“You are an artist, and the bars, weights, machines and food are your tools. As an artist controls his brushes, hammers and chisels, so to must you control yourself so you can create the kind of body that is good enough to be framed.”
- Mind Pump
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
– Kipling
A buddy of mine recently wrote some insightful posts on America’s Obesity Problem and Tackling Childhood Obesity , read ‘em and weep. (Literally.)
Sadly, this depicts far too many Americans.
Losing fat really is that simple. All it takes is a bit less eating and a bit more movement. Calories In – Calories Out = Weight Loss or Gain. Burn more than you eat and off come the pounds.
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
- Sun Tzu
“You can’t out-train bad nutrition.”
-Anon
What goes on in the mind directly influences what goes on in the body.
The Weights Will Never Be Conquered
“I have to stay humble, or I go right back to hell. The minute I think I’ve conquered it, I’ve lost it.”
-Muscular Development
Don’t forget that this holds true outside of the gym too!
Recovery is just as important as training and diet when getting in shape. In our hectic world, people are always trying to squeeze more into their lives. If something isn’t working, we are often taught to “Try Harder.”
Not seeing the results you want from your workouts? You may just be doing too much.
The body needs time to heal and rebuild itself, and it can only do this when you are asleep. If you are training hard, eating right, and getting enough sleep and still not making progress towards your goals, then chances are you are overtraining. Take a few days off from working out and let your body catch up.
Incidentally, “Try Softer” applies to things outside of the gym as well. Often, when we find ourselves in difficult situations, we keep pushing in an effort to achieve our desired result. Not only do we fail to make progress, we may effectively make the situation worse. The solution? Try Softer.
The road to success isnt straight
Theres a curve called Failure
A loop called Confusion
Speed bumps called Friends
Red lights called Enemies
Caution lights called Family
But if you have a spare called Determination
And an engine called Perseverance
You will make it to a place called SUCCESS
-Anonymous