Monday, June 16, 2014

Amazing testimonial

I get a lot of testimonials each week. They are all truly special to me, and I mean that. It's amazing to know that you wrote something regarding training or life or anything that made a difference in someone's life in some way.

However some are more meaningful than others. And that is the case with this one.

For reasons only a few people close to me know, this testimonial brought me to tears. In the future, as I write about it, you will understand why.

I want to thank Heather for sending this to me, and to let her know publicly how much this really meant to me.

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I have been lifting for almost a year at this point, with a very dedicated but old-school trainer who believes in heavy triples, doubles, singles and trying to go for a PR every week. This worked for a little while, but I’m no spring chicken. I’m a 41 y.o. female. I started having shoulder pain, hip pain, and a very tired back. Progress stalled after a few months of this, and I started to get frustrated when my numbers weren’t moving, and I wasn’t even having fun. Doing accessory work with new friends at the gym was fun, but training the “big three”…well I was starting to dread it. I liked my 4th day at the gym when I was by myself and could work on whatever I wanted. I knew something had to change, and as I read Base Building, everything made sense. I didn’t have to (and probably shouldn’t be) going for PR’s week in and week out. I was frying my body and my mind.



I started following your base building models a couple months ago and everything started to move again. Some slowly, but some quickly. I was feeling stronger and happy to be in the gym again. My recent victory was a 305 deadlift on June 7 at a push-pull meet. It was a grinder but I never stopped pulling. I almost backed out of the meet that morning because I just wasn’t feeling it. My mom passed away on May 30, and I was only doing the meet to have something positive to focus on. When I wanted to stop, I realized that I was wearing my LRB shirt and I thought about you at Relentless with a torn quad. I knew that I wasn’t a quitter and to suck it up and lift. I ended up winning my class and getting best female lifter. (attached is a picture with a damn goofy face once I finally locked it out.) I gave it everything I could and was so pleased after the lift that I went to text my mom about it. (she’d been in the hospital so much that I was texting pictures and numbers after every meet or gym PR so we could share. She lived out of state, about 2 ½ hours away.)

I’d like to thank you for the advice, information, and frank opinions that you share. I enjoy your writing immensely, and hope that I can someday see you lift in person.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Paul,

    Amazing testimonial as always. As it relates to this post, I wanted to preface by both thanking you once again for your insights (regarding my previous inquiry) and posing another question.

    Have you had similar success stories with other lifters coming from higher frequency backgrounds?

    As always, thanks, Paul, and congratulations Heather!

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  2. Lifting weights is all good and well....

    ...inspiring people to help them accomplish something that means something to them.....that's what heaven is made out of.

    Mr. Carter, you are wealthy beyond money from things like this. That should let you know how much of yourself you put into this blog, if you didnt know already. I doubt you would get feedback like this if you were putting out bullshit. Not training method bullshit, or nutrition bullshit, but personal emotional bullshit. You share yourself with us with sincerity. And these types of messages you get are a reflection of that.

    Two of my favorite quotes or sayings, "a weak man can not be sincere", and, "integrity defines strength".

    From where I set Paul, regardless of how big you look or how much weight you move, you are not a weak man.

    Thank you for your contribution to life in general.

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  3. Thank you so much, Paul. Sharing my small triumph during this hard time means a lot to me, and it's been one of the few real smiles that I've had in a while.

    -Heather

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