Category: General

Do you recall the first time that somebody told you to “stop looking around and—FOCUS?” Usually, in most situations it was a parent, a teacher, a coach, or maybe an attentive friend. This bit of wisdom is probably one of the best pieces of advice we have are gotten in our lives. Most of us relegated the advice to a one time lesson that seemed to work. But, as fate or life would have it, we discovered that whenever we truly wanted something it required focus. Unwavering attention on what we are doing gets us what we want. Now, let’s open our minds a bit. It says in Proverbs, “Where there is no VISION the people perish!” We have to do better than focus on our daily needs to establish the calling or vector for our lives. We have to know what we are all about. We have to know where we want to be and we have to have some way or plan to get to where we want to be. Most of us are very good about accomplishing daily tasks, but damn few of us ever take the time to see beyond today to where we want to go. At first, we see only “shapes in the fog” as we try to envision what we want. Then, as we embark on pursuing our passion, things are clarified. The “shapes in the fog” take on real, discernible forms that help us define ourselves in relation to our goals. Also, note that as we spend time penciling in our ‘Life’s Vision” we become less afraid of it. A vision need not destroy what you have. In fact, all fear disappears as we see what others can’t see, as we set out plans to follow our visions, and finally as we break into a sprint to get there.

Nothing can stop us now! Bring your vision out of the recesses of your mind and take them “to the stage to win!” Somebody will always try to dissuade you from your path. Give them no thought. Be fearless and embrace your journey to the winner’s circle and as a bodybuilder the trophy that represents you, your vision, your hard work, and your win.

Bottom Line: Be about the business of defining your vision and being so focused that any and every fear pales. Go for it! This is your life and it is your time…..Don’t let imagined fear steal your passion or you “VISION!”

If you want to win or to gain or to possess something there will be pain. Factoid of life! Nothing is free so stop pretending that something worth having is going to be given to you with little to no effort or cost. In the gym you have to understand that you have to push yourself a little more to get a little more. When you get to the pre-decided number or reps or sets you have to reach inside your mind to go further or longer. It all starts in the mind. This extra effort will result in a little better result. We all think that when it hurts or we are tired this is the stopping point……Not so! We go just a harder and exert more effort. However, I am of the opinion that each incremental increase is small. We dare not do too much too soon or we will suffer the inevitable consequence of injury. When we were younger we could do giant leaps forward with large increases in weight and we may or may not suffer much. When we are older each increase is tempered by hard fought for wisdom. We will get there….but slowly….!! We push hard and we don’t give in to simple discomfort. There’s a great saying I picked up this past year, “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done!” Set the goal and do it all. Spend the extra time and don’t be in a hurry.

Maybe, the pain we are trying to overcome is “baked into the cake” from the beginning. The moment we decided something, or someone is worth it, the pain required to get what we want is “IRRELEVANT.” The pain to overcome on our way to attaining that which we want is purely incidental. Gaining what we want negates any pain and the memory of the pain is erased. When we were kids and we were highly motivated to get onto the baseball field with our buddies we didn’t think twice about getting hurt or over exerting ourselves. We did it. When we wanted to see a new girlfriend who lived too far away, we jumped on our bikes and pushed ourselves to make the trek to her house. Nothing phased us and nothing stopped us. Pain? What pain? So it is when we want something badly enough…..Pain, in this case does not have to be overcome…..It has been rendered IRRELEVANT because the goal is worth it.

Bottom Line: If what we want has been determined to be worth it, the pain the get it is incidental and never even taken into consideration enroute to winning. So, finish the course!

Presently, I have been pressing very hard for my goal in my business to materialize. I’ve worked, worried, sweat, gone beyond the normal day’s work, I’ve prayed, I’ve talked about it, I’ve planned, and the expected results continues to evade me. I have seriously wondered if what I am seeking is worth it. The pain of seeming failure or the feeling that maybe my goal is so big it is unattainable. Time, and the psychological frustration all contribute to the willingness to settle. Yes! I’ve been ALONE, BROKE, TIRED AND SCARED ALL AT ONCE. But, the shorter term goal is to never give in and to get up every day and resume the pursuit.

Also, during this time, I have decided to continue doing bodybuilding because it engages me and makes me face myself and choose to go on. Training keeps me sharp and it has taught me tons of little lessons I needed to learn to be on track and ever moving forward. My training is leading toward another major contest appearance despite carrying this elephant on my shoulders. It keeps me honest. I believe because of training that I can endure anything…..I believe I cannot be beaten!

