inkcreep’s BodyBlog

This is a post that I put on my web site after receiving several comments about how my web page was to dark, intense and gloomy, and how it may come off to intimidating to some. LOL! These comments did not come from anyone that trains at my gym or has ever even been to my gym.  It was more of a rant then anything, but I wanted to post it here as well. I would like to think of it as more clarifying than defending.

Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m just to serious sometimes, but I don’t train because it’s "fun". I don’t have happy pictures on this site with smiling faces and everyone laughing and having a good time. Yes, I have been criticized about my site being to dark and "intense". That was the best, "intense". By the way this was coming from those who pride themselves on the "intensity" of their training. While I do enjoy training and pushing myself to and past the limits of my physical and mental thresholds, there is nothing "fun" about it. Let me say that again, I love training, I love the feeling it gives me and the physical , emotional, and mental changes that it brings about, but fun is not the word I would use to describe it. It usually hurts, it sometimes makes me sick and it always makes me wonder why I put myself through it.

Things that we do because they are "fun" usually end up stuffed into a box in the garage or shoved into a back corner of a closet. Think about that pair of rollerblades or that great mountain bike you bought last spring. How’s that Hip Hop Abs DVD working out for ya? Unless we find a deeper meaning behind what and why we are doing something it lacks importance and our commitment to the task will be half assed.

The training that I promote and represent on this site is hard, it is intense and the pictures show committed individuals who have crossed that line from doing things that are fun to doing things that challenge us and help us reach our goals. We are not here just to get ripped abs, or to socialize in between sets. We first come here seeking out something different and we stay because we all have discovered things about ourselves through our training that we never knew. We never knew that we had it in us to do some of the things we have done, we never knew that we were that tough mentally, we have never challenged ourselves in these ways before….and we like it.

We all go through these things together here. Everyone that trains here knows that the person next to them is fighting the same fight, at that very moment, as they are. We look forward to the challenges of the next day and the feeling of accomplishment it will bring when it is done. While these sessions may not be "fun" in the traditional sense of the word, they are rewarding.

Don’t get me wrong, we do enjoy ourselves. We enjoy the exhilaration of our accomplishments. We enjoy reaching new levels of strength, both inner and outer. We enjoy growing as a group by supporting each other and working hard together.

I do not want the focus of the training and the individuals that train here to get lost amidst an array of bright ,colorful, images of parties, gatherings, and inane stunts. That is not what we do here. Those that train here do share a special bond and we are a "family", in a way, of like minded individuals each working towards our own unique goals in the same way.

With that being said, I also have to emphasize that the training here is doable for everyone , in the physical sense. Everyone, however, may not find what they are looking for here. It is not what most are used to, when it comes to working out. While the workouts and exercises may look intimidating to some, they are highly adaptable to anyone’s athletic ability and fitness level. You just have to be willing to work hard and commit to the challenges that will be faced.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 5:01 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.