The Devastating Oppression

Pounding heart. Beads of sweat forming in unusual places. A nervous system so active you shake when you're making every effort to be still.  

It ties us up. Restrains us from being great. Better. It holds us down. Choking us into a state of suffocation. It torments us most when we need a vote of confidence most. It pulls and pushes. It laughs in our faces. It shrouds our confidence in a tomb of dying dreams. It is the single most influential form of oppression in a human's life. 

It's an emotion we've all felt. Some of us feel it on a daily recurrence. It's a thing we can all relate to. Yet most make every effort to avoid this feeling, at any cost.

It's a strange thing this emotion. We experience some or all of the same physiological responses. Yet, the underlying reason for feeling it can be unique to each individual. Multiples of life's experiences, objects, interactions, situations, and whatnot can bring this inner evil out. The richest of the rich feel it, the poorest of the poor feel it, and everyone in between feels it too. 

There are varying magnitudes of this emotion. Sometimes its affect on us is acute, insignificant, and fleeting. Other times, in the worst case scenario, it can engrave a life lasting, emotionally deep, scar.

It is fear. 

A million years ago, fear kept us from becoming lunch. It kept us alive. 

Today, it's being used before a final exam. A speech. An athletic event. Starting something new. Breaking a habit, or forming a new one.

It's being used in life where it never has before. In other words, the emotion we developed to keep us alive is now killing us. Its killing us in ways unfathomable to humans a million, a thousand, even a couple hundred years ago. Now it's doing things far worse to us than becoming food.

It's killing our pride to be alive. It's killing our motivation to do what we enjoy most in life. It's keeping us from having a clear perspective on life's chaos. It blinds us from seeing a better way. From doing what could possibly make us the happiest in life. Holding us back from being exhilarated about life. It rips positive energy from the depths of our core.

Our most impactful fear is that of change. Many people avoid change at all cost. So many people are completely afraid of change they fear exercise, or even simply becoming healthy. 

It doesn't have to be oppressive though, fear. Fear, in the end, when it all boils down, is like any other situation in life. It ends with a decision only you can make for yourself.

Feeling fear is inevitable but following fear's orders (that voice that says "I can't...") bring us closer to death than it enriches our livelihood. In fact, those who live by following fear's guidance are already dead.

Make it a point to go against fear. Press on and find out for yourself what you're really capable of. I know you are capable of more than you think.

We fear situations for all the wrong reasons. Like failure. Embarrassment in front of your Familia. Shit, some even fear being successful.

"What if I fail at reaching my fat loss goal?" 

"What if I can't handle the pressure of being famous?"

So you failed. Big whup. You probably made some progress, which is success in my perception. Fear doesn't create failure. Failure is one, out of two, results as a product of facing the adversity of fear. Failure should be seen as a stepping stone to success rather than associating it as a negative result. 

When failure is perceived negatively, quitting is often the resolution to the result of failure. Quitting is accelerated by fear. There is no progress in quitting but there is with repetitive failure.

Remember this. Failures are due to a mistake in the process of a system. Identify the mistake and correct it.

The greatest athletes in the world have failed multiple times before they ever succeeded. Even with success they still face adversities to overcome. It's how they responded to failure that got them to achieve a legendary status.

It's the response, which is a decision, from a set number of choices. The choices were made clear, it's up to you to decide between those choices.

So get off your ass and make something of yourself. Doing something every day that pushes against your fear(s). Eventually, you won't think twice about it. You'll change your body. Start your business. Leave an abusive relationship. What ever it is that fear holds you from, it won't, if you choose not to let it.

Be it. 

What ever it is you want it to be.

Do something.

Be someone.

The Finish.

IThere are plenty of examples in life where it's crucial to meeting or exceeding the expectations and criteria set within a task.

A Master's thesis.

An entrance exam.

A 150m sprint for time.

A set of deadlifts.

A single, solitary, repetition. 

I'm a trainer that chooses to, or rather refuses to, train alongside clients. I'm being paid to teach and inspire. I would fail if I was huffing and puffing just as much as the group or individual.

I'm there to observe and critique form. I do my best keep a beginner's mind (later post) and make the process as fun as possible.

I teach more than how to move through an exercise. Because exercise is more than performing a proper squat.

Like finishing.

Whether a rep, a set, or a whole hour. Finishing is the most important part of the process. It separates a Warrior from the masses. It helps redefine your life outside of the dojo (path/place of enlightenment).

But what is finishing and how is it different?

You may not even know you are guilty until after you've read this. You'll need to practice self-awareness of your workout mannerisms to notice you're guilty.

Have you ever began to slow down before you reach the finish line in a sprint?

Or move the bar toward the rack on your last bench press without getting a full extension in the elbow?

