ARE YOU REALLY WORKING HARD?
BY DAVE GLASGOW
Larry Traub performing a 325 pound Zercher Lift at the 2011 USAWA National Championships in route to winning the Overall Best Lifter Award in Larry's first USAWA National Meet appearance. Obviously, Larry has worked out very hard in his life to achieve this accomplishment! (photo and caption courtesy of webmaster)
ASK ANYONE WHO TRAINS WITH WEIGHTS. ARE YOU WORKING HARD?? NINETY NINE OUT OF A HUNDRED WILL LOOK YOU RIGHT IN THE EYE AND SAY, “YES, I WORK HARD!!” HMMMM…ARE THEY REALLY??
A FEW YEARS AGO, THE WINFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT SPONSERED MY BUDDY AND EARLIEST TRAINING PARTNER, LARRY TRAUB, TO COME AND SPEAK TO THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES ABOUT LIFTING AND HIS TRAINING PHYLOSOPY. WITH NUMEROUS NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS AND COUNTLESS NATIONAL CHAMPS TO HIS CREDIT, AS WELL AS HIS OWN RESUME’, WE FELT HE HAD SOMETHING TO SAY!! HE WAS SCHEDULED TO TALK FOLLOWING A MORNING WORKOUT BY THE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM. HE TOLD ME HE WANTED TO GO WORKOUT AT THE SAME TIME AS THE KIDS WERE HAVING THEIR WORKOUTS. LITTLE DID I KNOW THIS WAS REALLY A RECONISCONCE MISSION!!
FOLLOWING THEIR WORKOUT, HIS TALK BEGAN. LARRY’S PHIOSOPHY CAME OUT AND HE CALLED FOR ONE OF THE LIFTERS OF THAT MORNING’S WORKOUT TO COME FORWARD. AS I RECALL, HE WAS ONE OF THE ‘STRONGEST’ OF THAT GROUP AND HAD BEEN SQUATING WITH WHAT I WOULD CALL A MODERATE WEIGHT, FOR FIVE REPS. THIS SEEMED TO BE ABOUT ALL THE KID COULD HANDLE. LARRY TOLD THE BOY THAT HE WAS WATCHING HIM SQUAT EARLIER AND, ALTHOUGH HE HAD JUST FINISHED HIS WORKOUT FOR THE DAY, HE (LARRY) WOULD LIKE HIM TO TRY SOMETHING FOR HIM. LARRY LOADED THE BAR WITH THE VERY SAME WEIGHT THAT THE LAD WAS USING PRIOR AND SAID, “OKAY. I’LL BET YOU THAT, EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE DONE YOUR WORKOUT, YOU CAN DO 10 REPS WITH THE SAME WEIGHT YOU WERE USING BEFORE!” EVERYONE LAUGHED, THE BOY SEEMED SKEPTICAL BUT SAID HE WOULD GIVE IT A GO. WITH EACH REP, THE LAD WAS ENCOURAGED TO “GET ONE MORE!”, AND EACH TIME, HE COMPLIDED! UNTIL HE HAD DONE 12 REPS!!
THERE WAS A LOT OF WHISPERING AND GIGGLING BUT THE POINT HAD BEEN MADE. “MAYBE WE NEED TO WORK JUST A LITTLE HARDER!”
I KNOW IN MY OWN CASE, I FIND MYSELF ON AUTO-PILOT, JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS A LOT OF THE TIME. HOWEVER, THE POINT OF THE WHOLE TALK WAS THE NEED FOR INTENSITY!! MOST ANY PROGRAM WILL BRING A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SUCCESS. BUT, YOU HAVE TO BRING THE INTENSITY IN ORDER TO GET THE FULL BENEFIT OF THE WORKOUT. SO, THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE TRAINING, ASK YOURSELF. “AM I REALLY WORKING HARD!!” YOU MAY SURPRISE YOURSELF, IF YOU ARE HONEST, WITH THE ANSWER!!