Movement is built into our genes.  The physical configuration of our bodies allows us to interact with our environment in a huge variety of ways, everything from moving ourselves over, around and through to lifting, carrying and throwing things.  Moving is part of what we are and there’s certain specific movement patterns that allow us to accomplish tasks in the most bio mechanically efficient manner.

The people who made these paintings moved the same way you do.

The Clean & Jerk is a great example of this.  The movement itself seems extremely complicated, especially if you learn it in the Olympic style.  But if you’ve ever lifted a heavy object onto your shoulders, you’ve done a clean.  If you’ve ever pushed a box onto a shelf overhead, you’ve probably done a jerk.  These aren’t some magical abilities you’re learning, they’re primal human movement patterns; they’re the most efficient way that you can move.

I was working with a client the other day and I had him doing heavy squat cleans  a long workout.  When he started, his cleans were ugly: wide feet, poor depth, elbows down, etc.  After about 12 minutes of a 20-minute AMRAP, he was getting exhausted and he started doing perfect squat cleans.  By that time, he was so fatigued that he simply couldn’t lift with inefficient technique, either he’d do it right or the bar wouldn’t even get to his shoulders.  We see that phenomenon frequently, especially in people who have a high degree of strength or who tend to over-think the movement.

The next time you’re having trouble with one of these functional movements, remember: you are built to do this.  Don’t think about it too hard, just move the way you were meant to and you’ll surprise yourself.

This title could also be stated “The path to success is littered with failure.” However you look at it, generally the most successful people in the world have failed a LOT. People who are completely unfamiliar with failure, are also completely unfamiliar with dramatic success. What I’m referring to as success is achievement beyond what would be expected of a given individual. For some this could mean a world record, for others it could mean just walking, or riding a bike, or learning to speak. Just as so many things are in a world with nearly infinite variation, success is relative. For the sake of discussion let’s look at marked success. Those achievements that go beyond expectation.

In nearly all cases the path to success requires an awful lot of failed attempts. Thomas Edison is a well known failure. Before he settled on the carbon filament he had tested and failed with over 1,500 other materials.  This is a lot of hours spent achieving nothing. Even the original carbon filament only lasted about 40 hours. It wasn’t until a few months after the first produced light bulbs that a carbonized bamboo filament was created that could last up to 1,200 hours.

Being able to fail gracefully, learn from it and move on is an absolute necessity. If you train at our gym, you are going to fail, a lot. We are going to challenge you. We are going to ask you to perform skills that you are currently unable to do. We will ask you to try again, and again until you succeed. We are not going to let up as long as you keep showing up. Through this process we get to see small achievements every day, and often, spectacular achievements. New skills. Big loads. Faster times. All of these things follow a failed skill, a missed lift and slower times. Do not allow failure to stop you, or even get you down. Don’t brush it off either. Every failure is an opportunity to learn. Figure out why the failure occurred and fix it. Continue to do this over and over again and each failure leads to success.

Though we generally deal with things in the physical realm here, this concept applies to all things. Embrace failure. Attempt new things even when you know that failure is the most likely outcome. Give it a shot. The only thing to consider is if you can accept the consequences of the failure. There are cases where failure is not an option due to the gravity of the consequences. Leaping off the Golden Gate Bridge with no equipment or planning would be a foolish thing to do. One couldn’t learn from this failure.

It is also prudent to observe others failures. We get to do this in the gym on a regular basis as well. This is another area where we will always do better in community. If 10 people are working at something the progress towards the success of one or all of them is drastically improved. Primarily because the group gets to learn from each individuals failures. Let’s all keep failing toward success together.

Emil Zatopek said, ”When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.”

2011 Epic Bridge Workout

It’s true.  A big part of what we train in the gym is just willpower.  What we do causes pain, and if that weren’t enough excuse for you to avoid it, consider the environment; no fancy machines, no AC or heating, running on pavement, working out barefoot…  If you can work out at a gym like that and enjoy it, then you’ve already got a good deal of willpower.

The next thing is to use that willpower to be consistent.  Working out once does nothing.  Eating one healthy meal does nothing.  But add up 6-months or a year of doing those things, then take a look at what you can do and how you feel.  Make yourself eat healthy and work out, even when you don’t feel like it.  Soon, it will just be part of what you do and who you are.  When you have to start making excuses as to why you should go for a workout or eat right, then you know you’re on the right path.