The most important mind shift of my fitness career came from a stranger when I was walking out of the gym at my old college
He wasn’t talking to me, he was just yelling to a friend.
Upon hearing him I thought to myself oh great… Just another gym bro. “when are you going to lift with me?” He said. “Never” said his friend.
“I don’t lift. I TRAIN”
At first these words didn’t mean much to me. At the time I was new to working out and I had no idea what I was doing. My workouts consisted of what my buddies and the guy next to me were doing.
I don’t know if "Mr Gym Bro" knew what profound message he was sending, but I do know that what he said was fundamental to good strength training.
Anyone can jump under a bar and pump out some sets, but many fail to understand that sets and reps DON’T MATER – Not unless they are carefully placed into a larger plan. Don’t get me wrong, doing something is better than nothing, but if you’re trying to accomplish something specific then you’re going to need a specific plan to get there.
This is why we train.
Training is objective, measurable, and is honed in on a SPECIFIC goal. All of these things are essential if you want to avoid wasting your time an energy “hoping” that you’re doing the right thing.
This is why you should be training, NOT working out. Training meets you where you’re at, and takes you were you want to go.
You have to ask yourself… “How serious am I? Do I want the immediate gratification of saying “I worked out today?” Or do you want to get yourself a path which is heading directly for success. Let me use an example. When you’re headed to work do you go the fast way or the long way? I personally use the short way because doing so means I have more time to enjoy my morning breakfast and talk with my family.
Maybe you don’t want to expedite success. If you want to take the scenic route then by all means do that. BUT If you want to learn how to reach your goals in the shortest amount of time then Ill be right here waiting.
