Category: General

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It’s so easy to proclaim to ourselves and to anybody else within earshot that we want something very badly and we will do anything to get it. We restate our intentions often to remind us and others of where we wanted to go and the person we wanted to become in the process. All of us at one time or other has made vow to defeat our enemies and remain good guys with big hearts. We all want to be well thought of.

I stood in the middle of the basketball court and vowed I’d be the best athlete this school has ever seen. That moment defined me and my path forever—so I thought. I was so good at sports you could easily call me a “BIG MAN ON CAMPUS.” (though I’m short). But, after a short stint in college football and a summer of minor league baseball it was time to do some serious growing up. After putting 5,000 Miles on my thumb traveling around the East Coast I joined the Navy. I won’t bore you with the entire sidetracking of who I wanted to be but suffice it to say it was a good thing. First, I didn’t get killed in Vietnam and I got some great training that propelled my adult career in the military and in medicine. For this I am eternally grateful.

However, all of us will remember what and who we swore to become. Those commitments and vows really never go away. They are dormant but not dead. As I got older I got into bodybuilding long after and much older than most guys do. It reignited that passion for accomplishment and the love for the work that is required to get there. I have loved the restarted journey toward my own personal goals. This whole thing at this age is truly a labor of love. It’s not the trophy it’s the hunt. Bodybuilding has given me and my super charged set of goals a new lease on life. It caused me to remember who I really wanted to be. Champion of my own making. This year will be my last year competing and I’m going to go out a winner…..Take great comfort in getting another chance at our remembered greatness.

Bottom Line: We never forget who we wanted to be. Often we just don’t get the chance to actually remember and to gain the self vaunted stature and person we set out to become so long ago. This is your time to remember and begin the pursuit of who you want to be—one more time!

There are a billion reasons we can come up with to not do something that we know we ought to do. It ranges from, I’ll do it tomorrow or later to I can do it anytime, to I’m too tired, to I’m not interested, to I want it but not that badly. Whatever! However, when you finally do lock in on the thing you want, it will cost you everything—because you have decided getting this thing is worth it.

Work is viewed as optional or required. This is the sharp demarcation line between the person who wishes for things and the person who sees accomplishment as entirely possible with superior effort and focus. I would submit that common sense dictates that hard, unrelenting work is the method of choice in accomplishing anything worth doing or having. This choice pretty much crushes the idea that hard work is an optional or part time endeavor. But, of course in our world of bodybuilding there is no room for part time participants. When you decide to go for the stage and the gold, all other mediocre attitudes must, of necessity disapper from your mind.

“WORK FOR IT!” isn’t just a capaign slogan. It’s a full throated admonition to get started, focus, work until you are standing on the stage receiving the gold which you have earned. You and I must pur aside a comfortable placing. We have to zero in on the top spot. If we don’t then what is the purpose of entering the race to win!? The hardest part of the journey is to get it into your head that it is possible to win. Once this is in place it has to transfer the belief to all oiut “work”.…There is no substitue and there is only one way to win…..Work until you drop and then work until there is noway you can lose. Believe me when I say “IT WILL BE WORTH IT!’ Nothing is quite like winning and knowing that nobody can ever take your victory away from you. You earned it because you “WORKED FOR IT!!!!” Now go home and live your life as a champion!

Bottom Line: There are no short cuts. Working for what you want is the straightest line between what you have now and what you want!

go to http://www.sixpackandsenior.com to see all photos, and posts, and articles

There are times in our lives where we give it all and we seemingly get nothing in return. In fact, there exists a point where we actually disappoint ourselves, our friends, our associates and so many others we love. This is not a juncture we want to experience and when we do we must reach deep inside to forgive ourselves, apologize to those we have disappointed and go on. All of us has had this terrible moment. It is here that we must face ourselves and show our “mettle”. It is at this place that we have to be better than we are and sometimes much better than others who will try to demean us. Let me say that this is a current situation. But, it is also a situation that I must overcome and be better.

I won’t bore you with too many details. My most recent crisis is with my weight. I try hard and do good and then I fail to pay attention and I’m back at the starting line. It’s not that I don’t know how but this run at my prep is a “bear” and it’s killing me. I will solve the equation but it puts me into a bad frame of mind and I want to quit. I have to lose 15 lbs.

