We’ve all been around colleagues in the gym that are always anxious to share with us their new found skill or their new “sure fire” way of getting bigger arms or a tighter waist or those gargantuan quads. We are subjected to a non-stop lecture or testimony to the latest and greatest. All this seems to happen as we bend our will to get our workout done and behind us, so we can go home to our wives and our lives.
The reality of our success in the gym and bodybuilding is our ability to keep a low profile, talk little, keep our eyes on the bar and—PUSH!!
I recall my coach, Justin Dees telling me “that people do not care about your time. They will quite easily come over to where you are working and start asking questions, chattering about things without much thought about you. To them, you are the objective. Your attention. They waste your precious workout time and when they are done I/we have lost that time we had set aside for our training. We cannot get that time back.”
The art of self-mastery is gained by trial and error and the constant reshuffling of our priorities. Quiet self-mastery must be developed in the crucible of focused intent, effort, and self-imposed isolation to gain the prize or the designated objective. Bodybuilding requires nothing less than repetitive concentrated explosions aimed at winning. It is never the time to talk about anything. Time is precious. Save your breath! As my brother-in-law used to say about braggarts, “Rave on bullshit! The crows will get you at dawn!”
I say, “be still and know that there is a God.” Let the results of silent work manifest itself to all that will look and know your character. That it is good!
Six Pack and Senior 