“Glory is fleeting, mediocrity lasts forever” – The Rasta Jesus
I asked on Facebook the other day “what exercise to see being butchered the most?” And the answers are coming in thick and fast, here are the most common so far:
Plank
Push Up
Squat
Deadlifts
Pull Ups
Cleans
Also getting a few people mention the Lunge and even the Punch!
So I guess I’ve a busy few days putting together some video footage for you. I’ll get a few tutorials done covering the above list, much in the same vein as the tutorials I previously recorded covering the kettlebell lifts.
So that’s what’s coming up.
Today though I want to talk about getting your head right.
Everything say,everything you do, everything you’ve ever achieved and everything you are today and everything you’re going to be. It all starts and ends in your head.
And that means you need to gain control of your head.
There are a multitude of blogs and websites talking a vast amount of crap about self help, positive thinking, meditation, visualisation etcetera, etcetera.
Most of these sites are run my hyped up ego’s bent on emptying your wallet.
So here’s the Dave Hedges version.
Free of charge.
Workout what you want. Workout why you want it. Workout how you’ll get it. Start.
End of.
Right now, I have a list of people working towards a list of training goals. I’ve 8 guys on the Kettleheads GS Team working towards a Kettlebell competition. I’ve a lad on the final approach to an Ironman triathlon. I’ve a girl who desperately wants to get back to triathlon following injury.
And I’ve got Seb.
And because of Seb, all your excuses are invalid.
Seb managed to mess up his knee about badly as is possible and still be able to call it a knee. As soon as he was somewhat mobile again, he asked me if he could come back training. Seb is a BJJ player, last year he won a bronze medal in his category at the European championships. I look after is Strength & Conditioning needs. When he asked to come in, I said yes.
We had a think and got him working. Mostly Pull Ups and Dip, with some pilates core work and seated battling ropes. This went on, three days per week for a few months. After the first few days, I could see the changes in his personality, the damaged and depressed Seb was fading away in the face of this physical onslaught. The old Seb, the athlete, started to come back.
A while later he got rid of one crutch.
Then the other.
Then we sent him to our Physio, Andy Watson, who knows knees.
Pretty soon we got rid of the knee brace and upped his training from 3 to 5 days per week.
Seb now runs, he squats, he jumps and he even started skipping.
In January, he will compete again at the European Championships.
And only because he kept his head right.
He chose who to talk to and who to ignore. He knew the physio at the hospital wasn’t up to the job so he asked for my input. I sent him to Andy, who’s a no BS kind of guy.
Seb kept coming training, even though he was limited in what he could do. He threw his entire focus into what he COULD do not wallowing in what he couldn’t do.
He hung around the gym longer than needed, just so he could be around motivated people. Turned out, his presence and persistence is a huge motivating factor for the rest of my crew, they know their excuses are invalid when he’s around.
Seb took the time to get his head right. He found the people that would keep his head right. He did, and still does the work to ensure his head stays right.
This is why his injuries are making such good progress.
This is Seb a few weeks ago, remember only a few weeks previously he was wearing a massive knee brace, and before that was on crutches:
So what can we take from this story?
How about the following:
If you want something bad enough, you’ll find the motivation to get on with it. Seb said from the word go, that he wanted to be in the European champs, this is when he couldn’t even walk yet. This thought is what kept him working.
Surround yourself with people who will support you.
Set small goals and tick them off along the way. Seb went from two crutches, to one to none. He now doesn;t even wear the brace. Then we got him walking right and are working on regaining full ROM in the squat. Each is a step towards the greater goal.
Consistency is key. There will always be days where you don’t want to, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Sometimes you just have to get on with it. This is where all the positive thinking bull shit falls down, you don’t have to be happy about doing your work, just remember what it is your working towards and dig your heels in and go for it.
Anything is possible.
Are you willing to work for it?
Regards
Dave Hedges www.wg-fit.com