MUSCLE CHURCH: Our Father, the Iron

I think back to the "good old days" quite a bit now. At 36 with a knee that is mostly good half of the time, a heart that gets out of rhythm quite often and the ever-looming threat of cellulitis-it's easy to think my best days are behind me. Quite often when I'm visualizing the evening's workout or planning for the week ahead, I will harken back to the old days when I hit the gym any time I wanted, worked out any way that I wanted and the results were, well, basically the same as they are now. Until you get well north of 30 you don't really get how your body changes and how little, yes how little, training actually matters. As a youth, if you are training consistently at all, you will get in better overall shape. If you do train consistently AND you eat right and rehab, you will get in great shape in the manner you choose. If you do those things AND have a good training plan, well, you will be in heaven. Most of us don't have the discipline to do that as...

Not ashamed to be the worst and most infrequent blogger of all time. Life happens. My biggest problem is that deep down inside I don't like to brag or boast about things. My little accomplishments or things that I do well, eh, I tend to like to keep them to myself. People that know me would laugh at that because they see how much I like to make people laugh and how I'll puff my chest up and antagonize people. Guilty, guilty and guilty again. If I'm guilty of anything, it's that I like to make people laugh or I like to make them think. If I can ramble on about something and that makes someone think about their problem a bit differently, and it helps them, well that's time well spent. Otherwise, I don't care to talk much about myself-of at all, if I can help it. But, when there's an audience...oh man it there's a microphone...I just can't help myself! It's the ultimate dichotomy; I'm an introvert and an entertainer. I live and dream about b...

Eric Thomas always says "THANK GOD IT'S MONDAY" and that has become something I identify with. It wasn't always that way for me and it's taken a lot of trial, error, anger and downright sadness for me to be the incomplete person behind your computer screen, but nothing starts without a plan! So, it's Monday. Maybe you're reading this on a Tuesday or a year from now, doesn't matter. #ItsMondayEveryday when you have goals. Take today and lay out a plan for yourself. Having big dreams is great and I wish everyone did, but think about how much easier life would be if you just had a plan to get dinner done on time. Or what if you had a concrete plan to get your meal prep done for the week? Don't get so lost in the clouds that you forget these dreams begin and end on the ground. Take today, right now, and jot down 3 things you KNOW you need to do this week and then write down 2-3 simple steps to ensure you get them done. That simple exercise takes abou...

Movement is...what? I like to say things are always in motion and either falling apart or coming together. Sometimes it's hard to tell which one, but it's always easy to tell when it's happening too fast. At least, I think so. Lately I've been worried that things can move so fast for so long that you either just used to the craziness and consider it normal or you acknowledge the craziness and give up. Movement...is really the opposite of giving up. Moving indicates that you are either in control or attempting to be and that really how you avoid falling down the drain in life most of the time. I live by the saying "you don't lose until you quit and failing is not quitting" and sometimes that's a hard pill for people to swallow because it's so easy to feel powerless in modern society, but once you decide to take control, it's hard to stop! Lately I've been really considering what are goals in life and what do they truly mean, in an object...

Kai Greene's tagline, "Thoughts become things" is something I think about daily. Before you can do, you must think you can. Therefore resolve everyday to think about what you are trying to accomplish and in time, you will get there because it's been at the forefront of your thoughts. Visualization is so powerful, it creates emotions and feelings inside of you that you wouldn't experience otherwise. "Thoughts become things" is not just a way or saying "plan for your success" it's a way of saying "see it, plan it, think about it, becomes obsessed with it" and then it will happen. You have to struggle a long time before you can be on top of the mountain, visualizing the view from the top will make the climb up seem a lot easier. No matter what-keep believing in yourself!