Tag: weight lifting

What I Am Thankful For This November

by Christian Boyles, posted in Motivation

It is November, and if you are living in the United States or Canada it is a month of Thanksgiving!  I got to thinking that it was so strange that we celebrate this here and not everywhere, and that we don’t practice our attitude of gratitude every day.  So, no matter where you’re from and no matter what day it is I think you and I should practice our gratefulness all the time!  So, I want to list Five Things I Am Thankful For Every Day!

  • I am so thankful for my grandmother who is my biggest supporter.  I always know that no matter what I am going through, that she always will love me and support me.  She always listens to me and helps me through all of my problems.  Since my grandfather died, her and I have always had each other and she has pushed me to be an overachiever.  When I was younger, she used to make me study all the time and now I’m hoping to be successful with the values that she instilled in me.
  • I am incredibly grateful for my health.  I made my blog, Maxed Out Muscles, after having a Crohn’s Disease flareup in April.  I recovered in May, and it has officially been six months since I was sick!  I am hoping to go for a year, and eventually succeed in being symptom free for the rest of my life.
  • I am thankful for the feedback from all of my friends on this site.  All of you who I didn’t know, I am so grateful that you have lent your support and commentary on my posts.  I am so thankful that we have had discussions and interviews.  I hope to give you good content, and I hope to read more great replies! 🙂
  • I am happy for my weight lifting results.  They are modest but they add up over time.  I know that when I look back to my starting point, it is a day and night difference.  So without a doubt, I say to you time after time that consistency is the number one thing involved in seeing weight lifting results.  ..and perhaps results in any field.
  • I’m thankful for how this year has gone!  This is the number one thing, and possibly the most basic.  It isn’t possible for me to be thankful for this year without all of the things I mentioned above, but this year has been so important to me.  Without seeing the long term results and consequences of my choices this year, I am so grateful for all of the experience I’ve gained.  I would say that in this year alone, I have made more decisions and stuck to them than in any other year of my life.  I have grounded myself in some core values, and chose a direction for my life and have so far, consistently, stuck to it!

I can only hope that every thing I am going through leads me to more results and success.  However, whether I’m successful or not I am thankful for who I am becoming because of these things.

I hope you have too many blessings too count and that you have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
A Thanksgiving Turkey!

Also, Feel free to comment below what you are thankful for this year!  Or, if you would like to, reblog this post and write 5 Things You Are Thankful For This Year!  I am really excited to read all of your great responses.

To Be The Best You Have To Sacrifice

by Christian Boyles, posted in Lifelong Fitness, Motivation

Is there anything in this world that you want more than everything else? Then you must be willing to place it above everything else. 

That just seems like common sense, right? Let’s say you want to be the best boxer in the world, and you want to be as good as boxing legends such as Mike Tyson and Muhammed Ali, but you aren’t willing to give up drinking three out of 7 days a week. I promise you, you will see results but they will remain subpar compared to giving it your all and giving up drinking Thursday through Friday.

I was driving home and I thought about my own journey with lifting weights and nutrition. I personally want to be the best I can be with these things, and I have pretty much given up hanging out with friends and trying to get girls. This probably sounds crazy, but that’s how badly I want to be the best. I work out for almost 2 hours every day except Saturdays, I eat well, I spend at least an hour a day reading books on nutrition, and in the remainder I write new posts for my blog so you have new motivation and content to read.

During my drive home, I remembered someone else who said something similar although on a much higher level and this is strictly metaphorical to my own journey and yours. I thought about Jesus in a passage I read from the Bible. There was a rich man begging him to enter the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus more or less told him that if he wants to be the best follower of Christ he can be and enter Heaven he has to sell all of his belongings and follow Jesus. In a way, you probably think Jesus sounded nuts. However, when you look at it in a context that is metaphorical to whatever you are passionate about, you realize that if your heart really wants something badly enough, Jesus is saying you’ll give up anything for it.

