Don’t Just Lift Weights, Embrace Barbell Life!

This is another excerpt from my upcoming book. The book is going to have a great workout for weightlifters, a great way to start the sport, and a way to taper for a meet. There will stories of my life with some great life lessons. There will also be goal setting, mind set, mobility, and much more. For information about Online Coaching, go to http://www.mashelite.com/online-programming/, we are literally starting an online team so check it out. Today is a little section from the Barbell Life Chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 7 Don’t Just Lift Weights, Embrace Barbell Life!

The week that I am writing this has really helped me see how awesome barbell life really is. The barbell has a mysterious way of bringing people together. All kinds of people are brought together life family from their mutual love of the barbell regardless of the discipline. At the Mash Compound we have NFLers, Olympic caliber Weightlifters, Powerlifters, and several school age athletes from all different sports that just come to Mash to get stronger and faster. We also have nurses, lawyers, and stay at home moms that simply love to workout in one way or another. The one thing that they all have in common is their love of the barbell, and that love has brought us all together like family. Real family!
One of our most famous members, the infamous Lisa G is a registered nurse battling Stage IV Lung Cancer. As I write this we are putting on a Lift 4 Lisa weightlifting and powerlifting event to raise money for her and her family. The bar was all it took to develop a friendship that will withstand time as far as I am concerned. I would never have known her if it were not for our mutual love of the bar, and now her and her family celebrates most holidays with my family. The whole Mash family does life together. We have all drawn together to support Lisa in her battle. My wife cooks her meals. Molly and Lisa S provide her with transportation, and we all provide her friendship, love, and support.
Lisa G has gone from a lady who couldn’t do a body weight squat to a lady who crushes Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting records in between cancer treatments. She has become so special to me because as I was teaching her the barbell, she was there for me as I struggled to land my wife. My wife, Emily Drew, was a tough customer to convince of my love. Lisa was there during the courtship, engagement, and finally the marriage. Our friendship was forever solidified during that time, and now she continues to keep me straight. Whenever the morning crew at Mash gets upset about anything, they tell Lisa G, and she sets me straight. They all know that if Lisa G says something that I am going to listen.
I think back about all of my Barbell Family, and I can’t help to wonder in amazement how we were all brought together by something so simple as a barbell. At the Mash facility, we were not just brought together, but the barbell caused a family like love for one another that no one will ever be able to explain. Jon Brown, an arm wrestler from New Hampshire spent the week at Mash. Jon is an avid listener of a podcast that I do with Jon North called Weightlifting Talk. We have only communicated via twitter, and an infrequent call in once in a while to our show. However it seemed like I knew him, and I even told him that it seemed that he just belonged. All in the world that we have in common is the barbell, but now we are brothers forever.
I tell you all of these stories to encourage you to not just lift weights. I encourage you to experience all that the weights have to offer. Nothing is like the community formed by the barbell. The barbell will form a family around you that will never leave you, judge you, or fail you. It’s something unexplainable! It is something that can only be experienced. A lot goes with the responsibility of a barbell family because life will forever be filled with amazing highs and lows. Just this week, I have athletes that have been offered scholarships, broken records, and that have been invited to Nike combines. I have also had athletes this week lose scholarships because of abusive coaches that want athletes that like to be verbally abused daily, and another athlete that is watching his family crumble around him for unmentionable reasons. A lot comes with the responsibility of a barbell family, but they all know that I will win with them, and more importantly I will be there when their ship is sinking.
The barbell will do so much more than get you strong or in shape if you let it. It will teach you about yourself. It will teach you to be fearless. It will teach you to persevere. More importantly, it will teach you to love like none other. Let it teach you! Let the family form, and you will have a lasting group of people that will ride out the boat until the very end.