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By Phil Stevens
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In the previous installments
I discussed the broad athletic mind set needed to truly progress
to ones goals in a successful and sane way. Followed with
the further installments covering my first successful trip
into this empowering mind set.
In this part, I will document
my downfall, the mistakes I made, and hopefully allow you
all to skip these, or to realize you, yourself are in the
midst of such a downfall.
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To recap, I had made a miraculous
transition. I found the internal self drive needed, the clear
simple steps to follow and steam rolled to dramatic changes through
hard work that felt effortless and fun despite the hard work due
to the my focus not on the end result, but the enjoyment of the
daily actions, the way I felt, performed and in turn as a byproduct
looked. All was merry in the world... I was walking round high on
the collective Hog. Nothing could get me down and THEN…
Maybe it was the few negative things
a that happened in my life at the time, more possibly it was having
ridden out my clear goals for over a year and never setting a new
one substantial tangible goal. What ever it was, I fell, and I fell
hard. I got bitten by the drastic broad needless goal bug that is
simply, I wanna get “ripped.” A goal with no end in sight,
no clear ending and no real steps, just a broad undefined end goal.
Lets get “ripped.”
Yes I succeeded certainly, I got ripped.
I went down from, if you remember, from an initial 300+lbs on a
6’1” frame to 215 and pretty jacked. Now I would go from
that old pinnacle a down right gorgeous man beast to 165 lbs on
the same large frame. I was now in the very low single digit fat
percentiles.
The health and life problems hit.
My body got to the point it wasn’t able to heat itself. I sustained
this low BF long enough to create now permanent health issues with
various hormones out of kilter, receded gums, beat up knees, and
joints. Not to mention the psychological damage to that man who
had just months ago been fearless, doubtless, and could do anything.
I was no in one fell swoop, half the man I was prior.
All this
from simply slipping into an exercisers mind set.
Concentration on the pain and deprivation
as opposed to there progress and positive. Picking at minutia instead
of the big picture of simply being consistent at the basics.
I went from great progress, largely
running blind and ignorant but on belief in my self and what I was
doing, to turning the tables and contacting and reading everything
I could to the point of not hobby, not fun, but a stressful obsession.
I was picking the minutia and identifying to closely with the broad
goal I wanted to reach instead of that of what it takes to reach
said goals.
It can happen to the best of us at
any time, and it does constantly. As an athlete you have to keep
a constant eye out for the path of least resistance top try and
slip in and derail you. You have to keep perspective on the progress
and day and not the impending outcome. If you're too busy, focused
on what you want to be you will never be or do what you have to
today to reach that end game
In the next installment I will detail
the mistakes I made, the problems they caused, and hopefully how
you can avoid the same or make you way out of the abyss that is
an exercises / pain based mind set.
About The Author
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Phil, while attaining both his
Bachelors and Masters degrees in studio art found another
passion, that of training and nutrition. A constant student,
his real-world under-the-barbell and behind-the-fork approach
has led to many an opportunity, experience, and change in
his life as well as those he has worked.
Phil currently, aside from his
varied work with Team Staley, is a working and showing artist
(http://www.philstevens.com).
His current personal fitness goals are to become a competitive
force as middleweight strongman competitor, while building
upon his power lifting experience in which he has seen as
high as a top ten national ranking; with a two year goal of
obtaining an elite ranking as a 242 or 275lb weight class
RAW power lifter.
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