Intensity

There is a saying in the fitness world that someone following a crappy program but who gives it everything they have will see better results than the person on the best program but who half-asses it.

The key is intent and intensity. And though I'm no self-help expert I suspect that holds true for every aspect of life. Now I'm not saying you should act like a jackass and holler and yell while training. Quite the opposite.

Gyms are packed with people curling dumbbells, plopped down on the worthless good girl/bad girl machines, or my favorite: Sitting on a bike or treadmill watching TV while "working out".

Can you guess what kind of results they will see? Just look at them now - and that's how they will look a year from now.

Strength coach Charles Staley's advice on this matter is to do the opposite of most people and you are virtually guaranteed success.

Writer/musician Henry Rollins learned that lesson early in life and later wrote an essay on what the iron taught him.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

I'll leave you with a video of the competitive powerlifters at Elite Fitness Systems . If more people exercised with even a fraction of the intelligence (it may not look it but their training is meticulous) and intensity they do then there would be alot more seriously fit people walking around. And the aerobics classes would be empty *wink*.