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Hoomgar
12-08-08, 3:36 pm
Doubt has been my biggest enemy. It's not the negative comments I've received from friends, family and co-workers. It's not the jeers I get from haters. Those things only serve to fuel the fire. The fire itself however exists within my own mind. If I let those words affect me, they blow the coals of the fires of doubt and my old mind takes off running with it.

I haven't been long in the iron life, however I am not new to living. I've been down a lot of empty roads in my time. Looking for a reason to live my life. That peace I've found with God. He is the one that has given me the body I live in. If I gave you a car to drive around in because you were my son, and I saw that you did nothing but neglect it, put crap fuel in it, never changed it's oil, never washed it and drove it with reckless regard... I'd be a bit offended I'm sure. I feel that God feels the same way about the body he gave me to live my life in. He expects me to take care of it. Nurture it. Feed it good fuel, exercise it and show some self respect and true appreciation for what I've been given.

I lift, I eat, I sleep, when the morning comes, I walk the walk that I talk and I do it all again. Sometimes the road is windy, sometimes it is straight, the speed limit changes. There are stop signs and red lights, yield signs and warning lights. There is much more than just one fork in the road. Some days, it's all forks, connected by a few roads. Other days are just one long highway. Learning how to operate in all these circumstances is the life of the iron man. When, what and how much to eat. When to lift heavier, when to do more reps, when to switch it up, when to stop. Wisdom comes with experience and from watching those who have forged on ahead of us.

In my mind I still hear them, the whispers, the taunts, the doubts... they tell me every day what it is that I cannot do. I've threatened them, chased them off with loud music, ignored them, got mad at them, I've tried a lot of things but it seems they are still there. Everyday. Every time. No matter how many times I've proven them wrong! I've shown them over and over again, they are wrong! Dead wrong! I can do it! I can do anything I put my mind to! Still, with no regard for my past and present victories, they press on, almost as if they are more determined to bring me down than I am to crush them...

I've found a new weapon. It's a good one. It isn't new. In fact our forefathers used this tactic to win many a war in the past. If your best shots can't bring down the enemy, then beat him at his own game! It's time to deploy the old school weaponry that has served us so well in the past...

...When doubts come, I doubt them back...

You can't pull 500 lbs off the pins dood, your back will give out if you try- I doubt that!

No way you are going to be able to grow lean muscle tissue at your age, you waited too long, don't even try- I doubt that!

You wont last at this more than a year tops- I doubt that!

Tire um out, wear um down at their own game. I doubt every single doubt that comes into my mind. I can do it, I can do it all, and I WILL!

I share with you all today, that I sincerely doubt that any of my doubts will ever get the best of me again...

~it's only just begun

Hg

sanga
12-08-08, 3:55 pm
Great post mate.

Firedrake
12-08-08, 3:58 pm
Really good post, Hoomgar -- I like that: "Doubt the doubts". I'll definitely remember that doing front squats tomorrow!

sanga
12-08-08, 4:04 pm
You know when I`m in the gym and about to do an all out DC set, especially squats, the little voice chirps in,"you sure you`re gonna make it to 20 reps"? and I always say back "I`ve got to coz every single mofo in the gym is watching me" and I visulaise everyone around me stopping what they are doing to watch me, its very powerful and works well.

Hoomgar
12-08-08, 4:07 pm
You know when I`m in the gym and about to do an all out DC set, especially squats, the little voice chirps in,"you sure you`re gonna make it to 20 reps"? and I always say back "I`ve got to coz every single mofo in the gym is watching me" and I visulaise everyone around me stopping what they are doing to watch me, its very powerful and works well.

Next time that happens sanga, try adding a reply to that as well, tell that little thought in your head, "I doubt that, I've done stuff like this before and I keep getting better all the time".

Hg

sanga
12-08-08, 4:21 pm
Will do mate.

sodapop
12-08-08, 4:30 pm
This is a great post, man, and I'm glad I found it.
I've been doubting I'll put up 120 for 3 whole sets today on my bench, but hey, I doubt I won't... :D

Hoomgar
12-08-08, 4:51 pm
This is a great post, man, and I'm glad I found it.
I've been doubting I'll put up 120 for 3 whole sets today on my bench, but hey, I doubt I won't... :D

Now you got it bro...

B Con
12-08-08, 5:37 pm
You always have a way to light a fire under me. Very motivating HG... I can't wait to meet you IRL one of these days...

