This is Focus Friday and today I am highlighting my friend, Dougal McDonald.  This is a guy who has been through some amazingly difficult times and still maintains a positive attitude.  He came extremely close to death or paralysis and yet here is is, shredding hard again.

If you have never “met” Dougal you are going to want to head over to http://mindbodysuperfit.blogspot.com and read his entire story. I strongly suggest that you go back into his archives and read up on this guy. You will not only be amazed, you will be motivated beyond belief.  His story is incredible.  Each time I think I have it tough I remind myself of Dougal and his story and I get right back moving.

I thought that Dougal would make the perfect first edition of Focus Friday.

Motivating Factors

There are several factors that go into motivating me to get the workouts done.  These factors are what lead me to get up as early as I do, because only by getting up early can I assure that my workouts actually get completed.

I workout because I want to have excellent health.  I want to look and feel the best that I can.  It is important to me because I have a fairly young family and I want to be there for them later in life.

I workout because I like how it feels.  I enjoy pumping iron and running on a treadmill.  These things give me energy and make me feel alive. 

I workout because it makes my body look better.  While some may view this as a vain reason, to me it is just one of the many reasons I do this.  If I wasn’t looking better I wouldn’t work as hard as I do.

Intensity is just one of the many variables involved in a lifting routine.  You would benefit from tracking all of these variables and what effect a tweak here or there has on your results.  By recording this information you can be assured of great results.

To me, working at the highest intensity is essential to fantastic growth.  You can always push yourself harder and harder.  That’s one way to increase intensity.  You can shorten your rest periods and intensity will rise.  You can increase the weight and intensity will increase.

Marc is not afraid to approach any topic on his site.  He has an area on the sidebar that lists recent articles.  In that list you will find an article about the supplements Marc takes, another article in which Marc is interviewed by Dave DePew (my nutritional consultant) and yet another where Marc discusses Monster Milk RTD.  I like the tone of Marc’s articles.  He isn’t afraid to tell you what works and what doesn’t work. 

Marc is extremely consistent despite people’s attempts to trip him up.  Witness a Q&A in his most recent article:

QUESTION:

You said you don’t need to take supplements to build muscle?  At least that is what your book claims along with everybody else in this industry.  Are you contradicting yourself?

ANSWER:

You do not. I was asked what I personally took, and I responded when most other professionals will not.  I’m not a supplement pusher but I’m not a supplement hater.   You only need handwork, consistency and adequate food intake coupled with recovery to build muscle and burn fat.  I said that, others say it and I stand by it.

Marc does not mince words.  He has alot of the same philosophies I do.  He is in the business to help people and not just to make money.  With Marc, what you see is what you get.  He is the guy he portrays in all of his articles.  He doesn’t lead a secret life.  You won’t find incriminating photos of him up on Facebook or Twitpic because Marc practices what he preaches.

I highly recommend adding Marc’s blog to your RSS reader so that you don’t miss a single article.  I have learned a tremendous amount from this man.  I am truly grateful to him for the information that he provides.

Some of my favorite Marc David articles from http://www.bodybuildingsecretslive.com are:

Dave DePew Interviews the NoBull Muscle Guy

What Supplements Do You Take-

Hugo Rivera Interview- Part 1

Hugo Rivera Interview- Part 2

Build Muscle Fast

You can follow Marc on Twitter — @marc_david

You can connect with Marc on Facebook – http://facebook.com/marcdavid

As I look at Matty I am in awe.  His body has been changing before my very eyes.  His lats are starting to pop out and he is thinning down quite a bit.  The baby fat that has plagued him is slowly leaving his body due to his extremely hard work. 

For those of you with a short memory or who haven’t been reading the blog long, let me update you on my son and why I am so proud of him.

The original idea for him to join me at the gym came from him.  He asked and I naturally agreed to have him join me.  At first it was a nightmare.  He would pretend to not be able to lift a weight even one time that he had lifted several times the workout before.  He would never really give it his all.  He wanted to take the easy way out rather than work hard.

At some point he and I started to have small conversations on the way to the gym and on the way home from the gym.  I planned these talks out in advance—just the topics—so that I could help guide him in the right direction.  Realizing that as a dad it was my job to mentor him (and mentoring involves creating independence), I set out to help him understand why we go to the gym daily.  We would have conversations about how silly it is to go to the gym at 4 a.m. but not give your whole effort to the workout.  We discussed results and he was surprised at my take on them (everything you do brings about results, but not always the kind you want).  He got to listen to my philosophy of lifting (you can never work hard enough because you can always go harder than you just did).  I helped him understand how that philosophy is linked to progression. 

Over time I noticed his attitude was changing.  He started to lift harder because it felt good.  He went heavy because it made him feel strong.  At one point, after a particularly grueling, mind blowing workout I saw him smiling, so I asked him an important question.  “Do you workout with me because I make you or because you love it?”  His answer was perfect.  “The answer is both.”  So I decided to clarify.  “Let me understand—you workout with me because you love lifting weights, you do it at 4 a.m. because I make you—is that correct?”  He confirmed that I had nailed it perfectly. 

That was a proud day for me for several reasons.  Here was my 14 year old son telling me that he shares my passion for weight training.  At the same time, he was telling me that he respects me enough to get up at 4 a.m. and not complain about it.  How many of you have 14 year old boys who will do this without a complaint?  Mine has never once complained about getting up in the morning to lift.