In the gym my goals in business and in bodybuilding involve hours of training, planning, praying, pushing while I’m ALONE. I’ve been BROKE to the point that competing must be put off until I have enough money to move to the stage. I worry and work so hard that I am eternally TIRED. I sleep in the middle of the day. Sometimes, I fall asleep at traffic lights. I’m afraid or SCARED that I will fail. In each of these states I have to KEEP GOING because I never made a “PLAN B”….I am an all or nothing sort of guy. I have to experience all of these things and yet go beyond them. Settling for less is NEVER and option. We only have today! Never stop chasing your goals. If any one of these things threatens to overtake you and cause you to quit….Go get some counseling from a great friend or your coach. No matter what…..Keep going! As the old saying goes, “Why go half way across the lake, get scared and then go back to the original side you started from.?” Finish strong! Like the Apostle Paul says, “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous shall give me…..” Go get the goal. Nobody ever said it would be easy but they did tell you it would be worth it!

Bottom Line: Finish what you started. Amen! and Amen! Nobody can ever take your accomplished goal away from you.

Let’s face it! Winners are made from the earth from which the have sprung. The environment that nurtures the winners is the crucible that teaches them the feelings of failure and the rebound emotion to never fail at something again. Like somebody said, somewhere in my past, “in order to get back to the surface, you have to push hard off the bottom.” Being at our lowest point is not a resting place. It is a starting place! We correct our position by pushing off the bottom and overcoming the depth of our fall, the water’s resistance, and we keep our eyes on the surface as we ascend. Failing is part of winning because it teaches us why we failed in the first place, what needs to be done to insure that it never happens again, and what we can do differently from this point forward.

I recall when I first met my bodybuilding coach, Justin Dees. I was transfixed by the size of the great bodybuilders that I began to come in contact with. I weighed about 176 lbs at the time. I told Justin that I wanted to get as big as possible. Justin smiled wryly and said, “Let’s go!, If you want to be big here’s what we are going to do? He started me on a diet with over 7,000 Calories in it. He had me lifting as hard as I could. My cheat meals were immense. After about 3 months my weight was 210 lbs and I was fat! My muscles grew to gigantic proportions for my small frame but they were covered with tons of fat. My poor wife was trying to accommodate my newly gained dimensions with clothes that were suddenly available only from “OMAR THE TENT MAKER.” One day justin smiled at me smugly and said, “are we done yet?” Hard lesson for me! Listen to your coach and put away idiotic ideas. Since then I competed between 176 lbs. and 195 lbs. and have won several times and I just finished my 21st show a year ago. Side notes for learning: During this time I developed high blood pressure, reflux esophagitis, sleep apnea. — Listen to your coach. But, the lessons were not wasted. They propelled me forward in ways I could not have imagined.

There’s an old saying, “I never lose. If I’m not winning, I’m learning!” None of us are losers if we learn from our mistakes and our failures.

Bottom Line: Win, lose, or draw. The time spent and the lessons learned are etched into your mind and character forever. But “Do” try to never repeat a mistake…If you repeat a mistake it only means that you learned nothing from the first failure.

We are the guardians our lives, our souls, and our being. God has given each of us a little gift that He will never violate. The name of this little gift is “AGENCY”—-Which is our ability to choose. That doesn’t mean that God is a hands off being, quite the contrary. But, each of us has the capacity and the choice to do those things that are right. To not choose what is right is to default to that which is wrong—-and we intuitively know it.

We have to choose to put ourselves on our “TO DO LIST” or we will forget about us or we will simply neglect the gifts that we possess and succumb to the items that will destroy us.

In the world of bodybuilding we leave nothing to chance as we push to be better. We place our effort at the top of all we do. Ask any of our colleagues and fellow muscle heads what happens when we try to fly by the seat of our pants or to allow our egos to comfort us instead of pouring on the effort. I think it can be summarized as we, “crash and burn” in the most humiliating way. If we are going to compete in life or in bodybuilding we have to make us the PRIORITY by exercising our AGENCY and putting ourselves at the top of our list of “THINGS TO DO” and victories to be had. Each of us has had the terrible experience of watching great talent go unused, abused, and eventually destroyed by sheer neglect. I just happen to believe that each of us has a mighty spirit that longs to be developed and turned loose. So, choose to leave today behind and push on to something far better than you are today.

