Perspective...

When I did my heavy lifting over the weekend, I didn’t get as far as I would have liked.  There are reasons for that (some people might call them “excuses,” but I don’t go in for that kind of thinking; it doesn’t help me.).  However, dwelling on my particular performance on one particular day or on the underlying causes of that performance does not actually do anything productive.  For one thing, I could be entirely wrong in my assessment of why I was lifting less than I’d like—the difference between what I did and what my heaviest lifts have been was well within a normal daily variation.

It is hard not to judge myself based on the number on the weights.  It is hard not to feel like I’m somehow “better” when the number is bigger.  The thing is, even if I am better at the moment when I set a new single rep maximum, the very next moment it doesn’t matter:  I can’t do it again right away, because that is the definition of a single rep maximum.

What helps keep the perspective is that I can perceive a trend.  Over time, I lift more.  The weight I now use for warm-ups is a weight I found absolutely beyond conception when I first started lifting weights; I was amazed that anyone could ever lift that much.

As I age, I may hit a point where I will find new one rep maximums much more difficult to come by.  I’m not there yet, but it’s good to keep in mind.  I’m going to have to focus on other reasons why a particular workout is a good one, like that I showed up at all and put in good effort.

Working on the brain is just as important as working on the muscles.