Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the sexiest lifter of all?
Why are there mirrors in the gym? Many would say that mirrors provide feedback on form. But do they? I often see individuals lifting, while starring at themselves in the mirror, and continue to lift with incorrect form. So what purpose do mirrors serve in the gym? I believe that mirrors only serve one purpose in the gym: to feed ego.
One of the ways ego rears its beautiful and perfect head is by avoiding weakness. There are ten components of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. And when you choose to avoid one of those components because you are “bad” at it, you are choosing to not be the best version of yourself. Being “bad” at something just means its an area of discomfort and nobody wants to be uncomfortable. Anything can improve through practice, training, and hard work. Choose those areas that you don’t immediately excel at and work on them. I am just as guilty of this as the next person. I know what areas I excel at: power and strength, so I like to cherry pick the short workouts that involve heavy lifting. I absolutely HATE doing workouts that involve highly technical gymnastic movements, because I have told myself that I am “bad” at anything that involves accuracy and balance.
The truth is, I let my ego take the driver’s seat because I don’t want to look “weak” or “stupid” in the gym. When in reality, it would take 10 minutes during a warm up or cool down and do some type of accuracy or balance drills. I could even do these movements in an actual workout. However, I get so wrapped up in wanting to beat the clock or the person next to me; I decide to scale or replace movements to ones that I can excel at. And I simply do it to feed my ego. To tell myself, I finished this workout in XXX amount of time. I give myself a high five and tell myself that I am the fittest human alive. In reality, I didn’t improve my fitness in the slightest, because I didn’t want to look foolish. I wanted to look strong and fit and tough. I wanted that picture for instagram.
Good ole’ instagram, or as a friend of mine calls it instaglam, which is an accurate description. Instagram, snapchat, facebook, its’ always our highlight reel. It glamorous to post your PR deadlift or clean, your first hand stand pushup, or your first ring muscle ups. CELEBRATE IT!!!! that is AMAZING! POST IT! I post my PRs ALL THE TIME! I try and film myself at least once every few weeks, just to get some sweet shots of me doing cool fitness stuff. It’s fun and there is nothing wrong with it. But be honest about it.
Two years ago, right before the CF games, Kara Sanders (Webb) posted a compilation video, on instagram, of her failing lifts and movements. This was something that really stuck with me, because that is reality. When facing new challenges, you are going to fail a lot more than you are going to succeed. Failure breeds success. I failed my first 7 attempts at a 300lb deadlift, and after I was only able to hit it 2/5 attempts spread across several weeks. The first time you attempt a PR lift or a movement, you may not get it. It may takes, weeks, months, or even years. Ego will tell you that you need to impress others, and you will want to stay at sub-par weights and movements. Ego will tell you to take the short cuts, so you can have a cool picture, instead of being patient and taking time to do the work. Be real and be honest. Would you still be happy with a PR if you didn’t get to post it? Would you still be happy with your results if no one commented on them? Are you willing to post the non-glamorous drill work? Are you willing to post the failures?
Again, I am just as guilty at the next person. There is no greater feeling than posting a PR or posting a sweaty selfie and getting likes and comments about how hard I am working or how “inspiring” I am. But when I take a step back, all I am looking for is validation. I am more focused on being sure that others’ perceive me as hard working, successful, and inspiring, than I am about focusing on the process of self improvement. I don’t want to show individuals the vulnerability that I feel when I fail a PR attempt or even failing a weight that I can hit 10/10 times and am just having an off day. I want the status and the recognition. And when I focus on the status and the recognition, I am putting out a fake image of what fitness is.
Fitness is not about constant success. Fitness is not about recognition. Fitness is not about attention. It’s about getting better. Getting better physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is about enduring pain, pushing past your limits, suffering in silence, and failing. One of the many things I tell myself when I am in the middle of a workout is “Get ugly.” Don’t worry about what I look like or how others’ perceive me. Work hard, sweat, bleed, cry. Do it for me
Let’s take this out of the gym. What am I avoiding in life because I’m “bad” at it? I have to ask, am I ACTUALLY bad at it, or am I just unwilling to put the work and the time it takes to improve? Do I do things because they will make me or the world a better, even if it means that I won’t get any recognition or status? Am I real in admitting failures? Am I learning from my failures? Or are am I only focused on showing people a perfect person?
So I dare you, whatever it is in life: gym, work, family, business. Get ugly about it. Kill your ego, and do what it takes to get better.
Because She Dared 
I really enjoyed this. Thank you for your honesty. I also try to post my failures just to show I am human! The comments on those are always so appreciative.
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