I keep coming back to an old quote by my great friend Doug Andrewski who said to me when I was lamenting not getting started in bodybuilding much sooner in life, “ALL WE HAVE IS TODAY AND YOU HAVE A TON OF POTENTIAL!” I was instantly humbled by the realization that I was focusing on the wrong thing…..Ouch! We are where we are. Now choose to be better by BECOMING A PRIORITY IN MY LIFE!.…Nobody else can do it for me…..I must decide that I am the only one that can “exercise my own agency for me. I must not allow inattention to myself to be my undoing.

Bottom Line: Decide to be important to yourself. It’s your “to do list” so put yourself at. the top and go win.

I got into this sport to stay in shape. I never dreamed there would be another level beyond my self-imposed set of goals to just be in shape. I self motivated myself. I planned my effort. I knew my end result intuitively. I pushed. I ate right. I did cardio. Results began to appear. I got a coach. I pushed myself mercilessly. Just like the story goes, I sweat, I hurt, I got injured. I was exhausted and the discomfort was, at times, unbearable. But I pushed on just like you do.

Then, if occurred to me that as I/we drag ourselves through these relentless and very hard training sessions it occurred to us that if we raise our game just a notch or two we could accomplish things that most men are not even willing to consider. We raised our vision to see “THE STAGE” as the next level of courage, fear, and reward for doing the hard work. Very simply, we concluded that if we are putting in this Herculean work we ought to reap to goodness for our commitment to being better. The stage became the objective and “THE FIELD OF BATTLE” to put the sculpting of our bodies up for examination and, if we are good enough, a very tangible award…A TROPHY….and THE SATISFACTION that we have done ourselves good. Nobody can ever take our work, our daring move to compete, or the results away from us—ever! This is the message. Don’t workout just to workout. Find a way to parlay the journey into a courageous, moral, definitive victory.

Bottom Line: Never just go through the motions and suffer needlessly. Set your goals so high that they scare you. As we learn to get what we put our minds to we will learn to expect a multitude of benefits that we gather along the way. Things like, personal discipline, personal satisfaction and the best benefit is know that what we do is never a “ONE TRICK PONY.” We do the work, we suffer, we endure because we want to, because it’s the right thing to do, but ultimately we do it to win. We define the “WIN” and we don’t stop until we win. JUST AS WELL GET SOMETHING MORE FOR OUR EFFORTS!

It is common knowledge, especially among bodybuilders that after we have learned the basics that really do work, we are then faced with particular choices to address enhancement, size, symmetry, leanness, posing and presentation. These sorts of decisions are aimed at deficiencies real or perceived so as to make us better and to win. Believe me it’s a process that never ends.

However, when we decide that something has to change and we look around for the “golden bullet” to make the change we are faced with a seemingly endless palette of choices and decisions to make to address our problem area. We start by deciding which choices or methods best addresses the “need of the hour.” We write them down, talk about them with fellow muscle heads and coaches. Then, we decide which one will do the trick. Day-by-day we incorporate the new tool into our routine. The first few reps and sets are super awkward. Not discouraged, we do it again and again and again. Pretty soon we start doubting our choice and we begin making up reasons in our head about why this newly found tool will not work for you. But out of nowhere the answer presents itself. I have no idea how this happens. We get sort of a peace, or an epiphany telling us that what we are doing is perfect for us. Our problem ‘WILL” be solved. This, once discovered (or decided on) is our answer and we know it. It permeates our bones and it is here that we ignore all the false noise surrounding the method and press on. One of my favorite quotes from an old friend says, “THERE ARE THREE PEOPLE WE NEVER TRUS. CLOSE FRIENDS, RELATIVES, AND KNUCKLEHEADS.” Hell, we are putting in the work the mental energy and it’s “US” we have to trust.

Bottom Line: Intuition undergirded by a willingness to try will always lead you to a logical and usually decision. Keep experimenting to avoid the rut of sameness that leads to staleness and a severe loss of direction.

To quote a famous President: “What do you got to lose? Keep pushing even when you want to quit…..There is only a rewarding tomorrow if you do.

This is the essence of success! Nothing worth having is gotten just because you say you want it. I don’t know of one single accomplishment in my life that didn’t require focus, determination, and effort. All of us can relate to that surge of excitement and the energy that so easily flows from us when we start something of great value. We are strong, undeterred, and determined to get it done. But, we all have learned that the measure of a man/woman is what happens when things are not so good. When our struggle to excel seems to be derailed at every turn. This!!! Is where character is built, established, and the superb habits of our beings are put into place. Discipline when we don’t want to work. Discipline to get up and take care of the things that are ours and that we love. Discipline is plugged in when what we want seems too hard to have.