Firedrake
12-08-08, 6:31 pm
You know when I`m in the gym and about to do an all out DC set, especially squats, the little voice chirps in,"you sure you`re gonna make it to 20 reps"? and I always say back "I`ve got to coz every single mofo in the gym is watching me" and I visulaise everyone around me stopping what they are doing to watch me, its very powerful and works well.

Yeah, I get that one -- of course, that always makes me nervous that I'll screw up even worse, or ashamed of the weights I'm using **grin**

Mr. Dead
12-08-08, 6:37 pm
You always have a way to light a fire under me. Very motivating HG... I can't wait to meet you IRL one of these days...

A definite x2 on that!!!

sodapop
12-08-08, 10:05 pm
Now you got it bro...

Pulled it off man! Thanks for the extra motivation!

sanga
12-09-08, 3:24 am
Yeah, I get that one -- of course, that always makes me nervous that I'll screw up even worse, or ashamed of the weights I'm using **grin**


Mate I used to throw a lot of weight around but have lowered them all for DC so I can do more reps and do them ultra strict with a good negative at slow rate, I`ve had people in the gym I know ask me why I`m training lighter, lol

Hoomgar
12-11-08, 12:07 pm
Really good post, Hoomgar -- I like that: "Doubt the doubts". I'll definitely remember that doing front squats tomorrow!

It's a little something I heard somewhere once bro. it fits perfectly with my mental philosophy. Once something or someone tells you that you can't do it, that right there just sealed it, now it WILL be done!




You always have a way to light a fire under me. Very motivating HG... I can't wait to meet you IRL one of these days...

Lighting fires used to get me in trouble when I was a youth. Now I use my pyrotechnical powers for the good. Ha ha!

x2 Burt. Looking forward to it very much bro.




A definite x2 on that!!!

Put the matches away d-man, I don't want any trouble in here. The Henchmen are watching! *L*




Pulled it off man! Thanks for the extra motivation!

There you go! Use it on every single doubt bro. No matter how big it is.

Hg

Hollow
12-11-08, 12:17 pm
Little slow here...missed this one earlier...outstanding post Hoomgar!!!

Dingo
12-11-08, 12:21 pm
thanks HG, i think ima blast through a heavy shoulder night tonight....
My shoulder hurts too much to continue....... i doubt it.

Hoomgar
12-11-08, 2:01 pm
Little slow here...missed this one earlier...outstanding post Hoomgar!!!


thanks HG, i think ima blast through a heavy shoulder night tonight....
My shoulder hurts too much to continue....... i doubt it.


"They" said it couldn't be done. Ours is the task of always proving "them" wrong.




Although, there may be somethings we cannot do right? - I Doubt That!

Hg

McFly
12-11-08, 2:50 pm
respect

scals
12-11-08, 4:15 pm
You've done a great job Hg. Progressing awesomely. Continue to do what you're doing bro.

Hoomgar
12-16-08, 10:57 am
Is it morning already? Man it feels like I just went to bed. I do feel rested though. I feel better today. Stronger. Tonights chest workout is going to be great. I am really looking forward to it.

As I make my way to the laundry room to drop off some laundry, I see myself in the hall mirror. I throw my cloths in the dirty pile and make my way back to the mirror. Let's see what things are looking like these days since I haven't taken a look in a while now. Hmmm, the belly has come in, a lot! I like this. flex, flex, flex... WT??? Pop a front double bi... WT? maybe I'm not trying hard enough, errrrrr, no! Where are my biceps? Wait, look at my tri's? Hoaky crap! My chest! Where did my chest go! This isn't happening! WTH is going on?!?!

In come the doubts...

"You've lost all your gains dood, you cut back too much or something"

"See, if you don't hammer it until you almost kill yourself, every week for the rest of your life you will lose your gains just like that!"

"You're too old man, what were you thinking? Did you really think you could do this?"

"Maybe your body just isn't up to making, building and keeping muscle at this point in your life dood?"

Wait, what? NO! I Doubt that! I doubt all of that! In fact, I know it is all crap! I'm just a little flat this AM, it means nothing really. You old stinking smelly doubts, when are you going to learn? You can't discourage me. You can't make me quit. I don't believe a word you say. It's time to move aside now because I'm getting ready for my day. Unless you want the boot, I suggest you leave!

I want it all the more!
Am I a fool? Maybe, maybe not, so what!?
Delusional? I think not!
Silly, immature and irresponsible? You can take all of that right back to hell where it came from! I'm going to do this!

