Pain Is A Powerful Lesson

 Been one of the hardest months of my life physically as this Sciatica injury is just kicking my ass. All the stretching, the rehabbing and doing everything possible gets frustrating and full of doubt. This is quite possibly the worst injury that involves so much pain for so long since my accident with my legs. Talk about misalignment and the feeling down your leg feels like getting a mobster taking shots with a baseball bat. 

For small periods there is little pain but other times, might as well be debilitating. The reality is, I know it'll end sooner or later and what I'm doing is helping, it's just hard as hell to be patient and let it heal. I also can't give up on myself either and stop training because without training, I'm not me and that vow I made to myself a long time ago that the day I can't do anything training wise is either when I'm dead or in a coma. The pain is excruciating but I can't just stop. When it becomes so painful that putting on clothes or even standing to do dishes becomes a difficult task, there's something not right there.

I don't believe I tore anything or ruptured anything otherwise I wouldn't be able to walk at all but yeah, I have a fucked up joint in my hip that shoots down my leg. No I'm not looking for sympathy or want anyone to feel sorry for me, I did it to myself and I can't blame anyone. Facing it head on is hard enough and beating myself up comes with the territory with me. I don't wish this amount of pain on anyone, not even the ones I have issues with. Pain is a powerful lesson but it also gives you an opportunity to find out what you can do despite the pain. When you feel so limited, it feels like defeat even though it really isn't. Fighting to get back is a road that takes many turns and the paths can go anywhere. There are signs that point you in a direction but what you choose becomes a defining factor of when the destination hits a standstill. There is doubt, frustration, anger, thoughts of giving up, wishing you had morphine on hand and doing anything possible to not feel pain but you keep fighting anyway because the moment you give in to any of those things, you failed and I can't fail no matter how many times they're thrown at me. 

I don't deserve special treatment or deserve to be helped. A part of me wants to suffer and deserves to suffer because I let it happen. Another part of me understands that I can't control 100% of the time what happens to me because injuries can occur at any moment and no matter how good we are at training or how much knowledge we have about avoiding injuries, it creeps up on you and the moment it does, you're tested to see what is possible while you recover. You're hurting and beat up but like Rocky, you keep going, you keep fighting until you can't anymore. Even though it's painful, I'm still in the fight and as Captain America would say "I can do this all day" and do whatever it is you have to to get back to being your true self again. 

Even Batman gets hurt and with all those bruises, shiners, busted ribs at times and taking on tasks that most humans couldn't even do at 1% of their best, its important to realize we're all still human and we can't heal like a a Wolverine or Deadpool even though we wish we could. Pain is a bitch of a teacher, but every teacher gives us an opportunity to learn and grow. The struggle is real but the journey is part of that struggle and you keep moving forward inch by inch if you have to. 

Connection & Individuality

           There’s always energy surrounding us. Sometimes we feel it more so than others, often the majority can’t even fathom or notice it but it is there, how we use that energy is up to us as a whole; physically, emotionally, intuitively, spiritually and mentally. Like the force, energy binds us, connects us and hits us from every angle even when we don’t notice it. It’s that universal power that creates the fire and emotion we all have.

            We are all connected but also have a single body. Our connection to others has different meanings whether you’re good or bad, part of a religion or a spiritual enthusiast, race, creed it doesn't matter what does matter is when something is off balance something always seems to hit us in one way or another. Connecting with others gives you the opportunity to learn and understand where they come from and what they mean to you but also as an individual it’s important to learn about yourself and how you see yourself having that connection.

            We strive all our lives to find who we are as a person and for some, they become something they didn't expect to be, others feel it’s their destiny to be apart of something and then there are those that are forced into becoming something they don’t want to be. Finding who you are is the ultimate challenge and it’s never easy but once it hits you, you never want to turn back and move forward with what you want to become. Loving others is another challenge and it’s just as hard as finding who you are but it’s simpler. Loving another human being is a state of mind in my opinion because no matter what they've done that may seem hurtful or even grateful, in your mind they’re still a human being and having some kind of love for them makes you nobler, caring, giving and having the will power to not give into the hate.

