I see realism as an issue in fitness as well.  People tend to set drastic and unrealistic goals.  I once had a 250 pound friend who wanted to get down to 165 pounds.  After getting down to 230 pounds quickly, the progress slowed.  This person got frustrated at the lack of progress and did a backslide on nutritional issues.  Exercise soon followed suit.  The cause of all this?  Lack of realism.  Had they been realistic they would have realized that weight always tends to come off fast at first.  Later, when it slows down, the real work begins.  By not having a realistic set of expectations my friend went off track quickly.

After examining me today (post run) she notes that my quads get extremely over stimulated from running.  This eventually causes an imbalance in my hips and my entire lower body.  She now has me doing foam rolling (feels great), more stretching (also feels great) and working on the Pose Running Technique. For those runners out there, take a look at the free videos on the site.  They show you how to do the technique and why it works.  It allegedly helps to avoid injury.  My doctor says that this technique helps avoid the imbalances I am currently causing myself.

The good news is that I can now resume running, but I have to work hard to stick to this technique.  Apparently I am stressing out my calves way too much when I run and that's causing the problems I've been having. 

Now, for those of you who thought of body building when you read the title, that's the second part of today's post.  Did you know that posing was a third of the score in body building competitions in the mid-80's and now it is only about 10%?  Why would that be the case?  Body building is supposed to be about how you show off your body.  That's what posing is all about.  So why drop the score down to 10% of the total? 

I am going to work heavily on my posing technique.  I am in what you would call “pre-competition mode” because honestly, I have no desire to compete in a body building show, I want to win my division in a body building show.  To do that I need to be at my best in every area.  That's what I'm working on.

The Shredder lifestyle–eating right, working hard in the gym, doing alot of cardio, building muscle and burning fat–it works.  If it didn't work none of us would be doing it.

I've read a few of the newer blogs lately and the authors get so frustrated that they are not seeing instant results.  I think they need to go back and read up on patience.  Patience is the answer.  Consistency is the key.  If these people have patience and are consistent with their programs they will see the results they desire.  Results come from hard work and it wouldn't be hard work if it happened overnight.  This is important to remember.

As much as we want to see a change immediately, it just isn't going to happen that way.  Alot of sweat and hard work goes into a physique transformation.  I've said it before and I will say it again, I don't believe that most of the 12 week transformations came from people who had just started out.  I believe most of them are like Adam: RTP Blog 2–they've had periods where they've tried and failed.  At some point, something clicks and they succeed at what they are doing.  This point is lost on most people.

Overall the workout was great.  I left the gym around 5 a.m. and I was pumped.