by Neil Anderson
There is no better way to increase your fitness and achieve your healthy goals than by posting times on this website and/or on the board at the gym. There are several reasons for this...
1. You can tell much more about your fitness by observing your times and weights as they compare to the last time you did a certain workout, than you will ever be able to know through bodyfat % or weighing yourself or by looking in a mirror. Look, if your times went down and your strength went up, it only stands to reason that you improved both your fitness and your body. Think about it. Would your time on a half mile run really improve much if you are still carrying around a bunch of excess weight? What information would you trust more to tell you the whole story about your progress, the scale or your run times?
2. There is something truly to be said for someone who is willing to put their results "out there" for the whole world to see. What can you say about the people who do this?
"These are the most successful people."
Those who have the guts to put their egos in check and simply let the numbers fall where they may...and then be accountable for those numbers by reporting them honestly to a like-minded community of their peers are more likely to be the ones who are going to ROCK their healthy goals for the long term. Think of it this way...most of us have got poor health habits that borderline on addiction. Ask ANY recovering addict what the first step to successfully dealing with their problems is. It is HONESTY. Becoming honest with yourself is hard to do without someone to be accountable to. Let your community shoulder some of the load for you. Let's help each other. Start POSTING!
3. Maybe YOU don't care to be accountable to others, but what about those who are looking for someone (a community of like-minded individuals) to be accountable to? What about that person who has finally committed to take the bull by the horns and conquer this thing? These people need you. They need ALL of us.
We as a community will have more influence on the success of others, including those whom we love dearly, by sharing our own successes (and failures) by posting our results. By posting our results we are "leading from the front." Any idiot can cheer another person on. Cheering doesn't inspire as much as LEADING. When you LEAD, others will follow. When others follow, some will push to the front to become leaders. It comes around and goes around as we all move towards our goals.
Many of you have seen this in action. How many times have you seen people go to the board before a workout to checkout the times of those who have come before? Why would they do this? Of course, they are gaining strength from others. Have you noticed that the times get faster and the weights get heavier throughout the day? These faster times and increased weights are a DIRECT reflection on the effort of those who come in earlier and "put themselves out there" for others. We all owe them a debt of gratitude. We also owe a debt to pay it forward to and for others.
"You can never know how far you've come if you do not know where you started from"
One of the most common laments of the citizens of GPP..."I sure wish I could remember my last time/weight on this workout." Go check out last week's comments. Many, many said this very thing.
Please do not fall into the trap of not knowing where you started. Start posting your results daily. Do it for your own success. What if, like several of our citizens, you lost 5 lbs over the last 6 weeks but your clean and jerk went up 65 pounds? Would the 5 lbs keep you motivated? Maybe. But, 5 lbs combined with an increase of 65 lbs on the C&J would tell the whole story, would it not?
Then do it for others. Look, I not asking you to sponsor anyone, or even get to know ANYONE'S name. Simply post your times/weights/comments. It is that easy. You'll be surprised who is looking to you for inspiration. Trust me, this kind of relationship is win-win. In fact, when you factor in all those that you may potentially help the relationship looks more like:
win-win