AITank: Fitness Explained

The past few years have been unkind to many of the world’s top athletes. Olympic hopefuls to MLB sluggers to Tour De France cyclists have all fallen prey to intense scrutiny as we seek to maintain the image of a pure natural athlete. I am not going to talk in specific about any one athlete in particular, but rather the culture of altering our bodies by way of non natural processes.

Everyone wants to be the best, be at the pinnacle of whatever sport or activity they may be participating in. We get it in our heads that to beat everyone else, we have to give ourselves a one up and this is where steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) enter into the equation. Sure there are side effects to their use, but they can be mitigated by incredibly careful, doctor assisted monitoring. What I mean is frequent blood work and hormone panels. 98% of PEDS users do not fit into this category. So why even decide to go that route? You are short changing yourself, determining that you will fail at achieving your goal without even trying.

Some will say, oh but I have peaked after one year of training. It has been a damn year you idiot. Even two or three still leaves you in the relative area of newness to lifting. You might know how to train better but as far as packing mass, you have not been doing it for all that long. If you are 6 foot 200 pounds, you have not peaked.

This is one that comes out of some of the chapters in my life, I am just sharing some bits I have learned along the way. At one point or another I think we all doubt ourselves and wonder if we should have kept on going when we stopped, not done something when we did or conversely, done something when we did not. Then comes the self questioning and we begin to run ourselves down faces pushed into the dirt by the likes of our own hand. I have learned that this self destruction is good for nothing. In fact it is bad for something, and that something is you.

When we turn the finger on ourselves, what we are starting is a train wreck of problems. And no, I am not implying that accountability is a bad thing, in fact it is one of the core pieces of our character. What I am saying is that when we turn the finger on ourselves and attack who we are, nothing is going to get better. Knowing that this may sound like ridiculous optimism, we must always find ways to keep on keeping on despite anything that happens as a result of an action we take. So, for those rolling about in confusion let me provide an example.

You are training to be able to run a sub 6 minute mile. After 3 months you are stuck at 6:15. Weeks pass and you simply cannot get your time any lower.