Last Updated on May 22, 2023 by Michael Brockbank
So, January was a bit of a paltry month for myself in terms of health and fitness. But not because of laziness. This time, I am really exceptionally busy. But, I think I found a groove for February. And it’s mostly about competing with myself.
And in reality, this should be what you focus on when trying to build a healthier body. The expectations of others really don’t matter in the long-run. It’s how you are comfortable with yourself that really changes your life.
And this is part of the reason why I don’t watch fitness gurus on YouTube or hire a personal trainer. Because in most cases, they expect you to do what they can do.
Sometimes, it’s just not possible given your specific and unique physique.
How am I Competing with Myself?
Like I tell my son, who is trying to lose weight to go into the Air Force, “Don’t compete with me. Compete with yourself.” This is because he tries to keep up with his “old man” when lifting various weights.
And right now, he’s burning himself out trying to do as much as I can. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not Dwayne Johnson. But, I’m no slouch either when it comes to being able to press better-than-average weights.
I just have a comforter wrapped around this six-pack.
Breaking Personal Records
Anyone who has spent time reading this blog knows that I am all about breaking personal records. It’s a great way to see how you progress without worrying about what the scale says.
So far this month, I’ve broken several. Every time I go to the local rec center, I seem to set one more. This is because I am working my way up to lifting greater weights while finding my limitations.
Once I hit a peak, I know what to work for. At this point, I’ll lift the lighter weights to strengthen myself. In a week or two, I’ll strive for yet another record-breaking lift.
For instance, I know that I can do 40 pounds on the machine bicep curl. But, I cannot do three sets of 20 reps, as I do with everything else. So, I’ll work on using 30 pounds until I can power through.
At that point, I’ll be able to press the 40-pound curls while strengthening myself for 50.
With all the strength training I’ve been doing lately, I’m really looking forward to breaking records for bodyweight workouts…such as push-ups or even sit-ups.
But it all boils down to competing with myself and striving to improve. It doesn’t matter how much weight I can lift compared to the high school kids. In reality, I’m stronger today than I was at 20.
It’s all about you and self-improvement. Anything you do better today than yesterday is a victory.
Wanting More Out of Myself
I’ll be 44 this year. And while I am still coming to terms with getting older, it’s not as bad as it used to be. Still, I wish I could have spent more time when I was younger on improving myself.
And it’s not all about building muscles or looking good in the mirror. Since putting in more effort to work out, I feel better all-around. I am more focused at work, I am better at keeping myself moving and I have a far more positive disposition.
The person I was three years ago is gone. I need to decide who I want to be tomorrow. And improving myself in a variety of ways is how I will get to where I want to be.
In this case, it’s about improving my mental and physical fitness.
How many of you can honestly say that you are where you want to be? I know a lot of you can. But then again, I know even more who are where I was three years ago.
If I can do it by competing with myself for improvement, anyone can. You just need to decide you’re done with how you’re living.
Focusing on the Effort
Like I’ve said in many blog posts in 2020…it’s the Year of Effort for me. This means more effort into everything in life, from health and fitness to my career path.
And so far, I’m quite proud of what I’ve accomplished. Just in the past 30 days, I’ve:
- Lifted more than 200k pounds
- Added an incredible amount of time to accomplish workloads
- Published more content than I have over several years
- Gained a slew of followers on Twitter and Facebook on various accounts
I’m just getting started. Through competing with myself and going beyond what I’ve done in the past, everything in my life is falling into place.
You can make it happen as well. It just takes the mentality of being done with whatever is holding you back. Realize your potential and push towards your goals and dreams.
Because without effort, anything you want in life is going to be monumentally more difficult to achieve.
Improving Myself in a Myriad of Ways
I’m not trying to sound like I’m boasting about my success this year. The point I am trying to make is how self-improvement leads to a plethora of opportunities you might not realize even exist.
The truth is, I work exceptionally hard to keep myself focused on what I want in life. I’ve been complacent and lazy, and I’m done with both of these aspects of myself.
It’s hard to change your life when you’ve lived a certain way for decades. But if you want and need change, you gotta make some adjustments. Otherwise, you’ll sit and spin your wheels like I did for the better part of 2019.
By putting in the effort to better myself, my life has improved tremendously over a short amount of time. And I’m very excited to see what the rest of the year holds for me.
Now I can’t say with 100% positivity that you’ll experience the same short-term success as I have. Everyone is different and has unique circumstances to conquer.
But isn’t it worth the time if you could improve how you live and feel tremendously better about yourself?
Don’t try to keep up with my success, or of anyone else for that matter. Focus on doing more today than you did yesterday…even if it’s something small like taking those extra steps or lifting the dumbbell one more time.
As the days progress, you’ll find those tasks easier and easier to accomplish.
How I am Pushing Myself to Succeed
OK, so what did I do to get myself on the right track? Well, keep in mind what works for me might not work for you. But, it might give you an idea of how to structure your day and keep focus.
In the end, it has more to do with what you need and how you want to live.
Tracking My Workload and Improving
I keep track of everything I do when it comes to creating content. Whether it’s blogging, writing for clients, editing writer work or making YouTube videos, it’s all in a spreadsheet.
I took the amount of time I spent last year in total and made it my goal to shatter that number in 2020. And so far, I’ve been exceptionally successful.
I’ve made more money, grew more of an audience, hit higher results in Google and got closer to publishing my first novel.
Every week, I strive to surpass what I did previously in terms of actual time spent working on client and personal projects. And almost instantly, the path I walk became clear.
Monitoring My Lifting Progress
Getting more physical activity has greatly benefited my life. As I said earlier, I feel better and think far more clearly than I did last year. This is because fitness improves how the brain processes information.
That’s actually a scientifically proven fact…across a long list of studies.
I use Exercise.com to keep track of my progress. Originally, I used it for competing with others on the system. But, the developers have long abandoned that aspect of the app.
However, I still use it to track my own progress and keep an eye on my personal records.
Maybe I’ll make my own app and include the things it’s missing. But for now, I like using it to keep track of my overall fitness.
If you know of a good fitness challenge app that has a great social environment, I’d love to hear about it.
Competing with Yourself
Don’t worry about what someone else can do in their lifestyle. Sure, things are looking up for me. But this is more about you and finding what makes you motivated to improve yourself.
If you need to start off with 2-pound dumbbells, then that is the case. Don’t feel embarrassed. Just realize you can do more by pushing yourself and putting in the effort to succeed.
You’re not in competition with anyone at this point. You’re only competing with yourself.
Make the decision to win.
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