Badger's Motivational Tricks

Tapping the Inner Beast

Harnessing the Emotional Energy: I'm in the car driving to the club ready to hoist some weight, as I begin to focus on one thought: "Nothing can stop me, just try and stop me, I can't be beaten, the weight is in my way."

When I get there, I wear a baseball cap pulled down to keep my rage building, I'm growing a genuine dislike for the 45lb plates, and I think of several epithets, my teeth grind together a bit, and I'm starting to sweat from the intensity.

I can't help it, but when I walk into the free weight room, I feel bigger than everyone in there. I don't even know if this is true, but it's happening.

My lats flare involuntarily, just for a second, as I pull the first plate up onto the squat bar and slam it to the collar, then the other side, then again, just two plates on each side for the warm up. I almost want to skip this and put something really heavy on the bar, but that will come...

I set my stance, wiggle my hips and make a few grove in movements hands on the bar, and a silent growl starts to rumble inside me — 'let's go!' it seems to say, and my lip curls in a snear, just for a second. The warm up is almost forgotten, I can't even remember doing it, because I blast through it moving very quickly, about 12 reps I figure, adding another plate to each side.

Now I duck under the bar and use my thumbs to adjust the center, and unrack, looking up at the ceiling, my eyes almost rolled back into my head like a great white shark, and I feel something like love, something like hate and something like HOME.

Shivers rush up my face and my hair seems to stand on end, take a deep breath and then go down, down, down. Then in a few seconds, I'm in familiar territory, the legs drive and I 'whoosh' out with my breath between pursed lips and then go for another, no bounce, no wobble, just straight up staring at the ceiling, one strip of line between the tiles, driving with my heels, and the bar gets lighter at each rep.

This only makes me angrier, and I think, what a wimpy weight, get the heck outta the way, 10 more reps to go, and you have the nerve to get easier!!

Rep after rep, I forget to count, then the growl starts to increase and I feel it actually get out and make a noise, and I steal a glance in the mirror, and see two big veins in my neck bulging, and my teeth showing as I grind out the last rep, and get ready to re-rack.

Only just now, I feel a little burn in my thighs and my butt, and I think, 'hey, this is cool, let's do few more and really get some good pain going, you moron.'

So I go down to the well again and the growl sustains throughout the whole rep, and this just makes me want another one, and my visions starts to get red, and more teeth show in the mirror, and I wonder, "who the heck is that?"

Then the bar is racked and I'm not even outta breath, as I slam on another plate on each side, and then as it hits the collar, lovingly, almost gently turn it a little to snug it up tight, and there's something almost organic about the way the iron rubs against its brother plate.

No rest as the blood courses thorough my body and my legs start to feel warm, and big, and I actually want to stomp the ground as I walk back into place, almost as if I can make the room shake. I know a couple people have stopped their reps to look over at me, but I'm really not making that much noise, it's all in my head, there's very little sound, and the plates didn't slam, just my mind slamming them, but the others feel some kind of presence, I imagine.

This time, the weight is my mortal enemy, it's keeping me from doing something I really want to do and I imagine very briefly that someone is gonna do something to hurt a loved one before I can get to them —it's a game —and I think "Just try and stop me."

I make my eyes open wide almost like you do when you start to get sleepy when driving, and you try and make your juices wake you. The whole process of defiance starts and I imagine the weight is gonna try and beat me, "don't even think about it, you're only iron, I'm the Universe."

This time the plates rattle as I unrack, and take two steps back, and I know I'm right where I want to be. I sip in some oxygen, hold it and go down to the Well of energy again...

Now it's all over, and I walk away drenched in sweat, heat pouring out, feeling bigger than when I started, but fulfilled and the anger has subsided a little and I smile to myself, 'good show, Badge.'

-Badger

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