I can see myself... -in my minds eye-, and I'm huge! I posses the physique that I always wanted and never went after in my youth. I can see me standing there clearly, on the beach, watching my kids ride the waves back into shore towards me as I take pictures of them. The dad they are proud of. Not the old hairy guy with the huge gut, the clean tight looking guy with the solid physique. That! Is! Who I am!

I may not be where I need to be, but I am on my way! -Joyce Meyers.


Each morning we shed the scales of the previous day, each day we reach forth to embrace the life we have been given, the life we have is the only one we get in this, the here and the now.

The sun has risen, the day is well underway, what are you going to do with it?

Hg

stolzenator
12-17-08, 2:00 am
good posts man. good tool right there. especially goin into a PR day tomorrow! i'll tell ya now i doubt i wont hit those new PRs

Hoomgar
12-17-08, 1:26 pm
good posts man. good tool right there. especially goin into a PR day tomorrow! i'll tell ya now i doubt i wont hit those new PRs

Use it bro, our biggest enemy at times is our own mind. Master that and the limits are gone.

Hg

Firedrake
12-17-08, 6:01 pm
Great post, Hoomgar -- I know what you mean -- I mean, I look at the numbers on the scale (248 this morning, down from 266 eight weeks ago today, 279 in July, and 303 last August), and I know I've made good progress. There are beginning to be hints of possibilities of suggestions of abs under the flab, and I can feel the beginnings of development in my chest and quads, even if I can't see it yet.

I can see the beginnings of mass in the biceps and triceps when I flex, if not much yet in the shoulders. My numbers on the back exercises are coming up faster than I expected, actually, proving the doc's assertions that my low back was probably stronger than the rest of me. Yet, I still can't do an unaided pullup or dip.

My endurance is way up in just three months, from the guy who could barely get 20 minutes on the treadmill at no incline and 2.5mph.

Yet, all I do when I see myself in the mirror is look at the gut that's still there . . . [sigh] I grew a beard during my divorce three years ago to hide the double chin, and now I'm wondering how much of it is left, because the change in the shape of the face is obvious above the whitening whiskers.

On the other hand, the trousers I'm wearing today I couldn't buckle this spring, and now they're slightly loose. Stuff I bought last year is falling off me, and I'm trying to time my next clothes purchase so I'll have something respectable that fits when I go to the Arnold. (Yeah, I know -- I could probably spend the whole weekend in sweats and an Animal t-shirt).

So, it's one thing to see the evidence that I'm making progress, only to have questions arise when I look at that shape in the mirror. To me, I look "skinny fat" -- thin in the shoulders and chest and arms, fat in the gut and butt. When I look at pictures of me with my family, though, I see how much broader chested and shouldered I am already than most of the men in my family.

Am I too old, at 54? Not as long as I'm breathing! They ain't seen nuthin' yet! I saw Dave Goodin on the cover of the latest Iron Man -- I wanna look that good! . . . and I DON'T doubt I can do it.

. . . and neither should you!

Hoomgar
12-17-08, 6:11 pm
Am I too old, at 54? Not as long as I'm breathing! They ain't seen nuthin' yet! I saw Dave Goodin on the cover of the latest Iron Man -- I wanna look that good! . . . and I DON'T doubt I can do it.

. . . and neither should you!


You've got it right on brother. Now keep that mind set right there for the rest of your life!

And good on you for the progress you have already made. You've come a long way in such a short time. The good life is out there, for any one who dares to reach out and take it...

Hg

Hoomgar
12-23-08, 2:42 pm
and quit, cave in, let it go, resign, throw in the towel, step back, hide, cower, don't get involved. It is so much easier to just stop. Why spend yourself when you can relax and take it easy? Look at so and so, they never needed to do what you do and it was "good enough" for them? Why do you have to keep pushing yourself so hard? You might burn yourself out don't you think?...

-----

Yea, so... go ahead, quit, step back man, after all, it's "good enough" for you...

BUT NOT ME!!! So please don't be offended when I drop you off here curb side and go on my way. It's best this way because until you change your thinking, your not going to be able to make it where I am headed. So many of my friends are way up ahead of me, I have some serious catching up to do! How about, instead of doing less work, I do more! MUCH MORE! Instead, I'll press harder, longer and faster and more often!

That, is where I find myself, when I look for myself, -in my minds eye-

You Have To Make It Happen! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1tXhJniSEc)

Hg

Cellerator65
12-23-08, 5:53 pm
you know Hg, thats so true.

