That is what weightlifting is. It’s about doing what you
need to do to find a way, and never, ever stopping.
This is what the clean and jerk looks like in training: you go
into the gym and put a new personal record on the bar.
You begin to pull the thing, and in the back of your mind
there is a little fucking gremlin that convinces you it is too
heavy. With style points, you just pick it up slowly into your
hips, but you are too chickenshit to go under the bar.

A week goes by, and this time you make up your mind
not to look like a nob-head. You get set, pull, finish hard
and move under. No chance! The bar shoots your ass back
about five feet, sending you crashing into the wall behind
you. A few more crashes like this and you are likely to bring
the whole damn gym down.

Another week goes by, and this time you pull it, finish hard,
and receive it with your elbows up, but you fail to stand up.
Two more weeks go by, and this time you pull it, finish
hard, receive it and stand up with a struggle. You are so
excited at this point you begin to get dizzy, and as you try
to jerk you have nothing left in you, so you just dump it off
of you and collect yourself as you sit down.

Another week goes by and this time you clean the weight
beautifully. You dip and drive the bar to lockout but fail to
gain control in the split.

Another two weeks go by, and this time you clean it and
jerk it like a champion. Your coach says, “Down,” and with a
sense of pride you give the air a double fist pump. The last
time you felt this good was when your girlfriend whispered
vehemently in your ear, “You are an absolute god in bed.”
Now put on another kilo and do it all over again.
Weeks will eventually turn into months, months into years.
Nevertheless, that is weightlifting