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I’ve been going to the gym for many, many years now, and at some point in one’s gym career, it becomes very easy to think you know everything.
But it’s very, very not true.
Gym Fails
There are many classic fails at the gym. The two most obvious are flying off the treadmill or getting caught under a heavy barbell during a bench press. How do these happen? The first is either because the treadmill is going too fast for you or you get distracted by something and lose your footing. In the worst case scenarios, it’ll look something like these. Obviously the whole scenario is far worse if you’re in a public setting.
With heavy bench presses, it’s advisable to use a spotter, someone who stands behind you and helps put the bar in the rack if it’s too heavy and you are incapable of completing a repetition. Should this happen, they’ll assist you. And if they weren’t there, you would either get crushed or you would have to do some pretty awkward maneuvering to prevent said crushage. It might look something like these (warning: not for the squeamish among us).
Thankfully, in my many years of gym attendance, and after spending countless hours doing both of these types of exercise, I have managed to not humiliate myself once on either device. I’ve lost my footing for a second or two on the treadmill, but always with a quick recovery, and as far as I can tell, entirely off the entire gym’s radar (and 100% free of embarrassing YouTube permanency).
But if you go to the gym several times a week for so many years, I guess it’s inevitable that you’re going to have a bad day here and there. And it looks like my number was finally called.
Trying Something New
One my favorite things to do in the gym is to try an exercise for the first time. Nothing beats that feeling of giving something a go and knowing right away that it would become a part of my personal arsenal of go-to moves.
So I wanted to try something that combined two moves I’d already attempted. Everyone knows what a push-up is. Well, there are some ways to enhance this move so you have a greater range of motion. One way is to balance on two kettlebells, like you see in the image. I’d done it before with great success.
Another intense move I’ve enjoyed is called a renegade row. See the video. But it’s basically like this: You get into a push-up position, with your hands over kettlebells or dumbbells, and you row back with one arm at a time. It’s a super challenging back exercise because of how unstable the body is during the move. I’d done it before, and it was super hard. I was ready to try again…
But this time I wanted to do something a little different. I would do a push-up on kettlebells, and then a row for each arm. But here’s where I made my fatal mistake.
My Fatal Mistake
Renegade rows are really challenging for me, so I wanted to use a fairly light weight. Veteran gym goers might already see where this is going. Well, you see, lighter weights are significantly less stable than heavier weights. When I tried push-ups on the kettlebells the first time, I used very stable, heavy weights. And thus had no difficulties.
But this fateful day, my luck would change.
I did one full push-up, and before I could do anything else, my balance was totally lost and my face was smacking against the floor at full force. I immediately sat up with my face buried in my hands. I was in a ton of pain.
My mental picture of what the scenario must have looked like was quite dramatic. Blood was pouring down my face from my freshly broken nose, and the entire gym was stopped in its tracks, all staring at me. Of course a few guys were off to the side trying really hard not to chuckle… and failing.
But, thank goodness, it’s not at all what happened. No, barely anyone noticed at all. Just one sympathetic fella who asked if I was OK and suggested for the future I use heavier kettlebells.
And then there was the requisite mirror check.
Surveying the Damage
It wasn’t too bad. My face was a bit red. My upper lip was a bit black and blue. My chin was marked up from the weird floor design. And when I blew my nose, there were tiny bits of blood.
But my lips, teeth, and nose hurt a lot. Very sadly, at the time of writing, my nose still hurts and is a bit sensitive to the touch.
But more than the physical pain, this was a bit of a blow to my pride.
I am a big advocate of exercising intelligently. It’s far more important to focus on form than it is to focus on heavy weights. If you lift correctly, you get to do so for many years. If you want to show off to the gym that you can make lots of steel move more, you’ll likely hurt yourself and end up out of commission indefinitely.
So even though the weights I’m lifting will rarely cause a passerby to marvel in awe of my accomplishment, I’ll be back again tomorrow. And the day after. In fact, I’m nearly 46 and I’m objectively in the best shape of my life. And I’m virtually injury free as a result of training. Yeah, there will be a few small pains here and there. That’s life. But nothing has taken me out and have me sidelined me for an extended period.
In addition, fitness is all about knowledge. The more you know, the more you can accomplish. Hard work is the most important key after you’ve gained said knowledge, but without research and thought, you have nothing to build upon.
My Wakeup Call
And here I was. Completely careless. Risked a nasty injury or two. All because I didn’t know enough and didn’t think more about what I was about to do.
It should be a wakeup call to me and anyone else who may be reading this. (A painful wakeup call)
Be.
Careful.
Life is precious. Don’t spend any of it holding your face in pain. Or nursing an unnecessary and debilitating injury for two months. Think before you act. Ask loads of questions. And live to train another day.
I finished my workout that day. And I was back in the gym the next. The matter could have been so much worse. And I’m grateful my wakeup call was just a slap in the face and a slight kick to my pride.
And I’m forever grateful that, as far as I can tell, I’m not the source of anyone’s viral video.
