Seasons of Change: Measuring Progress

Seasons come and go in a year, in 5 years, and even a life time. Have you actually considered how you have grown over the seasons?

This particular trait is hard to do with all the instant gratification that we are plagued with in our everyday lives.

What if I told you that the only way to truly be successful in anything you do, you have to be a data machine!

First let me explain how this concept came about, the other day I’m digging around my apartment to find things I can record my workouts with ,for a youtube channel and exercise video data base for the site, I happened to stumble upon my old Iphone.

I was going to throw it back where I found it and forget about it but then I remembered that I could possible use it to make videos. So I hooked the bad boy up, went and meal prepped for the next day, and about 20 minutes later game back to a 10% charged phone.

It was good enough to work; I typed in my old pass code and started dumping everything so I could make room to record videos on it. As I was climbing through the mess of apps taking up my storage I stumbled upon my old photos.

Now in these photos what caught my eye were two sets of photos.

One set was from May 2014 where I was weighting 145 lbs. The next set of photos it was 4 months later, August 2014, and I was weighing at 154 lbs.

All in all these were the photos of my first bulking attempt, the first summer I tried a bodybuilding program, the first time I heard of macros, and the first time meal prepping.

So I uploaded the two different photos and sent them to my coach Adam Neth. (If you don’t know this guy by now it is the time to get in contact with him click the picture below)

Adam has been a corner stone for me when it has come to bodybuilding and is a personal inspiration. Adam has taken his time explaining nutrition to me, showing me workouts, and ultimately helping me launch the site you are reading this blog on.

He has definitely taken me to another level both inside and outside of the gym. He has become a member of my family because of the very traits he brings to the table. (Read my blog "Pack mentality: stronger together)

After a furry of emails between us this blog started to form in my head. We were talking about how especially in bodybuilding there are bulking phases (putting on weight) and cutting phases (dieting down) and the difficulties with both of these. How we get so caught up in one or long for another that it gets tough, but at the end of the day it’s an investment.

For us it is literally an investment in the muscle bank. The reason we put on weight is so we can take it off to produce a better image or body.

Just like a giant grizzly bear hibernating in the winter…. We eat a whole bunch to get bigger, put on muscle, and then when spring comes we take it all off.

The relevancy to this is simply are you a step closer to the goal you want to accomplish and are you investing in you goal?

Every day you go in and purse that goal is an investment and over time with a constant dedication, you slowly start to change. Some of these changes can be an investment in a week and you get the desired results.

Others take months and others take years for everything to pay off. However long it takes, the smaller goals that you obtain in the pursuit turn out to be the very season that leads to another.

For instance in a bulking season you are getting bigger, stronger, have so much more energy, and retaining more muscles, but at the same time you put on some fat.

Then in a cut, training gets harder, you are stricter for your goals, there is an end goal. Once you get to your goal you realize that you had to go through both the easy, the high point, and rough, the low to get the final prize. When you look back at it, you view the time in both phases and you realize that the investment was worth every penny.

Every minute you were wondering if it would pay off it pays back ten-fold.

Now measuring your success over the seasons can be hard,some seasons are harder than others. So how are ways you get from one seasons to another?

That is simply up to you!

Measuring success can come in many different forms such as taking a progress picture every week on the same day at the same time. Keeping old clothing as you make a change. Setting up a counting system with marbles and jars. Rewarding yourself with a new shirt, pants, trip, shoes, electronic device, or seeing a movie you have wanted when you reach a goal.

All in all the key is once a season is over with, set a new goal and purse it! Thus starting a new season or life goal, always be trying to invest in yourself.

So ask yourself what investment are you willing to make to obtain your goals?

Is it taking that first step? Saving more money to afford something? Quitting one job to get to another? How about working that extra 5 minutes, 1 hour to get things done?

The investments we make not only added up and over time with a constant dedication, they produce the results we seek. These small investments, the small increments of time are just ripples in a pond we all call life.

With enough ripples you can create waves and over the seasons of time you will change the landscape of your life. So I encourage you document everything, take the time to dust off the old photo album, sit back and be amazed at where you have come from because its just the foreshadow of where you are headed.

-The Iron Pulse Beats within you.

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(all photos are linked to original source)

#Success #Change #Positive #Fitness