Overview
- Be that guy, not that guy
- The competitive landscape of the fitness industry has change, and not for the better
- Competitors today are to externally focused and motivated
- Refocus. Know yourself and why you want to compete
- Learn to love the process
- Learn to be a competitive badass once again
Then
Flash back 10, 20, 30 years to any local gym. A starry-eyed young lad has just paid for his very first gym membership and is wondering around the foreign, yet amazing new terrain for the very first time. Like many before him, months or even years before that day he had something awaken deep inside him the first time he saw an “Arnold movie”. He then spent every day after that, poring over every muscle magazine he could find, analyzing the pages, inspired by what he sees. He cuts out workouts, pictures and diets to put on his wall. With the every piece of information he can gather, he plans his attack best he can for the first day he can begin his journey at the gym. He knows that he does not yet have everything he needs to build his perfect physique, but he does know he will work for it with all he’s got.
After a few months of training, doing the best he can to piece workouts together and pushing as hard as he can at whatever he does, his physique begins to change. With this change he gains confidence. One day he gains enough confidence to ask another member something he has always wanted to know: “Who is that?”, referring to the imposing figure near the back of the gym. He has seen him seemingly every time he has come to the gym. Even dressed in loose clothes, and what must be a XXXL shirt, he is clearly massive, with shoulders that look like they must be five feet across and what little skin you can see of his forearms are covered in a roadmap of veins. Aside from his impressive physicality, he stands out from all others in the gym. Everything he does seems to be with such intense focus and purpose. And even though everyone in the gym knows who he is, he seems like the member who would prefer to be the least know.
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“Who is that?”
“Yea, what does he do?”
“He competes”
“Competes at what? Like a sport?”
“No, he’s a bodybuilder”
Now it all becomes clear. No one is born a bodybuilder, like your idol Arnold. It is earned. There is one, occasionally a few at every gym, coming to the gym for something different then everyone else. They act different in every way: look different, train different, move different. You don’t fully understand it. By every definition of the word they are an outcast, but in an awesome way. Our young chap feels that burning fire in him once again, burning even more fiercely than before. He knows that’s who he will be. It may take him 10, 15 years, but he knows he will stop at nothing until he is one of the glorious outcasts: a bodybuilder.
Now
“Hey bro, you compete?” says our young bro #1, nipple-shirt blowing in the ceiling fan breeze (blow-out of course unmoving in sub category 5 force winds), showing his freshly shaved pre-pubescent bee-stings he refers to as pecs. Bro #2: “not yet, I just started training 3 months ago, but I’m working with a coach I found online, and I start my 12 week prep next month”. Bro #1 “Hell yea, bro” (followed by fist bump, lift shirt, flex abs, throw up the bi, snap, BOOM, post it!). And why wouldn’t he compete? He has eleventeen inch arms, and in just the right selfie light in the corner of the gym he has 1 and ½ abs.
What changed?
To be completely honest, I’m not sure, but we have definitely lost something along the way. An obvious culprit is social media. But this is all too easy to blame. And too me, a little too much like blaming fast food restaurants for America’s obesity epidemic. Everything is what you make it. Just as there are extremely healthy people that occasionally indulge in a well-earned fast food cheat meal, there are people that utilize social media for positive purposes: to educate, network, motivate and inspire.
Unfortunately I think it is a combination of far too many things to list, things that go far beyond the tiny world of our “industry”. As a whole, I believe we have digressed as a society. While that may sound extremely negative, I consider it only an observation. Today, we seem to be focused on what we are owed, entitled to, can get away with and what is politically correct. We are heavily concerned with others approval and what others think of us. To many, life seems more about existing, and doing just what is required or just enough to get by.
And at least in these scribes’ eyes, the current culture of the world is perfectly mirrored by the culture within today’s gym walls.
What did we lose?
I believe we have lost our focus. We have lost our true motivation and inspiration. We have lost what can create a true passion and love for something, strong enough to last a life time. In our ever more externally focused society we more and more neglect to look within. We don’t do things for ourselves anymore, we do them for the approval of others. Nothing is our fault, it’s because of something or someone else. We don’t own anything. Who would ever do something just because it is the right or ethical thing to do? Who would ever do something just because it’s hard or a challenge? Why would I ever work harder than I have to, especially when no one else is looking?
As a whole, I believe we have lost what I is the driving force that will truly make you continue to grow and improve over the course of your life.
Thanks for the pep talk Joe, you negative asshole
The good news here, when I am referring to “we as a whole”, I am referring to the majority of society. Not everyone. Hopefully not you reading this. Everything I have said up to this point is only negative if you consider yourself a part of it. I want to be an outlier. I want to be disassociated with the current gym culture. I don’t want to be a part of the current “flavor of the month” crowd that competes now, because it’s the thing to do. I want to be a part of the elite group, that brings back the gym culture that creates life-long lovers of the iron game. And I think many of you out there want that as well.
What do we do?
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” ― Ernest Hemingway
First, take time every day, as often as possible to focus/meditate/pray (whatever you do) about the above truth. We are focusing on the above statement as it relates to fitness and competing, but obviously to continually try to improve in all areas of your life can lead to a very accomplished and gratifying life.
Next, take ownership of goals. This requires action…like actual action. Not just reading about what I tell you to do next and feeling better about it (a strange psychological occurrence there, no doubt, has to be a term for), but actually doing. Write down what your goals are, with as much, borderline excessive, detail and specifics as you can think of. Then, take more time and write in even more detail why that is important to you. Do this somewhere you won’t lose it, and can constantly reference and update it. I would recommend at least once a day to review your goal and again focus/meditate/pray about WHY this is your goal, and why it is important to you. Even better do it multiple times a day: in the morning, before you train, and again before you go to bed at night. This may sound excessive, but I promise you, if you actually do it, and don’t just think about doing it, it will make you better, more driven and focused. The most successful people on earth have things in common: they have their goals written down, and they constantly reflect and evaluate on why they are doing what they do, and try to find ways to do it better.
