Be Your Own Idol

The title says it all, BE YOUR OWN IDOL. Being in a room surrounded by lean, sculpted body builders can really lower your self esteem, I get that...but they were once where you are and thought the same thoughts, only difference is that they kept going. They made themselves into their own idol.

This doesn't JUST apply to the gym, it applies to so many aspects of your life including your job, your income, your clothes, etc. This world is so focused on comparing one another I HATE IT!!

You never know how hard a person's path is, you never know wha they had to conquer to get where they are now. Some people's success is made from their blood, sweat and tears.

This lesson is one I just recently learned and it is a tough pill to swallow. You feel like your best is someone else's easy. You see this ALLLLL the time in the gym. I legitmately let this kind of thing affect my whole workout one day and it wasn't worth it. A time when I should've been happy that I reached a PR (personal record), I was infuriated by the next person doing more than my PR. I should've swallowed that said pill and congratulated them and realized that my accomplishments are MINE for a reason. They're not his, hers, yours, theirs...they're MINE!

I had to keep in mind that I may fiesty but I am still small, Little ole 120 lb me (used to be 88 lb a year ago) isn't gonna just toss around 300 lbs...I have to work for it and be hungry for it.

Some people will never squat 400 lbs for a multitude of reasons but as long as they're still trying, I am still impressed.

People are different and that's okay. It's okay to curl a 5 lb next to the big swole girl curling 35's. Put in the work, be hungry for it and use that to say "I WILL BE THERE ONE DAY...MAYBE NOT TODAY, BUT ONE DAY"

I could barely rack pull 85 lbs a couple months ago...I quickly climbed the ladder and set my PR to 205 last week. I've never been more determined to set higher PR's and to push myself and I have also never been more proud of myself for coming this far...I never would've thought I'd be the one to get excited in a squat rack...

TIME OUT!

Quick gym sesh: I LOVE RACK PULLS. I still do deadlifts, as you should, but I do lightweight don't push myself to a point of exhaustion or injury. I have a rare condition, Nail-Patella Syndrome (NPS) that basically means as I grew bigger my central nervous system was messing up in places...very common in patients with NPS, I got "blessed" with ONLY half a knee cap in each leg. This causes my knee to dislocate very easily making squats and deadlifts a little more challenging since there's so much pressure thrown into them.

Rack pulls are a great alternative to heavy deadlifts. I put the side bars on the squat rack to the lowest level i feel comfortable, for me that's usually the lowest (you want the bar right below your knees), and do the same motion as a deadlift. This lift from the rack instead of from the floor helps a lot and instead of focusing on not dying...I can focus on realllllly squeezing my hamstrings and my lower back.

Back to reality:

I am slowly but surely becoming my own idol, this could take years and I am more than fine with that. Nobody ever said the ladder would be short but you have to climb it to get to the top...

Thanks for reading!!

XOXO,

The Linds