The Shopping Trolley, Dodgy Wheel and Fight
Let’s go grocery shopping. It’s a big one for me this week. Grabbed a big trolley. Straight away I noticed one wheel was a bit wobbly. I played around with it, thought about swapping it for another one. Nah, I thought. It’ll be fine.
It was fine, for a while. As I loaded more in, I could feel it starting to pull — just slightly, one direction. Still manageable. Then I got to the water. We’re on the farm, so we buy our water in — big, heavy bottles. Once those went in, the trolley was going every which way but loose.
I ended up pushing it from the back and the side at the same time. Then I turned it around and pushed from the front instead. Swapping and changing it around the whole time, trying to find a way that was more manageable. That shopping trolley and I were in a real tug of war, and I wasn’t giving in. But if I’m honest, that trolley probably did win.
Not that I couldn’t do it. I could. But it made me think — if I wasn’t as strong as I am, this would’ve been a completely different situation for me. Take the faulty wheel out of it entirely. Just the weight, badly distributed, going where it wanted instead of where I wanted.
It’s exactly what happens in the body. Feet not lined up the way they should be. Weight loaded through the wrong part of you. You start compensating, correcting, fighting your own mechanics the same way I was fighting that trolley — and most of the time you don’t even notice you’re doing it until something’s already gone wrong.
This is the stuff that never makes it onto anyone’s training goals. Nobody walks into the gym and says, I want to be able to push a full trolley with a dodgy wheel. Nobody trains for wrestling the washing on a windy day when it’s going round and round in circles and you can’t get it pegged. We train for the fun stuff — I want to keep skiing, keep hiking, keep riding my bike, keep getting down on the floor with the grandkids. That’s the list everyone talks about.
But it’s the boring stuff that’s actually the test. If you can’t push a full trolley now, what does that look like in ten years? Twenty? You end up needing someone else to do your shopping for you. Not because you got old. Because you stopped being strong enough for the boring, unglamorous, everyday moments that were quietly doing all the real work the whole time.
The Confidence Connection
I’m not sure I was feeling totally confident fighting that shopping trolley that day, but once I put it back in the bay in the car park, there was a quiet realisation and confidence that I could do it, and I did. You might feel more confident doing your personal best on a deadlift. Now is the time to find your confidence in the boring stuff, because it’s worthwhile celebrating that win with the shopping trolley. Remember, the fun stuff is why we want to keep living well. The boring stuff is what actually lets us.
Move Moment
Next time something ordinary fights you back — a trolley, the washing line, a heavy door — notice it. Don’t just push through it. Ask yourself: is this something I could still do in ten years, the way I’m doing it now?
PS — Turns out the real test of your training isn't the gym. It's the shopping trolley with the dodgy wheel.
