fitness – Six Pack and Senior

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***“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

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

***“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.