What a summary of the road map to success! All of us need some type of template that tells us how to do something. A plan is the ultimate cue card that can point the way toward us accomplishing our goals. Each thing mentioned in this article are maxims that we violate at our own peril.
Dream Big
My first bit of advice that I give a person that seeks advice about being successful in their chosen endeavor is for them to consider whether their goal is “worth it.” Does it hang out there as something that will be rewarding and worthy of maximal effort. In other words, is our “Dream” or “Goal” bigger than ourselves? A maxim concerning our “Dreams” is to determine whether that “Dream” scares us or not. If it does not scare us then the “Dream” is not big enough. A dream is just a dream unless we decide to chase it. The goal starts as a “Dream” with only visions of what it is and and what it will take to accomplish that goal. Once these components are in place it migrates from being a “Dream” to the development of a “Plan.”
Please note that if your “Dream” is big and scary a significant amount of time and initial fumbling will be required to move forward. It is here that you must exercise “make haste slowly.” Be anxious to get it done but take your time to get it right.
Start Small
Bite off only that which you can chew. When you begin the journey by dropping your plan to paper, be sure to include the very first baby steps that will be required to get started. Do not set a goal for accomplishing something that will easily take 3 months and shortening the timeline for it’s accomplishment to one week. Don’t try to do too much too fast. Make each required item small enough to accomplish in a manner that will not frustrate or defeat you. But, nonetheless, get started! “Start Small” and gather steam as you go.
I remember when I first met Jose Raymond, “The Boston Mass” and I was so impressed that he can get up to 230 lbs. in his off season bodybuilding career. He is only slightly taller than me and so I decided that I wanted to be as big as Jose. I weighed only 176 lbs. at the time so I was anxious to get started. I told my coach about my goal to get as big as Jose Raymond. He did not make fun of me or condescend me. He very quietly put together a meal plan of 7,000 Calories per day which is augmented by a training program that was very intense and designed to cause massive muscle growth. Well, after about 4 months my weight hovered between 205 lbs. and 210 lbs. I looked like a tennis ball with arms. I was absolutely massive but I had developed some significant side effects that made life very uncomfortable. First, I developed high blood pressure. Wow, I had never had elevated blood pressure in my life. My wife subsequently purchased a blood pressure cuff to monitor myself. I was taking my blood pressure 3 times per day and it was higher than normal. Secondly, I developed reflux esophagitis (stomach acid splashing back into the distal esophagus) which caused me tons of pain. I ended up taking Zantac tablets to reduce the acid reflux. I also, elevated the head of my bed to allow gravity to keep my stomach acid in my stomach and out of my esophagus. It worked! Thirdly, I began having sever episodes of sleep apnea. My periods of no breathing were long enough to cause my wife and others to worry that I would never start breathing again. In fact, my buddies would stand around my bed in the hotel and they would take bets on when I would take another breath while I slept. I made some guys a bunch of money it seems.
At about this time, Justin Dees, my Coach says to me one day, “Are we done yet?” Meaning, can we get on with real training and stop this absurd exercise to gain massive amounts of weight before I was ready? It’s here that I learned that gaining that much muscle took Jose nearly 10 years to put it on. I surrendered and Justin developed a reasonable plan of diet and training aimed at making me lean and strong. I’ve never tried to influence my coach in this area again. Rule!: Never get ahead of yourself. Do what’s next on the logical timeline and agenda.
Work Hard
Nobody works harder than I do! This is my clarion call to myself. I set up my workout in such a way that disallows me to take rests that are too large between sets of exercises. I often have 3-5 different stations going at the same time that I work through. Each station hits the same muscle in different ways. I work to failure and then I switch to a different muscle group with designated stations and repeat the journey to exhaustion. Never take on a workout unless you are willing to start small and ascend to bigger weights slowly until you reach failure. The muscle is found in the last couple of reps with each exercise. So, by all means finish the anticipated number of reps and then get a couple more for good measure.
I have labored under the delusion that if I perform a certain number of things I will automatically grow. Well, much to my chagrin I learned that unless I keep challenging my muscles to do more I will get the same or lesser results for my effort. Now, I push myself to failure plus a couple more reps on each exercise.
My three maxims for training day are: 1.) Never miss workouts. Consistency is the name of the game and missing workouts breeds inconsistency which slows muscle growth. 2.) Do not talk during your workouts. Per my conversation with my Coach, Justin Dees, “When you allow people to talk to you during training, they essentially are stealing your workout time.” I put on my headset and my blinders and I keep my nose to the grind stone. 3.) I work harder than anybody else in the gym—bar none. I have to know inside myself that I have put all colleagues in the gym in their places with my work ethic. 4.) When I leave the gym I say to myself, “I own this place!” Nobody does it better than me….It’s more of an attitude but it’s my mantra.
Stay Focused
Never lose track of what you are doing in the moment and where you are going. These items are not mutually exclusive. As you focus on the ultimate goal you must keep an eye on what you are doing at the moment. The two points of focus will converge and I will never get lost. All things I do count toward the end game. Often I am prepping for a contest so I am constantly asking myself what I need to do to be better and to be prepared to take on athletes that are in superb shape. I never look back! I always have my eye on the prize and all things between here and there are aligned to make this a greatly successful show.
Keep Going Forward
Somebody asked a Marine what he and his company of Marines would do if they were totally surrounded. He replied, “CHARGE.” There is no direction in the sport of bodybuilding except, “FORWARD.” You cannot wake up one morning and decide to go back to where you started. This is not called retreat, this is called quitting. The worst thing you can do to yourself ever in any situation is to quit. Failing is ok. You can recover from a failure but when you quit there is no place to go. It’s been my experience that you can “Unquit” but it is extremely difficult to recover from quitting. It’s like trying to resurrect yourself to life after death. The odds are not great that you will be successful. So, push forward even if the going is tough and sometimes stalled. Figure out a way to move forward. You have to take the hits that may knock you out or knock you off your game, but moving forward is the only direction. This is where discipline comes in. You can be motivated but it takes discipline to get the job done.
In closing. The only direction is forward. The rest you have to figure out as you go. But, if you are certain of your ultimate end all other things will fall into place with ease.
Until Next Time, I remain. Douglas E. Graham, Lt Col, USAF, (ret), MHSM
Six Pack and Senior 