A dumb sophomore loaded up the bar to test his max squat without warming up, he wanted to just see how the weight felt. Soon he was pinned under the weight. The old dude that was in the gym with him came over and lifted it off his back. The old dude scolded the protagonist of our story. He told him he needed to learn how to warm up and how to do the exercises correctly. The old Yoda-like dude then offered to show our young protagonist how to do these things, how to lift correctly. In a moment or rare humility the sophomore accepted. Soon he was learning much from his mentor about the weight room and the iron. I was that dumb sophomore, and I am grateful for all my friend Shane has taught me in the gym.
I was being a gym idiot that day and needed to be rescued from my own stupidity. Luckily Shane was a cool enough dude to help me out. I know this early intervention helped me learn a lot of things about lifting that helped me stay safer in the gym. His lessons also helped me make a little faster progress. Shane was in his 30s and had no real incentive to help other than being a good guy. I think that was another lesson that every 16 year old needs to get too. At that age you can never have too many lessons in being a good guy and how to act properly.
This whole incident was a whole lesson in gym culture as well. At least it is the kind of lesson in how gym culture should be. In the gym we should all help each other out. There can be a brotherhood of iron and a lot of us meatheads love and crave this brotherhood. Every gym has its lone wolfs that don’t want anything to do with anyone, but that’s not what a gym should be. The culture that makes everyone better is one of helping, teaching, and training each other. This makes our journey in the gym more productive and more enjoyable as well. I got this early lesson from Shane in addition to the lessons on lifting. It has stuck with me and informed much of what I do in other areas of my life.
I think in my life I have tried to use this lesson other places and it has been beneficial. Anywhere I am with other people I feel like if we’re not competitors than we’re on the same team. Part of being on a team is helping lift each other up. A city, a startup community, a Meetup group is no different than a gym in this regard. There is the cliché that we can all achieve more this way. Some clichés do hold true and this is one. Sometimes we are forced to work together and sometimes we choose too.
A town is forced to work together to some degree to function as a community. In the gym it’s often a necessity to work together as well. You need people to spot you and assist with other tasks in the gym, and in the gym all we got is each other. This forces some community fast. We can also be proactive about building this up. We can workout together and really create partnerships in our pursuit of all the fruits of the iron. I’ve tried to do this with other pursuits in my life as well. It can work with career pursuits, family relationships and more. I see so much opportunity for growth with this way of thinking too. I have seen communities where no one buys each other’s products, or reads each other’s books. I can’t help but think there is a better way, and I learned that way in the gym. The gym is where I have learned almost everything I know about life.
Was this cold morning where I got a weight room mentor a turning point in my life? It very might have been, it did help push me the right direction. I got a few lessons and a good example of how to act in the gym. Shane helped me a lot when he didn’t need to. We can’t have too much this kind of thing in our life. So wherever you are and whatever you’re doing Shane, thanks!