Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Blame Everyone But You

Underneath it all, I guess that one must decide just what they are doing IT for.

 Whether its training or coaching or competing or working or whatever. If it doesn't make you happy, is it really worth it?
If you dread it, must you keep on with it? If you are unhappy with yourself, your job, your training, why don't you change?

Why are you scared? Are you hating yourself for some reason? I deal with folks all of the time who go through everyday blaming everyone but themselves for all the crap that goes in in their lives. My big thing is, look at yourself.

Are you too heavy? Nobody forced the cupcake in your mouth. You need to lose weight? You need to? No, you don't because if you needed to, you would. Or maybe if you had to, you would. But it aint your metabolism. Its you.  "I dont know why I let myself go...." Yes you do. And until its a need , you will continue to do it. Fine, it is on you. But unless your parents forced you into the Chocolate Factory, blame yourself. Own up to it.

And your training? You NEED to get back into the gym? Yeah, okay. Show me pictures of when you had abs, show me the schedule where you are too busy, then cut to the hidden camera where you are eating wings and chips and a huge Sunkist with your Letterman dose. Yeah, it is your metabolism and of course, your BUSY schedule that prevents you from training.

I always say it.... put your bodyweight on the bar an squat it for a minute...press 50% of your bodyweight for 30 seconds and leave. The next day, do it with your bodyweight on the deadlift. Then dips to failure. 2 days later combine the two days that you did before. The total time spent training? Not much. You have the time, you are just soft. Or you dont HAVE to do it. Fine, but your excuses don't mean a whole lot .

I think that I became done with excuses when I saw my father teach all day at the University of Maryland, then drive two hours to teach in Salisbury, Maryland on the weekend, then run his own summer camp for kids in June and July.


 And all the time he was building a garden, building fish ponds in the yard, building a terrace in our front yard from rocks from the local quarry that he hand loaded into his cream colored GMC station wagon... by himself, and never saying a word about it. Not how hard it was or how it was somebody else's fault about the state of his life, of his family's life, or how Nixon was screwing the world.

One can always tell the unhappy folks by the amount of blame that they place on others . I am thinking of someone right now, actually. So self absorbed and petty. And meanwhile, the people that he is in charge of despise him. He is alone, so alone. Slovenly and petty, not even a man, or for that matter, barely a person. Pointing fingers and then the fingers come back at him, but those people on the other side just laugh, for they know the truth. This person, unhappy with himself, broken and sorry, should just let it go. Change or leave.

But most folks just live on. Onward and downward into an abyss that they can't see out of because of their own lack of self awareness. It's a shame, but I guess....if there weren't those people out there, the excellent folks couldn't shine so bright by comparison.

All About Being a Lifer

What's a Lifer? Someone who isn't in to something for just a day, a month, a year...it's for life. Whether its training or your family or your job...it doesn't matter. You work at it, you build on it, you see the big picture . You don't miss workouts because it means something to you. You are like a Shakespearean actor- no matter what is going on in your life, you block it out when it's time to train. You walk into the weight room and all else disappears. Worry about it later.