Category: General

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!

One of the most powerful sources of power we have is our ability to see in our mind’s eye what we want. There are times when lying quietly on your back with your eyes closed that you can bring your dream into sharp focus. It’s so real you can touch it, taste it, experience it…..I dare say that is at these moments when what we want is solidified. All greatness begins in the deep recesses of hearts and minds. This perfect realization and clarification is often all it takes to get us to lust and thirst after a goal.

Next, in order to stay focused on the journey we/you have to make a way forward that leads to success. We cannot leave anything to chance if we are to win. I call this type of focus, “ASYMMETRICAL LIVING!”.….In order to win we have to choose a path that excludes the notion that “all will be well if we just invoke the “YING AND YANG.” Experience has taught all of us that winning takes a singular mind and the only thing that is balanced in any way is the type, sequence, and organization of our training regimen. The journey truly starts here. You’re organized, you have a plan, so get going.

Thirdly, in an effort to stay focused on your journey to greatness, you need to be absolutely sure that you know what success looks like to you. There’s an old saying, “HE WHO AIMS FOR NOTHING HITS IT EVERYTIME!” Tons of time and attention has to be be paid to get this right. Remember, some people have an attitude that they play the game “NOT TO LOSE” rather than to play to win. To avoid this quandary we have to sharply clarify where we are going and why. If the target is clear, you tend to not take your eye off the bullseye.

Finally, in bodybuilding we muscle heads learn that focus, motivation, discipline, and a self motivational “MANTRA” must be in place during every rep, every workout, always on our minds to keep us going in the right direction and why. I repeat my “MANTRA” with each rep, Is under my breath, “DO THE WORK!” It serves as a constant whip to get me to engage and stay engaged. Ever focusing on “MY JOURNEY TO GREATNESS.”

In Closing: Develop an acute attitude if “SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.” Know where you are going at all times. Know how you’re going to get there. Know what it’s going to take in terms of sacrifice and effort. This will keep you focused on your journey to GREATNESS! Never stop! Never look back. Do it alone! Hear the words of a fellow iron worker because they are true. The journey to GREATNESS will appear and will never disappear. It’s up to you!

Now this is a scenario worth watching….I or you or some other dude actually sits down with a blank sheet of paper his journal and begins writing. He first attacks his master plan to be absolutely broke and penniless. He imagines as he writes just how crummy life will be and he gets excited. Nothing is worse than being a pauper but to this fella being a victim of abject poverty is his life’s goal. His fantasy world is alive! Next, he carefully constructs a plan to do no physical activity. His goal is double his high school weight within a year. He marks this milestone down on his paper. He transfers his objective to his calendar and prints it in bold print and changes the color to red…so he won’t possibly forget that his fat ass has now doubled in size in the last year. He relishes the thought of being a self-made toad via total neglect. Thirdly, he goes through a few minutes of reflection and decides that he will volunteer for nothing, he will endeavor to lead a pointless life with nothing to move him off the couch. No work today or ever! Lastly, as they say, you cannot fix stupid. Stupid is a byproduct of willfully ejecting your agency and/or your will in order to do that which you know is false or to destroy oneself on purpose. This is the road of self annihilation self inflicted serfdom .

BUT!!!! This self inflicted plan of death cannot and must not occur. Sure we will go through times that are not so good. But, we first must develop a plan to countermand the inertia that so naturally drags us to an early grave with little to show for it. Let’s begin and let’s follow a very simple yet daily and rigid plan: First, We have to get job skills such that we can support ourselves. Maybe our education or our job skills will be good enough to support a family, buy a home, raise some kids, someday send them to college. I submit that if we do this one thing we will not be fat, we will not be lazy, and certainly we will not be stupid.

In bodybuilding as in life, if you don’t put out the effort then all that we do not want for ourselves will kill us. We have to learn at the feet of other bodybuilders who can share and teach us how to do it right. We have to never let a day go by that is aimed at our body weight, it’s appearance. We are not stupid if we do what is demanded of us. There are no shortcuts unless we follow the road of total intellectual, physical, and spiritual neglect.

Bottom Line: If you want nothing, aim for nothing and you’ll hit it everytime. If you want to be better make a plan. Fix your goal in your mind. Start! Never look back. Ignore anybody who tells you to stop or makes fun of you for trying. Small mindedness never wins anything!