I know you read G's new article... and when i thought i couldnt push anymore, i kept repeating the last lines in that and training through the pain.

When it hurts and you want to stop... you gotta keep pushing.

Firedrake
12-23-08, 7:17 pm
You've got it right on brother. Now keep that mind set right there for the rest of your life!

And good on you for the progress you have already made. You've come a long way in such a short time. The good life is out there, for any one who dares to reach out and take it...

Hg

It IS such a short time -- I feel like I'm just waking up again after a long, fitful nap. Even my lady fried has noticed the huge difference in me since August. Just doing legs this morning, I was like: " . . . that's not pain, that's GROWTH!" and kept squatting. I'll probably hate myself tomorrow, but I'll laugh every time it hurts.

It's only been a year and a half since I was told I was headed for a wheelchair -- now I'm headed for WHEELZ!

[chuckle] I feel like a kid again, and sometimes wonder who the white bearded guy in the mirror is . . .

Hoomgar
12-29-08, 11:37 am
you know Hg, thats so true.

I know you read G's new article... and when i thought i couldnt push anymore, i kept repeating the last lines in that and training through the pain.

When it hurts and you want to stop... you gotta keep pushing.


It IS such a short time -- I feel like I'm just waking up again after a long, fitful nap. Even my lady fried has noticed the huge difference in me since August. Just doing legs this morning, I was like: " . . . that's not pain, that's GROWTH!" and kept squatting. I'll probably hate myself tomorrow, but I'll laugh every time it hurts.

It's only been a year and a half since I was told I was headed for a wheelchair -- now I'm headed for WHEELZ!

[chuckle] I feel like a kid again, and sometimes wonder who the white bearded guy in the mirror is . . .

Let's face it fellas, we take pleasure in the pain of progress. We really do. I think this may be the main thing that makes or breaks someone on the path of personal physical improvement? Do we like what we are doing and what we get from it? If the answer is yes, you have people like us, if the answer is no, it isn't worth the pain to me, then we have those who quit. Just a theory...

Hg

J-Dawg
12-30-08, 5:29 pm
Subbed here HG. I like reading your thoughts and hearing what you have to say while you push along in your journey. Good stuff here HG.

Hoomgar
12-31-08, 10:27 am
Subbed here HG. I like reading your thoughts and hearing what you have to say while you push along in your journey. Good stuff here HG.

Thank J-Dawg, I'm glad you popped in here. Our mindset is the biggest part of the battle.

Hg

machineman
12-31-08, 10:48 am
just ran across this, Hg......definitely subbed and can relate to what you talk....can't wait for '09....

Firefist
12-31-08, 3:17 pm
You know when I`m in the gym and about to do an all out DC set, especially squats, the little voice chirps in,"you sure you`re gonna make it to 20 reps"? and I always say back "I`ve got to coz every single mofo in the gym is watching me" and I visulaise everyone around me stopping what they are doing to watch me, its very powerful and works well.

i find myself doing that alot. especially for deads and squats.

Hoomgar
01-06-09, 8:52 am
just ran across this, Hg......definitely subbed and can relate to what you talk....can't wait for '09....

You know it bro. Things that happen can only be set backs if we let them be. We can also turn them into stepping stones...

Hg

Mr. Dead
01-06-09, 11:16 am
Let's face it fellas, we take pleasure in the pain of progress. We really do. I think this may be the main thing that makes or breaks someone on the path of personal physical improvement? Do we like what we are doing and what we get from it? If the answer is yes, you have people like us, if the answer is no, it isn't worth the pain to me, then we have those who quit. Just a theory...

Hg

A damn good theory, too!!!

Hoomgar
01-15-09, 11:21 pm
Linking these up since they belong in here:

Can ya feel me now? (http://forum.animalpak.com/showthread.php?t=19233)

I will kick you right in the face! (http://forum.animalpak.com/showthread.php?t=14848)

Hg

Hollow
01-16-09, 7:42 am
Mighty fine words Hoomgar!

BB
01-16-09, 10:57 am
Great post so glad you have found what drives you...doubt the doubts, i love it haha

Alta0331
01-18-09, 5:32 am
Love it HG, keep it coming

B Con
01-18-09, 8:02 pm
Glad to see those posts linked in here. Definitely deserve to be here.

C.Coronato
01-21-09, 12:47 pm
Very inspirational .. we need more posts like this HG. Keep em coming.

