Kristen can do dips; so what? Well, Kristen couldn’t always complete a dip, and I specifically remember her telling me, circa 5 years ago, that because of a shoulder surgery, she could never perform dips. The reality was, she had weak shoulders. Now, after years of industrious work, she can execute dips to a strict tempo with weight strapped around her waist (this is the only video of her doing dips I have, and she actually went up to an added 13+ pounds during this training session).
I’ve made plenty of excuses myself in my past; two of the more cringeworthy ones stick out:
- As a senior in college, who rarely trained his legs (guilty!), I found myself in Eldon, Missouri at Harley Race’s wrestling school. My young and cocky self jumped at the opportunity to warm up with the class; 200 Hindu squats was first on the agenda. It was around rep 75 that my legs were engrossed with so much blood they ceased to function, and I was leaking sweat and hubris like a sieve. I waddled over to Harley like a penguin having an epileptic fit and meekly put forth, “Do you have an extra knee brace I can borrow? My knee is bothering me. I forgot mine at home!” What a whopper! I am bowing my head in shame as I type this.
- On Mother’s Day, circa nine years ago, my uncle was proudly telling me about my cousin’s ability to perform 10 pull-ups and asked how many I could do. My answer was seven, which launched an overly long discussion about physics and how, because of my long arms and heavy weight, I was at a mechanical disadvantage when performing pull-ups, and it only makes sense that I couldn’t do as many as my cousin. Again, my head is slung in shame.
Excuses or ego-sparing lip fibs:
- I didn’t train legs; my legs were weak and not in shape—it’s that simple! I didn’t need a knee brace but a bath in the fountain of hard truths! That specific embarrassment was the catalyst that sparked my leg training into overdrive. Within a couple of years, I was performing 500 consecutive Hindu squats.
- Same story, I was weak! Yeah, I was big and strong, won a bodybuilding show, and could sloppily lift some impressive weights on some exercises, but relative to my bodyweight, my upper back was weak, all the synergist and antagonist muscles related to my pull-up were proportionally weak, and the endurance in my upper back flat out sucked. The conversation with my uncle was another specific epoch in time that propelled me to put my ego aside to make great strides in progress. Within six years, I worked up to being able to complete 10-12 repetitions of pull-ups and chin-ups, every set, for five-six sets. I was able to complete this with every single possible hand position or width. I also achieved multiple chin-ups with 100# wrapped around my waist. Funnily enough, I can’t recall the result of a single maximum effort to see how many consecutive pull-ups I could achieve (things like that never interest me). The best I can remember is on a doorway pull-up bar and completing somewhere around 20.
We all make excuses for ourselves, some of which are legitimate, but there are always ways to overcome and become the best version of you. I legitimately have long arms and weigh a lot, so I’m not going to set any world records in pull-ups, but I improved exponentially for me. When I separated my shoulder, I legitimately couldn’t do any barbell chest work; so dumbbells it was for a year. Post-surgery on my biceps, I legitimately couldn’t do anything with my left arm; so I trained my legs 3x per week and the functioning half of my upper body 3x per week. When the herniated disks in my neck started acting up, I legitimately couldn’t squat with a barbell on my back; I used the safety squat bar for a year. When I tore my Achilles, I actually trained both legs (yes, in a cast) and my upper body 6x per week.
I hate when people make excuses for themselves because chances are I’ve made the same damn excuse in the past, or something similar, and watching people give up on themselves makes my blood boil because I know what is possible if you truly commit to something.
9 months ago, my father could not complete one eccentric-only chin-up (just starting at the top and controlling your body down); he said it didn’t feel right on his shoulder. So we took a step back to something he was comfortable with then charted a path forward. Today, he can complete three consecutive chin-ups for a cumulative workout total of 15 chin-ups. That was last week, so who knows about today.
Next are dips. The first time he tried an eccentric-only dip, it bothered his shoulder, so we’re backing off and charting a course that makes sense. One of two things will happen: 1.) He’ll be completing full dips six months from now, or 2.) Perhaps his shoulder injuries will prevent him from ever completing a full dip, but his shoulders will get a hell of a lot stronger than they are today.
Kristen reminded me of something with her video: don’t be a quitter. My head literally wants to explode when I hear people making excuses for themselves: “Oh, I can’t work out because I hurt my knee in 1984; I’d love to but I can’t afford it right now, we’re saving up for a new television that I can plop my ass in front of; I just don’t have the time to workout, I’d rather keep doing all the other senseless bullshit that is the reason I feel like garbage in the first place; blah blah blah insert tired lame excuse here.” Whether it’s accomplishing a physical feat or seeing a physical result (like losing fat), your biggest enemy is yourself. I always hated the quote, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars,” but I think it’s pertinent here. If you truly want to achieve something, don’t make excuses. Delve into it and move full steam ahead. One thing I can assure you is you will not regret it.
About the author
Chris Rombola
Chris is the owner of Fit House. He's run the training departments at several commercial gyms, and after years of seeing how awful those environments were for his clients, he opened his own studio. He is devoted to getting people strong, lean, and healthy.
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