Doug Szolek
05-20-2004, 07:16 PM
Coach Szolek,
"This biggest thing here is to pick one thing and do it with all that you are for as long as it works. When it stops working (producing the desired results in the desired time) then rest and pick a different direction. ...don't waste your time slowing down the process of growth by spreading yourself to thin."
Being in my mid twenties I am also guilty of trying to do everything at once, I always start with too much to complete and it results in burning out or spreading myself thin. Often, I am guilty of taking one step on 10 different paths, rather than taking 10 simple steps to complete a single goal. Thank you for your last post, I needed a reminder in my own training as this is something I often forget.
Also could you give me an example or expand upon using to GPP to reshape self image?
Adam Oostema
Adam, what I'm talking about here in reference to Ed's initial reasons for beginning lifting, is the ability to take a few months (maybe more) and dedicate the bulk of his training time to fuctional hypertrophy. This would continue to add confidence to his MA performance aswell as performance in life because I can speak from first hand experience when it comes to the effects of increasing usable lean muscle mass on my general out look on life.
To put it briefly, I am confident that I move well enough to survive and thrive in my daily pursuits, but there is something really empowering about putting one of your oldest Tee-Shirts on and finding that your arms are barely able to fit the sleeves. I take this farther by imagining that while I'm training I am barely able to fit in the room. Or when I go through a door way I picture having to squeeze through it.
Now these are not things that I do all the time, just when I feel a negative voice creep up inside of me pertaining to how I look, how I'm received by friends and young ladies, or if I'm just feeling down from missing a practice or not hitting a goal in training.
For the most part I am wider than the average 5'11" American male, so most of the time my thought process is centered around moving better, more fluidly than everyone around me. So long as I'm flowing well on a maintainable wave, I will make every effort to maneuver through a crowded room without touching/brushing a single person. Centering myself in my spine, my hips and shoulders become extremely mobile to allow for the deviation and erratic movement of a crowd of people. It's funny, in both cases, I usually get an eye or two following me, usually more in the first case of visualizing growth and this just goes to give me feedback on the type of person that each version of me attracts. Niether better or worse just different.
Anyways, I don't want to go too far out on a limb with this tangent lest it need to be a whole new thread (too late :wink: :lol: ). The heart of the matter is that when we stimulate any change or condition in our bodies we change who we are, however slightly. The bigger the change, like me gaining about 45lbs. of muscle in a year, the more I evolve into a different version of myself, and the result is a very real perspective shift of my self image. This happens to some degree with all training. If I train to be the best TV watcher the networks have ever enslaved, then I will consciously and unconsciously get better at that. How many people do you know who pride themselves at knowing the ins and outs of every character of every show of a certain station or genre of show; I used to be one of them. The results of this type of training on my social abilities, were devastating. I was the picture of an introvert, scared of every piece of life that wasn't handed to me through a TV screen. I was still the insightful, creative, young man that I fancy myself to be, but I had no platform with which to share myself with the world.
For me, the shift started when I took up lifting late in Highschool, and even though it was heavily laiden with Bodybuilding nonsense, it was reshaping who I was and setting the stage to allow me to accept the course of events that has lead me to where I am now and more importantly where I'm going.
Getting in on the ground level with Clubbells is one of my favorite things to have happened in my life. Every day that I pick them up, I know that polishing away the inessentials and revealing just a little bit more of the gold that lies at the heart of everyone of us. Clubbells have taken me beyond re-shaping my self-image to the deapth of consciously expressing myself more honestly than I did yesterday. To quote a commercial (god I still watch too much TV :? ) This is who I am, this is how I earn it.
I hope this answers your question. If you need further clarification, then sharpen the focus of your questions and I'll be happy to do what I can to apply what I'm learning to where you're going.
In Faith,
"This biggest thing here is to pick one thing and do it with all that you are for as long as it works. When it stops working (producing the desired results in the desired time) then rest and pick a different direction. ...don't waste your time slowing down the process of growth by spreading yourself to thin."
Being in my mid twenties I am also guilty of trying to do everything at once, I always start with too much to complete and it results in burning out or spreading myself thin. Often, I am guilty of taking one step on 10 different paths, rather than taking 10 simple steps to complete a single goal. Thank you for your last post, I needed a reminder in my own training as this is something I often forget.
Also could you give me an example or expand upon using to GPP to reshape self image?
Adam Oostema
Adam, what I'm talking about here in reference to Ed's initial reasons for beginning lifting, is the ability to take a few months (maybe more) and dedicate the bulk of his training time to fuctional hypertrophy. This would continue to add confidence to his MA performance aswell as performance in life because I can speak from first hand experience when it comes to the effects of increasing usable lean muscle mass on my general out look on life.
To put it briefly, I am confident that I move well enough to survive and thrive in my daily pursuits, but there is something really empowering about putting one of your oldest Tee-Shirts on and finding that your arms are barely able to fit the sleeves. I take this farther by imagining that while I'm training I am barely able to fit in the room. Or when I go through a door way I picture having to squeeze through it.
Now these are not things that I do all the time, just when I feel a negative voice creep up inside of me pertaining to how I look, how I'm received by friends and young ladies, or if I'm just feeling down from missing a practice or not hitting a goal in training.
For the most part I am wider than the average 5'11" American male, so most of the time my thought process is centered around moving better, more fluidly than everyone around me. So long as I'm flowing well on a maintainable wave, I will make every effort to maneuver through a crowded room without touching/brushing a single person. Centering myself in my spine, my hips and shoulders become extremely mobile to allow for the deviation and erratic movement of a crowd of people. It's funny, in both cases, I usually get an eye or two following me, usually more in the first case of visualizing growth and this just goes to give me feedback on the type of person that each version of me attracts. Niether better or worse just different.
Anyways, I don't want to go too far out on a limb with this tangent lest it need to be a whole new thread (too late :wink: :lol: ). The heart of the matter is that when we stimulate any change or condition in our bodies we change who we are, however slightly. The bigger the change, like me gaining about 45lbs. of muscle in a year, the more I evolve into a different version of myself, and the result is a very real perspective shift of my self image. This happens to some degree with all training. If I train to be the best TV watcher the networks have ever enslaved, then I will consciously and unconsciously get better at that. How many people do you know who pride themselves at knowing the ins and outs of every character of every show of a certain station or genre of show; I used to be one of them. The results of this type of training on my social abilities, were devastating. I was the picture of an introvert, scared of every piece of life that wasn't handed to me through a TV screen. I was still the insightful, creative, young man that I fancy myself to be, but I had no platform with which to share myself with the world.
For me, the shift started when I took up lifting late in Highschool, and even though it was heavily laiden with Bodybuilding nonsense, it was reshaping who I was and setting the stage to allow me to accept the course of events that has lead me to where I am now and more importantly where I'm going.
Getting in on the ground level with Clubbells is one of my favorite things to have happened in my life. Every day that I pick them up, I know that polishing away the inessentials and revealing just a little bit more of the gold that lies at the heart of everyone of us. Clubbells have taken me beyond re-shaping my self-image to the deapth of consciously expressing myself more honestly than I did yesterday. To quote a commercial (god I still watch too much TV :? ) This is who I am, this is how I earn it.
I hope this answers your question. If you need further clarification, then sharpen the focus of your questions and I'll be happy to do what I can to apply what I'm learning to where you're going.
In Faith,