But when you weightlift, when you lift a barbell that is *just* on the very limit of what you can lift, every cell, every neurone is called to attention. Your entire posterior chain, your entire physiology, and every part of your brain is recruited, is needed, is URGENTLY required to come assist. They drop everything they were doing. Worried about how much more successful someone is than you? Gone. Worried that you’re too old to start again with your dreams? Gone. Worried that there’s no point even starting because the planet is doomed? Gone. Nothing matters. The iron is VERY IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. It yells at you, it screams, it demands but it allows you to silence everything else, you don’t do it for the iron, you do it for you. The iron requires you to be YOU, to give everything you’ve got. You’re making yourself strong, maybe to fight climate emergencies. Maybe for your kids. Maybe just for yourself. BE SELFISH. BE STRONG. BE ENORMOUS. Be the biggest you can be. Take up all the space. Yell on the gym floor. YELL because this weight is heavier than anything you have ever lifted before and yet right now you ARE LIFTING IT.
It is only cathartic. You look terrible, red, puffed, furious, frowning, annoyed, wet with sweat, your heart, even though you have not moved from this corner of the gym, is absolutely pounding. But there is only this, only this moment, like a perfect photograph. There is only you, only this bar. No one could have lifted it quite in the way you just did with your muscles, your brain, your hands, your grip. This is only ever yours. The weight drops, the gym satisfyingly shuddering from the weight smashing on the ground. You scribble on a piece of paper, your hand shaking from adrenaline, your penmanship an utter disaster: “90kg x 5 reps” you shake. Doesn’t seem like much. Fuck that. It was everything.
Nothing else matters. It’s just you, the chalk, and the bar. You are so in control, so focussed. You don’t need anything but the most crucial equipment. The weightlifting shoes to ground you, give you as much contact and push from the floor as possible. The knee high socks, as you deadlift the bar you keep it as close to your shins as possible, and as the weight peaks, the more it can absolutely ravage the skin. The belt, to make sure your spine and belly don’t literally burst as you contract every single one of your muscles. The wrist wraps as you’re lifting more than your weakest hinge (your wrists) can really handle, keep them locked, keep them tight. And of course the HEADPHONES. Block it all out. Drown out the world on your terms, with your music. This is not about you right now. It’s about me. And the more I can focus the more I can lift. The more I can concentrate the more I can DO. You look at the world, and it seems heavy. You just got to find the right lever point. Shed everything else, shed what you don’t need.