Six Pack and Senior

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!

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.

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.

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.