Most of us would never take that step and we would have looked at Jesus like he was crazy, but again it’s all about how badly you want something and the rich man told Jesus he would do anything to enter heaven. Jesus quickly proved that the rich man definitely would not do anything for it, considering he wouldn’t part with his wealth. His wealth was where his heart was.

My heart is with my fitness, and I challenge you to go all in for something you are passionate about. If you want something bad enough, you’ll truly do whatever it takes. Thanks for reading.

By the way, as a disclaimer, you don’t have to quit your job and go out of your way to do these things. I’m simply making the point that your results will be far beyond what they could be if you do go to the extremes and do what it takes. Also, about the point in dropping a job, you may need a job to have the revenue to pursue your dreams so don’t quit absolutely everything people. Again, thanks for reading, and have a great day.

Progess From Depression!

by Christian Boyles, posted in Motivation

Depress literally means to slow down, and so it’s not crazy to think that the term means that you are at a slow pace or energy. You probably want to and need to liven up and not have those dreary, upset feelings.

As I’ve said before, having a passion is beneficial and being passionate about something is extremely helpful in a situation where you’re depressed.

I’m not saying this would positively work for someone who is clinically depressed and is on medicine, but I also don’t see why it wouldn’t. That being said, here is my advice: take that thing that you are passionate about and make progress in that hobby in some way, shape, or form. 

For example, I enjoy blogging and being expressive along with lifting weights. I not only keep the depression away for the most part by exercising, but when I do start to feel bad for basically no reason(or even with some sort of reason), these hobbies always pull me out of a depression when it hits. I just become very mindful of my attitude, and when I start to think negative thoughts or feel bad about myself I will write a new blog post for you or do some weight training.

As a result, I’m being progressive and expressive rather than depressive and expressionless.

I hope you give this a shot and progress towards being great at something you love doing, rather than wasting time beating yourself up. Thanks for reading!

Back From My Week Off!

by Christian Boyles, posted in Lifelong Fitness, Motivation

I’m back from my week off and my shoulders are feeling better, I’m not sick, and I have a lot more energy than I did the last couple of weeks I worked out!

Getting back to the gym today was definitely my saving grace though, as I couldn’t stand being out. Nevertheless, I persevered and kept away from the weights for one full week and I believe it really paid off!

I now know for a fact that I am not over trained and that statement will remain adamant for the next couple of months.

As a result of the perseverance, my weight lifting was actually better than where I left off. The weight was about the same but my form was 100% better, and I decided to throw in some lifts like overhead squat to add some stability, functionality, and mobility to my routine.

My conclusion is that not only is a week off good for the CNS, the muscles, and the immune system but it also helps for your “workout IQ”. I learned of workouts that I didn’t know about before and I took the time this past week to study proper form and great exercises. I believe you can do the same and always come back from your week off improved in some way, shape, or form.

Thanks for reading!

Tracking Results Can Maximize Performance

by Christian Boyles, posted in Lifelong Fitness

I just want to let you know it will help you tremendously if you track your results when you lift weights. This will keep you from aimlessly stacking weight on the bar because you don’t remember how much you did before. It will set a personal goal for you as you want to do more, somehow, than you did previously.

I hope my advice helped. If you’d like free updates to my blog feel free to subscribe. Thanks!

A Wonderful Day To Work My Back. Always Have A Plan.

by Christian Boyles, posted in Lifelong Fitness

I have a schedule where

Monday – chest, triceps

Tuesday – back, shoulders, biceps 

Wednesday – Legs

Thursday thru Saturday I repeat Monday thru Wednesday.

Today, being a Tuesday, is my back and bicep day and I plan on killing it!

I’m going to do chin ups, dead lift, bent over rows, bicep curls, preacher curls, and hammer curls!

The point in this post is to note that it’s great to have a plan. Always have a plan. It helps you set goals and will make it easier for you to get a set amount done before you quit. This being said, having a plan will get you results. Try it and see.