How true is this for us muscle heads? We train like dogs, BS with out buddies in the gym, eat like refugees, we do cardio like long distance runners, we nurse little injuries that threaten to keep us awake for weeks. Best of all, our poor wives watch grown men force themselves to do what we do not want to do when we ought to do it. This is the very definition of discipline—-and they still love us! The miracle of commitment will bear wonderful fruit.
The moral of all this descriptive hyperbole is that very few people have any inclination or idea of what we muscle cretins go through for the world to see as the final product. We all want to be appreciated for the effort we put out to attain things but more often than not the effort is lost out of sight below the waves and below the surface.
Yet! It is the effort that is made totally out of sight that makes us the happiest. When we approach the front doors of the gym or our training area and our excitement piques, our blood pressure surges, our eyes bug out with focus. Our playground of pain, push, and progress is about to be entered. Gone for a couple hours are the things that are so “daily.” Now, is the time to forge that physique we chase so diligently and daily.
We have to decide that we train hard for ourselves and not for the adulation and adoration of the public and our friends. All that is a bonus. Our only competitor is ourselves. There is no compliment in the world that can take the place of our own personal satisfaction we enjoy in the crucible of the gym. People only see the results and nobody ever sees the process required to make the results that others enjoy and admire.
Bottom Line: Be happy with the process for it is here that character, integrity, determination, and victory are chiseled into our minds and hearts. It’s great to be seen but it’s better to be the artisan & mason of all that is good…..Never turn back….The only way to lose your greatness is to engage in what I call, “malignant neglect.” Be a man/woman and win because you can!
Six Pack and Senior 