Justin’s BodyBlog

I want to start this off by saying all due respect to those in the industry especially trainers.  You all have a difficult task balancing your personal efforts toward your clients and your obligations toward the gym you work for.  I’m going to vent a little here.  I was a trainer for a short time at a gym with the idea that I could really help people struggling to find the life we are all seeking.  Shortly after starting my employment with this gym, I found out something that I had feared, but already new deep down and didn’t want to admit.  Their goal wasn’t necessarily about helping people.  It was about money.  I was not the "trainer" I had set out to be, but instead I was a "salesman".  I’m not a salesman.  I even told them to forget the money.  They could stop paying me and I would do it for free.  You know what they told me?  That’s not how they do business.  That’s a bummer man.  In my opinion, that’s what’s wrong with the industry.  That’s also what I love so much about this site.  You can spread the wealth of knowledge around the world to anyone and not have to ask for a thing back.  Fitness shouldn’t be limited to people with a certain amount of money.  Knowledge shouldn’t be held back from people because they can’t afford a trainer.  Now I don’t have much experience as a trainer because I found out very quickly it wasn’t for me.  But I will freely share everything I know about fitness with anyone who approaches me for help.  As I started this out, all due respect to the industry.  With out you guys, we wouldn’t have the resources we have.  On the other hand, there has to be a better way to run things so more people can approach their fitness goals with a little more know how and a little less apprehension.

I don’t care who you are, leg day hurts.  Personally it’s the one day I don’t look forward to.  Once I’m there and warmed up I rip it up, but I’m a great big pile for the rest of the day.  Today, however, was a great one for me.  I went in focused and got it done.  I even achieved a personal best.  It feels awsome to do something you’ve never been able to do.  So to everyone out there like me who frowns at leg day…  cheers.  There just might be a light at the end of that tunnel after all if you push yourself to it.

This week on shoulder training day I went into the gym focused and ready to rip it up.  I’ve been making good progress in my training lately and I’m fired up and ready to move up in weight.  I did two warm up sets and was ready to move some real weight.  So I grabbed the 90’s and completed two good sets of DB military press.  On my third set however, I got the beasts into position and began to press when I heard a crunch and felt my T1 vertebrae dislodge from it’s original position.  Now anyone who’s thrown out their backs while under weight knows this feeling makes a person want to cry down their leg.  But there were people around so I had to stay composed and set the weights down nicely.  I don’t know if it’s age, experience, or a little of both, but I discontinued my workout, went home and began icing my injury.  In the old days, I got pissed off that I injured myself and would continue my workout gritting through the pain.  Then I wouldn’t be able to move my head for a week.  Trust me, it’s much more beneficial to swallow your pride, give yourself a little RnR, take care of the problem, and then once healed return to the fight.  So here I am nursing myself back to health wishing I had taken a little more precaution so I could be in the gym moving forward.  No matter what sport you’re into, injuries happen.  When it happens to you, try to remember to take the time to recover and learn from happened so it doesn’t hold you up again. 

I’ve been a member of many gyms, and I’ve talked to many people in the industry that all have one particular thing in common that baffles me.  Go to any gym at any time and you’ll see people in there with an internal desire to achieve greatness, but they don’t have the work ethic to make it a reality.  Look around you sometime.  Take a moment in between sets while you’re trying to pump the acid through your veins and out of your screaming muscles and notice the girl on the stepper with her cell phone in her ear out for an afternoon walk.  Check out the dude in the middle of a set curling 15 lb. dumbbells looking at some girl clear across the gym through the mirror.  I mention this because these are the people that always ask you "how the heck did you build such a great physique"? when you’re beat down after giving it 110% and can barely suck in enough oxygen to sustain consiousness.  Well, I didn’t do it curling a lunch box 40 times while jabbering on the phone to my girl friend about how rude it was when some jerk hole cut me off in traffic.  Come on people it’s called working out.  When I come to the gym I come to work.  You want to know how to make a difference in your appearance?  Make a change in your work ethic.  When you get there, have a game plan, focus on the task at hand, and execute that plan to the very best of your ability each and every time you work out and you will see a difference in the outcome of your efforts. 

How many of you out there love the pump you get when you’ve had a great workout?  Love the way it looks in the mirror when your arms or chest looks as though it’ll pop out of the skin like an Alien movie?  How about the feeling of someone you don’t know approaching you in the gym and commenting on the pump you’ve achieved?  Though it may not be the primary reason we put ourselves through all of this, is sure helps.  That is the response I’ve received from all of you in BodySpace.  This has been a great experience for me and I’m definitely hooked.  Thank you all for the positive reinforcement to the solid motivation I have always had for the sport of body building.  Keep tabs on me and you’ll see some growth and progress as I continue to push myself past limits I never thought possible.  Keep ripping it up out there everyone…  this is what it’s all about.