Where's the finish? There are people that do finish and those who don't. In a comparison, regardless of the task, the one who finishes:

Goes the distance. 

Follows through. 

Sprints to the finish line. 

Whatever you define it as, the ones who finish are automatically better than those who don't. 

Athlete or not, teaching yourself to train with 100% effort until the set is 100% complete will enhance your life. Your entire life, not just the one in the gym.

You will charge head on into any situation in life with the intention of finishing, regardless of succeeding or failing the task at hand.

Because when you go at it with everything you got (through the finish not up to the finish), you are being successful. 

You are being courageous even when you're drowning in fear.

You are experiencing greatness.

You are being a Warrior.

A Warrior's Mind: Act As If

Everyone is one. Not everyone lives as one.

A Warrior.

That's where I come in with the 'Training For Warriors' system on my back.  TFW coaches are trained to not only deliver a smart and effective training session but to inspire greatness.

A person steps up to an exercise with comments such as:

"I'll try."

"I don't know if I can."

"I can't do that."

A Warrior steps up and says, "Let's do this!"

The difference is unparallel. The former contains expressions of fear, doubt, and lacks confidence. The latter, the Warrior, contains 100% focused effort on the task at hand, confidence, and determination regardless of what could happen.

We all have a 'Warrior Within' and it's your choice to live as one, or not.

Pay more attention to the words you choose to say and how you choose to say them. A LOT is at stake. Consider how a comment can potentially effect the people around you, and yourself.

Martin Rooney (Founder of Training For Warriors) says it best:

"ACT AS IF."

Act as if you have a bunch of muscle to move that bar around. Act as if you are confident. Act as if you are a healthy person.

Eventually. You will be, without the act.

You can even narrow it down to a single exercise.

Over the years (I felt a little of the aging process saying that), I've heard numerous stories of vehicles being lifted off of people in need of help.

Lifting a vehicle up is basically a deadlift. When I deadlift, especially on PR day, I act as if (imagine) I have to lift a car off of one of my kids.

Another story I heard was of a man hiking and a boulder approximately 2 tons fell on him. He bench pressed it off of him. He tore a lot of soft tissue in the process, but he lived.

That's my scenario for bench press.

Think of some that will work for you. It may take some practice and maybe an acting lesson. Remember: act as if.

The Reality On Goals

I never have, and may never, understand the urgency when it comes to Americans, fat loss, and goal setting.

I'm not a wizard with a wand.

Not a genie with three wishes, or a lamp.

Not a shaman with a ritual.

I'm an expert in health and fitness. I use a collection of science and experience to bring the absolute truth into reality for one thing. Results. Yet with each person who invests I keep a beginner's mind. I have to. You aren't like anyone else there is. Your goals may sound similar of other people's but the reason, the why, is different. You have your story and it's unique.

The truth in goal setting is that when utilized correctly, great things can happen. However, goal setting is rarely used correctly, even by professionals. And when goal setting is not used properly, quitting (not to be confused with failure), is inevitable.

It's not really your fault. The problem lies in your ambition. Seriously. Have you ever started to exercise and drove yourself so hard you couldn't move for three days straight? I know I have. It's common. We have the best intentions to make a positive change. We collectively have one flaw in today's society that gets in the way, lack of patience. Not all of us, but most are guilty.

We dive in balls to the wall. Everything you got. Day one. Chasing ridiculous numbers at the starting gate.

The truth is, most of the time when DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) sets in, especially if it's not expected, it can ruin a persons motivation. Some even convince themselves that because they got so sore, something must have gone wrong and never do it again.

When it all boils down, your goal(s), need other goals.

You CANNOT (I hate the word "Can't" so I must be serious here) walk in on day one with a goal of benching 450lbs having never benched before.

It takes baby steps. Baby goals. Little itty bitty teeny tiny goals to work up to a 450lbs bench. It takes weeks and weeks of discipline, dedication, motivation, and determination in eating and exercising properly to lose 5% of body fat.

In case that was too confusing for you. A lot of little goals add up to really big goals. Those never before experienced RESULTS. In fact, if you pay enough attention to your exercise programming. Progression in exercise is worthy of being called results. Your first full push up? Results. Struggling to bench press the bar to completing sets with the bar to benching twice what you weigh? Results.

That said, don't even think about fuckin whining when you fail at reaching a little goal. For starters, you (I hope) busted your ass leading up to that failure. Even in the moment of failing, you've worked insanely hard at just making the attempt. Failing is not quitting. You have two options following failure. Review and readjust your goals for increased success ; or keep gripping that bar and giving it hell. A week or two of work will likely be the determining factor at succeeding in the next attempt.

Don't give up. 

Keep bustin ass and focus on quality proteins!