I’m in charge of it today. DO MY BIDDING!

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been back at the gym a bunch. It’s not a resolution, as much as a decision to change my lifestyle. Last year around this time, I opened a membership with GoWorkout because … well, simply put, because I missed feeling strong.

My Senior year of high school I took a course called Personal Conditioning, which turned out to be anything but the fluff course I expected it to be. By the time I graduated, I could run an 8 min mile, do situps like they were breathing, and bench my weight (at the time 160). The instructor pushed us to push ourselves, and I took every word he said as gold. Now, ten years later, I understand exactly how much that instructor has influenced my life with his advice.

In no particular order…

The advice of Odlum:

Do one more.

I bet you can. You’re not done yet, I promise. Keep going, focus, this bar is personally challenging you. Do one more.

Once you’ve decided what you can do, you stop there. If you think you can do ten, do 15. If you get to fifteen, try to do 16. Run another minute, another 10 seconds. Go until you stop, don’t go until you think you should be done.

Only you can define your limits.

Don’t ask me, I can’t tell you if you’re done. You can lie to me, but you can’t lie to yourself. Only you know if you are pushing yourself as hard as you can.

The woman dancing around in spandex in the front of the class can’t tell you if you’ve actually done everything you can. The man on the screen can’t describe for you what done feels like. No one else will know if you aren’t pushing yourself as hard as you can, and skimping or cheating only slows your results.

Only you will push yourself.

Me standing over you with a whip will only tire me out, and make you hate me. I’ll give you assignments, but you will decide how much you get out of them.

If you aren’t pushing yourself, no one else will. We all expect to set lofty goals, and then make excuses when we don’t meet them. Instead, set lofty goals and meet them. No excuses allowed. Hold yourself responsible, and don’t except failure as an option. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Dear Mr Odlum,

– benny