I’ve Got Some Miles on Me

A few years ago, I was the strength and conditioning coach for a professional basketball team in the Tobacco Road Basketball League (TRBL). But I only got these players a couple times a week. Some players couldn’t attend regularly or at all because of their other jobs. Guys trained when they were available and I had to accept differing levels of attendance. The guys that I did get understood why they were there and it showed in their efforts.

During a training session, one of my more regularly attending athletes complained of knee pain when he squatted. His form was decent. Because I wanted him to get a training effect for his legs and hips, I substituted deadlifts during that particular training session, which evidently did not cause him any discomfort and which he could perform with solid form. Perhaps that particular day was just a case of his knee giving him some trouble.

Now understand, I wasn’t “giving up" on the squat. It is a fundamental movement pattern. I intended to continue working on further improving the movement pattern via bodyweight squats during warm-up and with lighter loads during future sessions, assuming that he could perform those squats pain-free. If not, a referral to the athletic trainer or a physician would have been warranted.

In any case, this player was initially reluctant to do something different than what the rest of his teammates were doing. I pointed out that he had accumulated miles. He had mileage.

He had played basketball on junior high school/middle school, AAU, high school, college/university, and professional teams. I couldn’t treat him like a young kid without the accumulated wear and tear. He was by no means a “train wreck “, but it would have been irresponsible of me not to account for the accumulated wear and tear. I wasn’t babying him. He would be expected to work hard like everyone else during training sessions. But he was clearly a talented basketball player. Hurting him wouldn’t have been good for him. It certainly wouldn’t have been good for me either, as sports coaches tend to frown on strength and conditioning coaches injuring their players in the gym or training center. Coaches have been fired for that kind of thing. I had to accommodate any physical limitations and still get a training effect. He appeared to accept that line of reasoning and got after it as he always did during training.

I believe that we have to be careful with putting false limits on ourselves and giving in to the idea that something is too difficult or unattainable just because we are a little older. But we have to be realistic too and take advantage of our hard-won experience and wisdom.

As a masters weightlifter, I understood that I couldn’t attempt to hit PRs in every lift in every training session. I had some physical training under my belt, so gains don’t tend to come as regularly or as frequently as with a novice. I also was older, had accumulated wear and tear, and I don’t heal or recover quite as fast as I used to heal or recover. Moreover, getting “ramped up” emotionally for every single lift every single day isn’t very realistic or even reasonable. I still needed to push myself, but I needed to be smart about it.

I think as we get older, we need to consider the accumulated mileage. And not just the physical mileage. We need to consider the emotional mileage too. Of course, we probably shouldn’t treat our body like it is a younger version of ourselves. Playing sandlot tackle football every day after work, drinking like we did in college every weekend, and staying up all night drinking copious amounts of Mt. Dew and slamming bags of Doritos and White Castle sliders while playing video games is probably ill-advised at a certain age.

But so too is continuing to put up with a lot of youthful emotional drama from someone that should know better. As we gain some experience with relationships, we get a better sense of ourselves and hopefully what an adult relationship should look like. If we are fortunate, we have some role models to mirror mature behaviors. But in any case, we should be drawing lessons from our experiences. We should have a better idea over time of what we are willing to accept and what we are not willing to accept. We should have a better handle on what we want in a relationship and what we should avoid. We should use that experience. We should use that mileage.

Just remember that sometimes you DO have to push yourself. You DO sometimes have to push against your perceived limitations. Sometimes you DO have to take a chance.