You Will Get Bulky | Eat to Perform

  "I think it’s time we stop dancing around the topic of getting “bulky” as a woman who lifts.

Saying “lifting weights won’t make a woman bulky” is downplaying the hard work and dedication it takes to be strong. It’s downplaying all those who aspire to build “bulk” (muscle) and strive for their own personal perception of being fit.

In the simplest terms, muscle is what people are referring to when they talk about bulk.  Want to be “toned?”  You want lean arms?  That’s “bulk.” You want flat abs?  That’s technically “bulk” too.  There is nothing wrong with putting on muscle, whether you’re a woman or a man.

Frankly, looking how you want to look comes down to work—very hard work. For a long time.  The kind of work you are proud of. The kind of work you are not sorry or insecure about. The kind of work that surrounds you with people of character – people of substance and determination. In that sense, lifting weights acts as a filter for me.  Lifting allows me to surround myself with supportive people who acknowledge and appreciate hard work—like-minded people who are strong physically and mentally too.

I assume some of these friends of mine think I am attractive, or look good. Although that’s nice, I do not do it for them, or for that reason; I do it for me, because I love to move heavy ass weight, and I think it’s time for people to realize that there’s more to being fit than looking good."

Read the complete article here: You Will Get Bulky

Perfectionism: When Beautiful Isn't Beautiful Enough

Perfectionism: When Beautiful Isn’t Beautiful Enough | Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Coming from Schwarzenegger.com and written by Rob Sulaver, comes a post that really hits home on the values behind self-improvement & motivations. I highly recommend you click over and read the full piece there, but here's a few key points that stood out.  He addresses the universal discontent with our bodies, no matter which state they are in.

"Nobody is satisfied with their body anymore. Literally. Nobody. Okay, that’s not true. I’m sure there are some people who are completely, whole-heartedly pleased with their reflection in the mirror. I’ve just never met them...  And it’s not just girls. And it’s not just the overweight. We are all, to some degree, convinced that our body is underachieving. 

Now let’s not confuse the issue here; there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the pursuit of “better”. Better is awesome. It’s well documented that progress is closely related to happiness; our general sense of well-being has a stronger relationship with our trajectory in life than our station. ...It’s the direction that matters most. We need to make progress. We should make progress. Progress is delightful."

He goes on to discuss the standards of perfection that are unrealistically portrayed through media, via photoshop. But rather than villanizing the magazines, he addresses the root cause of our discontent.

"Because if we’re honest, this isn’t a war on photoshop, this isn’t a war on consumerism, and this isn’t a war on glossy magazine ads....It’s not about the ad. 

This battlefront is waged within each and every one of us, individually. At the end of the day, at the end of the commercial, at the end of the magazine, nobody can make us feel inferior about our body without our permission. The best way to change the ecosystem is to change our own psychology. We have the fundamental, inalienable right to look at a photoshopped god-like body and appreciate it while simultaneously cherishing our own body.

We don’t have to look like the manifestation of human perfection to be kind to ourselves."

And maybe my favorite point of the entire piece comes at the end, where he addresses the real need for most of American to actually lose weight and get healthy, not to feel good about themselves, but because their life & sense of self are intertwined to goal setting & achieving.

"If we say we’re going to do something and constantly disappoint ourselves, we come to think of ourselves as a loser. “I wanted to, but I didn’t.” 

If we say we’re going to do something and we constantly deliver, we come to think of ourselves as a winner. “I wanted to, AND I DID.”

The goal-setting / goal-achieving cycle is at the foundation of successful living. All of our choices make us either more or less confident in the courage of own convictions. This is the virtuous cycle. The story of winning:

I see. I want. I grind. I get.

Or, if we’re being a little more realistic:

I see. I want. I grind. I don’t get. I grind again. I fail again. I fail better. I don’t stop grinding. I don’t stop smiling. I get.

This cycle will come to define our legacy. The accomplishment of our health and fitness goals is quite literally the training ground for the accomplishment of our life goals."

Read the full article hereto get the full unabridged awesomeness.

Inevitability & Pine Cones

  An inspiring repost from Sherry Stirling of FitmaniforLife.com

I have in my desk drawer a few redwood tree cones.  Did you know that even though the redwood is the tallest and most majestic of trees  the cone is small, about the size of a thimble? I keep these cones because they remind me of human potential. Like the cone we start small but have within us the power to be majestic. What separates us from the redwood cone is that the cone is dependent on the conditions being just right where they fall in order to become a mighty redwood.  People, regardless of where they fall, can choose what they become. Most redwood cones crumble in the ground without reaching their grand potential.  It’s inevitable. But why do so many people settle for so little when they can choose?

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl

We must stop waiting for the perfect circumstances to arrive, the big raise, Mr/Mrs Perfect, that upcoming cruise, or some arbitrary deadline. Good things come to those that work their butts off.

"We are all on the road to somewhere and the destination is inevitable.  The trick is to know that the road we are on is taking us to the place we want to go. The crop we reap is dependent on the seeds we sow today. It is the daily practices that build the exceptional life."

What daily practices of yours fit into your grand plan? Which ones don't?

Read the full post here : INEVITABILITY