Hoomgar
04-03-09, 12:42 pm
I feel like something busting
Breaking out of its own skin
I feel this child escaping outside of the heart of an old man
I feel like something ripping and tearing off this callous
Revealing me
I never want it to end
This old feeling we’re feeling again -Disciple


What bleeds, bleeds because it is full of life...

What hurts, can only hurt if you are alive...

What is broken, heals...

What tries to stop me, can only make me stronger...

What seems hard now, will become easy...

What seemed impossible before, has already been done...

What I used to doubt, I now look back upon and laugh!


Knock me down 7 times, and I will stand up 8 times and make you wish you had never tried.

Tell me I can't do it and pour gas on my fire.

I've sunken, fallen into a new doubt, one that has helped me swallow up once and for all, all the little petty doubts that used to peck away at my mind, now:

I Doubt There Is Anything I Cannot Do!

Hg

weedlewott
04-22-09, 3:20 pm
respect


Use it bro, our biggest enemy at times is our own mind. Master that and the limits are gone.

Hg

I most definitely second McFly. You sir, have just set my bar higher than I thought it could go. Being deployed, you lose motivation quickly. This has given me a newly lain foundation on which to build my mental capacity. Thank you.

Hoomgar
04-28-09, 8:44 am
If you don't want to read the bleeding hearts crap then now is the time to close this thread and move on. The following is a mind dump. I'm recording this day against myself, as a marker. A place that I need to grow out of, move on. If this thought doesn't bother you, then read on, if you dare...


Why do we do it? We care, we go out of our way. We cancel plans and give up our own living to care for others. Those in need. People we love, close to our hearts, family. We put ourselves out on the line, vulnerable. We want nothing in return other than to see them succeed. To get a grip on life and pull it around.

Why don't they use these tools? The hand up, the help, the opportunity? It worse than that. After pouring your heart into them, they stab you in the back, in the heart. You find out they are back bitting you because you didn't give even more?

Are we to just lay down and let these who use, take from our families? From our children, our wives, our pocket books until they are satisfied?

Why, why why? Why don't they try to climb up? To better themselves? Because they don't, thats why. Some are degenerate. Incapable of grasping the inner fortitude needed to pull through in this life. Through tough times. They don't need a hand up because they don't know what to do with it when it is given to them. To them, it's a hand out, help for another day that they will need again and again, over and over.

These are the ones that you teach how to fish on their own, and every evening they show up at your door for a free fish dinner because they still, don't know how to go catch their own fish. You show them again, you help them get started, you buy them a boat, a rod, bait, fish tracker, nets... and come evening, they are already at your door, looking for that free fish dinner from your table. They sold the goods you bought for them to buy food and pay for lodging. Since that has run out, they need you to put them up for the night again.

All the while, they grumble and complain because you, you!!! had the testicular fortitude to help them, to believe in them and show them what they must do to get back on track. How dare you!? Who are you? What do you know? You who raise children and pay mortgages and car payments and feed your family. You who takes from your children plates to help them out. What do you know and who are you to try to tell them how they can make it happen? No instead they back bite you and find reasons within themselves to be angry with YOU! You stupid ****, who the hell are you to try to help?

Why don't they understand? Why don't they get it?

Because they don't...


I know who I am. What I am. What I'm doing. Do they? Do they even care?


Why do I care?




Because I do.

McFly
04-28-09, 9:18 am
I totally feel you on this HG, on so many levels. well said.

Mr. Dead
04-28-09, 12:06 pm
Amen... Sadly, the healthcare field is littered with nurses and doctors, even, that refuse to use the tools, and will rip your head off, if you offer to help them get on the path they should be on...

Hollow
04-28-09, 12:53 pm
Very well said Hoomgar.

Hoomgar
04-28-09, 8:37 pm
I push, you pull back,
I press and you fall away,
I breathe, deep, life within my lungs and you wither...

I saw you today, hiding around the corner, watching me, waiting, looking to see if I would be weak or strong. Watching to see if you could attack me from the shadowy recesses on my mind.

I'm getting stronger, you, you are getting weaker, your influence, once so strong in my life is now failing. You are losing your grip. Your stinger has fallen out.

You tell me I can't and now I know that it means that I can. I will! I'm not afraid of you any longer, I know you know it, you wont look at me face to face anymore.

You used to be so big, a giant to me. Now, now I tower over you. I can crush you with one arm. You faint just by me looking you back, in the face, you pull away.

My life long enemy, you have lost. Oh doubt, did you really think you could hold me back?

