the joy of strength training

Gubernatrix

June 25th, 2013 at 10:35 pm

If… (the weightlifter’s version)

There can’t be many people who haven’t heard the Rudyard Kipling poem that begins, “If you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you”

Reading it again this evening, I was inspired to write a weightlifter’s version. So here goes:

If…

(The weightlifter’s version)

If you can be aggressive when you don’t feel like it,

Give energy and focus when you are tired and sore,

Pay attention to the process not just the numbers,

Keep your chin up when everyone else is lifting more;

 

If you learn to be comfortable with failure,

And see each missed lift as a forward step;

Accept that mastery takes a lifetime,

And there’s no such thing as the perfect rep;

 

If you can walk out on that platform,

And know that you gave your very best;

Accept that this is your choice of battle,

And it’s your mind and body put to the test;

 

If you’ve decided strength is worth the striving,

And you accept the challenge, come what may –

Yours is the bar and everything that’s on it,

And you’ll be a weightlifter today!

Dmitry Klokov

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  • 3

    Love this post. I read the original Kipling poem regularly, and this fits really well! Cheers

    Brett Sanders on February 9th, 2014
  • 4

    Thank you Brett!

    gubernatrix on February 9th, 2014
  • 5

    Excellent! excellent! lovely.
    i loved this canto the most,
    “If you learn to be comfortable with failure,

    And see each missed lift as a forward step;

    Accept that mastery takes a lifetime,

    And there’s no such thing as the perfect rep;”
    thanks for the post Sally, it’s really motivating

    www.thedaleguild.com on May 10th, 2014
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