“The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. I have But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.” – Henry Rollins
I have been thing about Iron and the Soul by Henry Rollins a lot recently. Mainly, it comes down to the very last sentence, “But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.” Think about that. It’s a relatively profound when you honestly think about it.
As someone who works out on a semi regular basis, this is huge. Imagine you’re getting it in, lifting whatever it is, but for this we’ll say #250 on the bench press. You’re feeling super strong, motivated as hell. You go off and come back a week later. Feeling great, you throw on #250. You fail. Why? Did the weight get heavier? No. The problem is you. The weight remains unchanged, it is you who have failed to achieve.
Think about that. The weight remained in a constant state, but you failed. The weight doesn’t give a shit whether you’ve had a bad day or not. It doesn’t care that you’ve been on vacation for two weeks. If it had a brain and could compose speech, it would say you’re a bitch. Why? Because the Iron doesn’t care about you.
It is your job to tame the weight. You must dominate over it. Simply entering in to the gym, you have entered into an epic battle to determine who will be conquered. With every rep you determine who is mightier. Every set establishes dominance. To become the master, the Iron succumbs to your will with every movement.
It is your mind and body who must defeat the Iron. However, the sad truth is, the Iron always wins. Why, because the Iron alway seeks to dominate over you. Every struggling rep is the Irons way of feeding you lies. Each rep it tells you that you can’t. The tired workouts. The delayed fatigue. All the Iron telling you that you can’t.
This is the choice you must make. Are you willing to listen to the lies or are you going to push through and triumph? The decision isn’t easy and it defiantly isn’t simple. You must determine what you are willing to face into to be conquer the Iron. The choice is purely yours. But know the Iron is always there waiting for you, patiently.