There is no place for ego in the gym

Tonight I got under the safety squat bar for the first time in months. I had to layoff of it due to a lower back strain many months ago. 

I have been strength training for over 40 years literally. As I get older, the reality is that I can no longer perform certain exercises that I used to be able to do. 

20 years in the Army, on active duty, has left me with a multitude of injuries which I have to manage daily.

What I have found is that my connective tissue and joints are far more vulnerable than the muscles. For a dynamic warmup, I have to perform some lighter repetitions of the intended exercises. 

So returning to the safety squat bar was a mental challenge. Fear of re- injuring my back was constantly on my mind. And I knew I would have to start over with light weight and low repetitions. 

With my age & old back and hip injuries, loading the spine with heavy weight is no longer safe, realistic, practical, or effective for me. It is a blow to the ego to have to start over with light weight. But it must happen. 

The safety squat bar is my safest option for back or shoulder loaded barbell weight. It is still a high risk event for me now. 

So I sucked it up and put a little weight on the bar and restarted my safety squat bar box squat training. Humbling to say the least. 

But it was still a killer leg and core workout so that was good. I will progress very slowly and deliberately with this one as it is risky business. 

Don’t dwell on or overly think about what you can’t do. Search for and find what you CAN do. 

One of the best mindsets you can have is when you are faced with a situation and you say “let’s see what we can do here”. Find out what you CAN do and the go do it!

Eric Dempsey 

MS, ISSA Master Trainer