            There are different meanings to certain things but all have a common goal; being accepted. Accept who you are and accept who certain people are because the more you try to change who you are or someone else, it’s just going to be a bigger burden on you. Accept change. Not saying you should join a cult or become a mass murderer I’m not talking that kind of acceptance, I’m talking about acceptance that’s meaningful to you and it has a positive notion of how you want to see the world. Our mindset is different from each person and we all see the world in our own way but yet if you learned to shift your mind to a positive image and feel love no matter where you go, our energy changes, our emotions perk up, we find things that make us happy.

            I’ll tell you first hand that even around people I love and care about, some of them don’t accept me as a person because of some of the things I do or say, hell they can’t stand my sense of humor most of the time and it’s not a burden on me, it’s on them but it’s up to me to learn how to control my mind and see a more positive outlook from those who have no real positive objectives. What I’m pointing out is that even if you’re not accepted even by those closest to you, you must accept yourself. It’s one thing and when you learn to use it, the rest of the world don’t mean a damn thing except you made it a priority to love the world for what it is.

Putting The Super In Superhuman

       Becoming beyond the realms of human abilities in fitness isn't as far fetched as most people want to believe. Sure you won’t always be someone who can deadlift 1000 pounds, run 50 miles, do 100 pull-ups or swing a kettlebell 10,000 times but you can however push the very brink of your natural abilities to become something more than yourself. Being superhuman doesn't mean you’re just a physical specimen and do whatever the hell you want; a superhuman has physical gifts using his emotional content to define his spirit and conquer him/herself in their own endeavor.

            To reach certain levels, you must push yourself out of your comfort zone naturally and with reason. Don’t be just jumping into something already advanced and think you won’t be sore or get hurt, that just makes you a moron. Instead focus on the progressive elements of what you’re capable of and little by little keep pushing. Testing your limits are tests of your will power, how far you’re willing to go. There is a bit of a price but it’s worth everything you've put your heart into. Some people go so deep it might end up crippling them, others keep edging and finding what they’re capable of and in doing so learn the value of your mind and body’s strengths and weaknesses.

            To become superhuman is to follow simple and basic rules or you can come up with ones suitable for you but the most basic ones are as follows:

1. Never be satisfied with your training, keep learning.
2. Train hard and smart, use your mind and body as if they’re the same thing.
3. Sleep & Recover, very important in building the body and resting the mind
4. Push yourself progressively, never take a short cut or you’ll end in a way you won’t like
5. Value your true friends in your field for they’re the ones who give you the best advice and keep you motivated either through a conversation or just a few words.

            One of my favorite teachings to become superhuman is to follow your own path. This is one of the toughest things to do and I’ll tell you why; people want to follow someone else because they see how they do things and want to follow along but never go beyond that. I realize some people like to do that P90X or Insanity type programs and I’ll admit it’s better than nothing and if it works for them awesome but they’re missing the big picture. You’re watching the DVDs and you follow along as best as possible and if results come great, however, DVDs tend to wear out or get scratched, stolen, ripped and whatever could happen how will you do your workout? You going to pay another couple hundred bucks to get them new? Think about it.  I have my own opinions about them but let me tell you something, just watching and following along is really only good for techniques and tempos.

            To have life-long results is to follow your own way of doing things, not what someone tells you what you shouldn't or should do. If you learn to do things right for you and your body, you can do them however you want. Self-Reliance is a major key and we all have different needs and our bodies don’t always react to the same ordinary or even extraordinary programs. Be sufficient to who you are and become Superhuman in ways that’s geared towards you. 

Love to Win, Hate to Lose

Here's another Guest Article from fellow Physical Culturist Matti Marzel giving you another dose of his Ferocious Intensity and powerful messages to the world of Fitness, Muscle Building and Health...Enjoy.

