I loved going to amusement parks as a kid.
We’d wait all year for those two or three Summer days when my Dad would take off work and we’d go to Great Adventure or Action Park or Adventureland.
Ironically, I was very afraid of the rides.
In retrospect, I was afraid of a lot of things as a kid.
But my fear did not quell my excitement. There was something about getting off the tram from the parking lot, stepping through the gates and having the smell of cotton candy and popcorn punch me in the face while the magic of carnival games and carousels and cartoonists swirled around me.
My brother did not share my trepidation. So while he and my Dad waited on lines ninety minutes long in order to go on the craziest roller coasters, my Mom and I would eat funnel cake while I watched the artists airbrush someone’s name on a t-shirt or paint a rather intricate unicorn on a young girl’s face.
Honestly, I think we got the better end of the deal. While my Mom and I, our fingers covered in powdered sugar and grease from the fried dough, watched a teenager spend what had to be $50 trying to win the big teddy bear for his girlfriend, my Dad and brother were moving up a giant staircase one step at a time until they crammed into a death trap for a 90 second thrill ride.
To each their own, I guess.
Fear is a fascinating thing. I don’t think anyone is fully immune to it but I do find it interesting how it hits people differently.
Not surprisingly, the fear that most people share with me is the fear of getting hurt in the gym (tornpecaphobia??). They’ve either gotten hurt before or know someone who has been injured and they sure-as-shit don’t want to go to the gym with the hopes of getting healthier or looking better in their swim trunks only to end up in a sling or with a back injury.
And that’s fair. Injuries hurt. They slow you down. They can make it tough to sleep. They certainly can be a detour towards reaching your goals.
And they are real. People do get hurt in the gym. It happens.
Mostly this is actually a function of poor programming or poor weight selection. Sure, bad technique can contribute to an injury. But if training volume and weight selection are reasonable, it’s actually quite hard to get injured even with atrocious form. Most people think it's the form that’s the culprit. It’s usually the program.
But even with all those caveats aside, the risk of injury in the gym is statistically much, much lower than nearly every other physical activity. Compared to playing flag football or pick-up hoops, the gym is considerably safer. It’s actually not even close.
And this makes sense. While gym activities can be heavy, they are also rather controlled and predictable. Two hundred pounds is two hundred pounds. The frat boy who is charging at you during your Sunday morning intramurals game like his life depends on it is a dangerous wild card.
While it pays to be smart in the gym, the thing you should actually fear is the opposite of what concerns most people. And that isn’t that you are pushing too hard, it’s that you aren’t pushing hard enough.
The truth is, training has to be hard to be effective. And you can (and should!) train hard without being reckless. But so many people are afraid of the soreness or the discomfort or the breathlessness that comes from real training that they way undershoot their effort.
You should show up to the gym knowing that it’s going to be somewhat uncomfortable and accept it at least and embrace it at best. If you are a bit nervous as you walk through the door or sit in your car in the gym parking lot thinking, “oh, crap, I don’t want to go in there” as memories of your last leg day swirl in your head, you are doing it right.
The reason this is so important is so simple: you want to actually get a result out of training. You want to develop capability and strength and work capacity and movement competency. Not having those things is ultimately what you should be fearful of.
Because not having those things can lead to a life of disease or limited movement or the inability to do things that are important. You certainly want to feel capable and confident in your body right now and you undoubtedly, even though it might not currently be on your mind, you want to be someone who at seventy or eighty is able to ride their bike or go for long walks or horse around with their grandkids.
It’s actually hard to overstate the importance of health and continued physical capability. I'm sure you, like me, have never heard anyone say, “You know, I really regret the time and effort I put in to take care of my health and my body.”
So next time you are in the gym, try. Try to a level that is slightly uncomfortable. Everyone loves effort. Your body is no excpetion.
Rides don’t freak me out anymore. I’d still prefer to eat fried dough than plummet seven stories while sitting in a molded sheet metal box that is smaller than a coffee table, but I can climb in there when the moment calls for it.
Which is good news. Because my son really likes water parks. And on those two or three days out of the year when I take the days off and we spend that time together it’s not only good to know that I can psychologically get in the rafts and climb up the slides and chase him around the water towers but that, physically, I can do it, too.