As unlikely as that may sound, it really did happen, I was there.
A couple years back, I made an arrangement with one of the largest Gold Gyms in the world to swap some professional photography services for a membership in a gym that normally I would simply not have been able to afford. Several others did that too, and it was in this gym of movie stars, CEO's, vice presidents etc., that I met a massive but quiet unassuming gentleman who was studiously pretending to be a janitor.
As massive as he was, this gentleman had a way of pulling his aura in real close, so unless you bumped into him, most times you even wouldn't notice he was even there. But he was the talk of the gym because he was consistently winning regional body building awards.
Nothing too surprising there, except the other gym patrons swore that he never worked out. Some speculated that he worked out at another gym, others said that if they were moving weights around all day they would be winning too -- but truth is, the rest of us were moving weights around all day and we were certainly not winning anything.
It seemed that the more he DIDN'T work out was the more he won. I shouldn't say it was natural for the talk to move in this direction, but human nature being what it is, it wasn't long before people ( mostly guys ) had had it up to their ears with this janitor who was continuing to win body building awards without working out. The talk about illegal drugs and this guy's name were starting to make the rounds. It took more than a month before I actually found him in a position that looked like he had just been lifting weights.
Curious as I was, in my head I had already asked him for his secret.
I blurted before my brain had a chance to properly catch up to my tongue, "How do you win all these contests if this is the only time I have ever seen you work out?"
He looked at me oddly and asked me why I thought he never worked out. I told him about the rumours that he might be on muscle building drugs or steroids etc. He laughed quietly and remarked, quite truthfully that drugs don't build muscles they only help one to work out more strenuously.
So, I waited patiently for him to tell me his story, but he just turned and went to pick up another stray weight on the rubber floor. It took me another month before I could corner him again on the topic.
Ahh ha, I thought as a month later I spied him in the middle of a preacher curl workout. In a rather nonchalant way, I unhurriedly, wandered over and by incredible coincidence happened to be right there in front of him as his reps were finished. To my surprise, without pausing he continued the conversation from the month before.
Seeing that he was a little more talkative than before, I again asked him what was his secret.
What he said then was quite extraordinary - He quietly revealed that he monitors his heart beat both at rest and at play. After some time, he knows exactly what his heart rate should be when his body is at complete rest ( explained as not rebuilding muscle ) He said most people work a different set of muscle groups daily, but that his difference was based on more.
Quietly, he then revealed that the difference was in the workout interval.
This athlete knows his 'At rest' heart rate. After a strenuous workout his heart rate goes up and stays up even as torn muscle is being rebuilt. He says if it takes days for the heart rate to normalize, then so be it. He won't even work out another body part until the heart rate is back 'At rest'
Does this work for everyone? I can't say, but when I left Asia, this unassuming body building janitor was continuing to un-reluctantly body slam contest after contest to the near complete befuddlement of his competition training in the exact same gym. Gold's gym in this particular Asian country produces more body builder champions than most of the other Gyms combined.
Ahhh, I hear some of you saying this is a non-story because you have yet to leave a few gallons of sweat on a weight bench and perhaps more promises will be made after thanksgiving and Christmas dinner about getting to the Gym some time. But the point here, is really not about the weight lifting ( or lack thereof so don't sweat that ) but more that too many times, so many of us "professionals" can be oh so sure that there is only one way to "skin the cat". And that one way, or for some "My way or the highway" leaves us battling for change that is more than simply elusive.
Are you are yearning for change but planning on doing more of the same thing that got you to this point? Would it be kind of us to assume that perhaps that change that you are looking forward to, simply isn't going to happen while you are continuing to do more "of the same"?
A couple years back, I made an arrangement with one of the largest Gold Gyms in the world to swap some professional photography services for a membership in a gym that normally I would simply not have been able to afford. Several others did that too, and it was in this gym of movie stars, CEO's, vice presidents etc., that I met a massive but quiet unassuming gentleman who was studiously pretending to be a janitor.
As massive as he was, this gentleman had a way of pulling his aura in real close, so unless you bumped into him, most times you even wouldn't notice he was even there. But he was the talk of the gym because he was consistently winning regional body building awards.
Nothing too surprising there, except the other gym patrons swore that he never worked out. Some speculated that he worked out at another gym, others said that if they were moving weights around all day they would be winning too -- but truth is, the rest of us were moving weights around all day and we were certainly not winning anything.
It seemed that the more he DIDN'T work out was the more he won. I shouldn't say it was natural for the talk to move in this direction, but human nature being what it is, it wasn't long before people ( mostly guys ) had had it up to their ears with this janitor who was continuing to win body building awards without working out. The talk about illegal drugs and this guy's name were starting to make the rounds. It took more than a month before I actually found him in a position that looked like he had just been lifting weights.
Curious as I was, in my head I had already asked him for his secret.
I blurted before my brain had a chance to properly catch up to my tongue, "How do you win all these contests if this is the only time I have ever seen you work out?"
He looked at me oddly and asked me why I thought he never worked out. I told him about the rumours that he might be on muscle building drugs or steroids etc. He laughed quietly and remarked, quite truthfully that drugs don't build muscles they only help one to work out more strenuously.
So, I waited patiently for him to tell me his story, but he just turned and went to pick up another stray weight on the rubber floor. It took me another month before I could corner him again on the topic.
Ahh ha, I thought as a month later I spied him in the middle of a preacher curl workout. In a rather nonchalant way, I unhurriedly, wandered over and by incredible coincidence happened to be right there in front of him as his reps were finished. To my surprise, without pausing he continued the conversation from the month before.
Seeing that he was a little more talkative than before, I again asked him what was his secret.
What he said then was quite extraordinary - He quietly revealed that he monitors his heart beat both at rest and at play. After some time, he knows exactly what his heart rate should be when his body is at complete rest ( explained as not rebuilding muscle ) He said most people work a different set of muscle groups daily, but that his difference was based on more.
Quietly, he then revealed that the difference was in the workout interval.
This athlete knows his 'At rest' heart rate. After a strenuous workout his heart rate goes up and stays up even as torn muscle is being rebuilt. He says if it takes days for the heart rate to normalize, then so be it. He won't even work out another body part until the heart rate is back 'At rest'
Does this work for everyone? I can't say, but when I left Asia, this unassuming body building janitor was continuing to un-reluctantly body slam contest after contest to the near complete befuddlement of his competition training in the exact same gym. Gold's gym in this particular Asian country produces more body builder champions than most of the other Gyms combined.
Ahhh, I hear some of you saying this is a non-story because you have yet to leave a few gallons of sweat on a weight bench and perhaps more promises will be made after thanksgiving and Christmas dinner about getting to the Gym some time. But the point here, is really not about the weight lifting ( or lack thereof so don't sweat that ) but more that too many times, so many of us "professionals" can be oh so sure that there is only one way to "skin the cat". And that one way, or for some "My way or the highway" leaves us battling for change that is more than simply elusive.
Are you are yearning for change but planning on doing more of the same thing that got you to this point? Would it be kind of us to assume that perhaps that change that you are looking forward to, simply isn't going to happen while you are continuing to do more "of the same"?
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