Quality Bloke

3 Weeks ago, I started the ‘PowerHowse Challenge’.

I always considered myself fit and strong but not in the same league as the guys I saw in the free weights section of my local gym. I had always wanted to develop and grow like them but something (normally my excuses) always came first. I saw this programme as my chance to finally become one of them.

That was till the fateful day that I did the initial challenge in the ‘PowerHowse Challenge’. It seemed straight enough. A group of exercises. A set time period for each exercise. You simply banged out rep after rep for each exercise for the allocated time frame and record the number of reps you could produce.

OR SO I THOUGHT!

Chad had picked well. The exercises in the assessment challenged the entire body, more than just the ego muscles in the arms and legs. Chad’s ensemble of muscle-busters utilised muscles in your back, chest, calves to name a few. I was simply shocked at how poor I did.

Now I could throw in my usual excuses here. I DID eat extremely little the whole day before the challenge. I DID have little sleep the night before the challenge. I DID feel extremely self-conscious of the meat-heads who seemed to mock me for daring to also do BODY-WEIGHT (!) exercises in their gym. My results simply sucked.

SO WHY USE THEM?

“You are trying to sell this programme to me, mate, do you remember?”, I hear you think. I am using these results as my baseline reading, this is WHO I was at this point. I am not simply wanting to remember HOW strong I was then, I am wanting to remember WHO I was. At the end of this programme, I want to check again and find that, yes I am stronger, but also that I am sleeping better, take things more serious, become more confident in my own sky …. Yes, I want to remember that at that point in my life, I slept poor, eat crap and little amounts, had low self-esteem and could barely produce more than single digits of reps in some body-weight exercises. Remember though, it’s not where I am, it’s where I’m going that counts.

Unfortunately, I am duty-bound to Chad, not to give too many specifics away about the programme. Yet, I can say,that even the ASSESSMENT kicked my ass. It is definitely a tough programme, but after only three weeks I am seeing great benefits.

OKAY I’M INTERESTED, NOW WHAT?

Now, this is where you come in. Feel that you can do better. Reckon that I didn’t give it a proper go? Reckon that you can prove that this programme is crap and that I am puffing up about how good it is?

Prove it. Download the e-book [The-PowerHowse-Challenge] and lets see what happens. It has awesome amounts of free life-enhancing information. Then check out the programme (the e-book has links to it in between the gems!) and take on the ‘PowerHowse Challenge’.

I’m double-daring ya!

(Please not that this is not the version of the ebook that I used when I started. This is the awesome new ebook with lots of new and updated info)

Get your mind right.

I don’t care how much you can bench. I don’t care what your bodyfat is. I don’t care about your “guns” or your chiseled abs. None of it means shit. Sorry if that sounds mean. But, seriously, I DON’T CARE. I’m honestly fed up with so much shit that I see in the fitness industry. Whether it’s in the gym where I work, the websites and magazines that I read, or the stupid shit I see on TV. It’s such a shallow premise. Everyone thinks, “Well if I look awesome than other people will like me”. This is true on some level. But, if all you are is “ripped” you are just a typical run of the mill meathead. You’re making the rest of us look like assholes. So cut it out.

Fitness is supposed to be the portrait of health. However, I know plenty of in-shape people that are not healthy at all. In fact I’d say some of them are quite the opposite. Working in a gym I see people using the gym like they would inject heroin. Sure it’s a healthy “addiction”. But, bottom line it’s an addiction. People use it as a crutch. I see people that are in “shape”. They are in the gym for hours at a time. They don’t ever take a day off. Why? They don’t have anything else in their life that is good. It’s an escape. I understand that. Hell, I can relate. But, problems don’t go away. They just manifest and get worse.

I’m not saying that physical fitness is bad or unimportant. Being in shape is a good thing. No question but it’s not the answer. You can be in shape and still be an empty person. It’s not a “FIX-ALL” to your problems. It’s merely a piece of a complex puzzle. You need to live love and laugh. You need to make yourself a better person mentally and spiritually more than you need to be in shape. “Well what should I do?” I don’t know? That’s up for you to decide. Maybe read a book or two. Go find another hobby that challenges you. Pick up a sport, draw or paint, write, learn how to jerk off with your left hand etc…Don’t limit yourself. You should never be bored.

Be honest and true to yourself. Be a good person. Be humble. Don’t cheat, don’t lie, don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want the whole world to know. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing. Not because you think you will be rewarded for it. If you live right and be honest with yourself I promise everything else in your life will follow suit. Do not live in the past and do not live in the future. The past has happened. But, it doesn’t define you. The future has not happened yet so don’t worry about it until the future is NOW. If you live in the present moment and take advantage of the opportunities today you will be free. That, in my opinion, is the secret.

I’m not saying that being in shape isn’t a big part of the puzzle. I consider my time training as spiritual growth, maybe even more so than physical. It is my church and my salvation. It is there for me when nothing or no one else is. It’s the time of day when there is no time. It’s just me and the weights. There is no girlfriend, there is no boss, and there aren’t any bills. It’s pure and it’s beautiful. It has always been that way for me.

At the end of the day all we have is ourselves. We must rely on ourselves only. No one is going to do anything for you. So why not work on our mental growth as well as our physical growth. Love yourself. Get out of your comfort zone. Challenge yourself mentally just as you do physically. Go bust your ass in the gym but don’t let it define your life. You’re better than that.