Workout as meditation...

[SNPiccolo5]

Recently, I've found I've been using my workout almost as much mentally as I am physically. In the past two or three months, I've managed to create drama beyond any point in my life- which isn't saying much, since I'm not one to do that, but it's still been stressful. Yeah, highschool can be funny sometimes.

In this whole situation, my workouts have been my "sanctuary" so to speak. To get in and lift weights takes my mind off anything, and leaves me feeling pretty good afterwords, too. The same goes for cardio; in fact, I'll go running sometimes JUST because I'm overwhelmed, and it really helps me relax. It's honestly gotten to a point where if it weren't for my workouts, I think I would have gone mentally insane by now, not kidding, lol!

Does anyone else find their workouts as a source of mental energy and refueling? I would be interested to hear people's thoughts on the matter.

-Tim

[flexap00]

The gym has always been holy ground for me, it's my get away and at times I feel more at home there than at home. It is my time for me and just for me. I have lived in 16 different places but wherever I go the gym is my sanctuary also.

My relationship with bodybuilding is a love/hate, I gotten myself into trouble when I was a teen and if it wasn't for bodybuidling I am for certain that I would be in jail or dead.

Very glad that you can relate, as when people who don't workout ask why I spend so much time in the gym and I try to explain, they just look at me perplexed.

Welcome to the Brotherhood of Iron

[.V.]

I don't call it meditation. But my workout time is MY TIME. Time which is only FOR ME. I've spent the last two years changing my body FOR ME. I'm not to be bothered unless the house is on fire or someone is dying.

It's a little selfish, but it works for me and I always come out of my gym with a clear head and ready to face whatever the day brings me. Besides, it's the only time in my life which isn't dedicated either to my family or to work.

So yeah, I understand what you are saying.

[Blaze]

This has been posted before, but I'd thought I'd post it again just because I love it. I can relate to this whole article, or story, whatever you want to call it.
The gym is the place i feel most comfortable, without having to worry about anything else.


---
I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes.

Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a
few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn't think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my adviser. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard.

Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special.
My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing.

In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in. Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense
the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn't say **** to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes
without work and a ceratin amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that
sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most
intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by
that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn
back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all
kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

[flexap00]

Blaze,

That was freaking beautiful, It is good to know that there are people out there that has the deep connection to iron beside me.

The Iron brothhood, the weak will never understand.

[SNPiccolo5]

Originally Posted by flexap00

Blaze,

That was freaking beautiful, It is good to know that there are people out there that has the deep connection to iron beside me.

The Iron brothhood, the weak will never understand.

Yeah, I remember when that was posted. I think we're all a little crazy...

-Tim

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by SNPiccolo5

I think we're all a little crazy...

-Tim

Ya gotta love it though :

Iron Brotherhood....i like it

Represent!

[SNPiccolo5]

Originally Posted by Blaze

Ya gotta love it though :

Iron Brotherhood....i like it

Represent!

Lol! In all the different ways it's possible to be crazy, this is one of the best, IMO.

-Tim

[tim_mcf]

Wasn't that Henry Rollins?

[Mr VW]

yeah bro, i know exactly what you mean, i used to run whenever i'd get frustrated and i wouldn't come home until i was too tired to remember why i went on the run in the first place.

[TriplNipl]

In the 18 years or so I have been fitness training, I have been through a couple points where I would not get into the gym for 6 months, sometimes up to a year... This has happened 3-4 times. Consistently I have found that I am much sharper both mentally and physically while training.

Probably one of the most important things I have learned is that if you are not performing well outside of the gym, be it work, school, personal life, your psyche, etc. you can generally look at sleep, diet, water intake and conditioning. If you're lacking in one of those and you improve it, you will perform better and it/they will give you the edge you need to be where you want to be.....hands down.

It absolutely is spiritual. Anyone who comes to me and says they are down, or not performing well, need to perform better.. The first thing I ask them..
Are you working out? What are you eating?

[pahalwan]

Thanks guys! it might seem wierd but i am going through a very hard time these days and had stopped working out..these messages inspire me to hit the gym and come out strong again..

i know i probably sound very stupid saying all this but a recent tragedy in the family has made a wreck...hopefully, working out is the way to forget the past and make a new start