Masks. Let’s talk about them:

Mine isn’t comfortable. It fogs up my glasses causing a need to remove them shortly after donning the mask. My voice is muffled wearing it which restricts the ability to coach athletes effectively. Facial expressions are suppressed/removed which is part of my (nonverbal) communication and therefore coaching style.

Other than discomfort… Not much negative to wearing it when considering the possible positives.

I’m not here to speculate on what could/will happen. I’ll just say I don’t want to go back to mandatory quarantine and the shutdown of our facility or other gyms in the area. I believe in the product we provide and know it’s extremely valuable right now. If the quarantine order is given again we lose the facility, community and coaching. I’d rather adapt my coaching around a mask than feel minimally effective online. My coaching style must evolve to the new stimulus as required.

Regardless of politics. Regardless of the shape of the curve. Regardless of our beliefs–an obstacle is set before us. As a community we have the ability to embrace some new levels of discomfort. Think about a normal day at Konza. You show up, load the bar and choose to sit in the bottom of that squat. The deepest darkest spot for 5 seconds with 86% 1RM on your back. I believe you’ve been asked to do harder things in multiple workouts. You choose to do each one and find new abilities and capabilities every time. How much different is this?