I woke up this morning with a moan...my back was aching, deep into the lats, and from the tailbone through the erectors all the way up the traps...I rolled out of bed with an audible, "ugh", swung myself into a sitting position, poised to collect myself and get revved up for the day.  It was still dark as I slowly stood up against the soreness in my back,  smiling as I thought back to the last set of heavy rack pulls to finish off yesterday's back thrashing...it had been a while since we did them rack pulls...and my back was screaming in painful pleasure for it! 

"Time to get the day started." I told myself.  I looked at the alarm clock - beat the buzzzer again....it was 4:59am.  I knew my early client would be waiting for me at the gym soon...I chuckled to myself, "boy, this back is good and sore!"

Ah, the first real look in the mirror – it always hurts.  We call it the brutal truth.  That’s the beauty of this sport…and the ugly.  No other sport in the world feeds the ego like ours, and at the same time, attacks it…attacks it like a rabid pit bull, taking the ego in its lock-jaw clench, and shaking it to pieces.  The brutal truth of the proverbial mirror – when the man looking back at you has the peace of acceptance – this is the victory you really search for. 

Truth is, for many of us, we’ll never be Mr. Olympia, we’ll never be national champ, and for most of us, we may never even win a local level show.  So why do we do it?  Why do we work and train and diet so long, so hard, literally, often until we can’t see straight from lack of sugar to the brain?  Why do we become social isolationists, avoiding late night dance parties and bar-hopping (most of the time), trading this out for the Spartan lifestyle of the competitive athlete?  Even though few of us ever really achieve true “athlete” status, at least in the eyes of the masses?

My guess is this:  As anyone of us who has gone through the journey of contest preparation and seen the entire process to fruition can tell you, this game is truly a spirit mission.  A personal journey to push the limits of our own will, to see how much control and discipline we can force on our own lives, toward a very positive end.  In the end, only a single individual can be called the winner, standing on stage collecting the accolades due the victor.  But, every single athlete who has taken his or her body through the physical trek, to find him or herself standing on stage with the feeling that they did everything in their power, to the best of their ability and knowledge, every detail accounted for, every variable answered – each of these athletes is a winner. 

Because this journey to the contest stage is a personal expedition into uncharted waters, unexplored barriers to push through.  It is our own personal journey of growth, a spirit mission within which leaving no stone unturned becomes the real judge of victory.

In the final analysis, what matters most is that you look at every journey that pushes your personal boundaries as a positive experience, no matter what the outcome. By keeping it positive, you will mentally correlate any journey to exceed yourself with pleasure instead of pain. This will not only allow the challenges of competition to drive you to improve your body, but also forge a winning mind set that you can carry with you into all aspects of life. 

-Bob Paris, “…the training was so exhilarating; it made the actual contest almost anti-climactic.”

By Pete Ciccone