IT’S NOT A CORNDOG: IT’S A BOMBPOP

As the weather warms up and county fairs and summer time treats come into the horizon view, my mind is easily pre-occupied with visions of gluttony and excess and, due to the twisted nature of my brain, I find ways to make these analogies for training, so here we go.  In today’s discussion, I present two stick based treats: the corndog and the bomb pop.  Yes, these treats are already inherently different, in that one is savory and the other is sweet (of course, assuming their base forms, for I am well aware of the corndog mutations out there that are dessert like along with, apparently, “spicy bomb pops”, to which I say “what is wrong with you?!), but they do, of course, share the commonality of a stick based delivery mechanism.  However, it’s not the savory vs sweetness that I wish to focus on here, but more the intended manner of enjoyment.  Enjoyment?  Isn’t it obvious?  They’re a food: you eat them!  Yes dear reader, but HOW do you eat them?  For, you see, the manner that we enjoy the corndog is NOT the manner that we enjoy the bomb pop, and, in turn, when looking at training through the lens of carnival delights, we must understand that our training is far more bomb pop like in nature than it is a corndog.  Allow me to explain…for otherwise, this is just sheer lunacy.

People out there are hot and dry, they're going to want something cold and wet: how hard is it to understand?!

For the briefest of introductions, for those of you poor deprived souls that have enjoyed neither the delights of a corndog OR a bomb pop: a corndog is a festive treat featuring a hotdog impaled on a stick that is then dipped in a cornbread (hench “corn”dog) batter and deep fried.  It’s is absolutely as decadent and needless as it sounds.  A bomb pop, meanwhile, is a popsicle delight featuring 3 distinct flavors: cherry, lime, and blue raspberry (traditionally), which, in turn, give it it’s distinct American flag coloring of red, white and blue (yes, a white lime, and we artificially colored the raspberry, because that’s how we roll).  What’s particularly unique about the bomb pop is that it’s colored in stages: a red top, white middle, and blue base.  It is this distinction that I wish to key in on.

 

When one enjoys either one of these treats, the expectation tends to be that they are consumed top to bottom.  If one took a bite out of the bottom or middle first, they would compromise the structural integrity of the treat: it would fall off the stick.  Meanwhile, when one starts at the top, one: they have less chance of biting the stick (no joke: that’s how I lost a tooth in elementary school) and, as they continue to consume the treat, they can slide the bottom toward the top, maintaining structural integrity while still minimizing risk of stick biting.  However, BECAUSE of this convention, one has a different experience consuming a corndog vs a bomb pop.  For one when takes a bite out of the corndog, they consume ALL the flavors of the corndog at once.  They get the taste of the cornbread AND the hotdog contained inside.  If they applied some manner of condiment OR if they dipped the corndog in something (nacho cheese is a popular choice, because we are decadent like that, and ketchup is, of course, controversial), those flavors combine with the cornbread and hotdog all in the same bite.  Meanwhile, when one bites into the bomb pop, they only get one flavor in that bite, at MOST two flavors if they’re strategic in their consumption and manage to bite at the dividing line of flavors just to intentionally indulge in two flavors at once.  In order to achieve this solo flavor experience with the corndog, one would have to intentionally eat the cornbread around the corndog first, leaving the hotdog behind, and THEN consume the hotdog on the stick, which, yeah, SOME people do…but it is considered deviant!  Meanwhile, in order to attempt to consume all the flavors of the bomb pop at once, one would essentially have to consume the popsicle in whole, and endure QUITE the brain freeze in the attempt.

 

Once again, props if you actually get this reference

That was a LOT of writing about eating corndogs and bomb pops, but here’s the payoff: our training is far more bomb pop than it is corndog!  Far too many trainees want to experience ALL the flavors at once, and in doing so they anticipate a corndog experience, only to be met with brain freeze.  Training’s function is to improve physical capabilities, and the improvement of capabilities requires a focus on said improvement.  We must be diligent and intentional in our efforts, and, per Dan John, our goal, is “to keep the goal the goal”.  When we are in a mass gaining phase of training, we must let conditioning be on the back burner, understanding that we will get to it LATER in the bomb pop of training.  Mass is, currently, the cherry flavor, and conditioning awaits us in the lime.  When we attempt to merge these flavors together at the same time, we do not get an enjoyable corndog flavor experience, but instead quite literally bite off more than we can chew and endure the freeze and pain of the situation.  But when we take our time to maximize the intent of the training phase, we get the most we can out of that phase, and then move on to the next one, holding onto those newfound abilities and capabilities as we enjoy a new flavor, until we get all the way through the bomb pop and move on to the next one.

 

From the 1000 mile view, we can look at these two treats and say “What’s the difference: they’re both food on a stick”, but as we examine just the slightest bit closer, we understand that these are truly different experiences despite a similarity in being stick-based.  The same is true of training.  It’s easy to convince ourselves “it’s all just training: as long as I recover I’ll be fine”, but it becomes a question of, simply because it’s “fine”: is it good?  Yes: you can one-bite a bomb pop and yes, you can peel the cornbread off a corn dog and have a meal of a hotdog alongside cornbread…but are you actually having the intended experience of either product?  Exercise the discipline necessary to train the right way at the right time in order to achieve your overall goals and you WILL achieve those goals.  If you put your ego and psychological need to always do everything all the time ahead of your desire to actually achieve your goals, you’ll be stasis locked with brain freeze, and that’s not a fun summertime for anyone.