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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
HARRY PATCH

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a man who was unfortunately taken from us yesterday, and a man whose passing marks the end of an era.

Only a week ago, we took a brief look at the inspirational life of Henry Allingham, who died as the world’s oldest and man and the oldest living WWI veteran. A few short days later, we now lose Harry Patch, the last British WWI veteran of them all, and a man who had already been for some time the last British solider to have fought in the trenches in WWI.

People like this are a strong and dying breed, and an inspiration for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that fighting in the trenches of World War I for extended periods (including Passchendaele) surely dwarfs any challenges you and I are facing in the gym or in our fitness routines, and probably in our lives.

Add to this the fact that a healthy lifestyle allowed Harry Patch to live an additional 90 years or so beyond the end of WWI, and you have one very convincing testament to the value of human resolve and strength of will. He was the last remaining British male to have been born in the 19th Century.

Those of us who are still pretty young should be thankful that we got to share the earth, however briefly, with some of the survivors of World War I and learn from their experiences firsthand before our access to them was limited to media archives.

Rest in peace, Mr. Patch.

TODAY: DAY OFF!

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Entire Body): Zero

They happen. Those days where you couldn’t get the gym in without knocking something else out of your schedule and even if you did, you probably would have had a sad showing. These are okay once in a while, but too many people let these become the norm.

I drive pretty hard and in the back of my mind shoot for seven days a week, knowing that I won’t make it in one day. Not everybody operates this way. If you rigidly schedule in your five or six days a week (or less if that is what your program or schedule allow) then stick to your rigid schedule and don’t upset the balance, if you can help it.

Yes, friends and family visit from out of town, car accidents happen, people get sick, people get injured, friends break up or get divorced and days get swallowed up with things more important than one day toward your physique.

But the point is, the day off should come as a pleasant surprise to your body. In far too many cases, being sedentary is the norm, and a day of activity comes as a painful shock to the body. Anyway, today I’m rolling with the schedule and also exercising a bit of wisdom and giving the body (and the will) a bit of recovery time.

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