Conditioning is not satisfying. It does not feel good. Worse, it’s a constant moral challenge; the body is sending constant signals to stop and the internal monologue is incessantly self defeating.
It’s not like cranking out a max deadlift, or even a rep PR on the squat; there’s no instant gratification. The little successful bumps that each rep signifies aren’t as discrete. There’s only success in the end, when you’re done.
You must realize these things, take stock of them and continue on. You must. Keep. Going.
That’s what I hate about conditioning work. But it is also what I love about it; conquering myself, rising above self defeat and meeting the moral problem that is quitting myself.
Sometimes I need to have challenges for myself and meet them whether they make sense technically speaking or not. Doing hundreds of pushups or bodybuilders may not make the most sense structurally, functionally or physiologically, but sometimes it has to be done.
I remind myself of the Marine recruits at Paris Island and San Diego; the training they do isn’t always the most cutting edge, high tech program and they can’t opt of training because they don’t feel recovered or they’re not ready to give their optimum performance They just. Keep. Going. Same goes for our warriors training in far-away vacation spots like Afghanistan and Iraq who find the time and guts in between facing other human beings in mortal combat. No offense, but if you can’t Just-Keep-Going with a nice clean bed, supplements, food and personal safety then you’re probably being some kind of pussy.
One of my favorite quotes is from perhaps Germany’s greatest poet, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe:
Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace, and power in it.
That’s how a smarter man than I am says just fucking do it. Just. Keep. Going.
Conor Attack! 