Tomorrow and beyond depends upon how we spend today!
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 whatyou 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!”
“Just because you are out of patience does not mean it’s not going to come to you!”
I was told once by a respected person of the clergy that “I would learn patience!” among many other things. In my wildest dreams I never thought that a quality like patience could be taught. Nor did I think that I, the “chiefest of the tribe of impatience” could be changed to make me the totally opposite of impatience. In short, I was ambivalent and on many days hostile to the notion that I could be broken and one of my personality traits changed. All this I faced and I hated it. I wanted, like most guys, to work hard, compete and be given what’s rightfully mine—yesterday!
Enter the world of reality. I train so hard that my ex-coach, Justin Dees was constantly dismayed that was forever over training. He lashed me on more than once occasion about the propensity (idiocy)! He was right but it has been worse than surviving multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds. I would try to reduce my workouts and be more strategic in my approach without destroying my next workout with exhaustion. Because I was such a slow learner I suffered the inevitable fate of delayed rewards. I like to say that I’m not smart…..but I was there nonetheless! Moral of this story is simply, “LISTEN” and obey what your coaches, clergy, friends, and fans tell you. They distance between where you are and where you want to be becomes exponentially shorter.
To the point: Following a self-inflicted wound you first go through a very dark period that causes you to want to give up and quit. Your self-talk says, “What’s the use? I’ve given it my all and I still can’t win.” Your behavior and your training drops off and you wonder if there will be another exciting day of training and anticipation. It’s at this point you rummage through the lessons learned and you stumble across the admonition to slow down, be patient, work hard and under no circumstances can you give up.
For me the “lightning bolt” hit me hard. Winning takes time and quitting removes time and effort from the equation. Bam! Just like that, I reset everything. I selected a show that was about 6 months away. I committed to never missing a workout. I listened to the advice of Justin Dees and trained to failure and stopped. My physique changed and my muscles grew in new ways. Heck! Even my posing improved with the help of my wife. Roll forward 6 months. In a weeks time I won 4 times and finished 4th in the Light heavyweight division in Chicago. Boom! The takeaways for me were: 1.) Be patient. 2.) Never give up. 3.) Push when you don’t have the strength to exhaustion and stop. 4.) Decide that nobody works harder than you in the gym. 5.) I finally understood that quitting ruins you and winning perfects you. Greatness takes more than a giant, “WANT TO!”
Doug Graham holds a pose as other competitors ready their poses during the Viking Championships on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 at Cottonwood High School in Murray. At 66 years-old, Graham has a vibrant competitive spirit. ÒAs soon as I lean into it [the pose], itÕs over,” he said. “EveryoneÕs got to have a calling card, youÕve got to bring something nobody else has.Ó he said. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
“I have to admit that I got this quote from the great Branch Warren. In fact it was so impactful that i bought one of his T-Shirts with this on the front of it!” Good Stuff
If there is anything that causes us great pause it is to reveal to the world that we want much more out of life than just a house, a wife/husband, a nice car multiple great kids, church, plenty of money and a great wife/husband. It’s funny but when we start to pursue a path that does not lead to the enhancements of the above stated bits of normalcy (by the world’s standards) we instantly begin to endure multiple attacks by close friends, relatives and knuckleheads. Each of us believes that once the cards of our existence are dealt we only have to do that which is correct according to the world around us,
Let’s say you have always admired bodybuilders and you privately wanted to be like them and way down inside you wanted to go on stage and begin taking your place among them. Now—-enter the first step toward realizing your dream…….POW!! the fears of others are piled on you in amounts that could crush any lesser men. Ouch! These are supposed to be my friends! Next step is to either continue and know that your dream is to be derailed and you are to be reduced to an existence far less than our aspirations and friends dictate. We also know that if we let others crush our desires and dreams we will be relegated to a life of “HO HUM”. The pain of self exposure is too hard. Some give up and I might say “MOST” give up. But, for those who ignore the big three critics they move forward steeling their minds against those who do not want them to be better than them. Normalcy to most people is not being too poor or too despicable to be regarded as inferior. Alternatively, those who aspire to some sort of greatness are labeled as “social climbers or show offs, or big shots or the worst one is just crazy and irresponsible. “They just can’t grow up!”
