The Mechanic

Its one of my jobs to lead and inspire dynamic and natural movement and prepare people to meet their goals, whatever they may be. And in my years doing this, believe me I've heard excuses and whining and complaining. "My knee hurts", "I'm really stressed" or "the weather really gets me down" among a plethora of others. But the people I work with just bring it. This post is dedicated to someone who brings it and is is the first installment in a series highlighting the amazing people I'm blessed to work with.

He pulls in to our meeting spot blasting tunes in his big throaty diesel truck and he jumps out with his steel toed shit kickers on and usually covered in dirt and grease. Its his lunch break so time is of the essence. He kicks off his boots, throws on some shorts and starts his dynamic warmup. "You ready buddy"? I ask and he always responds with a big smile and a "hell yeah" or "bring it on", and we begin.

I put him through the paces. Sometimes we are deep in the woods, gathering boulders from a river to be used as resistance or hanging from rafters in an old pavillion cranking out pullups. Then on to the town sandpile for some brutal climbs and metabolic conditioning. The "mechanic" wants to improve his game. Hone his martial arts(2nd degree black belt). Keep his back strong and work through some past issues. And even though he practically has lived in steel toed boots his whole life, he has embraced going barefoot. Every challenge for the last few months with me, he has been barefoot. "getting better" he says, when I ask him how feet are faring.

You see, the mechanic has some things that don't work like the rest of us. Limited range of motion in his shoulder. Wracked his back pretty good back in the day. And he has one issue that I won't get into here that lets just say, would cause some people to just want to give up and give in. Throw in the proverbial f&^^$%ing towel. But that is not what the Mechanic does. He grits his teeth and he accepts each and every challenge and task I can dish out and handles it with aplomb. He focuses on his breathing and engagement and despite not having much of a cardio base when we started this summer, has made some incredible headway there too. An hour later he is drenched in sweat and has worked in every plane of movement and given 100% on everything.No excuses, no "poor me" and he is always ready for the next challenge even if he has to do it with a little of "his style".


Next time your thinking of giving up,or not giving it 100% think about the Mechanic. And think about others that might only have 1 arm, or 1 leg or no legs or are confined to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives but are still giving it their all. Realize how lucky we all are and never forget how precious and fleeting time is. The Mechanic sure won't.