{"id":1123,"date":"2014-09-07T08:52:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-07T15:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2014-09-07T08:52:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-07T15:52:17","slug":"enjoy-the-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/07\/enjoy-the-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Enjoy the Ride!"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 years ago I was obese (BMI 32.35) and unhealthy. 5 years ago I was skinny and unhealthy. 4 years ago I started living a healthier lifestyle. 3 years ago I became interested in bodybuilding and lifting weights. 2 years ago I got serious about bodybuilding. 1 year ago I decided I wanted to do a bodybuilding competition. About 1 week ago, I stepped on a stage in a posing suit.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0431\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s been a long journey that is far from over, and it’s fun to look back on other aspects of my life and see how they’ve evolved as well. \u00a06 years ago, when I was obese, smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, and drank heavily, had you told me I would eventually become intensely passionate about health & fitness, and would change career paths to help people realize their health & fitness goals, I likely would have laughed. \u00a0And lit up a cigarette to spite.<\/p>\n

. . . \u00a0But\u00a0that evolution is a part of the journey. \u00a0Everyone is obsessed with the quick fix, or how fast they can get something done, but I’m here to tell you that life is not about the destination! \u00a0At the risk of getting too heavy for a blog post, if you look at all of our lives as a book, the first chapter starts in the same way, and the last chapter ends in the same way; what differs are the pages in between.<\/p>\n

There are many bodybuilders that never step up on stage, instead opting to do “mock preps” so they can talk about preparing for a show without ever being judged. \u00a0They’re too scared to not win; they’re too scared they won’t step out on that stage as the winner they see in themselves, and they can’t handle the thought of failure.<\/p>\n

. . . \u00a0But failure is where you learn from; and where’s the fun in that!? \u00a0With no knowledge of competing in bodybuilding, and without ever having\u00a0seen a show, I decided to get on that stage, because life is about doing, and it’s about the journey. \u00a0It’s about what you learn along the way, whether it’s what foods work well for you while dieting, or how your body responds to dieting, or simply that you’re not very good at posing and you need to practice if you ever want to win a competition.<\/p>\n

I didn’t win my first show, but that is perfectly okay! \u00a0Rather than talk about a goal I had set for myself, I went out and did it; sure, I may not have won, but I went the distance! \u00a0I had a blast, I learned a lot, and I can now call myself a natural bodybuilder.<\/p>\n

When you’re on the path toward your goals, it’s important to keep your eyes on the goal, but it’s also crucial that you enjoy the ride while you’re getting there. \u00a0While my goal is to get my “pro card” as a natural bodybuilder, what’s the point if I don’t enjoy the journey (that could take years) along the way? \u00a0Even if your goals will only take a few months to achieve, what do they mean if you’re not enjoying yourself?<\/p>\n

That’s why I advocate flexible dieting; that’s why I advocate taking risks; that’s why I advocate living the dream– \u00a0It’s important to enjoy the journey!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 years ago I was obese (BMI 32.35) and unhealthy. 5 years ago I was skinny and unhealthy. 4 years ago I started living a healthier lifestyle. 3 years ago I became interested in bodybuilding and lifting weights. 2 years ago I got serious about bodybuilding. 1 year ago I decided I wanted to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Enjoy the Ride!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,7,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-building","category-health","category-motivation","category-personal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DfsS-i7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1125,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions\/1125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}