Yeah I know, this Headline sounds like some Spartan/Gladiator type Philosophy that is Hardcore to the Bone and not for most people, so why even bother talking about?! I’ll tell you exactly WHY I bother to talk about it in the first place, and it has EVERYTHING to do with the Major Succes that you’ll achieve in your Training in the shortrun, but MOST Importantly, In the longrun!

  So here’s what I’m getting at with the Title of this Article, You probably already understand that Most people don’t like to Lose at all-in whatever Sport or Training that they’re involved in, and the More Professional & Elite Level it is, the More this applies to it all! But lets take a Dude for example that Trains Hard as hell, Fanatically, Obsessively & with Severe Seriousness that you won’t find easily in this day & age! I’m talking of course about myself over here, as I know more about myself then anyone else in the Training & Physical Culture World out there, and thus I can speak from personal experience, and easily go very far with the examples that I’ll give about myself as well!

 And before you think that I’m here to bragg about myself and show you how cool I am and all of that, you’re completely wrong! It is true that I feel good about myself and see myself in my mind is a Ferocious Animalisticly Strong & Superior Radiant Healthy dude, that’s absolutely TRUE, and you won’t hear me saying or claiming anything else but that! But that’s not why I talk about “Loving to Win and Hating to Lose”. I’m mentioning that you GOT to LOVE winning so freaking much, that even the slightest or tiniest thought of Losing will make you go crazy, apesh*t and lose your mind! You truly gotta create, develop and manifest in the HATE feeling for Losing! If you’re still with me on all of this?! Cool, then you probably also know why I mentioned HOW I look and see myself in my own mind! Because that’s the Whole Idea of LOVING To win! You gotta create that Burning Desire and FIRE in your Heart that Makes Winning SO MUCH MORE then just winning! It needs to become such a Burning Desire, the Winning has to mean everything in the World - scratch that - in the whole UNIVERSE for you personally, as it IS for me, personally as well!

  If you can remember the Soundtrack song from the Rocky IV movie?! Exactly, I’m talking about the Soundtrack song: Hearts on Fire! If you listen to that song, feel the vibe and Emotional Content of that song, then you cannot help but feel emerged by it and Pumped up + Psyched the hell up to Train like a Fanatical Outta Control Maniac! Hell Yeah, this also happens to be one of my Ultimate Emotional Contents for my Own Training before I go Train!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDTNEEu3Rw

I also Mix this together with Anchors obviously, but that’s beyond the scope of this Article! And If you truly want to learn more about Emotional Anchors, then I highely suggest and recommend you go to My Official Site at www.ferociousstrength.com, and sign up on the Right-Hand Side of my Site with your Name & E-mail adress, to Download my Free Bonus Report: Emotional Anchors for Absolutely FREE! And in that FREE Bonus Report I’ll go into a TON more details as to Why, How, Where and When you should be using Emotional Anchors in your Training!

  Having said that, lets focus back on the HATING to LOSE Part! Yes indeed Comrade, YOU got to HATE losing as Much as you LOVE to Win! You see, Love & Hate or both the Strongest Emotions there is when it comes to Emotional Contents, period! I know this from personal experience, so does Ben Bergman, whom I’ve written this Guest Article for, and a Lot more Physical Culturists and Strongmen out there as well! My BEST and MOST Valuable advice that I can give you about HATING to lose, is to first of all: Never be scared or frightened by your Own Hatefull Emotion, or any other Emotion for that matter! There’s truly not a single reason in the world to be afraid of your OWN Emotions… NONE, Never was and Never will!

  You gotta understand that we’re ALL Emotional beings, wether we admit it or not! Wether we like it or not, or wether we try to hide them or ignoring them! Emotions are around us (and around YOU, whoever is reading this right now!) at ALL times, Hell Yeah, read that again: At ALL times! Lets take a Very Strong & Powerfull Physical Culturist out there for example who talks about Emotions as well, and holds it in very HIGH regards as I do! I’m talking of course about Chuck Halbakken! Now if you’re NOT familiar with Chuck, then you definitely should! Now before I recommend you to go to His Site and to ALSO go to the Upcoming “Wizards of Strength” Workshop that is being Held by 2 of My Personal Coaches and Mentors + Legendary Strongmen as well: Bud Jeffries and Logan Christopher, I would like to take a moment to quote Chuck Halbakken over here WORD for WORD about what he had to say personally about “being Emotionally Involved into your Training”… Check it out!

