Come with me if you want to lift…
The second of my three anchors is Body. Before we get into it, these anchors are what I find work for me. You may find doing one of these, or none of these works for you better. You could have different daily anchors. This is something I found that really works for me on a number of levels and I wanted to share my thoughts, maybe even inspire someone to look at how they can improve themselves. Self-improvement is something very important to me. Also, in case you were wondering, yes, the idea of daily anchors is an Idea I got from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Now if you can smeeeell what The Rock is cooking…
A long time ago, In a Gym…maybe near you?
I’ve been into fitness for a while now. When I started I was very naive. I thought I could get huge by doing a rowing machine for hours. That was partially due to the fact I found my gym very intimidating at first. There’s such a sense of being overwhelmed. You look around, everyone seems to know what they are doing (not true) and you are clueless. When I did start venturing out from the rowing machine, I stuck to mostly weight machines, before summoning the courage to try out free weights. I’ve pretty much been hooked since then with the idea of being in a gym and chasing a physique. Now, this is something I’ve still yet to achieve, mostly down to one important element, diet.
Nutrition
Nutrition must be one of the most complicated things to research for yourself. There are so many diets and conflicting information. It’s so important to have a goal and it’s equally important to choose the correct diet for that goal. It’s also important to choose the correct sources of information, there’s a lot of dumb info on fitness and nutrition out there. One important thing with diet; Don’t over complicate it. I remember the first time I read about ‘bulking and cutting. Funny thing, in my mind’s eye the webpage looks like something you’d imagine a webpage on the dark web looks like. I think I found it mostly ridiculous because it spoke about ‘dirty bulking’. This is basically eating absolute rubbish alongside weight training. I don’t really recommend this at all.
Luckily now I’ve found some great sources on nutrition and training in the form of several Youtube channels, which I will list below. Special should out to the Buff Dudes though, they are my favorite fitness people out there.
Stick With It…
Honestly, food is where I’ve always failed…which is partially why I am still chasing that physique. I was very overwhelmed and couldn’t even comprehend how to eat properly, consistently to support my training. I’d always fail to plan, I’d run out of food, which meant when I did have a handle on nutrition I’d then go weeks without sorting it out. At the moment I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what I’m doing with nutrition, partially because it saves money and also I feel so much better when I eat clean food and not rubbish.
This is what it’s all about, feeling great. When I feel great I’m a better person, I function on such a higher level. For me, it’s night and day in my mentality, how I feel, how I function and how driven I am. I heard a great thought the other day while listening to the Joe Rogan podcast from his guest, David Goggins (Look this guy up) allow me to paraphrase;
“Motivation is temporary, be driven”
When you think about that, it’s true. I’m not motivated to go to the gym every day, sometimes I want to stay in bed. What stops me is my drive to not let myself down. So I get up to get it done and feel so much better afterward.
Here Comes A New Challenger!! (Spoiler Alert: It’s you!)
The physical aspect of the gym I absolutely love. I’m a firm believer in getting into the gym, challenging yourself physically and mentally. It’s such a great feeling when you hit a personal record (PR). It’s progress and who doesn’t want progress? For me, one of the best feelings in the world is being able to go to the gym and lift more weight or do more reps than the previous week. It’s you vs you.
Working towards a goal is always going to be challenging, every time you take a step towards that goal, no matter how small that step may be, it’s a huge accomplishment. Imagine getting into work at 10 am and you’ve already accomplished something in the day, how awesome is that feeling? That accomplishment may just be showing up, even that is progress. There’s also the added benefit of looking great too, that may not be your goal and that’s totally ok. For myself, when I feel like I look good, I feel great. Going into the gym I’m chasing a specific look, your look and goal could be way different to mine and that’s ok, be your own person, don’t let anyone tell you how to be you.
Failure…
Going to the gym and trying to eat right I aim to do every day because it makes me feel great, I’m way less stressed and I can deal with anything. I work through my problems in the gym and the endorphin rush I have during and after the workout really goes towards me being at the top of my game during the day. The challenge of beating your own records goes such a long way. It’s also very humbling when you fail. As the great Master Yoda said;
“Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is.”
Failure is one of my favorite subjects, the importance of failure cannot be overstated…but I’ll save that for another time.
What keeps me going?
Why do I do this? Getting up, eating right, getting to the gym I personally feel is a perfect way to start your day. You immediately accomplish something once your footsteps through that gym door, no matter what happens inside. When I’ve finished in the gym I’m like ‘right, what else can I do?’. I’m driven to do more and I’m so much more focused on my work and life in general. This is why it’s one of my anchors and why I feel it’s so important to me. Constantly chasing my goal and having the mentality of ‘training like I’ve booked a Marvel movie’ keeps me driven. Sure that might sound dumb, just have a goal and chase it. So many principles of the gym can be applied to life, dedication, small progression, logical thinking, challenging yourself and so much more.
So let’s get it!
Useful Links For Fitness and Nutrition Information:
Buff Dudes
These guys are not only hilarious but full of useful info/tips/workouts/recipes.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKf0UqBiCQI4Ol0To9V0pKQ
Jim Stoppani
Below is what I use as the basis for my workouts. The videos on this workout give you the fundamentals in nutrition and muscle building.
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size.html
Other sources:
Also, check out on youtube for some good info/workouts:
- Steve Cook
- Lex Fitness
- Nikki Blacketter
