Weight Lifting: Not Just for the Gym

I promise I have an interesting and fun blog post for you, but first I bring you this video of me on a water slide at H.M.K's field day.

What a riot, but anyway, let me get on to the main meat of this blog post.

I've been home for about a month now and it's been pretty mellow thus far. With a good majority of my friends serving missions my day has pretty much consisted of eating, lifting and pooping. Now I want to focus on one of those three things...and no it's not poop so don't worry. It's not that type of blog post. However, if you want it to be shoot me an email ;). But, I find that I'm the most prolific when I'm in the gym. , but something about the mix of sweat, metal and testosterone Just really gets me going.  What I want to focus on in this post is lifting and how I'm going to start taking some of the lessons out of the gym and apply them to my personal  and professional life.

Weight lifting, truly a family affair!

My grandpa owned The Moab Fitness Center and it's basically where I grew up. I was surrounded by it all my life, but it wasn't until this last year that I truly embraced the significance it holds in bettering myself physically and mentally as well.

1. It shows me what true focus feels like
Why do I lift. This is a question that I've thought about for a while. Do I want to get a better body? Sure, I mean what human being doesn't? But, that's not the only reason I'm doing it. The main reason I'm doing it is because I enjoy doing it. It's a great stress reliever for me. The reason being that when I am fully focused on whatever exercise or exercises I am doing, all of the bullsh*t of the day drifts away. I let the music take me and I instantly know what I need to do and I do it. Plain and simple.

2. I'm content with being where I'm at and know that I will improve 
I love the idea of walking into the gym, sitting down on a bench press and lifting 300 pounds like it's nothing. But, let's face it...that's just not practical at all. Instead of 300 pounds, I bench 125. But I don't care what other people think and above all else, I don't even care what I think. I'm accepting of the fact that I'm not at the point where I can bench 300 pounds, but that doesn't frustrate me. If anything it excites me, because it gives me something to look forward to. I think that my ambition is a good thing and a bad thing. I think it's great that I have such high goals to shoot for with acting, but I also think it's terrible because I just want to be at that level right now! If I've learned anything from weight lifting it's that I need to be content with where I am and have the faith and motivation to put in the work and push my self to improve weight by weight and level by level.

3. I hold myself with a certain confidence 
One thing I learned last year is that my posture is not as great as it can be. I tend to fold my shoulders in to my body, actually that sounds painful, what I mean is that I slouch. The reason I do this is because I have a lack of confidence. I tend to play it off, but let me tell you that I am absolutely terrified of conversations and what other people think of me, because I don't think that I'm good enough or interesting to talk to or be associated with. I let the fear of the thoughts of other people infiltrate me and influence me into a point of closing off and loss of confidence....What a bullshit way to live! I'm not even gonna censor that one, because it is total bullshit! When I'm in the gym, I am there for me. I do what I want to do, how I do it. If I fail and drop a bar I don't care what anyone thinks, because I'm doing it for myself. And in thinking this way and tuning everyone else's thoughts and opinions out I find that my slouch almost disappears and I walk with straight shoulders and carry myself with a sense of confidence. In the gym I feel confident in myself. That is the main aspect I need to apply to my life more than anything!

4. I push myself and actually aim for failure. 
Without a doubt, the biggest aspect from the gym that I want to take is the desire to push myself and within the bounds of failure is where I  start to grow. I can often times feel that I'm going to fail when I first lift the bar, but it doesn't me stop, if anything it makes me embrace it even more. Now granted, it's different in a gym because it's only really me who knows I failed, but I shouldn't let the addition of a few faces and their judgments stop me from embracing the failure of going big and making daring choices! And if I fail, I simply pick myself up and try it again.
aim to fail. All year at USU I made the terrible mistake of playing it safe and hoped that I could coast my way though almost every assignment that came my way. The reason being that I wanted to be "right". I wanted  all of the the professors to stand up out of their seats and say "Wow, Brendon that was magnificent, you're absolutely magnificent! You don't need any training at all! You're the bench mark of success in this class!" I thought I was already naturally good enough that for a large majority of the year I completely neglected any of the techniques being presented to me. (Yes, I was a total ignorant asshole, I know haha). I've been so afraid of failure that I always tried to avoid it instead of striving towards it. In the gym I love that feeling of pushing myself so hard that my muscles just give out and I can't finish the routine. I LOVE THE FEELING OF FAILURE! The reason being that I know

Weight lifting is probably one of the best activities I have ever undertaken. It's not just a hobby, it's a lifestyle. Between the discipline and the desire to push myself it helps me in becoming a better and more confident individual because I am in charge! I am the one who decides to go in the gym and push past my limits both mentally and physically. Now I need to take the lessons out of the gym and embrace them in everyday life. Man, I'm excited for next year!