Training - "99.99% of the time getting to a place you desire to be will mean spending a lot of time embracing discomfort."

10/17 - pullups, pushups, farmer's walk

LIFT-RUN-BANG: The things that are going to hold you back in training: "So why are you in search for something more complicated when the answer is right in front of you? Training?  Lift three to four times a week.  Base your training around the big lifts.  Squat, press, deadlift, row, chin, dip, do some arm work.  Sets of 3-5 work really well for strength development.  Sets of 10+ seem to be more efficient for hypertrophy. Diet?  Get 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.  After that, manipulate your carbs and fat up or down depending on if you need to gain muscle, or lose fat. If you want to lose fat, bodyweight x 10 for total calories a day is a decent baseline to start at.  So if you're 250 pounds, then 2500 calories a day is about where you need to be.  This is a fairly aggressive model, but so what?  If that scares you, start at bodyweight x 12 for total calories per day. If you want to gain mass, it's about 18-20 x bodyweight.  So if you're 200 pounds, then it's about 3,600 to 4,000 calories a day.  Yes, it's a rough guideline and someone will want to debate all the "in betweens" and that's part of the fucking problem. Debating every little nuance of training and nutrition does nothing but cause paralysis by analysis...

I had to embrace something I wasn't really comfortable doing in order to get to where I needed to be. And THAT is what lifting and life is going to be about sometimes.  I could machine gun off a million cliche's about that right now but I will spare you.  The point is, nothing that is worth attaining will come easy.  If it does, good for you.  However 99.99% of the time getting to a place you desire to be will mean spending a lot of time embracing discomfort. If you're not willing to do that, then it's likely you won't ever see the things you desire come to pass... If you want to find your own personal greatness, then get comfortable with being uncomfortable.  The amount of discomfort you are willing to submit yourself to is generally in parallel with the amount of greatness you're trying to attain...

If you train long enough you're going to have a string of training sessions where everything sucks, and seemingly nothing goes your way. Finding confidence again during those times can feel like a monumental task.  After all, when life is raining shit on you it's hard to smile about the sunshine. Remember that the lows in training are teaching you an awful lot.  Also keep in mind that in training, just like in life, that the present is never permanent.  The only constant is change.  If you keep plugging away progress will eventually be forthcoming again, and you will find momentum again. You also need to remind yourself that confidence, like self esteem, is really a state of mind.  It is up to you to make a choice to decide how you feel.  I think sometimes it's hard for people to get their head around the fact that they can empower themselves that much.  If you don't feel confident, it is likely because you are dwelling on the wrong things, and for the most part just need to change your state of mind."