Guys, ever wondered what REALLY made you decide to find out more about fitness?
For me – I knew I wanted to look sexy with the lights on. It all started back in the days when I was still schooling in polytechnic. I had this really funky hairstyle back then, which often led people to associate me with the famous soccer player Ronaldinho. The difference was (as my mates pointed out to me jokingly one day) Ronaldinho dribbled the ball gracefully with his feet, while I (pointing to my gut), carried it around almost effortlessly. This hit me real hard – not because I handball foul all the time, but I realized how DISGUSTING I looked at that point of time. That is when I decided that I had to do something about it.
Belly sucked in real hard
Fast forward to the present, I look way better than I did back then. People whom I have just met would usually ask me, “You hit the gym quite often right?”. Relatives and friends whom I have not met in awhile will compliment me on how I look. Ultimately, it is not about the amount of compliments that you receive, or how many eye-fucks you get from those chicks across the bar. It is about how much you actually love and respect yourself. For the best gift to others, is yourself.
Me on my 21th Birthday
20/10/10
11/05/11
So, how do you get started?
Before you even think about putting on those running shoes or signing up for a gym membership, ask yourself these 3 questions:
What is your goal?
How much do you really want that?
How much can you sacrifice?
Know what you really want first
Not everybody has the same definition for fitness. To me, someone who can run 42km without stopping but finds difficulty in replacing the new water dispenser in the office, is not fit. The guy who looks like he can easily flip cars over with one hand but starts panting heavily after the climbing that second fleet of stairs, is not fit. Basic fitness to me, is the ability to perform whatever physical activities that I have to do with ease. It may be flipping a 250kg tyre, it may be running 2.4km under 10 minutes, or simply being able to carry two packs of 10kg rice back home from the supermarket without broken arms.
What is your goal? Do you want to look like a fitness model on the cover of Men’s Health? Do you want to be able to run a marathon under 3 hours? Or do you want to be the strongman that supports a girl on each shoulder? What do YOU really want?
Is this REALLY what you're willing to die for?
How much do you really want this? I believe that when someone wants something badly, they will give in their 101% into doing whatever it takes to achieve their goals. If you’re putting in lesser than 100% effort, either you are not ready for it or, you just do not want this enough. You have no time? You will start making time. You do not eat well? You will start eating well. Your other half is hindering your progress? Ditch them.
People often tell me, they did this and that, they put SO much time into working out, but they are still not achieving what they want. Take a good look at what you are doing now, are you giving up your bad habits? Are you still ‘rewarding’ yourself with that Mega McSpicy after a hard session in the gym? Do you still stay up late watching porn and surfing Facebook when you are supposed to be getting your sleep? You may be putting in effort, but at the same time, are you willing to give up what’s stopping you from progressing?
Now you can go on to find out about what you really want.
NAICE.