There are spirits among us that want more than just an existence. They want to be good as they follow their dreams. They want more from life than to live from pay check to pay check. Their dreams run counter to all that they have been led to believe.
Bodybuilding, is a form of being what we want to be. The loneliness of bodybuilders forging ahead in the quiet of a near empty gym after work, after being sure the family is secure and taken care of is deafening. While the world and critics sleep the bodybuilder is busy remaking his physique in preparation to be better than others with the same goals. All of us who do this thing called bodybuilding or even severe physical training on our own terms, have had to learn to walk alone and to reach deep for motivation inside ourselves. What’s really cool is that one day many who threw rocks at the effort will wish they too had the guts to pursue their own passions…..and the passions don’t necessarily have to be in bodybuilding….It could be anything that pushes the spirit to a different and higher plain.
In closing let’s commit ourselves to never settling for being average. None of us has a HOLY OBLIGATION to be average. I believe that when we seek to be better that this is an ordination for good. I will be even better on stage next time. I dare not be AVERAGE because my competition will definitely be way above AVERAGE. So! Go to work and destroy the term AVERAGE in our lives. It’s not for us.
Doug Graham works his chest muscles as he works out Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017 at VASA Fitness in Orem. Graham explained that some of his friends tease him with things like, ÒÕYouÕre in pretty good shape, for an old guy,Õ and I say, Ôsince when did I get an asterisk?ÕÓ ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
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!
TRY TO KEEP GOING AFTER YOU LOSE….IT FEELS IMPOSSIBLE. BUT LOSING IS PART OF WINNING BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE LESSONS ARE!
The proverbial “ass kicking” is all but baked into the cake of life. Sooner or later we all get humiliated or driven into seeming obscurity. Sometimes it is through no fault of our own. We get ambushed by those who don’t like us and “POW!” we get one right in the kisser. Down we go and life seems very bad. The key to failure and future success is learning what we did wrong and to vow to never let the mistake never happen again. Thus, the wisdom of defeat. Why rise from the ashes of total annihilation only to do it again……We would then conceded that we didn’t learn a thing and we deserve what we get.
We have to know the difference between losing and learning and going on and the personal abandonment of quitting. In the world of a quitter there is only hostility toward ourselves, regret, loneliness, and a severe sense of loss. If the thing we sought is left on the side of the road like a discarded piece of trash we leave with it a piece of ourselves. The things we throw away are of two categories: 1.) We really didn’t want them that much anyway or 2.) We really wanted them but we didn’t have the guts to keep going and to accomplish them. So, before we toss something over our shoulder, let us think and consider what this thing means to us and how much we want it.
Deferring to bodybuilding I can say from experience that once the fire is burning and progress toward our stated goal is being made, it is a sacred decision to keep going. Never back down. Losing only happens on stage. Quitting happens in the heart and the head before you even show up. If you do it once, you run the risk of making quitting a way of life.
Bottom Line: Go after it an lose and then learn. Never quit because you run the risk of learning how easy it is. This is a lesson we need not learn.
“NOTHING IS MORE URGENT THAN OUR “WHY”……IT DEFINES WHAT WE DO, WHERE WE ARE GOING, AND WHO WE ARE!”
There has always been this little motor inside me that pushes me, excites me, settles for nothing but the best or at least will get me into the fight. But, the most important thing is to know where you are going and that is more ugent than anything else in your life. This is you “WHY”….Simply stated it is the thing that drives you, that gets you up in the morning, that occupies your thoughts and pushes you to excel and win.
Not every “WHY” is attached to a contest. Many “WHY” mindsets are in place to move us to a better place economically, socially, or in relationships like our wives and our kids. Just imagine closing your eyes and thinking of where we want to be and holding it there. The imagination can define and direct us. Again when something or someone becomes our “WHY” there is nothing tht will get in our way to have and hold the “WHY” in our hands.
