Dilligence Reaps Rewards

There was a kid at the gym tonight talking about how much time he has put in the last few years, to get to the point that he is at. He said that he gets accused of steroid usage all the time and it used to offend him. Now, he takes it as a compliment, because he must be doing something right to get those kind of results to where people would question. He is a clean lifter though, and I'm proud of him. We talked for a long time about how much it takes out of ya to beat the crap out of yourself all the time, and come in and do it again, repeatedly. But, when you have goals, it helps keep your focus intense and where it needs to be. He's looking for a little extra motivation to keep going...I hope he gets involved in some competitions or something, because he definitely has what it takes.

My point is, everyone says "Oh, I'd love to be able to do that." The truth is, we are able to do 'that'...we just want to be able to wake up tomorrow and do it without the effort that it takes. Real goals don't work like that. Believe me, if they did, I'd be in my glory. It takes effort, and emotion, and hard work, and dilligence, and all the fight in you, when you really truly want something worth having. Next time you watch a movie, or live production, or a game or match of some sort, or you go to your favorite restaurant, think about all the time and effort and frustration and drainage (emotionally and physically) that people had to put into that thing.

My parents took me to see STOMP in Pittsburgh last night, and the one thing that I kept thinking over and over was "How many times did they just wanna kill each other before they got it right?" I could go see that performance every single year it and it would never cease to amaze me...the hours of practice and the preciseness that it takes them to put it on. It's truly incredible to me. But, that's what it takes. I read a book not long ago called "Talent is Overrated." It talked about all the great people that have been at the very top of their chosen field, and it wasn't because they showed any signs of inborn 'talent'...it was because they worked their tails off to get where they wanted to be.

Bench Press Speed Drill - 95 lbs. + 1 set of chains, 4 sets of 3. 95 lbs. + 2 sets of chains, 4 sets of 3. Then got a single of 125 lbs. with both sets of chains. All sets were done with my 2-second hold I need at competition.
Dumbbell Floor Presses - 45 lbs., 10. 55 lbs., 10.
Dumbbell Floor Tricep Extensions - 20 lbs., 4 sets of 12.
Tricep Pushdowns - 80 lbs., 3 sets of 10.
Front Raises - 15 lbs., 3 sets of 10.
Y, T, W's - 5 lbs., 2 sets of 10 each.
Medball Bounces - Brian is such a brat! He's been commenting lately about how much better I've gotten at these...so tonight, my second set, he just let me keep going, didn't keep the time that he usually does, just to see how long I'd go! Made me smile...after I bounced the ball at him! ;-) He thought he was pretty funny.