Xof1 The Real Secret

It keeps coming back. I’m not sure it gets much better. As I monitor my training and ponder the possible need for any adjustments the bottom line keeps showing up.

It’s like asking someone else a question that only I can truly answer. These are my answers and I think they are your answers as well.          

What should I be doing?

Enough weight training to stimulate muscle growth

Enough aerobic activity to burn any excess fat

Enough calories to provide energy for my workouts and my daily activity

Enough rest and recovery to avoid over training

And somehow I also believe that this may not fit neatly into a 7 day week.

For the goal I have set I find more and more that I will need to practice what I have been teaching others for the last 25 years of the over four and one half decades I have been exercising.

1. All training pivots around Recovery
2. Take the right measures to avoid regret which I call “Regret Prevention”
3. Determine the right amount of weight training, aerobic training, calorie consumption and macronutrient percentages.

The answers I come up with should be the right “formula” for this campaign.

And above all the real commitment needs to be on getting the end result not to the method.

Sounds like a recipe for The Experiment Of One.

So is that it? Is that all of it?

No.

If you have a place to train the time to train and the commitment- you will still need to be sufficiently motivated to train and have a good or strong enough reason to stick with it. More on that to come.

Discipline Defined

Last week I had to make some adjustments to my training. To explain this I have taken an excerpt out of my personal Journal I have entitled “The Journey To The Universe”. I began writing in this “book” in 1981. These entries are my thoughts, inspirations, and ideas. Not all of them are mine- some of them were first spoken by others, and  great thinkers of their time. They had relavance at the time so I would include them in my thinking. The reason for the title name was that I thougt I was preparing myself for what was next- a drug free Mr. Universe in 1982. It didn’t happen. It would be 4 years until Natural Bodybuilding would have a sponsor for a Natural-For-Life World Bodybuilding Championships. But I waited and trained because I saw myself winning it. Normally I would give my new thoughts a title and I would also include the date I wrote it to myself. The one I am sharing today is over 20 years old- but to me it reads like tomorrow’s news!

4/28/84

So what is discipline, anyway?  Discipline is the difference between winning and losing.

Discipline is a daily recommitment, because it is daily that I can get off course. By keeping myself on a “short leash ” I  can better maintain a steady course. It is when I relax and allow myself to become indulgent or distracted that I get off track.

Discipline is doing what ever it takes especially when you don’t want to! And doing it well and without an attitude!

In designing my commitment, I need to factor in not only a daily inventory of my direction, I also need to have the proper attitude regardless of how I am “feeling”.

Discipline is to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

Putting off making an important decision could be to plan for failure. The philosophy of an achiever includes margins for error (being human) and the “mid-course direction change” required to get back on track as quickly as the error is identified.

Whether you like it or not, whether you want to or not.

I need to resolve that it doesn’t have to be pleasant or the “right timing” I don’t have to like it or want to do it, I just need to do it! This, of course does not include training to the point of overtraining, training with a legitimate injury, or illness. In other words this is not intended to allow for overdoing anything. I should not take this as an occasion to find fault with this philosophy, rather I should factor in fail-safes to help me avoid laziness, knowing our human condition.

Discipline is not eating when you want to, and only because you want to.

Here is where I address any excuse to eat for pleasure. This is an area that has to be dealt with to help me ensure success. Just because I want it (whatever, food etc.) doesn’t mean that I should have it-especially if it will take me away from my goal. So I ask myself, will this get me closer to my goal or take me further from my goal? The answer to that question should determine the action that I take.

Discipline is not drinking when you want to and only because you want to.

Drinking (could be anything) for pleasure also needs to be identified, or else I will fool myself into indulging in some indiscretion that I did not make myself aware of. Aren’t we tricky? Then I would convince myself that, “for the life of me, I can’t figure out what went wrong!”   I need to be honest and committed even when there is no one else around.

It’s not for everyone  — just those who want to win!

To require excellence for myself means that I need to have a working philosophy that identifies all of (that I know of) the pitfalls that I may encounter and an idea of how I would attempt to remedy them. And certainly this isn’t for everyone; it’s for those who are striving for excellence. And yet excellence is not unrealistic. Excellence is not perfectionism. Excellence is doing my best each and every time I try. And I have learned that each “best” can be different, and I have learned to accept that.  The outcome of such a discipline could only be a new level of personal responsibility and accountability. And I believe that the highest form of discipline is self discipline.

 As an athlete I’m not looking for excuses why I can’t- I’m looking for reasons why I can.                                                                                                    –Carlos DeJesus

I will be sharing more about my Journal in the future- it is what helped me to learn how to think like a champion.