Practicing What I Preach

Posted on December 11, 2015 by maxedoutmuscles

Almost every day I write a post about fitness, Crohn’s Disease, and life. Almost every day, I try to share advice that was given to me, research, and my personal opinions on the above topics. That does not mean that I am a testament to this perfect, idealistic version of me that I am trying to assimilate in this blog.

However, every day I keep in mind of where I’m at and I remember my end goals. I remember that eating a nearly perfect diet that I believe in will further my goals, that pushing out the extra rep will also help, and that blogging is my form of expression and a means to an end for going the extra mile until I choose to go even further.

Not having these things all figured out oftentimes makes me feel like a hypocrite. I’m reminded of a quote from Jesus in the Christian’s New Testament:

³“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

That’s Matthew 7:3-5 in the New International Version of the Bible(crazy how many different versions there are!!). I was raised in a fairly religious home, thus I remember random scriptures often that I sometimes relate to things I’m going through in my life.

I chose this image from freeimages.com because the bar looked like a barbell

However, if those words were taken literally I wonder if there would be a single person willing to preach. That’s where Christians believe in grace and moving forward, even when they make mistakes. That’s where I believe in getting up, even when I fall down, and continuing to blog while simultaneously fighting to improve my life into that idealistic version I spoke of in the first paragraph.

So what is the idealistic version of myself?

Idealistically, I’m going to continue blogging and working out, running, and dieting, studying nutrition and also furthering my career. I will turn into someone I would proudly call a role model.

I will practice what I preach.

It’s going to happen! I believe in myself and I know I can do it! Since I wrote the series on diet last week, I have made a lot of healthier choices. I’ve been running a lot more and eating cleaner just like I said my character Jimmy would as compared to Carl who only likes greasy, nasty food.

So as long as I talk bad about Carl, I’m going to be a Jimmy! While practicing what I preach, I’ll continue to keep you posted and share content.

Being Thankful For A Successful Future

Posted on November 21, 2015 by maxedoutmuscles

Yesterday, we talked about what we are thankful for in every single day of our lives. I got to thinking about this “attitude of gratitude” and I remembered the idea of practicing affirmations to sort of “fake it ’til you make it”.

Basically, I would venture to assume that practicing affirmations can lead you to success in whatever field you are practicing. Not only would you live in the present with joy, but you would succeed with your dreams by practicing gratitude for your future success.

I also remember a wise man saying “You don’t do things for what you’ll get out of it. You do them for who you will become!” If you’ve been following me for very long, you know that’s an Elliott Hulse quote.

So in all respect to reality, you may not be successful.

…at least not on your first attempt. But if you dedicate yourself to a mission and practice gratitude, you will find that you are growing into a different person through the challenges and tribulation.

So what does this mean? Why would we practice affirmations?

While I can’t say that you should do something, I can offer up my own experience because(although it is limited) it’s all I have at the moment. I mentioned in yesterday’s post, where I listed 5 things I am thankful for(click here to read the post), that I am mostly thankful for the experiences I have gained in this past year alone. I am 21 and so far 2015 has been the best year of my life.

..not because it was easy! Because it was hard. I went through a lot of problems this year, faced a lot of adversity, cut off a lot of harmful relationships, and began a journey of self-improvement. This year was the best year of my life thus far because of the all of the challenges that I had to overcome, so that I could become someone new.

if-it-doesnt-challenge-you-it-wont-change-you-quote-1

..and throughout this whole year, I couldn’t have had as many small victories if I had not practiced positive affirmation. I constantly told myself I would succeed at any small SMART goal I had, and I did! As I said, this year has been all about self-improvement and I am a lot healthier, stronger, happier, and wiser than I was a year ago.

..and while I’ve done so well this year, I have to remember that we all have humble beginnings. I am still certainly not where I want to be in any of my long term goals, but I am working to achieve them. 2 quotes come to mind as I think about this journey, or change, that we should all attempt to go through as we constantly affirm that we will succeed:

One is supposedly a Native American quote. I’ve seen it on Facebook several times and when I looked it up, I couldn’t find who actually said it, but here it is

wolf quote

I also want to mention a Bible verse, Matthew 26:24, as it seems to be implying the same thing. It’s interesting how two completely different cultures stressed the same sentiment.

Matthew_26-41

My point is you could challenge yourself so that you can grow and be the type of person you would be proud of, and to guarantee your success you could practice affirmations. Thanks for reading and my challenge for you today is to not only think of 5 things you are thankful for,

but also 5 things you will be thankful for when you succeed at whatever your goal may be. Whether they’re materialistic things or a better character, I’m interested in reading your responses.

Forget Motivation And Develop Discipline

Posted on October 31, 2015 by maxedoutmuscles

Motivation – (noun) the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

While motivation is great, it can often be fleeting. You may be willing to do something one day, and not want to on another day. Motivation is simply wanting to do it! For a little while you’re driven, and if you have no discipline you crash and burn.

Discipline – (noun) the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

Discipline is doing something whether you want to or not. It’s sticking to a set plan, or something you said you’d do, whether you’re still motivated or not. This is self-discipline. You don’t have to punish yourself if you don’t finish things, but you know that self-discipline is important if you want to have the habit of getting things done.

In the video above, Elliott Hulse talks about his timeline for success. He explains how he worked fruitlessly for five years on creating his youtube channel before he ever got the viewership he has now. It goes to show how you have to stay dedicated, even when things don’t seem like they’re paying off. Even when you have doubts. Even when you don’t know if you really feel like it.

Often times, I think to myself

“What would I gain if I quit working out right now?”

“What would I gain if I quit working on Maxed Out Muscles?”

The answer is nothing. There is nothing to gain from quitting. If I continue working hard I can assume that maybe someday I’ll be successful. I can also assume that I’ll become a different person as I’m working hard to become the person I need to be in order to succeed.

My questions today are

Have you personally felt like giving up?

Whether it be on your fitness regime or something you’re passionate about?

Have you ever been highly motivated to do something and then wavered?

What do you think of today’s post? Do you agree that discipline is extremely important?

Please let me know in the comments down below. I want read your opinions.