I never had trouble building muscle. It was always easy for me to pack on the lean pounds whenever I decided I needed to. It’s not that I’m bragging, it’s just a fact. I’m one of the lucky few who can gain muscular weight pretty easily.  When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I could gain an inch on my biceps by just growling at the barbell. Seriously. For a young , aspiring bodybuilder, it was very motivating.

Others are not so fortunate. I have a friend who was a competitive bodybuilder also and his chief complaint was that he couldn’t gain a lot of muscular bodyweight. However, he had really low body fat. Naturally. He never had to work too hard to keep his body fat low. As a result, he looked awesome when he competed. I know plenty of people who wish they had this problem. Including myself. You see, though I could build muscle by thinking about it, I had to work really, REALLY hard to keep the fat off.

My point to all of this is that each of us is our own person. We each possess different attributes. Some of us gain weight easily, some of us can’t gain it fast enough. Some of us have no trouble sticking to a healthy nutritious food plan, some of us can’t pass a junk food place without stopping in. There are the beautiful bodies you see on television, and then there’s reality.

Where do you fit in? I’m asking this question, not to antagonize you about your physical condition, but to help you appreciate who you are. You see, not everyone was meant to look like a celebrity, with a perfect body and flawless skin. The great majority of us live every day looking at our flaws in the mirror. And I am here to tell you that it is just fine. That’s right. It’s ok to be who you are. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to improve your body and your health, I’m just saying you need to be realistic about what you are trying to achieve. If you are happy and feel fine once you reach a size 8 dress, then what’s wrong with that? If you are comfortable at a size 2, then that’s fine for you. Do you see what I am trying to say? I want you to be in the best health possible, but I don’t want you to try to reach for some goal that is unrealistic and unhealthy. As my wife and I say a lot, we were not all meant to be Barbie Dolls. Who would want to anyway? (Must be hard for her to walk with those tiny feet and those huge…umm…eyes.)

I believe we need to strive to strike that balance in our lives and ourselves where we can realistically live.

Stand up and look in the mirror. Think back to when you felt the healthiest. If that was too long ago, then decide for yourself where you would be happy. If you really want to go for the figure competitor body and truly believe that you can, then by all means, go for it. But if you would truly be happy and feel comfortable and healthy at 20% body fat, then that is what you should shoot for. If you need some help deciding what is healthy and realistic for you, give me a call and let’s see if we can figure it out.

I heard Popeye say it more than once, "I yam what I yam." Good enough for me.

Have you ever had one of those? Last week was a long, tough week, especially considering it was one day short because of the holiday. So what was the deal?

There really was nothing outstanding or spectacular about any day last week, just pretty much business as usual. I mean, I didn't get any earth-shattering news, or experience any horrible events. Just the same as any other week. But for some reason, by the time Thursday came around, I was ready to cash it in and go to bed for the rest of the week.

Today I woke up ready to go and take on the world. Completely different attitude from last week, so I got to thinking about this whole thing, and I think I figured it out (The clue is in this sentence). It was my attitude.

Last week, I entered the week on Tuesday thinking to myself, “Whoopee! Short week! Let’s get this over with and get on with the weekend! Hey, we’re almost there!” Then Wednesday hit, and with it, the reality that this week was not a whole lot shorter than any other. Besides, every day of this week, even if there was one less, demanded every bit of attention as usual. It was a kick in the face and I didn’t take it well. So my attitude went downhill from there, and I didn’t even realize it.

Well, that sucks. Yes it did. It really sucked. And I let it get to me. I think it was Stephen Covey who said, “10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.” Nothing could have proved that to be more true than last week. Basically it came down to this, last week sucked because I let it suck.

We can’t control the traffic on the freeway. We have no control over how many red lights we will hit on the way to work. We can’t keep the clown from cutting us off and then slowing down. Things like this happen. We have no way of controlling what happens to us. We do, however, have control over how we react to these things. And unfortunately, things like this have a way of snowballing.

You hit red lights all the way to your appointment. You decide to speed things up a little to make up for the lost time. You get stopped by a cop and get a ticket. Now, you’re even more late. You get to your appointment really late and your head is spinning. You can’t find your presentation in your briefcase. When you finally find it, you notice that the entire board room is staring at you in shock because of the way you thrashed through your briefcase, not to mention the “blankety-blanks” you muttered almost under your breath. So the presentation doesn’t go very well and you head back to your office. Your boss finds out about the failed presentation and bites your head off. Then you go home and take it all out on your kids and spouse. What a day! Sound familiar? And all because you hit all those read lights. Or was it?

Was it the series of red lights, or the way you let it get to you? Think about it, had you not let it get to you and added that dash of speed to your drive, you wouldn’t have gotten the ticket, you wouldn’t have been so late, you would have been in a better mood to find your presentation and it probably would have gone a whole lot better. See? Did you HAVE a lousy day or did you GIVE yourself a lousy day? Think about it.

I have re-evaluated my attitude and made this decision: I WILL have a great day, because I am in control of that. I realize that I cannot control circumstances, but I can and will control my reaction to those circumstances.

How about you?

Focus. The dictionary defines it as: "a  central  point,  as  of  attraction,  attention,  or  activity." I like to think of it as the point where everything becomes clear and distinct. Either definition will serve our needs here.

I got to the gym this morning, as every morning, at about 5:15 am. Got a few minor activities out of the way and got ready for our first group fitness class of the day at 5:30. After that, everything became pretty much a blur until it got close to the time for me to hit the iron myself. Suddenly, I wasn't just performing my daily tasks. Suddenly, though I thoroughly enjoy what I do for a living, I wasn't just going through the motions. Suddenly, I wasn't just the leader, teacher, instructor, guide or motivator. I was awake, alert determined, focused. Everything that had happened up to this point was what needed to be done, Suddenly, this was what I wanted to do. Don't get me wrong, when I am instructing or training, I am there, I am on, I am doing what I truly love, but when I stepped out of my trainer clothes and into my workout clothes, I was enveloped by a totally different purpose. I was here for me. I was here to push myself, to see what I dared to do, and call myself a wimp if I dared not. I was here to take one more small step on the road to improvement. It truly is a daily battle, and each day can bring either victory or mediocrity. And I, for one, refuse to settle for mediocrity.

Today, I loaded up the bar and then stood back and surveyed the situation. The bar basically stared back at me, taunting me, mocking me, telling me over and over that I can't do it, that I had no business thinking I could lift that kind of weight for that many reps, that I shouldn't even be here right now. I should be sitting in my office, chugging coffee and working on the next marketing campaign. "What are you thinking? You are too old, too tired, too busy, too whatever to be here lifting this amount of weight and trying to improve your physique."

But, today, as most other days, I gathered my courage, tossed my negativity out the door, grabbed the bar and brought the whole picture into focus. My world suddenly became nothing more than getting that bar off of the rack and back on after the proper number of perfectly-performed reps. I could see nothing other than the bar: it's cold steelness, its deep knurling, its slight bend in the middle. The weight plates themselves meant nothing at this point. I couldn't even see them. I WAS FOCUSED.

So, I have to ask you, "Where's YOUR focus?" Are you totally committed to taking the steps that need to be taken to imporve yourself? Are you dialed-in to what you need to do and what you need NOT to do to get to where you want to be? If not, you'd better start. You see, every day, every hour, every moment you don't get focused is a waste. It was once said, if you are not moving ahead, you are standing still or moving backwards. Don't waste your time, your energy, your talent on things that are not going to improve you, your life, your relationship, your business.

Get to it, get focused!