“Lets get into the Emotional Aspects of Training! Ok, so lets just say: can we agree that Patience is a Trainable Skill?! So, you have Patience and Agression, now you can be Agressive and STILL patient.”

He then continues to say this:

“How do you work on Relaxation? That’s an Emotional Thing more then anything else! How do you Generate Tension? Can we say that that is Emotional? Certainly, In Z-Health you learn that EVERY Movement that your body makes (YOU make!) has an Emotion attached to it! Wether you understand it or not, or wether you recognize it or not. So if you attach an Emotion to a Movement, why aren’t you who decide the Emotion for yourself? Rather then let your Brain decide the particular Emotion for you…”

  Now that you’ve heard Chuck Himself mention the Importance of Emotional Content & being Emotionally Involved in your Training as well, I truly hope that by now I’ve convinced you of the Major Importance of using YOUR Emotions in Your Training for the Greater Good!

 Now that we’ve got that settled and discussed, I want YOU, to make Losing in your Training (and in Everything in Life as well, period!) something that you absolutely and totally hate with ALL of your Might! This might sound very drastic, fanatically, insane, extreme and over the top, and maybe it is! But screw that, if you want to WIN ALL the time in Your Training (and who the hell doesn’t?), then you my friend, got to HATE Losing as Much as you LOVE Winning! It’s as simple and straight-to-the-point as that! Wether you agree with me or not, I’ve got the facts to back it up, and I can give you the BEST and most Profound example of a Ferociously Strong & Insanely Conditioned dude that has implied and used these in his own Training as well: MYSELF! Yeah, I know that some of you over here are going to mention the Ancient Chinese saying that goes like this: Aiming High and Losing is NOT a Crime, but Aiming Low and Winning is a Crime! And this same Ancient Chinese saying was ALSO repeated and stressed so much by the Legendary Bruce Lee himself to his students in the Martial Arts that he taught them! But bare with me for a second over here, now I do completely agree with this Ancient Chinese saying, I honestly do, for the full 100%! But that’s not what I meant with the Title of this Article, it may look like it, but it definitely ISN’T whatsoever!

  Yeah it is indeed an Incredible Crime to Aim very Low and to Win, rather then Aiming very High and to Lose! But here’s what I mean with Love to Win, Hate to Lose! I’m saying that you should always Aim super high, Aim so Damn High that it literally scares the living shit out of “normal” and “regular” people out there, and makes them look at you and accusing you of being a MUTANT/Alien with Super powers! Now THAT’s What I mean with Love to Win, Hate to Lose! You should NEVER EVER aim low in your Training at all, that’s just Disrespectfull as hell towards other Super Strong Physical Culturists out there + the Oldetime Strongmen of the past, but MOST Importantly, it’s very Disrespectful towards Yourself!

 So I said that Aiming Low should never even be an Option! And I truly believe in that and stand behind my Word and beliefs as well for the Full 100%! So now what we do? You’ve got to Aim High and WIN! Now obviously you won’t win everytime that you Aim for a Sky High Feat of Strength or Training Goal, there will be definitely more times that you will Lose and get your ass kicked from all directions, then there will be times that You completely own it, destroy it and finally achieve your Training Goals! And right here, Comrades, is where the Headline of this Article comes in the Best! You WILL Lose, and you will fall down and be humiliated by the Feat of Strength or Training Goal that you’ve set upon yourself! But there’s no reason to stay down once you’ve fallen down or to be defeated by the Stupid Hard and Incredibly tough Feat of Strength or Training Goal (for you that is!), Hell no, you should Stand Right Up, Grab that Feat of Strength or Training Goal by the Throat, shake it upside down, from left to right and promise to yourself that you will Beat this Feat of Strength or Training Goal in the end, and so you WILL, there’s NO Stopping you or holding you back whatsoever, unless you stop yourself! You’re a Ferociously Strong & Powerful Tiger on the Hunt, and you won’t  be satisfied untill you’ve Hunted down your Prey (Feat of Strength/Training Goal!), Killed it and then eated it (Destroying your Goal and acknowledging that you finally conquered it!). That’s How you should Look at your Training Goals from here on out, with this same kind of Intensity, Drive, Motivation, Dedication & Brutal FORCE as I personally do as well!

