It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Churchill
The biggest thing in my life lately was a breakup from my girlfriend of 4 years. We were very close, and her choice to move on came as a shock to me. I had alot of negative emotions and powerful energy swimming inside. Instead of turning this into a destructive power, which alot end up doing, I turned it to the one thing I know well: training. I began to train HARD, the hardest I've ever trained in my life. Sometimes I would train 2 or 3 times per day. It made me feel good about myself, and gave me an outlet for myself. It was in this time I discovered a "200 rep challenge" on a bodybuilding site.
I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
Martha Washington
Martha Washington
The 200 Rep challenge was doing pullups and dips, 100 reps of each, as fast as you can. I would start with as many pullups as I could do, then hop to dips. We would keep track on a peice of paper until we reached 200. It was HARD. I've been training for a number of years now, but I've never experienced fatigue like this. This was great. I found a hard challenge for myself. I began doing this routine 2-3 times per week in addition to my normal weight routine. The results I saw were immediate, in strength and size. It was around this time I saw my cousin.
Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.
Clare Booth Luce
Clare Booth Luce
At a going away party for my cousin I haven't seen in years, we spoke about training. He is a year younger than me, and we were very close growing up. The going away party was for him leaving to become a Navy SEAL. When I saw him, he said he had taken the previous year off to train for this giant challenge. He had gained at least 15lbs since the last time I saw him (2006) and was very ripped and vascular. I told him about the 200 workout I had been doing. He then told me about his training: Crossfit. Basically, it's a little like the 200 workout, it revolves around bodyweight exercises. The stuff he would be tested in in the service. But the change it made to his body was something I could not look past.
Dwell not upon thy weariness, thy strength shall be according to the measure of thy desire.
Arab Proverb
Arab Proverb
I would do more research into bodyweight exercises. This was not done by search engines and books. Neigh, this was done by speaking to friends who had been in jail. The lack of things to do inside of a cell and the creative ways they use their bodyweight was interesting to say the least. Hundreds of pushups each day, pullups and dips between their cots. This interesting method was demonstrated by my workout partner. We were doing legs one day, and he told me he wanted to do a leg press. Looking around my basement filled with basic weights, I shrugged. He laid down on the floor in a doorway, put his feet in the air and propped a large peice of plywood on the soles of his feet. He told me to sit on the peice of wood and hold onto the doorway. He then proceeded to do 30 or so reps of this makeshift "leg press", sending me floating up and down in the air. I felt like a wobbily stack of 160lb plates.
If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it.
Brendan Francis
Brendan Francis
I asked myself, Are these bodyweight exercises some magic style of training that produce the chiseled bodies you see in prison, and the military? Or do these men just have the DESIRE and WILL to train harder than the rest of us? The answer was: both.
How many people do you know who can bench a good number, but have trouble pulling themselves onto a bar? or doing dips? The sheer simplicity and difficulty of these exercises made it evident. People would rather do 10 reps on a pulldown machine, than struggle with 3 wide grip pullups. It's more satisfying. But the challenge is where your strength is built. Alot of people can do 30 pushups, but how many do you know can do 100? I read an article one time that said "Training with free weights and bodyweight exercises should be 50/50." I couldn't have said it better myself. Everything has it's place in training.
My second question was the determination of these people. What made the guy who got up at 3 am and train for elite military tick? And what made the con in the cell, who has very little to wake up for in the first place, do 1,000 pushups per day?
The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.
Sifu
Sifu
The answer to this question I found inside of myself: they were warriors. They weren't training to look good at the beach. Neigh, they were training because it was a nessecary part of their life. They were training to LIVE. There is no option to "take today off", there is no fear of overtraining. There is only the fire inside. It was in this realization that I found my true will. Even though I have no fear of being called off to war, or the NEED to train to survive, THAT is what will build a truly strong and able body. It's not enough to simply have the warrior mentality, you have to put that to work for yourself. You MUST train like you have nothing to lose, you MUST NOT be afraid to add that extra set or extra plates. It's only this short circuited insanity that will allow you achieve your goals.
You can see this in professional athletes, the pain on their faces. When a runner trips in the race, and screams out to the sky. It's due to the blood, sweat and tears he has put into his craft; that would make your average Saturday Bencher tremble in his $120 dollar gym sneakers. They have the warrior mentality of training harder than you.
So, the next time your in the gym and feel like quitting. Think about everyone out there that will go that extra mile, while you call it a day because "law and order" starts soon. Think about your insecurities, and find the inner fire. I gaurantee you will do another set.
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