Getting off your dead ass, getting shit done. Showing up, putting up. Let's do this! You motivated yet? Yeah me neither. I would like to take some time to talk about motivation. What works for me, what doesn't, and the people who would love to sabotage you and see you fail.
I am not Mr. Motivation by any means. Hell half the time I look for ways to get out of going to the gym. Don't get me wrong, I feel terrible when I don't go. Like an utter ass. But there are days when my dead ass is just that. A. Dead. Ass. There are days I sit on the couch and flip through the channels, not paying attention to ANYTHING. What set up my 6 day hiatus last week, started with me saying to myself "I deserve a day off". Which maybe I did deserve an extra day that week. But that turned into a whole week. Wasted, burnt to the ground. Smoldering ashes where I should have gotten bigger and stronger. But what can ya do? You can dust yourself off, and push forward Nancy. That is what you do.
I can tell you honestly sometimes it is hard to maintain focus. In any sport you have set backs, or plateaus. Some weeks I move great weight, and I feel Atlas strong. Then the next week, I may lose 5 lbs off of a lift that I had TWO weeks prior. It's disheartening, it sucks, and it zaps your motivation. In those moments I remember (or at least I try to) why I am doing all this. Who it's really for. I get back inside my head, and think about the fact that even if I am not setting personal records every time I grab the bar, I am still doing more than the guy who isn't in the gym.
Which brings me to the last form of motivation drain I wanna address. People around you. Seems like everyone has an opinion, and in all those opinions, it seems like most of them are NOT going to be supportive. Of everyone that I talk to, most people maintain a moderate level of support. But there are still some who are very outspoken in their "concerns". I hear most often that I am too short. I look too small, or I don't weigh nearly enough. There have even been a couple of guys come right out and say "come on dude, you know you can't do anything like that". Women usually ask me why would I put myself through the pain, and constant soreness that is lifting and working out the way I do, citing it isn't for any REAL reason anyway. It are those voices that hurt my training the most. I'll be honest. It's hard for me to block those assholes out. They talk to me early in the day, they harp at me in my jeep on the way to the gym. They are the voices I hear when I can't pull that weight on the bar. When I miss the weight, when I hurt or am sore. But they are also the voices I hear when I set a new personal record. When I absolutely destroy a workout in the gym. They are the voices that drive me as well as hold me back.
I guess what I am getting at with this post is everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is going to have hitches in their training. No one is safe from it, no one immune. Motivation is a funny and fickle lady. She can drive you to no end. Push you as if someone was at your back cracking a whip. But when she walks out on you, she can leave you wondering what the hell to do, and feeling like you shouldn't even take another step forward in your health or in your training. Take that step anyway. There is where your character needs to, and will shine. In those moments, that is where the rubber meets the road. One of the best things I have ever heard, and has become a battle cry for me is this: I may not have the size yet, I may not have the genetics on my side, and I may not be naturally gifted in what I am doing, but son of a bitch there is not going to be anyone who out works me today, tomorrow, or any time I set foot in this gym." Out work everyone else. Keep hustling. Use those who cut you down as fuel to build yourself. Prove. Them. Wrong. Your actions and your effort will end up motivating you more. And who knows, maybe even end up motivating someone else. Oh and if you are one of those people who likes to "just be honest" (really meaning that you just wanna talk shit) thanks, you may have just given someone the necessary motivation to prove your lame ass wrong later on down the road.
It doesn't matter how slow you are running the track, you are still lapping everyone who ain't getting off of their couches!
