The early morning Iron Indian workouts are growing. We now have two coaches and five fathers who show up on a regular basis along with dozens of student athletes. God is doing something with all of us as we perspire gallons of sweat. Camaraderie is being built. We are developing a new vocabulary. Sevens, Defranco complex, ultimate bench, sleds, sledge-hammers, triceps death and flipping tractor tires have all become pretty routine for us.
It is not always easy to drag yourself out of bed for the early morning workouts. In fact, I will have to confess that I was tempted to sleep in a time or two over the past couple of weeks. Yet, I think about my teammates paying the price to get out of bed and it motivates me to throw the covers off and grab my gym shorts and a t-shirt.
I was thrown a curve ball on Thursday. We have a routine in our workouts. Monday is chest day. Tuesday is back and shoulder day. Wednesday is core day at the “Big Room”. Thursday is bicep and triceps day. Friday is a rest day. Saturday is leg day. We have seldom made leg day because Taylor, Tanner, Tucker, and Turner are all playing baseball. Tanner’s game lasted until 11:15p.m. last night and they won 13 to 12. I am glad today is Friday and rest day.
Wednesdays are hard. Flipping tractor tires is brutal. Coach Burtch estimated the biggest one (which he insists he and I use) weighs between 350-400 pounds. He had us flip that tire three sets of ten repetitions. This was in addition to slinging a twelve-pound sledge-hammer on a different tractor tire three sets of ten repetitions on the right side and then repeated on the left side. There was pulling sleds laterally, blocking dummy throws; ten over the head, ten to the right, then ten to the left and repeat the whole thing again.
I was looking forward to Thursday. Bicep and triceps day is not as hard as the others but coach threw us all a curve ball. Each morning we walk into the weight room and look on the board to see what mental and physical torture coach has invented for us that day. None of us were prepared when we looked at the board and discovered we were doing a leg workout.
Let me see if I can recall the routine. We started with dead lifts. I have not done dead lifts in years. I knew I was trouble. Dead lifts three sets of eight. Box squats three sets of ten. A box squat is when you do a squat by coming to sitting position on a bench and then you try to explode up and off the bench. We did three sets of twenty toe raises. Three sets of thirty jumping over blocking dummies laterally on the floor. This was followed by three sets of six dumbbell step-ups. On this exercise you grab a dumbbell in each hand and step up onto a platform. This was all followed by running up the bleachers in the gym five sets up hitting every step and then five sets of hitting every other step. To top it all off we finished with an abdominal routine that consists of four different exercises all being done in succession with thirty repetitions each. To say I was spent afterwards is an understatement. Sitting in this chair my legs ache. I will pay the price for neglecting the leg works out over the past several months.
Sometimes the hardest thing about the Iron Indian workouts is the mental labor to push and to fight through pain. Over and over again I have to get my mind right to endure whatever new routine meant to tax us both physically and mentally. For me yesterday that included overcoming doing dead lifts, running bleachers, and doing the dummy jumps. Isn’t life just like that? We are thrown some curves and have to gut out difficult times.
Few people ever plan for things like cancer, Alzheimer’s, surgery, divorce, financial set backs, or death of loved ones. Life can be running along smoothly with no hiccups and then suddenly the rug gets jerked out from underneath us. There are days you have to will you to get out of bed, pay the bills, go to work, cook, wash the laundry, mow the yard, and yes even attend church.
Life is a series of gut checks. We constantly face the mental labor of having to endure difficult seasons. We get pushed to the breaking point physically fighting fatigue which can lead to emotional fatigue. How many are at their wits ends trying to keep up with the pace of life. I cannot tell you how valuable the Iron Indian workouts have been more to me spiritually and emotionally as much as physically.
Now here is the best part. When we do life as a group surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ we are able to endure easier. Jase helped me yesterday. His challenge, example, and encouragement help me push past fatigue and the fiery burn in my muscles and lungs.
Let me conclude with an illustration. Last week on bicep and triceps day I finished up with a little triceps workout I came up with several years ago. I did not invent the exercises but put three exercises back to back to back. At first Coach Burtch called them the “Brother Matt’s.” I hated that name and wanted something more manly and descriptive. His solution: “Triceps Death.” I loved it.
Triceps Death was my last exercise of the day. I decided to push myself by doing heavier weight than I have ever done before. Here is the work. Three sets of ten “skull crushers”, followed by close grip bench press, and then push ups. I breezed through the first set pretty easily. The second set was way more difficult and I had trouble finishing the pushups. I knew the third set would be brutal. I got through the first two thirds of the routine but my triceps were spent. I really had nothing left.
I dropped to the floor to get through the pushups by pumping them out as fast as I could which worked until I got to the halfway point. Everything in me was ready to quit. The next thing I know I had a sophomore young lady (who is one our Iron Maidens and a power lifter) on her knees shouting in my ears not to quit, telling me I could make it. After a few minutes of rest in the up position I labored past two more repetitions. Now others joined this girl in encouraging me. I pushed out another repetition. I only had two left but I had no strength left. Sweat drops formed puddles running down my nose and off my forehead. My triceps were screaming for relief. I wanted to quit. Now it seemed the entire Iron Indian group had stopped what they were doing to cheer me on to finish. I barely squeezed out another rep. Only one left but I was past muscle fatigue. Everyone was shouting words of affirmation and challenging me not to quit. I dropped down and began pushing with every ounce of energy I had left. Half way up I locked up. I could not get all the way up. Then as I listened to all the dozens of people spurring me on I felt just enough of a surge of energy to lock my arms out to finish.
[Hebrews 10:24] “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” In the same way the Iron Indians stimulated, encouraged, and pushed me to finish strong, fellow believers can do the same in the arena life. So go ahead. Come along someone and encourage them not to lose heart but to press on. Find those who are close to giving up and shout words of affirmation into their ears and spirit. We can do more together than we can alone. I know in soul I would have quit if that young lady had not come down beside me to challenge me to finish. Now, I must do that for someone else in the game of life today. God, thank you for the Iron Indians and Maidens.
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