the ethics of hard work and that when it comes to lifting and fitness in general, you can’t just magic your way into shape overnight. It takes commitment and, especially for me, a whole lot of sweat. You get out what you put in. [Insert hand stand push-up here] There will be some people will be first on the bandwagon and probably 2nd or 3rd off. In my short life I’ve seen a lot of fitness fads make their way through the U.S. and make a lot of money. I’ve known even more people that do them for a few weeks, and then at the end of DVD series they’re back on the computer instead on their routine, looking for another hobby to get into. For me, this isn’t a hobby. It’s my place of peace, the place where I can really express myself, and I am thankful my dad taught me how to work hard and be willing to hurt to get results. So my advice to people is to stop reading this article, get down, and push ‘em out till your arms are screaming. Then roll over, and sit-up till you can’t sit-up no more. Repeat for 5 rounds. Enjoy.