But suffice it to say the battle to be my best is never over. I’ve already let go and I’m putting on my game face. I have already set a new goal, a new reason for continuing. Thanks for listening to all that. Here’s the plan: 1.) Circle the calendar for the next show 2.) Make the plan with the help of a carefully selected coach 3.) Get my wife on board so that no matter the hard trail she is with me all the way–without my wife I can do nothing. 4.) Begin and be faithful to the plan. Don’t miss workouts or opportunities to excel. 5.) Never look back and be determined to be your best in every way.

Somebody recently said: “The best cure for depression or failure is to work your asses off.” When you are engaged and working you don’t have time for regrets or depression.

This year I have gigantic goals and I don’t need any psychological, spiritual, or imagined burdens. Carrying all this does not allow me to run fast, jump high or to win. Neither do any of us. Reflect deeply about what you want and be about the business of working for it. Do not wait for a crisis to motivate you. Having your back against the wall is never a good starting point.

Bottom Line: Never give up. You set your own course. You surrender only to your own defined defeat. So never accept defeat. This is your life so go WIN!

go to http://www.sixpackandsenior.com to see all photos, posts, and articles

I’ve had a horrific learning curves on this quest called bodybuilding. One of my first was understanding that using gigantic heavy weights is not all it’s cracked up to be. First thing you do when you are 16 is to try to prove that you are as strong as anybody. So, you go about the business of figuring out how you get your total poundages (Personal bests) as high as possible as fast as possible. The driver for this mindset is our egos, our pride, our self-perceived image of us being much smaller and wimpier tht our friends and of course enemies. We ever want to be seen as the guy who gets sand kicked in his face on the beach by “Mr. Everything,” Ugghh! The very thought of this personal humiliation leaves me feeling embarrassed and defeated. So we, push ourselves mercilessly to be bigger, stronger, faster, in as short period of times as. possible. The method we used is tied to the concept, “you got to eat big and lift big to get big.! There is much wisdome in this but more often than not, one of us will get injured, quite severely using this mindset. Baically, we do not embrace the concept of a little progress each day will get us super duper results fast so we overload our bodies and we will get bigger but the price paid will always be more than we are able to pay. Believe me! I have had some injuries that could have ended it all for me. Example of my idiocy on parade. I after several months of pounding on heavy weights was able to clean and jerk 165 lbs. I benched 225 lbs. I squatted 375 our of rack. I weighed only 135 lbs. Then some place a light came on. I began a ladder system that I used for each body part. I grew and grew with 100s of reps and sets. I no longer feared getting in jured with my “Incredible Hulk” routine,

Key concept learned: A muscle will respond to small changes over an extended period of time repeating the movements correctly much better than putting your whole being on the line repeatedly, Patience and hard work are the orders of the day.

Today I weigh 185 lbs and I rarely use super heavy weights. My personal mantra and pride says, “NOBODY WORKS HARDER THAN ME.” My favorite mantra when I’m too tired on unmotivated is to repeat simply, “DO THE WORK.”

Patience, Consistency, Hard Work, Climbing Ever So Slowly, will take you far above all competitors and jealous friends. Slow Hard, Organized Work will win the day…..Be motivated by Branch Warren who said, “I AM MOTIVATED BY THE FEAR OF BEING AVERAGE!” Write this down and stick it on your mirror. I believe that settling for Average is the graveyard for the weak and uncommitted.

Remember my Formula: 1.5 hours per day X 6 Days per week. Don’t miss work outs and you will have the results you seek.

go to http://www.sixpackandsenior.com for all my photos, posts, and articles

Well! It’s time to begin chipping away at that large square lump of granite that has encased us thus far. It’s time to visualize what will emerge from the granite. We are in here and need to be seen, appreciated, and expressed. Your tools are in front of you on the floor. Pick up the hammer and chisel and carefully begin to free yourself. Each chunk of granite removed brings you closer to what you want to see. Slowly, a magnificent being begins to show itself. Strong arms, deep muscular chest, cannon ball shoulders large shapely traps, a very tight and muscular core with washboard abs and tiny waist. You continue until the image of yourself that sits in your minds eye is totally revealed. This is the process to go from where you are to what you want to be.