Yes, we start our bodybuilding journey, for instance, with great gusto and the wind at our back. Then, somewhere along the trail we realize that what we seek may require far more than what we have. It’s here that we learn to dig deep and win or we choose to settle for something less than we are capable of.

We must “take heed to ourselves” and do the hard stuff. “Keep your hearts with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” Maxim: If you quit you also give away all the lessons you have learned and the rewards for continuing.

Recall for an instant, standing on stage for the first time. Frightened, confused, and totally uncertain. But, we did it anyway. In the end, we etched into our psyche the new level of self-confidence that is required to win. Nobody can ever take that away from you. Motivation is a luxury we don’t always have at our disposal. It’s “ALWAYS” discipline that will take you home. Do the hard stuff when you are tired, when you are discouraged, when you are distracted, when you are sad, when you are hungry, when you are bored out of your mind. You/I are the “CAPTAINS OF OUR OWN DESTINY!” We have the privilege of using discipline to enhance who we are and what we win.

Bottom Line: Motivation is an expendable quality. When it is not there, our old friend “DISCIPLINE” will be our comforter. Unmotivated? Tough! Get ‘DISCIPLINED” the rest will fall into place and winning belongs to you.

My last coach, Justin Dees warned me against talking in the gym. Others who enjoy the exchange are nothing more than a distraction that steals your time to train. That’s not to say the conversation is/was not good it’s just that conversation in the gym takes your attention and your time away from doing the work. Please don’t misunderstand me. You can talk later away from the torture chamber.

Another outcropping from being serious about training is what people think about us as we push ourselves hard. I know we want to be liked by all people and we want their respect and admiration. We also know intuitively that not everybody likes us and not everybody respects us. Perseverating on either extreme will cause us to be distracted from the task at hand and the goals we have set for ourselves. The best defense is to keep your head down and work. Do not worry what others think about us. One Hundred per cent of the time they are wrong anyway. Remember, that the gym is our crucible, our personal laboratory to make improvements and it takes tons of concentration and experimentation. My business is my business. Truly, what others think of me belongs to them and I cannot be encumbered by small minded opinions. As the above quote goes, “WHAT OTHERS THINK OF ME IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS!” So, I try to live this truth….

Bodybuilding is truly a lonely, single-minded, harsh sport. It requires effort and concentration. We cannot split our attention with what is thought by others with what we are trying to do for ourselves. Like the great Branch Warren has said, “You look after your own shit!” My admonition is say nothing and let your results do the talking.

Bottom Line: What others think is irrelevant. What is relevant is what we “do” and the results we attain. Focus! Focus! Focus! Stay in your head…..

How we love to daydream about being a champion or being so great that we are regarded as celebrities. When we were young (for me it was a long time ago in a decade far far away), we would lay on the ground looking up at the clouds while at the beach or on a blanket in the backyard and imagine our greatest desires had arrived. We had it all! Nothing could stop us now. Sometimes, we even began to believe that these dreams or excursions into the mind were totally true. Ouch! Enter now the reality of this life….Not only is our imagination wild it left us a little disappointed as we confronted the boundaries of our thoughts and re-entered the world as it is.

I’m not saying that dreaming is totally delusional. Quite the contrary. Dreams and visions is where our goals and objectives and the desires of our hearts begin. But, it’s not enough just to Dream. The next step is to take your pulse to see if what you dreamt was worth pursuing. If so, get your butt in gear and begin “Building Yourself!” Take stock of where you and where you want to go. Fix your target in your mind. Now, visualize all that must take place to change your body to fit the image you have etched into your mind. In life it does not have to be bodybuilding but in either case you have to know what you want. Then, want it more than anything else.

The picture here shows the daily chiseling required to get rid of that which is obscuring your ultimate body. Begin simply by taking the huge/or skinny block of flesh and hammer it into existence. Daily sessions of coaxing the final product out of the block that is you. This process will chase away harmful delusions. It will cause you to capture that image of what your minds eye can already see. One day, all that you have worked for and refined will be seen, not only by you, but by all who knew you before and who have witnessed your self-motivated metamorphosis. This moment defines the end to your self-sculptured self…..But, the pragmatic truth is that you should never settle….Push on to greatness.

In closing: The underlying principle is that you are the product of the “MASTER’S HAND’—WHO GUIDES YOU TO YOUR SELF-BUILT PERFECTION. DO IT DAILY!