While its technically Third Season, its the second one here at Healthtrax. With Tribe, everyone who participates across the globe does the same workout and the same season. Its sort of global torture brought right into your local health club! Isn't that thoughtful of them?
Its interesting how these seasons stack up upon each other. The progression of ridiculously tough workouts to even more ridiculously tough seems faster this time around. It might be me, but I'm not entirely sure. There is a method to this madness. The workouts are so carefully planned that you progress significantly faster than you would otherwise. Each week builds upon the previous week forcing us to be stronger and faster and tougher not just in the quads and shoulders but our minds too.
Let me run you through a typical night of Tribe Fit:
Most of us arrive at least fifteen minutes early. Some even earlier for a hot tub soak but we won't mention names.
We see the Workout of the Day (WOD) on the whiteboard. Well, more like stare at it with squinted eyes for a solid ten minutes before class starts. We aren't memorizing it, we're measuring it against all the others that came before. This is bargaining. It goes like this, "Well, two weeks ago we did walk-outs and burpees so surely animal pushups and crawls can't be that much harder."
We're also thinking about which kettlebell or dumbbell we should choose. Squats? Go heavy. Overhead presses? Can't go light enough! Prone rows? Sort of heavy.
In the background noise of our brains, self-preservation instincts are hopping up and down on one foot screaming, "ME! ME! PICK ME! GO LIE DOWN! STOP IT! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! IS THAT FIRE? YOU SHOULD REST!" The key here, as I've said before, is to shut that lying son of a bitch down. We might be wondering how we'll finish this craziness and then deciding that yes, of course we will finish. We can't not finish. Its why we're here. We're here to win something. To prove something. To not feel eighty years old until our hundredth birthdays, to keep up with our kids, to be able to run and jump longer than anyone else we know.
Its the beginning of the night and already we know that in one hour we will feel a sense of accomplishment that will carry us through the night. A sense of progress and pride that is too often reserved for our kids. Its a rare thing to be middle-aged and kicking this much ass! Seriously, if you don't think that's a big part of it, you're fooling yourself. Sure, most people sign up at a gym thinking "skinny, small, diet, cardio" but if you don't progress beyond that, you will quit within six months (25% of the people who make a New Year's Resolution don't last a week). Those ideas need to evolve towards, "strong, healthy, eat, muscle." When that happens the gym is no longer an item on a to do list. It becomes one of your favorite things to do, the thing that tops the list and all other things must fit around.
At the moment our warm up begins (usually lasting about 10-15 minutes), the world outside the gym disappears. There are no meetings, no grocery lists, no homework to struggle though, no laundry to wash. There is only the matter at hand. And it usually involves lunges.
After everyone finishes warm-up, we gather around the board. Justin goes over the WOD, teaches us anything new we haven't done yet. After all this time, there are still new things to learn. For example, the Reverse Bear Crawl:
This might look simple, but I will pay you $500 if you can do 100 meters of these fricking things without swearing. Of course, you also need to do them forwards first.
There are usually two different workouts, but sometimes not. Usually we do things for time or start on the minute or every two. Sometimes you work in pairs. There is almost always a lot of jump roping (rowing is an alternate for those with knee/joint issues). And sometimes there isn't. As the workout progresses, your fellow Tribe members push you to work harder, go faster or just get through it. Your Tribe doesn't let you fail and when you need that kick in the ass... you get it. This is teamwork of the highest order.
And then somehow, its done. You finished what had once been impossible for you. Maybe it was six months ago or a year ago, but you know that previous to this moment in your life this thing that you did was impossible. These things might include burpees. I mean, it might. Burpees are awful. You should do them every single day. That's how awful they are.
My goal is to do thirty pushups in a row, without stopping. I'm currently at 23.
I'll post a video of me doing thirty in a few weeks.
See you on the other side...
