There comes a time when you have to decide. Decide that enough is enough. No more.
Something has to change. If you don't change something, it's going to get worse. This is the moment. A subtle mindset shift via a decision that will change the trajectory of your life. You can't see the magnitude of this decision, but you can feel it.
It sits in your stomach, and you know what you have to do. The frustration is elevated because you've put it off far too long. You've found excuses. You've justified. You've blinded yourself with mistaking activity with achievement.
But no more.
The pain of staying the same isn't an option.
You've decided to change and you know that it's going to be hard. You know it's going to be painfully difficult sometimes. You know it's not going to make sense to most people. You know there will be lonely times. You'll get mocked. You'll want to quit.
But you're ready to take that head on. You're ready to say yes to what you deserve. You're ready to achieve personal greatness. It's your time.
I believe given the state that our world is in with regards to it's physical health, making a decision to get in the best shape of your life is arguably the most important thing you can do today. I don't need to give you any facts or statistics. We're fatter and sicker than we've ever been. And, it largely due to controllable lifestyle factors.
To add to that, most of you aren't doing anything about it. You continue to do the same thing day in and day out and expect things to get better. You complain about having no energy, feeling fat, or taking so many medications and yet, your daily habits display that you deserve all of it.
Sadly, you probably won't change unless a crisis occurs in your life. Heart attack, divorce, bankruptcy. Unless something like that happens, you'll go to your grave with your groans.
But I believe in you.
You're that one person who is reading this and is having a discovery moment. A moment where you feel excited, scared, nervous, anxious, ready and apprehensive all at the same time. You're in a good place. Now, I need you to do me a favor.
Take the next step.
Decide that you will get in the best shape of your life. Don't play in the mediocre sandbox either. I don't want you to set an average goal. Don't tell me you want to lose a few pounds. That's about as inspiring as watching paint dry.
I don't know what this is for you, you must define it. But, I do know this. With over a decade of being in the gym, thousands of hours training, hundreds of books read and countless clients coached I believe that making this type of commitment will forge a character in you that you can't buy; discipline, commitment and sacrifice.
Once you develop these traits by putting your time in the gym, learning how to prep meals in the kitchen and training your mind to manage the difficulties of the journey, you will be equipped to take on any challenge that life throws at you from that point on.
The gym offers a wisdom that is slowly dwindling with our instant society. You've got to put the work in to get results. It forces you to fully understand the concept of delayed gratification. There is no instant download. But, everyone is looking for it.
That's not you.
The gym offers far more than a killer physique or herculean strength, although those things are a large part of the process. The gym offers itself as a refinery to those who are willing to put themselves through process of distillation. By showing up consistently, day in and day out, you get converted into a finished, higher grade product.
It's your time.
50 Motivational Training Quotes
Here are a few quotes to get you going:
1. ?Just remember, somewhere, a little Chinese girl is warming up with your max.? ? Jim Conroy, Olympic Weightlifting Coach
2. ?I don't care what you USED to bench? ? Serge Ceralde
3. ?Just do it? ? Nike
4. ?I do it as a therapy. I do it as something to keep me alive. We all need a little discipline. Exercise is my discipline.? ? Jack LaLanne
5. ?I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you?re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you?re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.? ? Henry Rollins
6. ?The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.? ? Arnold Schwarzenegger
7. ?You want me to do something? tell me I can't do it? - Maya Angelou
8. ?The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back. The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you?re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.? ? Henry Rollins
?I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me." - Henry Rollins
9. ?Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general.? - Mark Rippetoe
10. ?Sell yourself short on nutrition and you?re selling yourself short on maximizing your physique development.? - Ernie Taylor
11. ?If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done.? - Thomas Jefferson
12. "As soon as a milestone is passed, it's significance fades, and the focus is shifted to some other marker further down the road. No matter what you do or how satisfying it is in that beautiful moment in time, immediately you want more. You have to, if you want to find out how good you can be." - Glenn Pendlay
