It’s been a good week for me. I’ve really turned things up in my training and am starting to get really excited about the Olympia. This Saturday is 19 weeks out and I’m starting my diet at 16 weeks, so its getting closer and closer to that time again where M&M’s will no longer be a part of my life…shitty.
Bodybuilding has really given me everything in life when it comes to material things and also in things that are really immeasurable. Sure I like my car, my condo, I have all the clothes I could want but there is so much more bodybuilding has given me that can’t be seen or felt.
I’ll take you guys back to the scene I’m sure some of you have dealt with in your life. I’m 16 years old, in high school and the assignment is to write a speech and get up in front of the class and recite it; an anxious moment to say the least. It sucked and I was terrified but I got through it, not the right way though. I would get up in front of the class look down at my cue cards and never look up again as I read through my speech as fast as possible till I was done…lol
Fast-forward 16 years, I’m 32 years old now and have had a lot of great experiences because of bodybuilding. It has really taught me to be confident, to believe in myself, that anything can be achieved when focused on hard enough. So last week at the Belleville Health and Fitness Expo I faced my biggest fear since I was in high school…public speaking.
I gave my first seminar last week and aside from a jittery first few minutes I actually had a lot of fun with it. There was 20-30 people there, not a big crowd but big enough to make it worth it. I didn’t want to talk about myself too much so I opened it up to questions relatively early. I wanted the people there to have their questions answered. Anyway, 60min later the seminar had flown by and it was one of the greatest personal accomplishments of my career, not to mention I had a lot of fun with it and it felt to help people starting out.
I guess the point of the story is we all go through challenges in our lives. To us, those things seem bigger than anyone else can imagine, so big that they seem impossible at times to overcome. What I have learned through different experiences in the bodybuilding world is the old cliché: You have to face your fears head on! Every time you avoid something you know you should be doing, you are letting your fears take just one more piece of your life from you.
Challenge yourself, think and be outside your comfort zone and you will feel better about yourself. There subconsciously is a draining effect when you take a pass on big moments in your life just because you are scared to take them on. Every negative feeling stems from a fear somewhere inside us. The way to overcome these fears is to take them on one pound or one step at a time. No one loses 50lbs overnight, they lose a pound here and a pound there until they’ve reached the other side their mountain. The same thing applies to mass gaining or strength; no one goes in the gym and squats 500lbs on their first day so why do we expect ourselves to do that in everyday life? Give yourself the time you need to accomplish smaller goals and one day you’ll look back and the mountain that were facing will all of a sudden be behind you. One day, one meal, one rep at a time…
Later this week, in his VIDEO BLOG, Fouad will feature a selection from his seminar!
Sacrifice Without Regret, Fouad ‘Hoss’ Abiad www.fouadhossabiad.com
I gave my first seminar last week and aside from a jittery first few minutes I actually had a lot of fun with it. There was 20-30 people there, not a big crowd but big enough to make it worth it. I didn’t want to talk about myself too much so I opened it up to questions relatively early. I wanted the people there to have their questions answered. Anyway, 60min later the seminar had flown by and it was one of the greatest personal accomplishments of my career, not to mention I had a lot of fun with it and it felt to help people starting out.
