Reflective Essay: The Bench Press While Entering Public School

Having endured months of intense conditioning, the time came for us to see if our work paid off. It was max-out day for varsity football. But not just any max-out day; it was bench press day. Every coach and player in the weight room knew that I was working toward this record since achieving second place in my freshman year. I did my dynamic warmup and hit a few reps of 300 to prepare. I grabbed my belt and tightened it accordingly; ironically, it grew a conscience of its own and decided not to function. The bar was loaded and I was forced to max-out without the aid of my belt. Nevertheless, I sat down and performed my normal pre-lift rituals. I laid back, and took the bar in my hands. With a deep breath, I un-racked the bar and claimed the strongest bench press in the history of the school. As one can see, I did not simply wake up benching 365 pounds. In conjunction with a period of conditioning serving as a framework, progression in the weight room is directly relational to the amount of concentration dedicated to individual elements of a particular lift. In terms of the bench press, the degree of concentration on details such as arm control, grip …show more content…
Every challenge and adversity I had anticipated was nowhere to be found. Many teachers and coaches expressed a positive outlook toward me even before knowing me personally. I eventually realized that this effect was largely influenced by the well-blazed trail left by my two older brothers. To add to this anomaly, however, I was peculiarly ostracized by students from jock to geek, as they ventured to merely extract only facial expressions from me. Although this cognizance seemed positive, it felt largely, unusually cushioned. As a result, I slowly became unnerved by the so-called "adversity" of public school. I began to fancy the idea of attending a private