"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."
- Muhammad Ali
I gotta admit.
Life is quite challenging right now. I've taken on a LOT of work and at the same time that wild flu knocked me on my arse. But I've trained myself through the physical AND the mental to not only be able to handle these challenges, but to also conquer them and emerge victorious.
I am refusing to back down. I KNOW that this is how champions are built. They don't take the easy road, even if deep down they want the easy road, they KNOW champions are built through the challenges we face.
Muhammad Ali didn't enjoy ALL his workouts, but he knew that if he endured the tough times that he would forever live as a champion.
Very True.
[youtube width="640" height="360"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEpO8AUqHm0[/youtube]
Yesterday, at The Underground Strength Gym, one of the wrestlers came in and he had a BIG smile on his face. He's an amazing kid. AMAZING.
He's a freshman in high school and started with us in late September weighing under 90 lbs.
He climbed up to 105 lbs in 3 months but now that wrestling has begun he is around 100 lbs.
That puts him about 8 lbs under his weight class and likely most kids cut weight to get there were about 112 - 115 lbs
When this kid started training with us he hated it. Truly HATED it. I could see the look on his face every time he came to the gym. I didn't think he would make it past our 3 month minimum commitment.
But, through the support of his parents, myself, our Coaches and All of Team Underground, he showed up for each workout, and sometimes an extra workout once or even twice a week.
He did that 1 magical thing that so many people forget to even do:
Show Up!
Every workout he got stronger and stronger.
Slowly, his frown turned into a smile.
Slowly, his lack of confidence began to grow.
This kid is going to become a champion...forever. He might hit some rough patches this year being close to 10 lbs under weight but he will rise above and emerge victorious more often than not.
At NO time are we quitting and saying to him how next year this will ALL work. Hellz NO! Every workout we focus on getting him stronger and STRONGER. He might be under weight but that doesn't mean the other kids are going to be stronger than he is.
At 98 to 100 lbs he does farmer walks with 70 lb kettlebells in each hand. At home he does an extra credit workout consisting of 60 reps each of:
- Bodyweight Squats
- Push Ups
- Dumbbells Curls
Extra Credit workouts are what Coach Reeve calls "Champion Workouts" - anything extra done by an athlete is a plus. If you're an athlete and don't train on your own, only training when your Coach and Daddy tell you to, you are missing the boat on what it takes to become a Champion.
I am doing 3 TOUGH things as we speak:
- Working on a new book. It's a BIG project and very challenging, but every day, I show up and write, edit and write more. Every day I attack that book and every day it gets closer to what I want it to become.
The book writing and editing is going GREAT. I'm behind schedule, the Hurricane certainly threw in a monkey wrench in my schedule, but I won't half heart this book. Rushing it and handing it to the editors when it's NOT the best of what I've got is not something I will ever settle for or allow myself to live with.
- Got a new puppy. A Doberman. Training a puppy is like a baby, requiring 24-7 attention. Very tough, but she is amazing and yesterday spent her first full day at The Underground Strength Gym and did great.
- Opening a new gym. I am not revealing many details now about the name, etc but it will be better for everyone - more opportunity for me to train and help MORE people, athletes, adults and coaches. Better environment for The Underground Strength Coach Cert and close to home, enabling me to spend more time with family.
1) For ALL 3 things, I show up.
2) I smile (This is a Bonus tip).
If you want to start getting stronger, changing your body and changing yourself for the better....
Step 1: Show UP.
And.
Step 2: Smile.
If we do this, we can become champions in life. Just like this "kid" I'm telling you about.
And just like this kid is amazing, so are you. Life is challenging at times, but I am moving towards a much more simpler, streamlined approach.
Better for me and better for you.
Stay awesome and don't forget about our sale ending tonight.
Live The Code
Advance & Conquer
--Z--
PS: The Underground Inner Circle has been updated again, now, ALL 3 phases of The Underground Volume Course has been added, along with the majority of my other training courses. The people who show up inside the member's only forum, they smile, no egos, no assholes.
How refreshing.
To be part of The Underground Strength Community, be it online or at my gym or around the world is straight up amazing. Bringing back to the days of The Golden Era when camaraderie actually meant something.
4 Responses
I loved the atmosphere of your place now. At the cert you get a real appreciation for what you can do with very little space.
Everything must evolve and I can’t wait to see phase two-The New Place!
Making it closer to home and family will put a bigger fire in you!
More importantly you will be happier!
DW – ALL those things are exactly what count the MOST!!!
Can’t wait to see what you have in store Zach. Keep killing em
Great write up as usual Zach. I recently sprained my ankle and the pain is quite intense. That being said, I have recently made some breakthroughs with my squat and I could possibly lose all that strength if this injury persists.
I said, fuck this shit and went to the gym today. I was able to hit 70% of my full capacity. I hated every second of it and I was really mad at not being able to reach full capacity with those squats but I did it anyway. I SHOWED up! I DID something!
I usually come to your site to get some lava flowing in my veins and articles like these are just what I need when I feel like giving up.
Keep up the good work!