WOW! I could write a New York Times Best Seller bout this...Just think of the many ass kickings we’ve taken over our lifetimes. Think of each one and remember how lonely you were and how you could not seem to see a way out or a way forward. Maybe you can recall the long walk home, numbed to the bone and the tears hitting your sleeve like huge raindrops. Maybe you think back on the hours alone on your bed reliving the pain of the current failure, then fretting over how you will face all those that had faith in you but re no disappointed with your loss. Holy Moly! I am sitting here writing this with tons of regret and emotional pain. Ouch!

The lesson that is so obvious is that we have to learn on the job. We can’t change a thing but we can learn to resolve that we are going to stand up, take a deep breath, pull off our dirty clothes, take a shower and generate the energy and determination to kick the door down and get back out there and win. If we stay down we are defeated. So! Get your asses up and figure it out. It won’t come in a flash but you and your warrior personality will match the pain of the most recent debacle with focus, drive, and a gigantic push. We have to regain the “full tank of want to” as fast as we can.

I hate getting crushed. I hate worse to feel totally sideline, marginalized, and out of the race. We have to learn hatred! We have to hate being down. We can’t avoid it but we can get up via sheer will if we have the guts to do it.

My last time out on stage I got killed. I could not hide my half assed effort from the judges. Down I went. Now! since facing my idiocy and my public demise I have determined, “This will never happen again!” I’m off the undo the results of a self-inflicted wound.

Bottom Line: If you want to win you must choose to be better in the face of overwhelming down inertia after defeat. To not rise to the occasion tells you a story of a soul who has settled at a much lower station in life than is possible. DON’T DO IT! Thinking you are beaten is a trap from which nobody ever returns…..Like the “EVERY MAN STORY”…..we must win (get up) and return home victorious. There is the only satisfying ending to defeat…..See you at the WINNER’S CIRCLE!

We are all familiar with the saying, “We do not want to play to lose!” Sometimes we are so daunted by the competition or the task at hand we become doubtful that we have what it takes to win. So, we defer to just being happy being on the playing field rather than being stoked to win at any cost. In my estimation there is nothing worse than playing for a “PARTICIPATION TROPHY!” I can recall while playing high school football that we were going to play the #1 Team in the state. I’ll be damned if our coaching staff told us to “just do your best!” That little pep talk or lack thereof sucked the wind right out of the room. We almost felt like we ought to not even play the game. The primary source of our motivation to win had just told us that they did not believe in us…..We got killed! The rest of the season we never lost a game. We dug deep and found out something about us that was priceless. We could win even when the world didn’t think we had a chance. This little lesson has served me well throughout my life. The mantra goes something like this, “Do the work!” — “Nobody outworks me!” I have developed a philosophy that says, “you can lift more than me but in the end you will never be able to keep up with me.” Sure, I’ve gotten my butt kicked on stage and it’s no fun. But, in the end I have to determine to be better next time. I return to the basics of never being outworked and allowing no room to entertain failure in my mind. Every ritual revolves around be the best despite feeling alone and beaten. Persistence is nothing more than developing habits that project yourself as a winner. When you are beaten you have to shift your thinking to determine that being beaten is temporary and my hard work will reflect my persistence to win.

Bottom Line: To be the best you have to know that failure is not forever….Get up and keep going despite the pain…..

Try to imagine being beaten so badly at something that you could never even think of coming back. Never in a million years would you again subject yourself to such pain, such humiliation, such personal debasement. The beating was so bad that each thought associated with the defeat creates nightmares. The nightmares give way to being haunted by temptations to end it all.

We have all been here. That last bodybuilding show when we were handed our heads on a platter. Our egos were crushed and all we could hear in our heads was the drum beat of criticism and taunts. It is here that all of us who eventually won and became more than we ever imagined started…..at the bottom. Like somebody once said, “When you are the deep end and our knees hit the bottom, it is here that we gather ourselves and push hard off the bottom to the surface.” This is our reality in bodybuilding and life. There will be things that will crush our very spirits if we let it happen.

It’s easy to ride high on success. It’s easy to be a fair weather hero. It’s easy to pump our fist in the air in victory when it’s happening. But! In order to get to the top AND STAY THERE we have to endure the worst of times. We have to overcome the worst of times. We have to literally, turn the night into day when we have been written off and often when we have written ourselves off.

There is no magic formula….Like Muhamad Ali Said, “Your will has to exceed your skill!” We have to have a gigantic store house of “WANT TO” and ‘SELF MASTERY” or all the skill and talent in the world will be useless to be our best. The greatest question we must face in my estimation is, “WHEN DARKNESS COMES WHAT WILL YOU DO?” Being our best will be determined by our ability to handle the worst. Every bodybuilder I know who has had any degree of success knows this to be true.

Bottom Line: Experiencing the worst is the beginning of being the best.