Flashbacks

I got to chat with Travis, Ryan and Jon on the weightlifting talk podcast today and as I was listening to the podcast Jon pointed to one of his blog posts from this week. After reading the blogpost, I certainly wanted to commend all of you to it. It’s topic is something that lives near and dear to my heart and a perspective that I’m a little nostalgic about. When I started weightlifting there was no such thing as CrossFit. Sure people were doing conditioning that mimic what CrossFit workouts are doing today but there was no such thing as a CrossFit gym. The only gyms where bumper plates existed and barbells could be dropped were weightlifting gyms. While I love CrossFit gyms and I love all that they stand for there is a certain soft spot in my heart and also in Jon’s for our roots. There’s something special about a weightlifting gym, something special about a gym that has a rack for weightlifting belts in place of the rack for the jump ropes. The gyms I grew up lifting in look much more simple than your typical CrossFit gym. Bumpers, bars, racks and an occasional bench to sit on is what my gym consisted of. John visited his old Eleiko gym and pointed out some of the same perspective and observation.s
Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” There is so many great reasons why there is a soft spot in my heart for my high school weightlifting gym. Much of who I am today was developed in that environment. 25-30 guys with barbells and rubber weights getting after it every day for two hours. A lot of the dedication and dependability that I rely on and run to today was developed in my high school weightlifting gym. I Have my high school weightlifting coach and my high school teammates to thank for those character traits. Christ used those guys to develop me for today. That’s why there’s a certain soft spot in my heart for this place. There’s something beautiful in the simplicity of three or four exercises used to develop great athletes. You won’t find that simplicity many places today.
I commend you, if you are a Crossfitter, to step in our world when you had the chance. Just as Jon saw the beauty of it when he went to the Eleiko center. I think you too will see the beauty found in it’s simplicity.
Weightlifting Talk Session