JOE VS.THE SQUAT RACK

                        Joe Myers anxiously glanced at the clock on his office
                        wall. The hands read 4:40pm, which meant another twenty
                        minutes until the workday was over. Though it was a
                        crisp Thursday in late October, and though the Dow Jones
                        was up today and prime interest rates were down by a
                        quarter percentage, the only fact that mattered was this
                        was a training day and in less than an hour, Joe would
                        be standing in front of the squat rack, ready to do
                        battle with the steel king of the gym. Joe was 26, a
                        loan officer for a prestigious bank and also an avid
                        lifter. He had begun training in college, 6 years
                        earlier and had made much progress, transforming himself
                        from a 170lb guy with barely an athletic build to a
                        solid and well developed 215lbs.

                        There were three main places to train in Joe’s city.
                        Duke’s Hardcore Iron Gym was on the edge of town, wedged
                        in between an automobile repo yard and a factory. The
                        gym advertised itself as catering to the “hardcore”
                        lifter. Joe had trained there a few times and was not
                        impressed. The place was filthy, the equipment was not
                        maintained and after all, any gym that had to refer to
                        itself as “hardcore” probably was not that hardcore. The
                        gym also had a lot of chemical commerce transactions,
                        something Joe wanted no part of.

                        The second gym in town was a bright, upscale fitness
                        center that had all the trappings of a 21st century
                        health club including countless exercise classes, fancy
                        machines and personal trainers, all of which catered to
                        the white collar business types. Joe had trained there
                        for a month on a free pass. It was an ok place to train,
                        but very annoying—especially the swarm of the personal
                        trainers who resided there. Most personal trainers were
                        like telephone psychics, you paid them a lot of money,
                        they told you what you wanted to hear and all you got
                        for your money was a temporary ego boost.

                        Joe currently trained at the Coldwell Recreation Center,
                        an athletic and recreation facility that had an indoor
                        basketball gym, a softball field, a pool, tennis courts
                        and a freestanding building that housed the gym. The gym
                        was divided into a weight training area, a cardio room
                        and an aerobics class that was also used by a couple of
                        martial arts classes. The place was run down and
                        understaffed, but the price was affordable and it was a
                        good group of people who used the facilities. The weight
                        room was mostly frequented by guys sporting either a
                        “Big Dawg” tattoo or a “Big Dawg” logo on their lifting
                        belt.

                        Joe had a goal of squatting 375 for ten reps tonight.
                        During his last leg workout he had squatted 370 for ten
                        reps, but it taken just about everything he had to
                        complete the set. His goal was to squat 405 for 10 reps
                        by Christmas, so if he could hit the 375x10 reps
                        tonight, he would be on track to reach his yearly goal.
                        He alternated his leg workouts by performing sets in the
                        10-20 rep range on some days and other times he did reps
                        in the 3-7 range.

                        The type of squats he performed were full “ass to grass”
                        squats. He had only begun doing full squats instead of
                        parallel squats about 18 months earlier upon the advice
                        of Rex, a powerfully built 55 year veteran lifter that
                        he had met at a banking convention. Full squats had done
                        more for his overall strength and development than
                        anything else he had ever done. He loved doing them at
                        the fitness center, which always invoked the personal
                        trainers to warn him about knee trauma. As Rex had
                        explained it, when the squat is performed to a parallel
                        depth, it is the knees which take the majority of the
                        stress involved in stopping the downward momentum of the
                        squat. When the squat is performed to a full depth, this
                        same “braking” stress is transferred to the larger,
                        powerful muscles of the hips, hamstrings and buttocks.
                        It is obvious that the squat must be performed with a
                        great deal of control and that any type of rapid
                        “rebounding”, whether it is done at parallel or at full
                        depth will be detrimental to the knees.

                        Joe pulled into the facility and was glad to see that
                        the parking lot was nearly full. It was not that he
                        wanted to show off when lifting, but having a bunch of
                        people around always provided extra incentive and
                        tonight Joe needed all the help he could get. He opened
                        the door and was met by the blaring sound of the stereo.
                        The room was full, but not crowded. Joe quickly walked
                        to the locker room and began changing into his workout
                        clothes.

                        Walking out into the cardio area he found a quiet corner
                        and began ten minutes of stretching and mental
                        rehearsal. From his vantage point, he was unable to see
                        the squat rack in the next room, but he knew it would be
                        there waiting for him. Following the stretching was 5
                        minutes on the exercise bike which produced a mild
                        sweat. Ready to commence his lifting, Joe walked into
                        the weight room and was greeted by several people.
                        He looked over at the dumbbell rack and bench press
                        station and saw the same group of 4-5 guys who always
                        train together. They loved bodybuilding exercises, using
                        bodybuilding terminology and they avoided heavy back and
                        leg work like the plague. All of their workouts were the
                        same, 5 sets of every conceivable type of press,
                        dumbbell fly or curl interspersed with boastful tales of
                        their previous night of bar hopping and partying. The
                        weight that they use in their exercises never changed
                        and the only benefit they get is a temporary muscle
                        pump. Similar groups are present in just about every gym
                        and though they are decent guys, they have a tendency to
                        draw others into their group, which kills any type of
                        training progress.

