Quotivation

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt-

Who's in control of your goals?

One of the things that has been incredibly frustrating for me over the years of training and trying to build the body I want has been the projected feeling that I am not in control of my goals. 

Whether intentional or not, most programs cause so much confusion and focus so much on the minutia that it quickly starts to feel nearly impossible to reach your goals (or, at best it feels left up to "chance"). 

In other communities that I was a part of prior to finding Adonis, when I would ask for advice on improving the look of my body or bringing up a lagging body part, I would get a the blanket...

"how much can you lift in the compound lifts? Focus on getting those to "x" amount of bodyweight (x being some random number related to bodyweight) and the rest will take care of itself." 

In these communities (strength focused) it was "uncool" to focus on aesthetics without strength so everyone passes around this generalized advice that focus on getting "strong enough" in compound lifts and you'll look as good as you need to. In these communities anymore focus on how you look is somehow considered "sissy" or stupid. 

This is just another reason as to why you must make sure that you are consuming information from a source that aligns with YOUR goals (and preferably only from that source). 

One of the things I love about Adonis is that it feels as if my goals are in my control because of the no BS approach. With other programs, confusion is used to make it seem like you must consume some "magical" combination of protein, carbs and fats (at the right time, in the exact right amount, from the right source) or you will never reach your goals. Or perhaps you need to eat certain "approved" foods 90% of the time or you will never reach your goals. 

These and a million other "requirements" are generally used to create ambiguity and make it seem like you have little control over your goals- with Adonis, it's simply: I know that since muscle gain is my goal right now, I will eat at maintenance and train my butt off in the gym (with lifts specific to the result I WANT, not random compound lifts for the sake of strength), and in time, the results I want will come. It's taken 4-5 years to understand this and now thanks to Adonis it all makes sense. 

I can stop worrying everyday that I didn't meet the magic requirements to build muscle and it comes down to a few crucial questions (both of which I have total control):

1) DId I work as hard as I could on this given day in the gym doing a workout specific to the results I want?

2) Did I eat around maintenance, getting 80-120 grams of protein?

If I did those 2 things, I am doing exactly what I need to do to see the results I am after right now. It's liberating. My wife actually asked me yesterday, "You seem different, like happier, what's up?"

I had to think about it for a second, but then realized... I simply was carrying around 1/10 of the stress about all of this than I used to. I now feel in control. I now know exactly what to do in order to achieve MY goals- and it's pretty simple (although obviously requires consistency and hard work, which I am cool with). 

So, I guess I am just incredibly thankful for finding this program. I won't lie, at times it is hard to let go of control and believe it's this simple, but every day that I move away from the OCD type approach, I enjoy the process so much more.

Weekly update 4/27/12

Weekly stats
Weight: 187.4  +3lbs
Shoulders: 50.5 n/c
Waist: 32   down .5 inch
A.I. 1.57
I took the whole list of measurements  this week and I gotta say even though the weight is up 3 lbs. All 3 waist measurements went down. My right arm is catching up with my left. And my chest is up by .5 as well. A very good week indeed.
I’ve really been pushing in the gym this week, every workout is absolutely as intense as I can make it. I’m working with trying to perfect my form  and getting my mind in the muscle.
Two things I’m experimenting with is pre workout exhaustion work. Depending on what the dominant muscle group is I will do bodyweight sets to get things warmed up and pre-exhausted before the actual AI workout starts. I’m also doing this at the end of certain exercises I will do “Burner” sets just to make sure I got everything wiped out. I do this mostly on chest and back.
Other than that I’m foam rolling tonight to get all the kinks out and I am looking forward to hanging out with my kids this weekend.