I was thinking about what I like to do most in the whole world, what gives me the most peaceful feeling. What makes the day complete, what I would do if I could just stop working. No question it would be to lift weights and hunt. And that's it. When I am doing those activities all else stops in the universe.
I bird hunt, and I do it with my Labrador, Bas. I do not care if I kill anything, although bagging a few doves or ducks is fine. It's the peacefulness of the whole endeavor, the smell of the gunpowder, of the corn stalks, of the mud. It's the Heron that doesn't see me and the panting of Bas' that stops when a bird comes close. It's seeing Bas swim through weeds and over timber to get to the duck. When hunting, all of our senses are alive, but we are both eerily relaxed at the same time. In tune with each other, working together.
Training? Alone is best, but even when I have training partners I can make myself feel like I am alone in the squat rack or when I am deadlifting. I have hit some decent numbers before, but just like the hunting, the numbers don't matter that much, it's the act of doing it, of straining, of pushing, of succeeding, of figuring out the next step. And the best part? Nobody can help you when you are under the bar, just you and the weights, just you and the challenge that you set for yourself. And another thing, the more you talk about what you are going to do that day, the more it loses its luster, it's uniqueness if you will. Keeping it inside and then doing it makes it just right.
Maybe the perfect set up would be to have a small trailer on a farm somewhere where I can get away for a day or two ,in Maryland of course, where I have a squat rack outside and some old rusty weights that are just good for squatting and pulling. Do some squats and then, like Mike Webster used to do back in the basement of that bar outside of Pittsburgh, drop it off my back and do a set of deadlifts until my shins and hands are raw. Then grabbing Bas and my gun and heading out into the field to hunt some doves. Perfect.
