"Push a tired body"

You ever have those days where within ten seconds of waking up you know it's gonna be a rough one? The kind of day where the flight of stairs to your apartment seem like their own workout, and bending over to pick something up off the ground makes you feel like an old man.

I've been having a lot of those lately. Actually, I would say more of my days are like that than aren't. In the past those days would mean I was gonna have a "light day". Go in, stretch, half ass my workout, and justify it to myself because I wanted to be "fresh for tomorrow". Well recently reality has slapped me in the face, and I am now understanding how important it is to push myself on those days.

Jon recently told me that my new motto is "push a tired body". I remember coming into the gym one day feeling completely torn up and telling him that I felt like crap and probably wasn't gonna perform very well. I'll never forget the look he gave me, it was a mix of "I want to smack you into next week" and... well actually it was just that look. One thing I knew about Jon is that he had an insane work ethic, from listening to podcasts and watching his old videos there is no doubt that he knows how to push himself. Something I thought I knew how to do as well. I did not.

The expectation is not for me to perform well on days that I'm beat up, the expectation is for me to perform at an extremely high level, if not better than when I'm fresh. It's all in the mindset. Tired, sore, aches, pains, it doesn't matter. The benefits to pushing myself through shitty days aren't only shown physically with my lifts, but mentally as well. If you can wake up and not want to move, and then get to the gym and hit 95% of your best total, you will never be hesitant in a workout again.

My objective every day in the gym has clearly been stated to me. Push.