This morning’s work out bordered insanity. We started with the word of the day. This is the time when someone brings a character lesson, often scripture based, to challenge the rest of the athletes. We follow this with a prayer. Afterward the fun began.
Today I worked out with coach Burtch. We warmed up doing agility ladders and then ropes. This gets the blood pumping. We started with pulling the sleds ten repetitions of ten yards as fast as we could go. Sweat began beading up on my forehead. It proved to be a foreshadowing of things to come.
After the sleds we did three sets of dead man sit ups throwing a medicine ball to our partner. You throw it at the top of the sit up starting with your back on the ground and the ball extended behind your head. He would in turn throw it back up high while we were seated so we could catch it with our feet suspended in the air. We laid back down and repeated the motion. The last set was tough.
We left that station to head to the leverage blocking apparatus. You have to stay low, drive the pad backward and then upward with your arms. Three sets of ten of those. This was followed by dummy throws. We take blocking dummies and with our back to our partner we threw thirty times from our left side with our toes pointing straight ahead twisting at the torso and thirty times to our right side.
At this point I had drops of sweat dripping from my nose. My grey t-shirt was drenched. There was still more to do. After this we headed for the tractor tire flips. I will go ahead and admit it. After doing these for close to six weeks I still hate them. The object is simple. Lift the tractor tire and then flip it over. You do this three sets of ten repetitions. You have to use your arms, legs, forearms, shoulders, and your mind. It has been twelve hours since that work out and I can still feel the fatigue in my muscles.
As I squatted down for each revolution I would leave a little puddle of sweat on the tire. This is as mentally challenging as it is physically grueling. My body screamed for relief but coach Burtch stayed by my side encouraging every rotation of the tire. It was sheer will power getting out the last five repetitions. Brutal. My legs quivered. I could barely find air. I was spent.
We stopped for a drink of Gatorade. My shirt looked like I had been thrown into the shower still wearing it. More puddles formed on the concrete dripping from my nose like a leaky faucet near the Gatorade. The end was in sight. All we had left was to swing twelve-pound sledgehammers into a tractor tire thirty times from the right side and thirty times from the left. I pounded that tire mercilessly. I heaved the hammer with grunts wanting to break through the tire.
Why do I keep doing this to myself I often wonder? I really do not have anything left to prove. My athletic career is over. There are certain exercises I refuse to do if I deem they might injure my back or knees. What motivates me to keep pushing my forty-three old body to the limit?
I see these Iron Indian workouts as training for life. Difficult days have and will come in our lives. Every time I finish one of these workouts I am reminded that with the same perseverance and with God’s help I can endure whatever life throws at me. God is doing more in me than building physical muscle and stamina. He is allowing me to speak for Him to those young men. It takes more than enduring a work out to be an Iron Indian. You also have to want God to develop your spirit like iron as well as your body. Your mind must be able to block out adversity as you set your sights on a worthwhile goal.
Being an Iron Indian is a spiritual thing to me. It is a work out of the body, mind, and the soul. Character is being shaped. Resolved is being forged like steel. I have watched other dads endure with their sons. God is doing something in the Iron Indians. I know this because He is doing something in me. This group of young men and one young lady are a special group. Pray for their souls and minds to be renewed in the Lord. These are more important than the body. Bodies grow old and wear out. Joints begin to ache. Muscles atrophy. The spirit can be renewed day in and day out. I pray we are all more spiritual Iron Indians. Let us leave the soul sweat to know and serve Christ on the battlefield of life.
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