I just
finished a gym workout out earlier today. Wait don’t panic I am not going to
post up what I did or any of that bollocks. I am to old in the tooth for that
and I don’t need my ego massaged. (my back, neck, legs maybe!)
No seriously
as I was lacing up my trendy Shoezone trainers in the changing rooms getting ready to leave when it dawned
on me just how long I had been going into gyms and training on a daily basis week in week without fail and what still motivated me to drag my ageing but still sexy
ass in there.
Thinking
more about this (not my ass) I realised that 1975 was the first time I entered a gym.
I was in my
last year of school and my best mate was a schoolboy weight-lifting champion
and trained at the then legendary Empire club gym in Bristol.
He arranged
with the owner Dennis Welsh and our school P.E teacher for some of us lads to
go there in our double games period and workout. I was one of those lads and at
14 years of age I was introduced into the world of fitness in a serious way.
Of course, it
didn’t start out like that as a 14-year-old lad the training was a matter of
fucking about a bit, talking a lot, trying to lift heavier shit than you could
and doing the odd bit of proper training.
The fucking about bit didn’t last long as
Dennis Welsh would have none of it and usually some huge bodybuilder or power
lifter would put you straight hopefully without ripping your lungs out in the
process or locking you naked in the sauna.
At the same time,
I also started my Martial arts training. I didn’t realise how these two things
would shape my future. But that is another story.
The next
year when I left school, I joined the Empire properly as a 16-year-old
boy and now as a 58-year-old Granddad I am still in the gym training.
As a young
lad I fell in love with the whole gym culture and would soak up the atmosphere
and knowledge from every source I could. I met some wonderful characters.
Many of the
places I trained are no longer there, but they hold great memories for me.
All these
years later I can count the number of weeks on one hand where I didn’t train.
As a young
man when my mates were clubbing, pissing it up and chasing girls you would find
me training in one shape or form.
I made many
sacrifices not just socially but also in what I ate and drank.
No pizzas, MacDonald’s
or KFC for me. Hang on a minute when I
was a teenager those places didn’t even exist in Britain so you couldn’t eat
shit even if you wanted!!!
I am not
saying I lived like a monk but I knew what had to be done if I wanted to
succeed in the goals that I had set myself.(check out my book When we were
Warriors if you want the full story of my journey).
These days I
train as much as the old body lets me. I am no longer training to smash goals, blaze
trails, increase the poundage I lift, do a 1000 burpees, to compete or of
course to post myself online with my six pack out.
(I still
have the remnants of a six pack but sometimes it gets hidden behind what looks
like a child’s pink bum bag hanging around my waist).
My
motivation these days to train are mainly for weight management and vanity.
(I still
like to be able to walk around poolside on holiday without hiding myself under a XXL
baggy £3.00 pink Primark T shirt with Hawaii Surfing ,Bondi beach, Daytona
Drag racing or some other exotic location I have never been to or have a fucking clue about emblazoned on it).
Also, I want
to be fit enough to enjoy my grandchildren and to have 3 minutes of all out
balls to the wall fight in me when the shit hits the fan. (Not with my
Grandchildren.)
I have seen
incredible changes in the fitness industry over the 40 plus years that I have
lived in gyms not only training but as a fitness coach.
I have
always been asked how to do you still keep up your training?
Well as I
was tying my trainers this morning, I realised all the great training and
nutrition advice that is out there these days, all the weird and wonderful
machines and exercises means nothing without being able to train the mind to
get into the gym in the first place.
Forget
everything else it means fuck all if you haven’t got the mental strength and
tenacity to turn and be answerable.
No excuses
and bullshit reasoning. That is all bollocks.
Mindset is
the one major thing that keeps me getting me into the gym.
Yes, there
are many mornings when I get up that I have to have a word with myself in the bathroom
mirror.
Some mornings
I crawl out of bed like a 90-year-old. I am stiff as a board but in all the
wrong places. But that has been a ritual that I have gone through for years. Does
it get any easy? Fuck no!
Usually the
word is… Wake up you bastard and be glad you have seen another sunrise. Stop
feeling sorry for yourself you fucking self-pitying wimp, top looking for
excuses and ways out. Now get your ass in gear and get out into the world and
make a fucking difference you soft needy bastard.
That normally works but you have got to be
prepared to lay yourself bare to benefit from this. That takes honesty and
courage.
My
motivations to train mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING without the mindset to get the
fuck in the gym in the first place. READ THAT STATEMENT AGAIN. It is the
absolute key.
Your mind is
your Master.
If you
struggle with this then maybe, consider contacting me about my ‘Winning minds’
programme. I can genuinely help because I practise what I preach every day.
