“We’re going for a personal best here Tom”.
My PT Zack was loading up the weights yesterday for the last set of my chest press.
I gave him a glance. “I think that’s too heavy Zack”.
He smiled, looking back at me. “Trust me. I’m here.
You’ll be fine”.
I gulped.
I leaned back and gripped the bar. I
could feel the metal notches pressing back into my skin.
“Off you go Tom”.
One more breath. Then I pushed the bar up,
and started lifting.
One.
Two.
Three.
“Control, Tom”
The weight felt heavy, but manageable. I gritted my teeth. You can do this.
Four.
Five.
“Breathe Tom”
I knew I had the power, but my muscles were starting to ache.
Six…
“You got this Tom”.
The bar was just above my chest.
I started pushing again. It lifted slowly.
I was halfway through the rep.
And suddenly I could feel my muscles give.
The bar started to drop towards me.
I couldn’t go any further.
“Zack. I’m done”.
Quick as a flash two hands grabbed the bar and returned it into
place.
I let out a sigh and turned my head.
Zack was beaming.
“Congratulations. You achieved failure. Press-ups next”.
It was only later that Zack’s words fully sunk in.
Congratulations. You achieved failure.
Everyone knows that working to failure in the gym is the recipe for building muscle.
So failure is something to aim for.
And if you’re working out with your PT, you get congratulated. Failure is seen as an
achievement.
Now, my own view of failure has changed over the years.
At school I’d see anything less than an A as a failure.
And at work, making a mistake would leave me cringing.
So I always saw failure as something to avoid.
Today I’m more open-minded.
But this experience in the gym has opened my eyes again. It’s made me see that failure is actually something to be celebrated.
We can celebrate the fact we acted despite
thinking we might fail…
We can celebrate everything we learnt and achieved through the act of failing…
And we can celebrate dusting ourselves down and going
again.
When we think of failure like this, failure itself becomes the goal. Not success.
And guess
what?
I think the more we fail and celebrate the failures, the more success will come anyway.
What do you think?
Time to wrap this up.
Catch you tomorrow.
- Tom
p.s. Whenever you're ready, here are the ways you can connect with me