The Owner's Manual of You

Being that I live 20-30 minutes from the gym, my drive to and from gives me ample time to think. I think sometimes about business, sometimes about training, and sometimes about myself, amongst other thoughts. As I was driving home last night, I began looking back objectively at my experiences and the lessons I have learned since I started training back in high school. It is definitely a long list and one that will continue to grow indefinitely.

During the drive home, the focus centered around how my experiences vary from other people's and how these lessons mold everyone's views and methods differently towards training and life. Often times we can get caught up in trying to perfect ourselves to the standards of others instead of perfecting ourselves to the abilities of ourselves, following our own personal owner's manual. If you focus solely on yourself, and how to maximize YOUR potential, you will reap the benefits of success.

In the past, everything I did in training was done with an eye on all of the flaws I had compared to others. I would read bodybuilding magazines and spend many hours on bodybuilding message boards trying to learn how the pros did it, and would try to implement their ways into my own program. This habit only lead to one thing, failure. I stayed looking pretty much the same year around, with vary small fluctuations in size, and suffered through my fair share of overuse injuries and periods of burnout. I was failing to see the big picture. I was failing to look objectively at my talents and abilities and cater my training to fit.

Some people can handle hour long sessions 4-5 times a week and received benefits. For other's 3 times a week might be the best plan(These two examples aren't including mini GPP workouts). There are also those who need more volume to attain a strength benefit while some can get brutally strong with 1-2 heavy sets. Some can recover faster than others and some need to take more frequent deload weeks and days. The bottom line is that you must not mold your training to the standards of others. You must learn to listen to your body day in and day out to find the best plan for you. If you begin to do that, only then will you begin to see growth both mentally and physically, and form a deeper connection between you and your body. If you work to fulfill your potential, and leave nothing on the table when pursing it, you will truly be great.

No Nonsense Selfishness,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS
Owner/Head Trainer
kyle@trainstrive.com
513-571-2950