I've seen too many already do what I want to do. I know that it is more than just possible. I've got what it takes to get mine and I'm going to take it now!

Like a severed branch in the hot sun, I watch you lay there dying, watch you wither and fade to nothing as I, I walk away...

The winds of change are blowing hard on the fires of desire and burning out all the doubts.
I can see me standing there, a giant, changing, growing, I see me... as I look in the mirror of my minds eye.

Hg

firsthorseman97
04-29-09, 9:47 am
Amazing post Hg. I am fired up now! You just fueled my desire to attack life head on!

wedge
04-29-09, 9:56 am
Good reads Hoomgar. Silence the doubts.

Hoomgar
07-27-09, 11:49 am
Doubt: -verb
1. to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
2. to distrust.
3. Archaic. to fear; be apprehensive about.

Things in this life seem to be at best uncertain at times. One day we feel we are in complete control of our destiny and the next day every thing can be falling apart, leaving us in a mire of our own doubts. Doubtless, the doubts will come. Sure as we defeated them in our past, more intimidating and stronger ones will arise to take their place.

It's what we do at these very moments that determines our future. That shapes and molds who we are becoming. Will we buckle this time? Collapse under the weight of the new and improved, stronger doubts? Will we fight, will we concede? Will we give up and throw the towel into the ring of life signaling our surrender or will we come out swinging at the bell?

I present a challenge to you all this day. When the hideous faces of doubt arise in your mind... taunting you with failure and trying to tell you that you are not going to make it to the end of your goals. That you are going to come up short and that it would be "easiest" to just give up right now and try to save what face you have left...

Fight those doubts with the most powerful weapon you have at your disposal. We all have it. To each of us has been given a measure. Tap into it, use it, strengthen it and when you are fully charged come out swinging and deal the final blow to that doubt once and for all.

What weapon is this I am speaking of? The pure opposite of doubt. The black and the white. In your own heart, mind and soul, right there next to that doubt is where you will find it. Contrasted against the doubt, standing out of the crowd like a bright Yellow shirt in a sea of black shirts it stands... Faith!

Faith: -noun
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8. Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.


Whatever your belief system, each of us has faith. Of all the things we could argue about applying our faith to. There is one thing that is uncontested and is your most valuable ally. Have faith in what you were made to be. The abilities you have been given. When doubts come and try to cloud your mind with fears and failures, clear a path out of the mist for yourself by having faith in the ability you have been given to stand against the attack! Walk on through it out into the sunshine and look up and smile at the bright day ahead of you.

Nothing in this life is so hard as the challenges we face through imposing unrealistic limitations on ourselves.

Doubt the doubts and have faith and believe in your goals and yourself. Stir up your inner man with new desire each and every day. Feed him, strengthen him, encourage him.

Stand tall and never give in or give up!

--------

There is a warrior spirit built within each and every one of us. Although many choose to never give ear to it's voice. I challenge you today, I DARE YOU to Listen to it, the call of the wild... Do you hear it? Then screw these doubts, it's time to answer the call!

Hg

OklahomaMuscle
07-27-09, 11:53 am
Thank you Hoom, that was one of the most motivating and REAL things I've ever read. Awesome post brother...belongs on the home page if you ask me...stay on the grind big guy and Answer that Call!

machineman
07-27-09, 11:56 am
great post, Hg.....definitely a good read after this weekend.....thanks, brother....keep up the great work!

scals
07-27-09, 1:06 pm
Inspiring post Hg. Like the tattoo on my back says "Leave No Doubt"

Firedrake
07-27-09, 3:44 pm
Beautifully said my friend -- it matters not what your faith is in, as long as it is THERE. I have faith that I am training as hard as I can, and each day I go forth to prove it, and make it MORE.

I have faith in my "faith"; my private relationship with the Divine, that uplifts and supports me in my day.

I have faith in my Animal "kin" that I never expected -- that they, too, understand that driven feeling toward our goals, and are willing to reach out to support mine, as well.

I have faith that we lean on each other; encouraging, cajoling, consoling and driving each other to do the most we can and to be the best we can.

Thank you for helping to highlight that faith.

Hoomgar
08-07-09, 1:07 pm
Thank you Hoom, that was one of the most motivating and REAL things I've ever read. Awesome post brother...belongs on the home page if you ask me...stay on the grind big guy and Answer that Call!


great post, Hg.....definitely a good read after this weekend.....thanks, brother....keep up the great work!


