Why the hell should you step up when everyone else around you is sliding by, barely doing the minimum, trying to hide in the shadows and not be noticed?

While everyone around you is complaining about what is wrong, why should you be the person who accepts no excuses and stops at nothing to drive forward and pursue excellence?

Living in a world that has become complacent with mediocrity, it is imperative that you step up and share your passion with the world. Sometimes you must be selfish at first to ensure you are investing in your own progress so you can have more to share with the rest of the world later. Think of it as having more money to invest, the more you have to invest, the more you can make and spend and share. If you have a small account, you simply have less to invest and less to offer. Make yourself bigger and stronger first. 

Doing something great for yourself first thing in the morning is the best way to offer more to the world. 

You owe it to yourself and to everyone else to be better tomorrow than you are right now. 

You don't live and train for accolades and acknowledgment. Constantly getting rewarded for mundane tasks like "going to the gym" is for weak minded people. Bragging and boasting about your weekly accomplishments is for pretenders, who only do it for the pat on the back from their peers. What would happen if no more rewards were handed out? 

You train for improved strength of mind, body and soul. This is your character building. You train hard when no one is around, no one is watching and talking about your last set. You're all alone in the dark, and still doing work. No one needs to be there to push you. Your fire is burning too fucking bright to be dulled by some lame pat on the fucking back and a half jealous, "good job," from the guy on the next bench. A strong support system is important, but without your commitment and personal contributions, its meaningless. 

You're not doing this for the social gatherings on Friday nights. 

You're doing it for personal achievements and Stronger Monday Mornings. You know that to give more of yourself, you have to invest more in yourself. 

Each day, each week, each year is another opportunity to become the man you want to be. 

People are relying on you to pick them up, to push them forward, to be their inspiration, everyday. You do your job, everyday. But sometimes you drag ass and need a supportive hand to get motivated, sometimes it's there when you need it, sometimes it's not. 

That is of no consequence. When no one is there to push you, to give you that needed boost, you take an extra deep breathe, you know its there, burning inside you, and you push hard enough to get started. Thats all it takes and you know it, that first step. You're moving now, nothing can stop you. Like a freight train with no brakes, smashing through all barriers. 

Everyday people make excuses why something can wait for tomorrow. Then cry about not achieving their goals. This happens when there is no urgency, nothing pushing you for greatness now. If you need a mindset adjustment, consider this scenario...

If your situation was this: if you do the thing, you will be rewarded with $10 million dollars immediately afterwards. BUT, if you do NOT do the thing, you and your entire family, and all your loved ones whom you have ever known, will be raped and viciously murdered one by one at the end of the day. 

Would you make an excuse? Would you find a way to get it the fuck done? No flat tire, no late night at work, no headache would be more important than doing the thing you need to do to be successful. 

No excuses, do the work. 

Everyday you have a choice to do, or not do. No excuse is valid. Did you, or didn't you? No BUTS, no "Well, what had happened was..." or "I was gonna, BUT..."

You know that training hard and being successful is not about the perfect program, the perfect volume, the perfect amount of sets and reps that will transform your mind and ability to the level that you want. 

You understand that, while programming is important, first and foremost, it is about having that burning desire to achieve something great, something worthy of recognition, and committing yourself to the pursuit of your passion. Without consistent hard work, the perfect plan is useless. 

Attacking your goals with consistency is far greater than waiting for the perfect course of action. Perfection is never coming, my friend, but your hard work and dedication will never leave if you want it bad enough. 

You set small goals along the way, and every small victory gently alters the course of your path. You now have a new direction with new, more advanced goals, something you didn't realize was possible a year ago. 

What once seemed light years away, has now been passed without so much of a balloon party to celebrate. You personally acknowledge your achievements without writing a press release and start your new plan of action with newer, bigger goals. 

The actual goals themselves become less and less important, and pursuit of the evolving process is the new name of the game. Always staying on the path is the biggest reward. 

You realize that the smarter you get, the stronger you become, the more stupid and weak you really are. Every new goal becomes a bigger challenge, every achievement welcomes a new, bigger hurdle for you to overcome. It is a never ending road that winds through pain, disappointment and loneliness, yet always turns a corner to fulfillment, improvement and success. 

