the limitations of others' dreams

Your fitness goals are NOT about a 6-pack or only about losing some weight. For most of us, that's what it might feel like because we are unable to get out of the starting blocks on our journey into better health and fitness. Yes, all of us want to look better. We all want better health.

But getting to a better aesthetic place is not going to make you a different person. You think it will but you are who you are inside. Unless you let the journey transform you, nothing will happen.

Because from the outside, you think your goals are clear. But only when you dive in will they morph into a larger goal. Large is not about more but a larger, more encompassing one.

the point of it is the hanging out

You need to give in to the journey and enjoy where it takes you. Now, I understand that for a lot of us, fitness might just be a means to an end. And well, sure. I guess that works.

Drinking alcohol and smoking weed is fun, sure, when you are hanging out with your friends. But not if you descend into someone who needs whatever the lack of moderation of alcohol/weed/etc is. Replace those fun vices with chocolate ice-cream, watching TV or whatever - the point remains.

The point is the hanging out, not the drinking or smoking.

The point is the joy and journey of lifting weights and learning to figure yourself out. Not “how much weights can I lift” and “Do my abs look better than theirs”?

If that answered a real question, I’d be all for it. But it doesn’t. At least, I haven't seen it for myself and a lot of our students.

Strength training made my dreams come true

It was not even a dream that I knew I had. Because that door was never open to me being a weak and skinny kid.

But once I started down the path of lifting, my mind and body took off. It opened up a new dimension in my thinking, one that did not exist previously to that.

Once I saw that my friends had the same questions and needs, and my suggestions worked on them as well - I knew this was what I wanted to do.

Not that everyone is going to quit their job and start a gym - that's not what I mean.

Your dream might be to dance at your grandchild’s wedding. Or to build your company into an empire. To do either of these and most others in-between, you need to have your mental acuity and physical fitness as assets for the rest of your life.

Doesn't matter what you squat

It doesn’t matter what you squat. It simply matters that you squat.

Only elite athletes need to really worry about whether they have hit a standard or not. Us normal folks need to measure things differently.

Has it improved your life? Has it grown you as a person? Is it taking you closer to your dreams?

I think those are valid questions to ask of whatever it is we are trying to do, not just in fitness. There are 100s of options out there - if something does not work, after you've given it a proper shot, then try something else.

If lifting weights is not your thing, maybe karate or silambam is. If running is not your thing, maybe surfing or badminton is.

Get out there and find out! Don't be limited by what others say the end result is. That's just the start.