Inspiring post Hg. Like the tattoo on my back says "Leave No Doubt"


Beautifully said my friend -- it matters not what your faith is in, as long as it is THERE. I have faith that I am training as hard as I can, and each day I go forth to prove it, and make it MORE.

I have faith in my "faith"; my private relationship with the Divine, that uplifts and supports me in my day.

I have faith in my Animal "kin" that I never expected -- that they, too, understand that driven feeling toward our goals, and are willing to reach out to support mine, as well.

I have faith that we lean on each other; encouraging, cajoling, consoling and driving each other to do the most we can and to be the best we can.

Thank you for helping to highlight that faith.

Fight the good fight, doubt the doubts, answer the call fellas...

Hg

Hoomgar
08-07-09, 1:07 pm
"If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through."
Rosalyn Carter

"Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Doubt makes the mountain which faith can move."
Proverb

"Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom."
George Iles

"Doubt is the key to knowledge."
Proverb

"When you doubt, abstain."
Ambrose Bierce

"When in doubt, risk it."
Holbrook Jackson

"Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms."
Kahlil Gibran

"Doubt whom you will, but never yourself."
Christian N. Bovee

"Should you find yourself in moments of doubt I encourage you to list the events and achievements in your life that you are grateful for."
Josh Hinds

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead


http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/QUOMAG/M93~Never-Give-Up-Winston-Churchill-Posters.jpg


Never accept defeat. Get back up, go again, as many times as it takes. Get your mind wrapped around this and I assure you, they (haters, doubts and oppositions) will tire long before you will.

When you are in the thick of it, and the doubts of your life start to surround you, light a fire under your desire to win and go for the throat!

Hg

Hoomgar
08-20-09, 12:31 am
You know it doesn't hurt to look back in time and laugh a little every now and then. I mean, like look at some of the things you thought were so far out there that they were impossible for you, things that now you have done and even gone beyond.

For me, it was today that I realized this. Just a little over 1 year ago I used to watch the big guys in my gym throw up the big dumbbells and I would think to myself that there was no way I could ever press those things. I'd see them press 80's and 90's and some of them would do the 100's and up. To me, it was so far out there (I was pressing 35's and 40's at the time) that I saw it as impossible. Well, at that time, it was...

Move to now. I've been creeping up on those larger dumbbells for some time now. Got the 90's up several months back, now I'm doing sets of 10 with them. When I got the 95's up a few weeks later, it was then that I realized... I'll be getting those 100's up soon! I've had the 100's up for reps several times now but couldn't seem to get to the next step, the 110's for some time now. Today, that doubt, the doubt that I could get past the 100's and lift more, that doubt died just like all the rest have.

You know, I still have some doubts swimming around in my head saying to me: (yea 110's ok so what, your not getting those 130's or 140's up, maybe the 120's but that is it)

That is the kind of crap that fly's in the window of my mind and lands on the table of my brain. You know what though? Just like all the other doubts I've had, I know that these doubts too, will die!

So in this, I know that I've only begun to reach for my potential. There is much more there than I knew there was and I'm having the time of my life finding it all.

Never doubt yourself for even a second. Give yourself some time and then just do it!

Hg

Firedrake
08-20-09, 12:41 am
Well said, bro! VERY well said. If you'd told me, two years ago, in my first weeks of recovery from back surgery, that I'd be leg pressing 750 lbs.+ and doing rack deads with 405, I'd've said you were fuckin' crazy. I've done both those things in the last week, and discovered this morning I've packed on over eight pounds of solid muscle in the last five weeks since we started this contest.

I know it will all get done!

scals
08-20-09, 2:07 am
You're damn right Hg. I remember a time when I saw someone DB pressin 85s ad I was in awe. I thought who the fuck that guy was. I remind myself of that moment whenever I'm having a shitty day. Today I warm up with those 85s. You just need to believe in yourself and never forget the journey you were on to get to the point of today.

Hoomgar
08-24-09, 11:22 am
Well said, bro! VERY well said. If you'd told me, two years ago, in my first weeks of recovery from back surgery, that I'd be leg pressing 750 lbs.+ and doing rack deads with 405, I'd've said you were fuckin' crazy. I've done both those things in the last week, and discovered this morning I've packed on over eight pounds of solid muscle in the last five weeks since we started this contest.

I know it will all get done!


You're damn right Hg. I remember a time when I saw someone DB pressin 85s ad I was in awe. I thought who the fuck that guy was. I remind myself of that moment whenever I'm having a shitty day. Today I warm up with those 85s. You just need to believe in yourself and never forget the journey you were on to get to the point of today.