                        Off in the corner stood the power rack where Joe would
                        perform his squats. The rack spoke to him as he looked
                        over at it. “Hello Joe, I bet your going to try to
                        exceed your last squat workout….it’s not going to be
                        easy…..you look a little tired…….you probably haven’t
                        recovered from your heavy deadlifts earlier this
                        week….why don’t you wait a few more days….get some rest
                        and it will be a lot easier then.” The squat rack could
                        not stand to be challenged and it hated to be beaten. It
                        kept most members from ever taking the challenge merely
                        by the thought of the pain and discomfort of the squat.
                        Those who did challenge the rack were quietly
                        discouraged by the constant planting of seeds of fear
                        and doubt. Joe glared at the rack and silently
                        proclaimed “375 for ten solid reps…..TODAY.”

  
                        Joe began his workout with incline presses and followed
                        that with narrow grip bench presses, standing overhead
                        presses and dips. The reps were hard, but solid and Joe
                        felt strong. Finishing his last set of dips, he walked
                        over and stood directly in front of the squat rack and
                        began stretching out his hamstrings. His heart began to
                        beat faster in anticipation of the upcoming sets. The
                        gym was abuzz with activity.

                        The rack whispered “Hey Joe, look who’s in the cardio
                        room” Joe turned around and saw Ashley, an attractive
                        brunette walking on the treadmill” She was a customer at
                        the bank and Joe had talked to her a few times and even
                        considered asking her out. “Go talk to her…she likes
                        you…..ask her out.” Joe wanted to get a drink of water
                        and the fountain just happened to be near the treadmill,
                        so he figured he would get a drink and say hi to Ashley.
                        Joe started in her direction but then caught himself and
                        turned back towards the rack. Nothing was going to
                        distract his focus on the squats.

                        He loaded the bar to 135lbs for his first warm-up set.
                        He positioned himself under the bar, backed out of the
                        rack and began squatting. 135 always felt strange,
                        almost too light to really get into the proper groove.
                        His right knee made a slight creaking noise on his 3rd
                        and 4th rep. “Knees bothering you a bit Joe?.......it’s
                        probably from that time you injured your knee playing
                        baseball in high school…it probably never healed
                        properly……some tight knee wraps would take care of
                        that……you should hold off on your squats today and go
                        buy some…..come back on Monday and do your squats then.
                        The rack knew that if it could install just enough fear
                        and doubt into a challenger to get them to postpone
                        their squats, then it would be much easier to get them
                        to postpone it again the next time. “375 for ten full
                        reps…no matter what it takes” replied Joe. He loaded 225
                        and did 5 smooth reps followed by 275 for a solid
                        triple. His technique was precise, just like a well
                        maintained piston.

                        “Joe, you are really looking buff these days……. you know
                        that squats destroy the aesthetics of your body, you
                        would get much better development from super-setting
                        some leg extensions with leg presses.” Joe did not even
                        respond, he knew that the rack was getting desperate to
                        try to throw him off with that lame excuse.

                        He loaded the bar to 315lbs for a warm-up single. He
                        often judged his upcoming set by how the 315 felt. Joe
                        squatted the weight powerfully, but it did not feel
                        quite as light as he had mentally pictured. “See, I TOLD
                        you that you were not ready…..it’s those deadlifts you
                        did, you’re fatigued, over-trained…..do go some
                        isolation movements and come back and squat next week”
                        Joe gritted his teeth, trying hard to ignore the goading
                        whispers of the squat rack. He added a 10lb plate to
                        each side for his last warm-up single with 335lbs.
                        He paced back and forth in front of the rack, his rage
                        growing. He gripped the bar tightly even shaking the bar
                        and plates a few times. Stepping under the bar, he
                        un-racked the bar and stepped back. He heard someone
                        exclaim “Watch this guy squat. He’s an animal!” He
                        descended into a full squat and stood back up with as if
                        there was no weight at all on the bar. He triumphantly
                        returned the bar to the rack, slamming it down with a
                        loud bang. He was now ready for the big set. Nothing was
                        going to stop him from reaching his goal.

