End Game
Monday, March 31st, 2008It’s kind of amazing how large the world of bodybuilding has become. Then again maybe not…thinking about how large some of the competitors have become. I’m very excited about joining in this world, but I don’t want to lose who I am in doing so. Becoming a giant behemoth of today’s bodybuilding champions isn’t the goal I have for myself. Not all of them are grotesquely huge, but there are some, and it’s those some I want to stay away from becoming. If anything, something like Frank Zane would be pretty cool. Regardless of where I want to eventually be, there’s a lot of work needed to get there.
I used to be one of those people who went to the gym and couldn’t understand how to achieve this fabled intensity that’s required of successful bodybuilders. It’s not that I didn’t have the heart to do it, then again maybe it was. I had a goal last year that I wanted to be more than I was then. I’ve not yet reached that goal but I’m much closer this year than last. Still, the intensity eluded me the whole time I was in Iraq last year. The drive…need to go to the gym.
Strange as it was, it wasn’t until I was training in the desert before this deployment that I found that drive, and I wasn’t even lifting weights. In the Marines, having a fast run time can help a person’s career tremendously, as well as make life easier when doing platoon PT. I hated to run, making that 3 mile mark that should be a given to every Marine seemed to almost kill me. This was January 2008, even though it’s only a couple of months later things changed dramatically. I saw a weakness in my life, something that prevented me from excelling as much as I could in the Marines. Not only that, I was an NCO now, I had junior Marines that looked up to me, learning how to be a leader through my example. So really, things had to change.
Shortly after beginning my desert training I started hitting the gym. I hated running in the desert, still do, so the treadmill was a great option. These ones were made by Fitness for Life. There was a color display right in the middle that was able to change from a track, to a 5k trail, and finally a picture of a mountain. Now I didn’t have a huge incline on my run, so the last option was useless. Still 5K almost equals 3 miles, so between that and the track I switched back and forth often. My runs ranged from a fast 2 mile pace, to a slow 4.5 mile pace. Even though 3 miles is all that I needed, an endurance run would help make my 3 mile run seem like child’s play. The faster run would help me with speed-work, obviously. I went to the gym so often that it didn’t feel right if I took a day off. I felt like I had been slacking for a week. By the writing of this blog I’ve been on a break for two days and I’m feeling incredibly impatient to hit the gym!
My running has improved a lot, but by the time my deployment came around, I had the itch to finally start lifting weights like crazy. After three days of being in Iraq I was amazed to find myself working through it with the ferocity I’ve only read about. By the end of the workout, there wasn’t much more that I could do to myself. It was nice to be able to walk away from the gym with the pumped feeling I so rarely got before. Looking back to it, I don’t think having what I want to be is enough. The goal, the dream needs to be a living dream. It has to include how I get there. The motivation to make the most of my time even before I make it to where I one day see myself being. I had suddenly found enjoyment in going to the gym, and for the past month I haven’t been able to stop myself from going.
Leave Comment