My “WHY” is loving my wife and having her approval and advice always. It’s quite impossible to live without her presence. In bodybuilding she has become my posing coach. She has a real knack to see my flaws and hold me accountable. If I need to do better or to change something she is merciless and my ego takes a beating but is she that pulls off the difficulties I face with her keen eye.
Lastly, find that thing and make it your “WHY”…..There’s an old saying that says, “HE THAT AIMS FOR NOTHING HITS IT EVERYTIME!” Do not let life become purposeless. It’s a oad that does not end well.
Bottom Line: Determine to be somebody or suffer the consequences of being nobody. It’s all up to you. Discover your “WHY” and be the best you.
“DON’T WE ALL TESTIFY TO THIS TRUISM! THOSE WHO TALK—DON’T AND THOSE WHO GET BUSY AND DO NOT LOOK BACK–DO!”
All of us have been around people who talk a good game. They always have answers to life’s most difficult problems. They believe that if they just “say the words” their solutions and desires will appear like magic. These friends are not very interesting and we all know they miss the whole point of supreme effort to attain a given goal. Now, the guys who are interesting are the ones that tell you everything and are willing to bleed openly about their efforts, what they are doing, how it works, why they are doing it and they love to relate their progress. Now, these are the beings that will teach you, test you, and will push by example to be better.
When I used to run track (a million years ago) i knew I would be running against the best. I would fret and worry about not being the worst guy on the track the day of the meet. I’m a first class worry wart so I would take my prep to the alley out back of my house. I’d run the precise race over and over again, night after night for weeks if necessary. All the while trying to improve. I’d finish with my legs wobbling, sweat soaking my entire gym clothes. I’d climb the stairs to the balcony outside my bedroom and fall flat on the cool wood and often fell asleep until around 4:00 am. Then crawl to the base of my bed and grab my stinking blanket and wrap it around me until school. I never lost in the next 5 major meets. All because of the hard, hidden work in the night.
In bodybuilding the same is true. You have to get a very large pile of “want to” in your belly. Begin and don’t look back. You have to work harder than anybody else. You need to develop a maxim that says, “nobody out works me.” — “Victory belongs to him/her that prepares to win”…..Bear Bryant, College Football Hall of fame coach from the University of Alabama.
Bottom Line: Nothing is free. Talk less. Work more. Expect to win. This is your time.
THIS HAS TO BE OUR FOCUS! WE DON’T ALWAYS HAVE OUR MAJOR COMPETITORS IN FRONT OF US, SO WE FOCUS ON THE THINGS WE CAN AND THEY ARE “THESE!”
Shadow Boxing is lonely and not very much fun. It teaches us to be better while we seemingly imagine our opponent encased in the boundaries of our own shadow as it is projected onto the wall in front of us. No matter how hard we work we cannot overcome, defeat, or outdo our own shadows. Of course, this is precisely the reason we do the shadow boxing. It causes us to reach deep to beat the beast in front of us.
The reality of our training motivates us to overcome the very things that drag at us and cause us to be less than we can be. Let’s start with Genetics. The first thing we face as men and women is that our body size and our shapes are all different. We are instantly intimidated because all of us sees our own body as less than perfect. Our body image throws us backward and tells us we cannot do what others do nor can we look as good as others. Self Image is paramount in our ability to believe we can be better. We have to beat the negative self image of who we are and what we look like. Next up is the fact that genetically we don’t all possess a standard amount of muscle, reflexes, and strength. We are all different but none of these things can/should hold us back unless we let them determine who we are and how far we can go. Overcoming these genetic markers is tough. Being too short doesn’t eliminate you from the battle. Only we can surrender the determination to use that we have and become the bestt here ever was.
Next up are the people we know or sometimes don’t know that do not want us to be the best. For some obscure reason there are people who just cannot stand to see somebody else excel and be the champion. They won’t do the work, they won’t spend some time imagining what it would be like to be a winner. So, rather than get into the game of life and excellence they spend their time dragging others down with their constant criticism, belittling, undermining, and downright denigration of true competitors in life. It’s best to defriend these naysayers. Three people in life you should never listen to: 1.) Close Friends. 2.) Relatives. 3.) and Knuckleheads. Bottom Line: Stay away from them and let them stew in their own juice.
