Revisiting a Torture Device

On May 19 I wrote an article on my blog about a painful workout machine at my gym called the lat pull. In that article I described the pain that I went through while using it. I also discussed how the only reason I continued using it was in hope of someday becoming stronger. I since learned that the correct name for this torture device was a chest press. But that didn't change the fact that it put me through lots of pain.

One of the worst parts about using the chest press is that I go through four sets of fifteen reps. From a seated position I have to push out a bar that has a certain amount of weight (in my case 50 pounds) attached to it. A few weeks after joining the gym the first two sets weren't really that hard to accomplish, but as I began my third set it would get a lot harder. Repetitions eleven through fifteen in the third set would take almost all of the energy out of me. So the fourth set is almost impossible to finish without stopping to rest. For a long time I couldn't get past the tenth repetition of that set without stopping.

Every time I worked out on the chest press I dreamed of the day that I could finish all four sets without taking a break to rest in the middle of one. I knew that stopping in the middle of an exercise made the workout a lot less effective. But at the same time my body could not physically finish the sets on it's own. So I decided to initiate a growth plan that my body could accomplish. Every time I worked out on the chest press my goal was to do one more repetition than last time.

I had a clear set goal of finishing all four sets on the chest press without stopping. But that goal was too large, so I was forced to set up the small goal of doing one better than last time. I wasn't always able to accomplish that goal. But after a few weeks the chest press started becoming easier to handle. I still wasn't able to finish the last set without a break to rest. But I began by being able to finish the second set without stopping. A few weeks later the third set started to seem easier and soon I was able to fight through it without quitting.

I can remember the day that I actually got up to the eleventh rep in my fourth set very clearly. Every time before that I had always quit after number ten. Then last week I actually got up to number thirteen! The goal of finishing strong was closer than ever before. I tried to finish the last set Monday but was unable to. I took some extra time walking over to the chest press for the fourth set this afternoon. I settled in and waited a few seconds thinking about what I wanted to do and took a deep breath before beginning. I got to thirteen and felt like there was no strength left, but somehow I finished the last two reps. It wasn't pretty but I had accomplished my goal!

I wasn't able to finish the second set without stopping when I started working out. There were times when I would quit at ten and not even try to do fifteen reps. Those days it seemed impossible that I would ever finish the first ten reps in my last set, much less finish it without resting. Since that goal was overwhelming to me I set a smaller goal that was achievable. And slowly I made that goal harder and harder to achieve. Finishing the second set without resting turned into finishing the third. And finishing the third became getting past the tenth rep in the fourth set, which became getting to thirteen, and then I achieved the impossible goal.

It is easy to become overwhelmed when we face challenges. It is important when facing them to break them into smaller things which we can accomplish. The majority of growth is done slowly one step at a time. So setting lots of small goals instead of one massive one would be the best way to accomplish our dreams. Of course once you meet those goals you have to set other small ones in order to continue growth. That's why in a few weeks I will change the weight from 50 to 60 pounds and begin doing battle with the dreaded chest press once again.