Life Wasted

by Jason Ferruggia

You’re always saying you’re too weak to be strong.”
– Life Wasted by Pearl Jam

Another summer weekend just came and went and now here we are yet again, on a Monday morning…

With yet another opportunity to change things for the better; to make the dramatic improvements that you have been planning to make for so long.

Maybe you thought about it over the weekend when you drank too many beers or ate too many hot dogs at your neighbors’ barbeque.

Or maybe you were ashamed to take your shirt off at the beach or your friends pool party and you promised yourself that life would be different come Monday morning.  That you would finally step up and make the changes you have thought about for so long.

While some of you were nursing your hangover with coffee and a greasy, fried sausage biscuit yesterday morning, the dedicated were doing fasted cardio before sitting down to a healthy breakfast of green tea, organic eggs and fruit. Others slept off the booze lying around on the couch all day while the driven were running hill sprints in the hot sun.

Just like every Monday, you have a choice today. You can realize that weakness is a sin and you must now repent for a life wasted. Or you can continue on the path of mediocrity and continue to let others pass you by.

“I have faced it… a life wasted…
I’m never going back again.”

Sure it sounds good. Who wouldn’t want to be strong , jacked, fit and healthy?

But the question is do you have what it takes to commit to one goal and see it through to the end? Because most people don’t. Those people are the 95%. The disciplined make up the 5%.

Only 5% of all the people on the entire planet have what it takes to achieve greatness in any realm of life.

Be it in their job, their personal lives or a physical endeavor of any sort. Think that’s an exaggeration? Take a look around you. Go to Major League ballpark tonight. Tell me I’m lying. The 5% are on the field (and are represented in the pictures in this post) while the others are sitting in the stands stuffing their faces. After observing closely you may even think I’m giving more people more credit than they deserve. Maybe it’s one percent.

Where do you fall?

Each and every Monday morning represents a new beginning and a chance to turn things around and finally join the 5%.

We all know that only the strong survive. We know that to get bigger or leaner or to become a better athlete or stave off illness and disease we need to get stronger. But what steps are you taking to get stronger every day? What are you doing to escape your life wasted?

“I escaped it…a life wasted…
I’m never going back again.”

Did you get enough sleep last night? Or is late night TV more important than high testosterone levels, improved insulin sensitivity and enhanced overall health?

Did you avoid inflammatory foods this weekend? Or is the taste of sugar, wheat, soy, corn, dairy and saturated fat worth a life of pain, disease and incredibly slow recovery?

Did you order a foam roller or at least use the one at your gym religiously several times last week? Did you get a massage recently? Ah, what’s a little scar tissue, right? Let it keep building up. Moving freely and without pain is overrated anyway.

Did you throw out your posture destroying, injury causing Nike Shox and get a pair of Free’s or better yet, Vibram Five Fingers? Did you trash your fancy Italian loafers and replace them with something like a Sanuk? Or maybe your knees, hips and spine just aren’t that important.

Have you been taking 6-12 grams of high quality, pharmaceutical grade fish oil every day? Or maybe it’s too expensive. Besides you need money for beer on Friday nights.

Did you eat fruits and/or vegetables with every meal this week?

Have you been doing mobility work every morning? It’s probably the most important factor in musculoskeletal health and you’ll miss it when it’s gone; replaced by arthritis medicine and a walker.

What about cardio/conditioning? How many times did you push the prowler or run sprints this week? Being big and strong is great but not if your cardiovascular health has to suffer.

Did you order a jump rope to use at home on your off days?

What about a band or strap to help you stretch with at home? Stretching is boring and tedious and nobody likes to do it. But without it many of you will never get out of pain or even be able to perform a single rep of squats or deadlifts properly. Who needs those lifts anyway, right? Let me know how those leg extensions and leg curls work out for you.

Have you been eating by the clock, force feeding yourself when you’re not hungry? Choking down tablespoons of olive oil at the end of every meal to get more healthy calories? Counting protein grams and total calories? Drinking a gallon of water per day religiously? Cutting carbs at night and on off days?

Have you been taking advantage of the nice weather and walking several mornings per week while everyone else is still asleep? And if you have what will you do in a few months when the winter rolls around? Put your fitness on hold until the spring or put on a few layers and brave the cold weather while everyone else gets an extra half hour of sleep?

Did you throw out all the junk food in your house yet?

Have you started meditating on a regular basis?

The 23 hours per day that you spend outside of the gym are just as important, if not more so, than the hour you spend in the gym. Dedication is a 24 hour a day commitment. There are 168 hours in a week. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever gotten even remotely decent results from being dedicated for only three to four hours per week.

But those three to four hours are crucially important. You need to make sure you are keeping a training journal and tracking your progress; always trying to beat your previous best. Every workout is a battle; you against your log book and you must do all you can to emerge victorious and lift more weight or do more reps than you did last time. If you train with partners your job is to crush them and be the top dog at each and every workout. Competition is a healthy part of life and without it you are an organism that is not truly living, but slowly dying.

Do you have what it takes to get under a bar loaded with so many plates that it actually scares you? A weight that could crush you with one wrong move? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to move that weight and make it your bitch? And add five pounds to the bar next week?

Do you have what it takes to really fully commit to that goal? To stop questioning what you’re doing and wondering if there’s a faster, easier way? To realize that brutally hard fucking work is the only way to achieve greatness?

Because if you don’t you will never be among the 5% and you will be the one who has to live with your regrets. I know I have mine, and they eat away at me. I have made many mistakes over the years and know I could be a lot further along in my training then I am. I could have made better strength gains than I have but I slipped up and made mistakes along the way. But I take full responsibility for that. And I know I have to accept those mistakes, move on and promise myself that I will never make the same mistakes again.

It’s up to you to do the same. Don’t wait til tomorrow because it will be too late.

“Having tasted… a life wasted…
I’m never going back again.”

Source Dare to be Great by Jamie Sulc from Real World Strength & Conditioning

Check out tomorrows article “BEING THE BEST AND REACHING THE TOP” by friend Marc Stokes UK’s, up and coming trainers. Great Sunday reading.