  There’s no two ways around it Comrades, when you do not follow my advice over here, your results will be mediocre or OK at best, yes you will achieve your Feats of Strength or Training Goals in the end, but it will definitely take a whole lot longer for you to achieve them, and with a lot more set-backs, plateaus and Negative feelings about yourself because of it! And who the hell wants to have set-backs, plateaus and Negative feelings about oneself?! I know I sure as hell DON’T, that’s for sure!

  So next time you’re stepping into your Training Area (can be a Garage, Backyard, Living Room, Gym and even an Army Base!), take a moment to Use the Emotional Content of what you LOVE to achieve and how much you absolutely & wholeheartedly HATE It to NOT achieve it! I guarentee you my friend, you WILL achieve your Goals way Faster and more Efficient that way! I can honestly and wholeheartedly say that this is Completely true out of my Own Training and Goal Setting Experience!

  Since I’ve been going deeper and deeper into this kind of Mentality & Emotional Involvements in my Own Training, I’ve seen my Feats of Strength & Training Goals go thru the roof and fly off the shelves, Literally! I’m hitting World Records, New Incredibly and Insane PR’s (Personal Records!) Left and Right these days! If you don’t believe me or think that I’m bragging and am full of shit, then I Highely suggest that you check out my Official Youtube Channel over here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/youmuthafuckayou187?feature=mhee

Now after you checked out ALL of my Feats of Strength video’s (or even some of them!), then holla back at me and tell me how I don’t know what I’m talking about, You’ll be a believer once you check out just a couple of my latest Ferocious & Legendary Feats of Strength! And those Feats of Ferocious and Legendary Strength are just the beginning of the beginning my friend! Better believe it, and to tell you the truth, I haven’t even mentioned or showed ALL of my Training Goals and achievements over there on my Youtube Channel! And safe to say that I’ve got a whole lot more Awesome and Legit Feats of Strenght to come in the near and far future! And that’s a 100% Guarentee!

  Ok, enough of the Bravado stuff! What I’m saying however is that it’s time for YOU, to start implementing and using these strategies and way of thinking into your OWN Training to the Fullest! and thus I promise you that you will reap the best benefits and get the best results that you’ve ever had in your Training thus far! And guess what? It’s only getting better and better from here on out the more you Practice it! I hope that this Article  got you to think more about Emotional Contents and about the whole idea and philosophy of Loving to Win and Hating to Lose! But you gotta do the work for yourself over here, I showed you the Path, NOW it’s time for you to put these ideas and philosophy into Action! And as we all know: Action speaks Louder then Words ever will!

 

 

Untill the next time Comrades!

In Strength & Health!

Matti Marzel!

********

You can find Matti Marzel on www.ferociousstrength.com! On his Site he talks about how to Develop Ferocious Animalistic Strength & Superior Radiant Health… among other things! He’s a Physical Culturist and Strongmen in the TRUE sense of the word, and has developed an level of BOTH Strength & Conditioning that is already considered Legendary and Insane! His goal is to reach and teach the people worldwide how to develop Both Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Spiritually and Energetically Strength, as well as how to make this Whole Training & Physical Culture a Lifestyle, and not just a Hobby!

One thing’s for sure: Matti would have made the Legendary Oldetime Strongmen of the Past very proud, We both would have BTW!

Be sure to sign-up on the right-hand side of his Site, Ferocious Stength, to Download the FREE Bonus Report: Emotional Anchors! And after you’ve downloaded it, make sure you NOT only read it, but also USE it to the Fullest! ‘Nuff Said, I rest my case!