Right on brothers. Point to the story, dead lift PR this weekend. Now I'm only a dime per side away from my end of year goal of getting 405 off the floor raw.

Hg

curt_james
09-26-09, 9:52 pm
Right on brothers. Point to the story, dead lift PR this weekend. Now I'm only a dime per side away from my end of year goal of getting 405 off the floor raw.

Hg

What's the story on the 405?

The most I've ever dl'ed was a sloppy, round-backed, horror story of 365. That was a million years ago.

Hoomgar
09-29-09, 2:05 pm
What's the story on the 405?

The most I've ever dl'ed was a sloppy, round-backed, horror story of 365. That was a million years ago.

Story is that since that post everything over 315 has felt like a ton yet 315 has come off the floor easily and for reps. Very weird but I'm taking it in stride.

405 by EOY is still on the boards...

Hoomgar
10-22-09, 9:23 am
"Distant from faces, hollow and uncomfortable.
I haven't been up or down in so long, but believe me.
Depression just takes too much, and I'm far too drained, to give her, what's due.
I live for defeat.
Find myself searching for the worst.
Take me where I need to go I'm much too tired to live alone." -Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster

Up, down, up, down, up, down, UP! I fight the fight to keep it on the uphill climb. My body tires, my mind weakens, I feel sick, then I feel great. I look for more, I find it, but before I can sweep it all up I find myself once again falling short on reach...

Mistakes, education comes hard and painful. I walk with the limp of past lessons. I'm stronger than I have ever been, weaker than I want to be. I look forward on the map, looking for more, but what is the right path? Do I go this way or that way? Doesn't look like there is a shortcut... hmmm, in fact, my navigator says there is no way to get there from here... I'll forge my own road.

"It never ends" -m

This I know, what I've started, that which I have set out to do, I will achieve, I will not be stopped by my own reasoning, over thinking it all. I'll find my way, and if I don't, I'll make my way...

~driven

Hg

Hoomgar
10-27-09, 4:03 pm
It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

Games: remember these? When we were kids life was just one big game. Only being interrupted by us having to come in and eat dinner, take a bath and go to bed. We all knew though, come sun up, it's game time again! Game on!!! as we sprint out the door (after breakfast of course) looking for our homies, ready for the next days adventure on the playground, the swimming hole or wherever the days games would be held.

Somewhere along the way the games got serious? I hit rewind in my minds eye and play it all back, over and over, trying to figure out where the rules changed? The games got serious without us realizing it was creeping up on us.

Now, before we even realized what was happening, the game changed. Now we bust out the front door in the morning, off to kick it with our... coworkers? Wait, this isn't any fun! Get home, make the kids eat the dinner, take baths and go to bed. Wait? I didn't realize I was going to become my parents?

Work, pay bills, deal with life's issues. When was the last time we went to that swimming hole I remember from so long ago? Like a distant echo in the misty hillside on a chilly night, I remember those days, miss those days.

Now what I want I have to work for, bust a move or lose! It's still just a big game. The rules haven't changed, the places are all the same. It's me, it's me that has changed, changed roles. I'm not in the same position anymore. Running and romping have been replaced with reality and responsibility.

It's all good. In fact, it's what we make of it. I'm still playing the games. It's still fun because I've decided that it is. It needs to be. I'm not playing with G.I. Joe in the sand box anymore. Now, I'm the G.I. Joe and this world is the sand box. I can make my G.I. Joe anything I want him to be. The new me.

I watched my son box up all his old toys and G.I. Joe dolls and give them away a while back and it hit me. Life marches on but the games never end. We just keep introducing new players while we move up to the next position.

Sometimes we feel like we are losing the game and we just want to quit and walk away. But weren't we all taught that that is bad sportsmanship? You don't quit just because you aren't doing as well as you would like to be. Thing is, in a game, it's mostly up to chance. See though, in this life it isn't. We are in control of our destiny. We shape our tomorrow and we build our future on the foundation we lay today.

Game on!

Hg

McFly
10-28-09, 8:56 am
very well said....

read up fellas, a lot of wisdom and insight coming from our brother HG

Firedrake
10-28-09, 5:44 pm
There are times, my brother, when I keep feeling like I'm playing someone else's game, and much like "Calvinball" the rules keep changing.

I have to be reminded what I learned from fighting: make THEM fight YOUR fight.