                        Joe pulled off the ten lb plates and replaced them with
                        a pair of twenty-fives. He then added a 5lb collar to
                        each side bring the total weight on the bar to 375lbs.
                        He centered the bar on the pins and then went and sat
                        down on a flat bench to tighten up the laces on his high
                        top shoes. His mind was totally focused on doing these
                        ten reps and he began mentally rehearsing the set. This
                        set would be very difficult, it would be a tremendous
                        battle, but he would win. All of a sudden, Joe realized
                        that the gym had become very quiet, had everyone stopped
                        their training just to watch him squat? He turned around
                        and realized that the gym was empty, apparently everyone
                        had just up and left in a mass exodus. Crap, thought
                        Joe, there goes my added motivation. “Joe, this just
                        isn’t your day……even if you succeed with this weight, no
                        one will see it……come back Monday……… it’s not safe to
                        try that weight all alone in a gym……put it off for a few
                        days” the rack suggested.

                        Joe stood and marched towards the rack with fire and
                        determination in his eyes and in his heart. “STEEL ON
                        TARGET” he yelled in a determined voice, borrowing a
                        favorite phrase from his Uncle Jack who was an army
                        artillery officer. Taking several deep breaths, Joe
                        charged the steel cage, un-racked the ponderous barbell
                        and stepped back into his squatting stance. The rack
                        tried made one final attempt to thwart Joe’s goal, “Hey
                        Joe, why bother with those full squats, do what everyone
                        else does and just go to parallel……why, if you did that,
                        you could already hit the 405 for ten with no problem.
                        Joe ignored the voice and began the first rep. ONE….whew
                        that was tough, but the first rep in a set of ten is
                        always tough, just focus on getting the next two in the
                        bag, TWO…..THREE. Ok, now I’m in the groove, one-third
                        of the way there, FOUR….FIVE, half-way done…take a few
                        deep breaths, get mad…….SIX….that was the toughest one
                        yet. Only four reps to go, the last rep is the hardest,
                        but you know if you get nine, you will get ten, so don’t
                        worry about the last one, just get these next three.
                        SEVEN…..damn that was tough, ok, stay tight, and focus
                        on the technique checkpoints. The next repetition
                        stalled at about 30 degrees above parallel. Joe stayed
                        tight and fought the weight through the sticking point.
                        EIGHT. He took several breaths, growled and muttered a
                        few choice words. Just two more reps, I’ve gone this
                        far, no turning back, here we go. NINE…..the 9th rep was
                        extremely tough. If he had been listening he would have
                        heard the rack gently try to talk him out of attempting
                        the 10th rep. He was far too focused and determined to
                        think about anything other than the completion of the
                        last rep. A low, guttural sound escaped from his mouth
                        that was a cross between a growl, a snarl and a caveman
                        scream. Just like the previous nine reps, he squatted
                        all the way down and came up with every bit of effort he
                        could muster. He fought through two sticking points just
                        below the parallel position and then in the blink of an
                        eye, he stood up, completing the tenth and final rep.
                        He let out a triumphant yell. No one had witnessed the
                        set, it would not be on ESPN sports center, it would not
                        be in any magazine or even the local paper, but Joe had
                        just beaten the squat rack by achieving his all time
                        personal record for ten rep squats and the feeling was
                        euphoric!

                        He replaced the bar back into the rack, which remained
                        silent as it sulked in defeat. Joe took a few steps
                        back, then the physical effort of the set caught up with
                        him as his legs buckled, his chest pounded, and he felt
                        dizzy. After walking around the gym to clear his head,
                        Joe returned to the rack where he reduced the weight to
                        315lbs. Ignoring the desperate suggestions of the rack
                        to skip his remaining sets, he squeezed out 16 reps. He
                        reduced the weight to 295 and ground out 20 reps.
                        Those two sets were physically harder than the set with
                        375, but mentally they were a breeze. Once you have
                        conquered mental fear and doubt, you barely notice the
                        physical demands that are required. Joe reduced the
                        weight down to 245lbs and performed a set of front
                        squats for 10 reps, then immediately went to 225lbs and
                        squeezed out another 9 reps. When the bar went back on
                        the rack, Joe knew his workout was completed. His legs
                        felt heavy, as if they each weighed 500lbs. He knew that
                        upon waking the following morning, they would be tight
                        and painful and would remain so for at least 2-3 days,
                        the pain being a constant reminder of his victory.
                        Joe showered and changed his clothes, eager to get home
                        to a 16oz T-bone steak with all the trimmings. Maybe he
                        would even give Ashley a call. As he walked out of the
                        gym, he passed the squat rack. “Nice workout Joe…..but
                        you’re going to have a tough time doing any better next
                        time……after such a tough workout you should take a few
                        weeks off from squats” Joe smiled and confidently said
                        “I will see you next week.”