Doubts are inevitable. Don’t listen to the negative voices inside you. An exercise I use when I prepping for a show is to go for long walks and try to focus on the feeling of exhilaration I will have on stage. Focus on the routine. Let the sound of the crowd fill your head as you do the music routine. Make this whole experience about you and winning. Doubts seem to go away as you imagine the great moments to come.
Excuses are a dime a dozen. When things are not going well—-blame something or somebody else. It feels good to shift the blame and reduce the effort. Excuses gives you an out. It says to yourself and the audience that you are really good but the path of least resistance must go through the land of “Excuses” in order to qualify for an easy path despite their being no reward. The lack of a trophy is explained away by the athlete as unfortunate but—-better luck next time!
Competition is the ultimate hurdle. It’s here that we decide what we are made. of. It’s in the heat of battle that we show the world what we can do. It demonstrates to the arena that we have worked, we have overcome many obstacles and we are ready to win.
On stage you project your personality, you demonstrate your skills, you demand to be paid attention to. Bring it on! Show me what you got so I can humiliate you and leap over you to collect the prize. You own the stage, the judges, your competitors, the trophy that you have come to collect. Competition has to be overcome. This is not the time to be humble. Each competitor you face is staring down the barrel of a person’s gun that is committed to the win.
Bottom Line: In order to win these basic obstacles must be faced and each must be brought under your control. Overcoming is the order of the day. Nothing else will do. Don’t listen to me…….Go do it!
Doug Graham holds a pose as other competitors ready their poses during the Viking Championships on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 at Cottonwood High School in Murray. At 66 years-old, Graham has a vibrant competitive spirit. ÒAs soon as I lean into it [the pose], itÕs over,” he said. “EveryoneÕs got to have a calling card, youÕve got to bring something nobody else has.Ó he said. ISAAC HALE, Daily HeraldDoug Graham works out backstage just before going on stage during the Viking Championships on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 at Cottonwood High School in Murray. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
LIFE IS A CONTINUUM. WHAT YOU ARE TODAY IS A DIRECT RESULT OF WHAT YOU HAVE LIVED BEFORE TODAY
I believe that we just didn’t show up on planet earth out of thin air. We bring into the world some very definite personality characteristics. That said, each of us begins a journey that is tough. This journey refines our particular strengths and weaknesses. We learn to adapt to change that is not good sometimes. The changes we experience help to define the parameters of our existence. We are able to see and define characteristics in our lives that make us stronger and more capable to problem solve. Out of this comes a strength to push forward even under the worst of circumstances. Some would say, “IF IT DOESN’T KILL US IT WILL MAKE US STRONGER.” I also believe this is true but some toughness we develop is natural.
Now, just rolling forward here. In our daily human experience we run across people that seem to have been born for the hard times that we are experiencing this moment. These heroes seem to have what it takes to overcome the here and now problems. But, rest assured this quality didn’t appear just because it is a “super power.” They possess a degree of toughness that will forever serve them in a world that honors nobody.
As a kid we grew up “beyond” dirt poor. There were 10 of us kids in a condemned building in a small town on main street in Iowa. We truly were the outcasts of the community. I learned very early that there was nobody who would be coming over mountain to save us. We were our own captains of our own ships. The biggest mantra for success I ever learned was “if you want it, you have to go get it.” There was no free lunch. I excelled in sports because I had nothing else. The lessons learned have carried me when there was nothing that would make me survive or to win. Digging deep has been the order of the day for me. I won’t trot out my resume with all my accomplishments but suffice it say that it is good. Being strong is predicated on personal training, and personalities that are conditioned to win in the face of certain failure. Nothing is wasted in this life.
Bottom Line: We are destined to vast personal strength based on having had to develop that strength earlier in our lives. Now, this is our time! Enjoy the world you have conquered and share it with the best people in the world—-those we love!
Six Pack and Senior 