Then, and this can take a while, educate yourself as much as you can (this will hopefully occur continuously every day for the rest of your life) on THE PROCESS required to get you there.
Focus on the process
If you only take away one thing from all my ramblings, please let it be this. Especially if you someday want to (or currently) compete. Focus on the process, not the outcome. As a competitor this can be the difference between being a lifelong competitor and lover of the sport, or being a disgruntled, dejected, burn-out, spit out the other end of the industry, shortly after your start, bitter and broken (this may sound dramatic but is unfortunately entirely true). And if you have no desire to ever get on stage, this will still keep you positive, motivated and looking forward to your workouts and going to the gym every day.
For the competitors or future competitors out there, if you are extremely outcome focused, trust me, pick another sport. Because at the end of the day, the results or outcome of a show are entirely subjective. The finished product of your hard work and effort are decided by someone else’s opinion. And if your happiness and success is based entirely on what others think about you, eventually, regardless of how hard you worked, you will view some outcomes as failure.
But if you focus inward, on yourself, your actions and the things you can control and base your success and failure off of that, you will always receive what you deserve.
If you focus on the process, constantly evaluate what you are doing, try to constantly improve your process and work harder at it, you will have to continue to create the best possible version of yourself. Whether you have the genetics to be a future Mr. Olympia or just to be the most jacked guy in your gym, you will get there if you focus on the process. This is important, because despite what your mom told you, not everyone can grow up to be exactly what they want to be. Not everyone can be an Olympic sprinter, no matter how hard you work, if the genetic predisposition is not there, it’s never going to happen. The same goes for bodybuilding, and many other sports. So if from day one your only goal is outcome focused (to be Mr. Olympia) and you happen to be better genetically suited for figure skating, you are set up for failure from day one. But if you are that same individual, and your goal is to be the best you can be, then overcoming skinny-man genetics and walking around at a jacked 240, may be just as much of an accomplishment as Phil Heath becoming Mr. O, based on the genetic hands we were dealt.
How to focus on the process
I’ll let you in on a secret. Even the most hardcore, dedicated bodybuilder you know: The one that eats dirty-flavored protein, gets up at 5am every day, never misses a workout, would eat a meal out of Tupperware in the middle of his own wedding, even that guy hates something about competing. At least he did at first.
Sure we all love the gym. But if were honest with ourselves, do we love everything about the gym and competing? Did you first like training arms? What about legs? What about cardio? What about your back? How about eating clean? How about eating prep clean? Going to bed hungry? Denying yourself your favorite foods at a family function or holiday? Posing?
Everyone hated something, at least at first. But the secret is training yourself to love it all. Those that only do the things they initially love doing never progress, never get better, will never be the best version of themselves (you know, the guy at the gym with huge arms and no legs….oh wait, that’s every guy). Because the true secret of those really in love with the sport of competing, is that the process is the sport. Not the trophies.
Every minute of the day, every workout, every week is an opportunity to focus on and improve your process. Avoid a cheat meal: gold star. Push yourself farther through a pain barrier then you ever have before: internal high five. Packed all your meals for the week ahead of time: wicked-awesome! Put your lagging body part as a priority in your split and trained it first: booya! Didn’t cut your cardio short: sweet! Didn’t eat that extra serving at your last meal, even though you were still starving: bam!
Repeat this process every day. Over and over. Affirm to yourself that you kick ass when you do something others are unwilling to do. Even better, you did it even when no one was watching. Eventually, you will take pride in what really matters: did you truly execute your plan, your process, to the absolute best of your ability? You are really the only one that knows the true answer to this. If you did, then you won. If not, you know you can be and do better.
At the end of the day, the thing I understand the least in the competitive world today is why so many people are unwilling to give it 100%? Why so many people will cut corners, skirt edges, try to find “grey area”, or just straight-up cheat on the process. It’s not just a saying: you truly are only cheating yourself. 99.9% of people that compete will never turn pro, will never make a dime off the sport, so what the hell is the point of competing if not to TEST YOURSELF? Push your limits. Accomplish something. Do something hard and painful, just to make yourself better. Why else would you compete: To show yourself your good at cheating? That you are awesome at doing this less than 100% and that you rock at cutting corners? Again, we have already established, odds are you will not make a living competing. So, why are you competing? Seriously? I want to know. How about this, if this is you, take the money you were going to spend on food, supplements, posing trucks, entry fees, etc…and give it to me instead. Hell, I’ll give you a discount: just give me 90% of what you were going to spend. I will happily slap you on the back of the hand and send you on your way. With the 10% you save, you can no doubt go crazy and have all the cheat meals you were gonna sneak anyway, but this time without the guilt, or your “coach” yelling at you! Awesome bro!
Competing, at its core is about working hard to make the best version of yourself. Learning the type of actions and work ethic that will make you better in all areas of your life. Learn how to work. Take pride in doing what others don’t. Make sacrifice for what you want. And whether you ever place well at a show or not, I guarantee something good will come out of it.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” – Vince Lombardi
Cliff notes
- Learn to be internal. Take ownership of your goals, your life and the process. If you focus on what you can control, you will never lose.
- Put real time and thought into why you want to compete. Write it down.
- Detail your goals. Make sure your goals are oriented around actions you can control. Write it down.
- Review and reevaluate often.
- Master the process. Train yourself to work hard. Constantly provide positive affirmation to yourself when you are successful at completing things you hate.
- Give it 100%. Work hard. Test yourself. Push your limits. Never cheat.
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