The serious athlete makes the choice, the pretender trips over the trivial which leads to inaction.
“Building Strength & Muscle Mass is a choice.
They are disciplined habits the serious athlete prioritizes.
Anybody can go hard in the gym for 50 minutes.
Can you consistently make choices outside of the gym that are reflective & conducive of your goals?
Most can’t.”
-Ray Zingler on X
As much as I study, learn, and try to adapt my training philosophy to better serve others, my evolution always circles back to one fundamental fact.
Accomplishing objectives in training is a choice.
Whether it be gaining weight, losing weight, gaining strength, or building muscle.
You get to choose if you want to do any of those things.
For the sake of most kids I work with, I am going to focus on strength development and weight gain as these are two very important goals of many of my athletes and athletes all over the world.
Unlike your height or your parents, the cool thing about building strength and muscle is that you get to choose to build it or not.
Obviously, there is work required, but you get to make the choice, nonetheless.
And this fundamental concept is misunderstood by so many because we are clouded with, “this brand of protein or that one” and “this set and rep scheme” or “this exercise or that one..”
We spend so much time being influenced by largely trivial measures that we forget about doing the work and building sustainable habits.
Because at the end of the day, that’s all building muscle and strength is.
It’s a conscious choice one must make to develop the habit of reaching their goals.
It’s not the latest pre work out drink or that new work out you saw on TikTok.
It’s the mundane fundamentals, repeated over and over and over. That’s the real reason people struggle with this stuff. They can’t commit.
If they simply did, they’d find out quickly that it matters far less “what you do” and far more about “how well and consistently you do what you do.”
And guess what..
If you’re a serious athlete looking to gain an edge, it’s never been easier.
All you must do is build the habit of working hard and eating correctly and you will watch yourself soar past your competitors who are tripping over the trivial leading to their inaction.
Set the intention.
Create the most simplified solution.
Act on your intentions with precision like consistency (especially when you don’t feel like it) and you will win.
It’s that easy.
The secret is a choice and it’s hidden in plain sight.
