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Pound The Rock
By admin | May 21, 2009
Do you all remember the story of the Stone Cutter? As I remember it goes something like this; a stone cutter takes a huge bolder and hits it and hits it and hits it and from the outside it looks as if nothing is happening. But one day the bolder splits in half. As if that blow did it, but in fact every time the rock was hit small micro splits were happening at the core of the rock it just wasn’t visible on the outside for quite some time. So if the stone cutter didn’t know any better he would give up thinking his efforts were futile, when in fact it could have been one strike away from splitting in two.
That is a good analogy of how exercise affects the body. If you are consistent with your exercise program even though the results may seem painstakingly slow they are there. The results usually show themselves in big spurts. You will see nothing, nothing, nothing, and then a big crack shows itself. That’s why we do the timed run test at the beginning of camp and at the end of camp. You don’t really feel like that much has changed but shaving one to two minutes off of a timed run is a huge bolder to break.
So if you feel like you’re not getting anywhere here are some things you can do:
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Test yourself in some way and write down that information. For instance check how many pushups you can do and write that down. Also describe the way you did them, what was your form like? Were they on your knees or toes, did your chest touch the ground or were you a foot away from the ground?
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Time yourself doing a mile. Or time how long it takes you to go around your block. Pick a distance and run/walk it as fast as you can and then write that down. Also note how you felt; it was really hard, I felt like puking or my knees hurt or whatever you noticed.
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Be honest with yourself have you been consistent with your workouts? We often have a warped sense of reality. If you’ve been telling yourself that you’ve been working out for a month and just aren’t seeing any results then realistically look at how many workouts you did over the course of that time. If you only averaged one workout a week that’s only four sessions of workouts, you cannot expect to have much change from four workouts (a little yes, a lot, no).
You will see a big improvement right at the beginning, the first time you do an exercise compared to the second time you do it will usually yield a huge difference. Part of this has to do with your perception of it just not being a surprise this time (like when a return trip from somewhere feels shorter than the way there). The other part is that your body is good at adapting; it actually did make huge leaps that quickly. After that initial burst though you may feel stagnate for up to several weeks, then you will have another big leap, just be patient they will come. Just as the stone cutter knows that the rock will ultimately split in half your milestones are coming.
That’s why we’re here, to push you. We’re here to remind you to be consistent with your running and your stretching and your pushups because we know how excited you’re going to be when that rock cracks and we want to hear about it when that happens!
Molli
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