Nothing in life comes easy. Even a child struggles to do his homework. As adults, we pack family life, work responsibilities and social commitments every day. To be performing well in all these roles, we need to be physically fit.
It may be an overused cliché but health really is wealth.
As we grow older, physical fitness cannot be taken for granted, and to keep our body systems and our physical fitness in top shape, we need to get moving; literally so. Physical fitness is a combination of various things like a good body, flexibility, endurance, strength, freedom from illness, and a positive attitude.
You need to accept the paradoxes. Sweat it out to be cool. If you want muscles that draw your pants tight with every step, expect your legs to be sore. Be prepared to ‘pump’ weights, if you want rippling abs.
To get your muscles into shape, it takes time, patience and some pain.
Embrace Pain
The fact is that all successful fitness individuals and bodybuilders, amateur or professional, embrace pain like lovers. Unless you are happy to just drift through the gym, or exercise schedule, with little or no impact, you will have to be tough on yourself. No matter how good your genetic make-up, or how well-stocked your medicine cabinet, you still have to put your body to some discomfort to achieve your fitness, or bodybuilding goals. There is no easy way, and if you aren’t mentally prepared for this truth, then you might as well hang up your exercise plan, or lifting straps, and take up golf, or some other leisurely sport, because you will never be fit, leave alone have the shape of a bodybuilder.
A person from my gym is a classic biker — right from tattoos to the attitude. While out on a ride on one of his two Harley’s, he was pulled over by a state trooper for not wearing a helmet.
The officer was sympathetic to my friend’s frustration, as he said, “I understand how you feel. I’m a biker myself.” My friend responded, “Dude, you ain’t a biker. You are just a guy who rides a motorcycle?” Now, my friend, you have a decision to make. You are reading this piece because you want something. You have a drive as primitive as life itself to have the body of a charmer, but unless you master your senses and rise ‘above the burn’ you will never be fit; forget about being a bodybuilder. You will just be a person who lifts weights in their dreams. It’s up to you.
It’s Up To You
Each new wave on the beach brings new sand forward and washes the old sand back to the sea. Where do you fit in this scenario? I like success stories and have little tolerance for excuses, or failure. Will you be at the gym tomorrow? Do you really have what it takes? It’s there in your head and in your hands to achieve your goals, but you must understand the sacrifices that you may have to make.
Bodybuilders — like me, for instance — live in pain and, at times, thrive on self-denial. Are we crazy? No, we’re a proud lot. We have something that everyone else wants, but few have the unbending will to achieve.
Now, the big question is: are you truly up for the challenge? This is the hard-core truth before you, in all of its uncensored glory, that you need to address.
The next question: do you want to be healthy and fit, if not a bodybuilder? Any which way, expect pain — because, without pain, there’s no gain.