It is obvious that in bodybuilding nobody can perform the magic that belongs only to you to apply. To the point, what you want must be fashioned by you and you alone starting today! My admonition is to decide. you want it. Then you decide what you are willing to give to have the thing that you want for yourself in the future. Then, make a plan. Get help if your are stuck on anything. Get started and witness your own self-directed miracle. Because you did it, nobody can take it away.

Try to visualize yourself winning a major show with your creation. Try to feel what it’s like to be a champion. Basque in the warmth of the moment that is to come.

Side note: You must develop this skill for anything and everything worth. pursuing. There are no armies or host of angles coming to do it for you. This future self is yours to forge.

In closing: Just know that if anything is worth having it will take you and you alone to make it happen. But, also know that there are many others who have gone before you and have attained their future self and won. Your future self is just sitting there in the recesses of your mind waiting for you to free it and make it yours. Now hit the gym and head for the stage. Your “Future Self Awaits!”

When we focus on the things we want and set out to get them, often we are confronted with the reality that they cannot be obtained by simply snapping our fingers. Many times we fool ourselves by believing that if we just say the words, or verbalize the goal that it is automatically on it’s way to us. Many of us have been around “blow hards” who beat their chests to pump themselves up while declaring what they are about to do. This a character that our mother’s warned us about….fear them and stay away from them!!

In bodybuilding all of us have learned that identifying a show and prepping for it will cost us plenty! We don’t tell anybody about our next show, we just go about the task of getting ready. We certainly do not brag about how we are going to do. It’s time to put our heads down and train like a demon on a mission. But, there are times when getting to the stage seems like it is off in the distance and we are constantly discouraged and exhausted. During these times it is very tempting to, step off the track and quit. Afterall! We worked but it’s not the time for us to do this….This is a very popular excuse. Despite what we feel we have to know precisely what we want and we have to be about the task of winning. If we do not become single-minded about accomplishing what we want then the arsenal of excuses and disappointments is at our disposal to excuse our character and hide us as cowards.

I live by the mantra: “Do the work!” and the belief that nobody in this gym ever out works me. I must live up to my own credo to be my best with each training session and to keep my eyes on the prize on stage.

Let me say that the road is long and we must push forward when everybody else is letting themselves down. We have to be unique because of our work ethic and trust that there is a win that has to be integrated into our lives.

Yes, the journey is long but we have to keep pushing forward when quitting is what we really want to do. I can’t promise a win everytime, but I can promise myself and you that persistence in the face of quitting will bear a magnificent result. The long road is another challenge. Tough! Be about the business of winning always.

I’ve recently contemplated how it feels to be as far down as you can go emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually and still gather the energy and “want to” to go on. To stand again as we once did to press on to the goals we have set for ourselves. All of us at one time or another have found ourselves seemly trapped by defeat, discouragement and feeling all alone. These are very bad times. I desperately want to get back on stage to prove to myself, and nobody else, that I can overcome things and still win. But, as things go there is life, work, the times and our most intimate relationships seem to occupy our entire beings. When I have run into this swamp of distractions and sources of badness I resort to a certain mantras in the gym. One of these is, “DO THE WORK! Another is, “NOBODY WORKS HARDER THAN ME!” I keep these cycling in my brain so that I focus on what is possible despite of my troubles.

Powerful Lesson for me: “So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.” i Sam (30:4) David and his men were totally defeated and all they possessed was stolen from them.

“But David “encouraged himself” (KJV) in the LORD his God. I Sam 1:6. This is the lowest point for all of us…We have to return to the source of our power and existence. We have to regroup and encourage ourselves in the things that keep us alive. Now we stand up and get on with the task of living and winning.

This is the essence of rejuvenation and not quitting when it is so easy to do. Let me end this by say; “Find that thing that makes you tick when nothing else will do. Get back in the gym. Train like a mad man/woman. Talk to nobody except your own heart. There is a “WIN” out there just for all of us who want to quit and disappear. Get on with it…..This is your life and your time…..Let me know what you think!