*I must say that when I wrote this I was not concerned about formatting, just a rant*
Excuses Make You Fat
This previous weekend I was out away from my home gym and decided to grab a few workouts at popular big box gym and it brought back some memories of some people that I use to train and work out along side that truly blew all excuses out of the water.
When I was about 18-19 I use to workout at this hole in the wall gym (Texas Gym) and I loved it! Some of the hardest workouts to this day were at that place due to the fact there was so much energy, testosterone and no BS attitude that just oozed out of that place. I could go all day and tell you stories of how hard and crazy those workouts were but what impressed me the most about that place is that no one there tolerated excuses.
- If fact my training partner had a metal 45lb plate dropped on his foot (not by me) and the next day he was in
crunches back in the gym training his arms. - One of the most in shape guys I’ve EVER seen in there was a blind man that had is training partner lead him to a bench and place dumbbells in front of him, the blind man would then crank out some AMAZING sets pushing to his limit each and every time. This dude was legit.
- I saw a guy with a prosthetic limb doing full depth squats.
- There was no AC there but you kept working
- NO chalk, you used dirt from outside
- Guys would come in from working 12 hr construction jobs and still rock out amazing workouts.
- Not enough room? You brought weights outside (that’s where I was first introduced to lunges)
- You missed a day, you got made fun of.
That was the type of gym it was.
I had big lessons in the NO EXCUSES mentality of that place when one day my workout partner and I went in for our Saturday morning leg workout. For some reason the owner took a liking to us and would always have a leg workout ready for us scribbled on a piece of paper. These workouts were NOT easy, sometimes I look back on those and wondered how I even survived some of those intense days.
This one day I’ll never forget…
The workout was Squat-Fest 2004 (The owner NEVER labeled his workout so the fact this one had a title said something). I wish I had kept that workout but it was some asinine amount of work. I think my workout partner and I had done 15 sets of squats (warm-ups didn’t count there) 8 sets of leg press 8 sets of hack squats, 50yd lunges, hamstrings… the list went on. Our squatting workout alone took us 45min to complete and I had trouble walking after that; the whole workout took us about 3 hours to complete!
Needless to say we were spent and I had trouble walking for a two weeks; I’m not kidding about that, two weeks straight I could barely walk.
The real lesson come from next week when I was too sore to walk but still came to the gym (neither one of us wanted to get made fun of lol) and the owner was proud to see us back and told me one thing that stuck with me to this day.
“The most in shape people are the ones that never quit.”
Otherwords they always found a way NO MATTER what happens in their life they were at the gym still working towards their goals. A guy had one leg but still squatted, blind man made his way to the gym, if you had a broken arm you did legs, if you had a broken leg you did arms. There were no excuses because all an excuse was and is, is just a road bump.
You get over the road bump and keep moving forward.
Some examples that I have inspired me.
Blade Runner
One that really stands out to me as of recent is Oscar Pistorius (blade runner). This guys has NO legs and still RAN in the Olympics!
Wheel Chair Body Building
If you EVER get a chance to meet and talk to these guys I highly recommend it. These guys have a never quit attitude that is just contageious and will light a fire under your a$$.
Soichiro Honda
Yes this is the founder of Honda Motor Corporation but this guy went through some of the craziest road bumps I’ve heard to build his business. Its actually quite difficult to find his whole story but I recall reading a bio and this guy went through several bankruptcies, had his factory bombed twice in the World Wars, family ordeals, government blocks, other automotive blocks, the list goes on. He did not quit and he had enough excuses that I think no one would have blamed him if he did.
Abraham Lincoln
-Needs no intro-
Dick and Ricky Hoyt
-My words will never do these guys justice, just watch and be prepared to get teary eyed-
Matt Warhawk
*I could go on all day with these videos and examples*
The list can go on but each one of these individuals could have though of a THOUSAND excuses and a lot of us would never had blamed them for limiting themselves.
We find less reasons that limit ourselves from less than when these people have gone through.
Wrapping it up
If I’m not lean enough I know its my fault not McDonalds, if not successful its not the governments fault but my own, if I’m not where I want to be in life its not my family friends or bosses faults its mine.
I promise for every excuse you can think of there are a million people out there who are ignoring or overcoming them. If you are not where you want to be in either fitness, business or life stop with the excuses and do work people.
Take responsibility and get rid of the excuses.
In Health and Awesomeness,
Travis Merritt, BS, CPT, CES, RBT is the owner of Fitness Revolution in Rowlett, TX.
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