Choosing Your Own Path

            On our path to our very own individuality we are influenced by different people like family members, best friends, athletes, confidante, maybe your boss in a good or bad way either way somehow we are influenced by what is around us and what we watch, listen or that energy that just feels right. We learn from our influences who we become and what will be our destiny. Don’t try to be like your idol or anybody because they’re already taken, make a habit to learn from them to develop your own way to be who you truly want to be.

            The one thing nobody can ever teach is discovering things for yourself. In the Disney 90’s classic Hercules; Herc is becoming a rising star in the town of Thebes because of his heroic efforts to slay everything that crosses him, he’s got merchandise named after him but Zeus his father tells him that’s not the path or the secret to becoming a true hero. Herc must discover something within himself in order to a true individual and heroic figure. In the Fitness world, the general population looks to the biggest trend of weight loss, faster strength gains, quicker results and doing it with less effort when in fact it’s not real. To make things happen to build your body, it takes effort but not always physical strength but by the strength of your will and discovering what works best for you.

            Heading more towards building your body, people believe that in order to achieve that they need to be in a specific place  (Gym for example) where there are specific instructions to do this weight or this cardio machine or lifting up this heavy or light barbell or dumbbell. In reality that’s just one place where you have really more than enough places to go to make gains. Make your surroundings your strengths. When I was in Lake Tahoe earlier this month, the nearest gym was miles away and we pretty much stayed near the lake and the cabins so what could I do, I improvised by going swimming and swim hard, climb on the rocks using MovNat type training to shift, push, pull, grip and squat in many directions, lift heavy rocks by pressing, deadlifting, carrying and tossing them. That’s a hell of a workout and you never know what’s going to happen. Make the effort to be creative and use what you have around you to make the greatest benefit. The art of discovery is only something you can do, nobody else can do it for you.

            One of the greatest discoveries you develop when broadening your horizons and going on a path that is of your own choosing, learn the art of being flawless in everything you do. It’s very difficult to do and it takes time and patience but when it starts to happen, everything changes for the better and you’ll have that magnetic attraction towards people and you will find within the strength of your heart that no matter what happens, you will seem to feel alert and being at ease even in the toughest of times. You can have your own path and do anything you want in your own life. People will make you choose and steer towards something that’s more for them than it ever will be for you. Don’t let them because if you do, you’ll lose sight of who you really are and what will become of you. Walk on it, run it, play hackysack  on it whatever but find your own path and let no one stop you.

Discovering What You Love

            

             Fitness is about discovery, finding what drives you to be in shape and live a better life physically, emotionally and spiritually. Some find it and learn to keep it going with changes, new ways to challenge and again learn, others take years and don’t get anywhere because they don’t know what really works and drag themselves along and then there are those that just hate it and let’s leave it at that.

            Being in shape is great don’t get me wrong, you look awesome and can do cool things but it’s important to explore new possibilities. What can you do to challenge yourself and create different goals and setting them? There are people who get in shape just to look like a hot shot and impress others, more power to them for that but that can only go so far, if you look awesome but you’re an asshole what good are you? Find ways to not only stay in shape but have the strength and endurance to back it up. Explore what is out there, moving in different directions, being out of the gym and having to find a way to train. In the gym it’s automatic; there’s weights, machines, mats, cardio stuff all there for you but it’s a closed in space. Now go outside and find how to adapt and move freely with the environment around you, very different huh?

            One of the things I believe in is using your instincts, valuing intuition and sensing how you do things, feel and understand. It’s like the Force in Star Wars; you sense things around you, how you think and using your intuitive powers to find different meanings. If you trust your instincts and follow your energy and understanding it you’ll discover things you never thought before but there’s a dark side to it (just like Star Wars) you have to pay attention or your instincts can betray you. Learn and pay attention to how your body and mind respond to certain things, just because you think them doesn't always make them true. Follow how you respond to things, the more positive they are, the more likely you’ll love doing it but also pay attention to the negative things, if you are in pain or just don’t feel that something’s right, then you need to adjust and find something different.

            Have fun with what you do, keep it interesting and learn to get better at it. Learn to flow with things and do what you can to resist pushing too hard too fast (I've done it and I've paid for it). Have patience and make it a habit to be strong and believe that things will go the way they’re suppose to. The universe works in odd ways but there’s always a way to make it work for you. Learn the attitude, trust in yourself and be joyful to make things in your life happen. 

Finding The Flow Of Your Training

All of us have different perspectives about the flow or high we get when we train. It can be a real hardcore workout, smooth and methodical, powerful or having the feeling of just taken on the world and won it in a glorious fashion. When you find how you flow through your workouts, you’ll be getting a sense of what true strength and power lies, not in the muscles but in the mind.

 What is the perfect workout? Is it hitting a certain sets and reps? Is it perfecting the very best exercise performance? Or is it just finishing everything and going home to rest? The answer can be any of those three things but to me the perfect workout is neither one of them. The very perfect workout is when everything comes together and you flow through it like the waves of the ocean. It’s when you create something special that you rarely ever do and it’s powerful and strong but at the same time it’s peaceful and vibrant. Very few people experience that but again it’s never the same for everyone so your definition will most likely be different then mine but that’s the beauty of it.

 Nine times out of Ten your workouts will be great or boring or even good to call it a day afterwards but that one time, that workout will make everything else look like nothing but you accept it and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. All leading to that one moment where you feel the world is yours and you take it in your hands and you felt like you were Zeus himself on the top of Mount Olympus. It may for you often or very rarely it doesn’t matter, what does matter is how you portray that one conquering moment where everything falls into place and you enriched in glorious freedom of power and might that even for a brief second, it consumes you and you want to keep that moment.

 There will be times in your workouts where everything falls into place and you have secured your perfect training session. How can you make this happen? Well, honestly it takes more then a couple workouts. Takes practice and patience and never expect the perfect workout to come, let it come to you and when you least expect it, it’ll happen like a bolt lightning.

 Don’t just find your flow in your workouts, you can find your flow in other things. Did you know the ancient samurai weren’t just warriors of combat and lived/died by the sword? They were artists, poets and men of honor. Like them, the Shaolin monks, the Vikings, the Romans and other ancient warriors of combat they learned many aspects of life that had nothing to do with war or fighting. When you learn many other things, that’s where everything with you comes together to create your own moments of self-discovery and find how things work for you. Find your flow and you’ll find who you are as a person.