Reflections on training and life: part 2
These reflections continue an earlier piece. Here I’m gathering observations that have become clearer over the years, in the gym and outside it. A short read, but hopefully one to digest for a long time.
Reflections on the past and the present
Both count: what someone has done in the past, and how things stand now. Neither should overshadow the other. Unfortunately, many people see only what is “today, here and now.” Everything in this earthly world is fleeting, and the transient should not blur the great deeds of great people.
In sport, it is unthinkable that peak form, once reached, would last a whole lifetime. This fact applies to virtually every area of life.
Reflections on theory and practice
Watching the people around me, I’ve increasingly come to realize that even the poorest practice is often better than an ideal, beautiful theory that isn’t followed by action. This holds true in every area of life.
It shows especially clearly in the world of training. There are plenty of people who “know” how things should be done and what is right. But few can put together training programs, routines or annual plans that actually work. There are many talkers and few doers.
Reflections on pull-ups in the long run
First of all, I’d like to live to seventy (at least). And if that works out, I’d like to be able to do at least 10 proper pull-ups at that age. A simple metric, but it says a lot.
Reflections on consumption and opposites
It’s not possible to keep developing forever. It’s not possible to keep inventing and dreaming up new things endlessly. To go on finding joy in something, you need opposites and contrasts.
I see and hear people standing in front of store shelves groaning with food, complaining: “there’s nothing good to eat,” “I’d like something nice, but I don’t know myself what I want, only that I want something.” That is exactly the moment to do a restart.
Try fasting for a while, or give up the “good stuff” for a short time: not for a few hours, but for a few days, a week or even a month. You’ll see how good the foods and drinks that once seemed “pointless” taste. The people close to me are still amazed at how I can enjoy plain boiled macaroni with a dab of ketchup. Or bland quark with sour cream and a pinch of salt.
But that’s because constantly tracking my food and the restrictive pre-contest diets have taught me to enjoy and appreciate any kind of food. The same refresh logic works for everything in our lives: eating, socializing, holidays, sex, supplements. To rediscover something, you simply have to stay away from it for a while. To feel how good it is to be at home, you have to leave it from time to time.
Ignoring this way of thinking is exactly what has led to the state of society today, where completely irrational behaviors, trends and phenomena have started to be normalized. Somewhere there is a line beyond which a modified innovation is no longer normal or progressive. On the contrary, it is regressive, pointlessly wasteful and even harmful to us.
As early as 2005, our store shelves held 40 types of bread. Is that sensible or necessary? In 2012, the fresh bakery sector of the Estonian market offered a total of 346 different kinds of bread and 445 kinds of white bread and buns, 791 bakery products in all. Nobody asks whether that’s necessary. The main thing is that people consume, consume and consume again. Basically the same product, just in new packaging with a pinch of wheat bran added, and off it goes again.
Progress comes through opposites
All progress really happens through opposites. The training process is a vivid example. For something to get better or to be added, you first have to use up, wear down and break down.
That is why it’s impossible for everything to be good, pleasant and comfortable all the time. Unfortunately, today’s education system ignores this fact.
Do digital technology and the internet really connect us?
Cut the power at home, switch off the internet and wifi, and watch how the family starts gathering from their individual “dens” in the kitchen and the living room. People talk, play board games, someone comes to eat, someone starts drawing.
Does the internet really connect us with the people closest and most important to us? Much has been said and written about how it has, if anything, driven big wedges into our relationships, especially with those closest to us. And that raises a new question in turn: where is the line at which the bad that usually comes with all good starts to outweigh the value and usefulness of the so-called “good”?
FAQ
Are these points in order of importance?
No. Numbers 7–12 simply continue from the first part, and each point stands on its own.
Why exactly 10 pull-ups at seventy?
It’s a personal yardstick: hard enough to mean something, and concrete enough to train toward on purpose.
What does “restart” mean in practice?
Put simply, it means giving something up temporarily. Not for hours, but for days or weeks. Afterwards, the earlier tastes and experiences come back in full force.
To be continued…
Author: Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
