Perseverence

In college, I played football with a guy, that with literally about 45 minutes of training a week, maintained 20 inch arms. And he could bench 405 pounds whenever he wanted to. It was frustrating to see him crush weights with ease and with very little training. And he took it for granted. He could do that, press that weight easily anytime that he wanted. But he never pushed himself, and eventually, I could bench more than he did, but only after years of planning and hits and misses on my part. But you know what? I wasn't a natural bencher like he was, however, I knew that if I just kept going, I would surpass him. He didn't know how to persevere and keep going past what came easy for him.

And that's the important: Just keep going and the weights will come, the strength will come. If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it, if it was easy, you wouldn't appreciate the final outcome, if it was easy, you wouldn't understand the drive and fortitude the it takes to get strong or big or whatever your goal may be. Think about it, think long and hard. In history, ease of effort is never rewarded with greatness, but hard work and determination eventually are rewarded.  

So what is the key to getting big and strong or lean or whatever your goal may be? Consistency. It's going to the gym when it is a holiday, it's going to the gym when your girlfriend breaks up with you or your wife is complaining that the garage is a mess, it's going to the gym when you are on vacation, or when you feel like you have a cold coming on or just don't feel quite like yourself. It is never, ever saying that you don't have the time or that you are too busy. 

It's going to the gym when you know that you have 10 sets of squats in front of you and it is a Sunday morning and the whole family is in their warm beds, and you have to brush off the snow from the windshield of your truck and start that engine and crank up the Hatebreed and just get going to the gym. You see, that is what makes you special. That is what sets you apart from the talkers and the "I remember high school before my knee injury" people. You are doing it, it's important to you. And no matter what anyone thinks or says, you know that when you challenge yourself with the weights and you come out stronger, that you have achieved something of which you don't care if others understand one bit.  

You like that people think that you are a little nuts. To you, it's nuts that they don't do what you do. It makes you feel like you have something inside that they don't have nor will they ever understand. 

It's yours, these goals and this lifestyle and you keep those goals deep down inside and check off the wins and the learning opportunities in your head and then you get done with the training and you step outside and you are sweaty and the fresh air seems just a little fresher than when you got to the gym initially and all is right with the world. You pushed when others wouldn't, you got out of bed and made yourself special, you completed a task that helps you handle your life better. And it doesn't matter that you weren't born "gifted" with genetics. It matters that you know your life's secret: Training is the foundation in which you are built on and you never want it to be any other way.