Hills and valleys, smiles and cries. You'll never win every battle, if you did, your war was too easy, and your accomplishments hollow. 

You learn to embrace the deficiencies that keep you cornered, halting your progress. You realize that some plateaus are bigger than others. But every mile begins with the first step. 

You don't fall in to the trap of making other peoples goals your own. Through practice you realize what's important to you and you never let the new shiny object deter you from your path. 

You're smart enough to take on what you can handle, plus a little more at times, but not overwhelm yourself with the bullshit that has drowned many a good men in your wake. You always push forward with determination and fortitude, never backing down from the daily tasks that jump in front of you, trying to derail your progress. 

Right now someone with no legs is moving forward. Someone with no voice is telling a story. Someone who came from shit is building a fucking empire. 

Do not wait for motivation to come, he doesn't read invitations anyway. Find your own motivation, find your own passion, pursue it everyday. Your world needs you to be the leader. They do not need you to be perfect, but they need you to know what helps and what doesn't. 

The world only helps you as much as you offer it. If you don't give every ounce you have to making your situation better, don't expect a damn thing in return, and if you bitch and complain about your situation, expect a giant slap in the mouth for your unwanted contribution. 

People want to hear someone bitch and complain about their life as much as they want to watch me eat a diarrhea sandwich for lunch. Not a best seller right there. 

Get up, start something positive, keep working towards greatness, make a name for yourself. But don't do it for accolades, do it because you deserve it and owe it to the world to give something great back. 

Don't worry about the perfect plan, focus on the progress, dedication and commitment to improvement. 

Plans can change all the time, humans adapt and adjust. But that battery in your soul only has so much life in it. Don't drain it by sitting idle waiting for something to happen. You be that spark, that big bang necessary to catapult you to the point of constant evolvement. 

This shit ain't about the gym, this is about real life people making real life change and progress. The gym is only one small chapter in the book.

Committing to greatness and the pursuit of mastery is something that scares the shit out of most people. It's too hard for most people to look in the mirror, to make change. I don't blame people for wanting an easy life. But I respect and admire those who prefer to stand out from the crowd, those who have the guts, who dare to try to achieve something really hard. 

Is today your day? 

As always, this post is a call to action for all of us, myself especially, to push harder now more so than we ever have before. Right now is our time to shine, step up. 

Front squats should be in every athletes exercise program, at least intermittently throughout the course of the year. There may be problems for some people who lack the requisite flexibility to properly hold the bar, but a few stretches and some practice will eventually help them attain the required flexibility to get the most out of the exercise. You can see by the photo to the left that to maintain proper positioning for the front squat, you must have decent full body flexibility. The lifter have a vertical torso, feet flat, knees tracking parallel with the toes, elbows up high and bar resting naturally on his rack, deep into his throat.

There must be great ankle mobility or the lifter won't be able to sink straight down and his butt would shoot back, making it impossible to maintain an upright torso to hold the barbell with the body correctly. When a lifter has poor ankle mobility, it looks as if he is squatting in ski boots. Adequate mobility in the knee is important, so you can get as low as possible. This absolute depth is imperative if you are interested in Olympic lifting so you can get under the heaviest weights possible, as you will not be able to pull max loads from the ground as high as you would a power clean. Strong and flexible hamstrings, quadriceps, and trunk muscles are necessary to support large loads. Flexible shoulders and triceps are necessary to keep the bar in place. We need to bend fast without breaking, which requires strength, speed, power, agility, coordination and mobility. The combination of all these qualities are what makes a dominant athlete. Performed light, front squats are an outstanding loaded stretch. Performed heavy, they are one of the best strength building exercises an athlete can perform. Check out Jackie's front squats below.

If you are lacking any of the above qualities, here are some ways to enhance your mobility, increase your strength, and improve your performance.

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I almost always begin my primary work in my training sessions with some sort of power exercise, like a variation of an Olympic lift. I do it because I can, and because I like it. I think it is a good fit for me because I like using my entire body when I train. Various throws or jumps might be a better option to substitute or rotate in if the need occurs. Here is a sample training session beginning with a specific warm up and moving through the progressions of the lifts.