Odysseus And Fitness

When you devise a fitness program, it's important to also be able to use your brain in order to craft up one. It's not always about picking the number of exercises or how many reps and sets, it's about developing intelligence and strategy for what your goals are. Most programs today are very out of whack and not have any real meaning behind them, it's basically doing highly scientific research but with a neanderthal brain behind the scribbles. Very rare do we see those who have the intelligence and strategic outlook for what gives us the greatest benefit. Just like in the story of the Odyssey, one man uses his brain on a frequent basis in order to achieve his goal.

Odysseus was a master strategist and quite possibly the most famous mortal in Greek Mythology. Like every strategist, he doesn't have a perfect rap sheet; he's made mistakes and it cost him dearly but yet he pulls through and crafts up some of the very best successful attempts in order to achieve his goal whether it was in the Trojan War, Sailing home, defeating a monster or whatever. In fitness, it is important to have a strategy and keeping track of how you progress. We strategize in our own unique way and some of us don't always come through but others have and like the Trojan War veteran it took them many years to get where they are at. Weightlifters spend years getting to a certain weight that could break a world record, gymnasts spend years training before heading for the Olympics and it sometimes takes a number of years for a sports team to win a championship (Boston Red Sox anyone?). If you want to craft a great strategy for the goals you want to achieve, you can't half-ass it or do one big giant set of plans to put on the table, you need to find where you want to go, what are your best options and what you are willing to put in.

No matter what the strategy is or how intelligent you are, you can't expect the outcome all the time if ever. It's an unknown journey using what you have and what you are doing little by little even by the smallest fraction. Odysseus thought it take him a number of weeks, months even to get back home after ten years in the war but yet not everything goes according to plan because it took him nearly another 10 years just to get home to his wife Penelope and his grown up son. He fought hard on everything he did to sail back to his kingdom and come hell or high water he made it back and did it with sheer guts and a powerful will. You may have a plan set for a program that will get you fit in this many weeks or that many months if you stick to it and yet at the end of it you may find yourself disappointed or overwhelmed that it's over you don't know. You can write out whatever you want and stick to your guns and train the way you planned it out but things change. You can't expect the outcome because it hasn't even happened yet and unless you're psychic or or some kind of sorcerer I don't believe anyone can see the future even out of the starting gate. Live the journey.

The one thing a person with good intelligence has in order to strategize his system is to to adapt and be able to improvise when certain things don't go according to plan. You can't rely on the same old habits otherwise you will be using the definition of insanity and that's "doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result." Be bold and take risks because playing it safe and easy doesn't get you higher up in the rankings of your own strategy. Be willing to take things to the next level little by little and you will have something bigger at the end and you'll be a different person because of it. Don't rely on the same old habits, make that little leap up your own mountain. Little by little Odysseus triumphed in the end even though he had obstacles and went through challenges that seemed impossible but he never gave up. He's one character we can all relate to and he's one of those many classic heroes that has pushed his intelligence to the max and although it took him longer than he planned, he still made it home and won back the woman he loves. Take this into consideration the next time you need motivation strategizing a system of your training.