Squatting in the Curl Rack

Sometimes even when you're dedicated to something you find yourself in need of a little nudge in the right direction. I believe in strength and I have no intentions of quitting the iron game but there are times when I stumble and I know I'm not the only one. I hope you find inspiration here. Eat right, train hard, sleep well.

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"...and if you ever have any doubts, stop having doubts. You must expect more from yourself."

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"Here's what I propose to people: Eat to win, train to win, and condition to win. You do these things and LIKE A MIRACLE, everything falls into place. You weigh what you weigh - I can't believe that men are so wrapped up in what they weigh and not what they do. In conclusion, lift weights and get stronger."

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"Vikings never gave a s*** how they looked when they swung an ax, only that the ax landed hard and with purpose."

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"I believe you should run, push, drag, and carry like a man for your conditioning. Until walking becomes your only option, make use of the gifts you have."

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If you ever feel like the biggest or most motivated guy in your gym, go at an obscure time like a late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. There's a good chance you'll find someone stronger and more dedicated. There's a good chance you'll see a guy at the door at 0455 on a weekday morning waiting for the gym to open. And there's a good chance that if you observe the way he trains and maybe share a few words you'll be humbled and learn a great deal. Because these guys don't wait for a convenient time to train. They don't stay out late during the week because they know they need to train before work to avoid the evening gym rush. They didn't stop training at thirty because it got more difficult to put on muscle and keep off fat. They don't train because it's trending and they don't make excuses. They understand its value and they make it happen. Stay humble. Stay hungry.

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"The answer sometimes is not always in the training program or the eating habits (or the supplements). It's in the heart! It is not in the books you read, the training videos you watch, or the magazines you swear by. It is in you and what you do. It is the desire you have to succeed and accomplish the goals you have set fourth, no matter how hard you have to work to achieve it. It is as Dave Drapper said, 'The red-hot fire of passion.'"

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Sometimes you need to bite off more than you can chew to truly understand what your limits are.

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"If you want something you've never had, you must do something you've never done."

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"Now someone always asks, 'Dan, how do you train during track season?' You see, I don't 'train'. Not during track season. Instead, I storm into my home gym and 'work out'. Please don't read this as a 'workout'. It's 'work out'. I work out my anger. I work out my rage. I work out my fears." -Dan John

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"Yeah, I can't wait to get to the gym because next to the gym, the rest of the day is too passionless, too colorless, too unchallenging, and way too ordinary." -TC Luoma

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"You don't gain self-worth by taking the easy path that leaves you feeling empty but by taking the path that leads to a larger purpose. Sometimes, if not most of the time, that path towards a larger purpose isn't the easier one. But that's what allows you to know that the self-worth is real and true, not because it's hard or different for the sake of being different but because, at the end of the day, you know you had to earn the results of your life. Although life has a way of occasionally beating all of us down, you know that you can take hold of one or two areas of it. You don't play the victim or martyr, but instead you become the captain of your life. The expression 'you get out of this life what you put in' is so true. What is also true is that in modern day society, one of the best ways to earn your self-worth is to earn your body."

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"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." The Iron - Henry Rollins

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"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."

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"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."

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"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."

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"Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart. Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long."

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"I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character."