2 Sides...
Ever think about the fact that there are two sides to everything?
I was at a course before where the lecturer made this point very strongly and persuasively.
No matter how many people argued about certain things he was able to turn it around and show that positive/negative can be turned on it’s head through our perception of events and the things that we are going through.
I remember some of the things that were said to him. Like “What about the love for a partner or child.” His response was to love them for sure but be very careful about becoming obsessive/overly dependent on them as when they aren’t in your life any more (moving away or death) you’d have a massive struggle getting yourself back on track – if you ever do.
Kinda deep and stuff.
There is a good friend of our family who watched Rocky one morning and despite having not trained for quite a while before that, he trained twice that day. He was in so much pain the next day that he hasn’t been in a gym since – completely true story.
Have you ever over trained to the point that you don’t want to even look at a Dumbell, let alone use one? I have and I love training and gyms in general. But I’ve gone over that line of love and obsession a couple of times and either ended up injuring myself (forcing a break) or just becoming sick of training leaving me taking a break anyway.
We need to make sure that we are enjoying our training and train hard/effectively when we do but balance it out with equally effective recovery methods.
I remember one period when I was about 10 not being allowed to go to football because I was always sick or getting hurt as a child. I was determined to do whatever it took to get strong enough to get dad to let me go.
When a family member told me it was definitely ok (in fact good) to take more than 1 cod liver tablet a day - despite what it said on the box - I swallowed about 8 in one go. Took me days to feel ok again and I’ll never forget the taste every time I “got my wind up”.
The amount of extreme diets and rubbish like weight loss pills on the market today show that it’s not just desperate 10 year old's who will go to great lengths to get what they want. A much better way is through maintainable and long – term habits like making sure you’re properly hydrated, eat a diet full of natural foods like low glycemic fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and follow the 80/20 rule.
The last thing that needs balance when it comes to fitness is actual workouts. Too much of one type of workout and your body will stop adapting. Too much of working one muscle – eg. The chest – to the detriment of others like the back and you will have an out of proportion physique that could start looking worse (hunched posture in this example) and more susceptible to injury.
To make sure that doesn’t happen, balance things out by working the triceps as much as the biceps, the hamstrings as much as the thighs and the back as much as the chest. Also make sure that you're switching up your program regularly.
Take the above on board and you’ll never feel the pain of our Rocky loving friend, taste Cod Liver Oil in your mouth for days or look like the hunch back of Notre Dam..