13. "Some people like to live without too much risk. They?re satisfied leading a safe existence. This attitude of caution infiltrates into their goals. Every successful athlete - or businessperson - enjoys taking calculated risks. You have to. Especially in the gym when you?re squatting 500 for reps and you can't get one more but grunt out ten. Your nose starts bleeding, you fall into the rack and that's set one." - Tom Platz
14. "I'm not sold on one diet philosophy. I'm sold on whatever will work for you." - Dave Tate
15. "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." - Mahatma Gandhi
16. "Most champions are built by punch the clock workouts rather than extraordinary efforts." - Dan John
17. "There's more to life than training, but training is what puts more in your life." - Brooks Kubik
?Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general.? - Mark Rippetoe
18. "You are right to be wary. There is much B.S. Be wary of me too, because I may be wrong. Make up your own mind after you evaluate all the evidence and the logic." - Mark Rippetoe
19. "I would like to be the first man in the gym business to throw out my scale. If you don't like what you see in the mirror, what difference does it make what the scale says?" - Vince Gironda
20. "Stimulate don't annihilate." - Lee Haney
21. "The internal processes of muscle growth are seriously complicated, people devote their lives to it, but the external processes that kick it off, the things in your control can be distilled down to a few principles: Get stronger in the right rep ranges, eat appropriately, commit to the program and consistently work hard at it." - Daniel Roberts
22. "Always remember this...there is only ONE recipe for strength. A secret recipe that was handed down from Sandow to John Grimek to Paul Anderson to Vasily Alexeev to Bill Kazmaier to me. Now I'm giving YOU that magical recipe?hard work plus proper nutrition plus time equals strong." - Steve Pulcinella
23. "I never think about losing." - Lou Ferrigno
24. "On the Internet, everyone squats. In real life, the squat rack is always empty. You figure out what this means." - Steve Shaw
25. "I don't feel sorry for those who lack the discipline to eat more." - JM Blakely
26. "When they get a 50-inch waist and a gorilla butt, it's ugly looking - and I think bodybuilding has become ugly looking." - Joe Gold
"On the Internet, everyone squats. In real life, the squat rack is always empty. You figure out what this means." - Steve Shaw
27. "I also agree with you about the whole paralysis by analysis thing. Yes, you have to be smart in your training, and yes, you have to think it through and plan it -- but you also have to chalk your hands, grab the bar and lift it. That's where so many people go wrong." - Brooks Kubik
28. "What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn't think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
29. "The only way to be a champion is by going through these forced reps and the torture and pain. That's way I call it the torture routine. Because it's like forced torture. Torturing my body. What helps me is to think of this pain as pleasure. Pain makes me grow. Growing is what I want. Therefore, for me pain is pleasure. And so when I am experiencing pain I'm in heaven. it's great. People suggest this is masochistic. But they?re wrong. I like pain for a particular reason. I don't like needle?s stuck in my arm. But I do like the pain that is necessary to be a champion.? - Arnold Schwarzenegger
30. ?If you always do what you've always done..you'll always get what you always got?-Ronnie Coleman
31. 'Whats the key to success?' The key is, there is no key. Be humble, hungry and always be the hardest worker in the room." - Dwayne Johnson
32. "The road to nowhere is paved with excuses." - Mark Bell
33. Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ?I will try again tomorrow.? - Mary Anne Radmacher
?The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.? ? Arnold Schwarzenegger
34. "I don't believe in bodybuilders using steroids. If a man doesn't have enough male hormones in his system to create, a nice hard, muscular body, he should take up ping pong.? - Steve Reeves
35. don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.? - John Wooden
36. ?Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.? - Susan Gale
37. ?You were given this life, because you are strong enough to live it.? - Robin Sharma
38. ?Courage is looking fear right in the eye and saying, ?Get the hell out of my way, I?ve got things to do.? - Unknown
39. ?If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.? - Bruce Lee
40. ?Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.? - Winston Churchill
41. "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence" - Vince Lombardi
42. "Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory" - General George Patton
43. "You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius
44. "The best training program in the world is absolutely worthless without the will to execute it properly, consistently, and with intensity." - John Romaniello
45. "The difference between average and phenomenal is focus." - Unknown
46. ?You?re never a loser until you quit trying.? ? Mike Ditka
47. ?I don't know how to lead but by example.? ? Don Shula
48. ?All men are created equal, some work harder in the preseason.? - Emmit Smith
49. ?When your effort is low, you?re probably not thinking about the opportunity, you?re thinking about the obligation.? - Eric Thomas
50. "When you get knocked down in life, do everything you can to fall on your back because if you can look up, you can get up." - Les Brown