The town I live in is very health conscience. Very. I would say Bloomington is the Portland, Oregon of the Midwest. Bloomington is older, however. So maybe Portland is the Bloomington of the Northwest. I’m sure people in Portland would agree with me. We have bicycle lanes on many of our roads. We have enough health food stores to feed a small army the blandest, gluten free, organic, high antioxidant, soy based meal they’ve ever had. We have trails throughout the city for running and biking. I frequent the running trails a little more often than the health food store. By a little I mean at all.
The other night I was running on a trail through town that has rest/workout stations every half mile or so. These areas off to the side of the trail have benches; various exercise stations, and sometimes a water fountain. I stopped at one of these areas and noticed this sign explaining a workout in which you jump up and touch a bar at various heights.
This picture cracks me up for two reasons. First, they got the names of the exercises all wrong. These are obviously the Cliffhanger, the Disco Cliffhanger, and the If You Sit Down Really Fast Your Soul Can’t Leave And You’ll Live Forever.
The other thing that made me laugh is the drastic, unfathomable gap between the beginner and advanced work out. Really? Beginner, 4 reps. Advanced, 5 reps. Expecting a bit much from the advanced guys don’t you think? I mean, 5 jumps?!? I bet this workout regimen would be even more awesome to hear from a trainer than to read on a board. “Ok, I want you weak beginners to only jump 4 times. I don’t want you to hurt yourselves. Now, you advanced athletes, you specimens of physical prowess, I want you to dig deep and give it everything you’ve got and jump one more time.” I’m just saying that it seems like the difference between beginner and advanced is a little…pathetic. Don’t you think? One extra jump is the bar they’ve set to make you “advanced”? I think if 4 jumps is beginner status, then 5 jumps should be called “beginner plus 1”.
I know this is fairly unimportant in this context. This is just a quick workout station on a trail in town. Who cares what they say is the difference between beginner and advanced. But this picture got me asking a similar question in a different context. I think until recently the difference I had in mind between my life being mediocre and my life reaching greatness was pretty small. For example, a few months ago I would have said my “dream” was to do well at my job in college ministry and to love my family well. Those are obviously great things to want, but they feel relatively safe to say. Of course I want to love my family well and do well at my job. There’s no risk in saying I want to achieve those things because it’s expected.
It’s only been in the last few months as I’ve had many conversations with my best friend (and other half of werdguys) that I’ve solidified in myself a higher bar to jump for; things that are scary to say out loud because I may not achieve them. Yet there they are, in my head, separating beginner from advanced by about 100 extra jumps. I know what these things are for me; things like becoming a published author and obtaining a PhD. What are they for you? Don’t bring your idea of “the best it gets” down to just one more jump. Separate average and advanced a little more and give yourself something to sweat for. Set some high, seemingly unreachable goals and then disco cliffhanger the time out of them.
werdguys 