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The dreaded D&D

drb_iac

Active member
Not that I am in a bad mood or anything, actually I am in a good one! I did some TNE and went and beat the living shit out of the iron. What I do see and hear a lot about are the dreaded double D's.... discouragement and disappointment. We need to discuss bros...and No, I’m not kidding and you can’t leave, the doors are bolted from the outside.

Initial research reveals the most popular fixes for discouragement and disappointment, or the Double Ds as they’re known in musclebuilding circles, are consuming pizza and drinking beer, followed by bowls of ice cream while watching television. Bags of chips are usually within reach.

Discouragement and disappointment in large or small doses affect everyone in every area of life. These negative conditions, if they’re severe and recurrent, can lead to depression. And depression can be more than a temporary misery; it can become a chronic and crushing disease. We then confront the awesome Triple Ds: discouragement, disappointment and depression.
Gratefully, we’re dealing with states of mind and facts of life over which we have some control, more control than we sometimes think. And where we have control we must apply it, or we have no control at all. We have submission... the Ds control us.
And that is a big busload of BS bros.

As ironheads, our hefty bouts with the iron diminish or even eliminate many of the causes of these debilitating emotional assaults. We set uplifting goals and, engaging our talents, desires and potential, we strive to achieve them. We fight, we fall, we pick ourselves up, wipe ourselves off and press on, developing always as we go. It works every time, all the time.
Yet discouragement and disappointment are unavoidable, almost necessary. The fact that we’re alive and self-directed makes us vulnerable to discouragement, and the need to put one foot before the other leaves us wide open to disappointment. Any of our crushed hopes, ordinary mistakes, everyday accidents, accumulated malfunctions, misunderstandings and tribulations can trigger these crude assailants.
But we’re specifically talking about situations relating to musclebuilding, fat loss, weight training and getting in shape, where many of us experience more disappointment and discouragement than fulfillment and success. This disproportion is an illusion, unfair, insufferable and deadly to our mission, and can lead to quitting.
And failure in one area of life distresses the entire life.

This success-and-failure balance is an illusion, because musclebuilders are seeking regular, measurable development. Hopes are naturally high and sometimes greedy pushers of supplements guarantee quick, almost sudden, growth. Even the steroids are showing up with fancy names, like Ripped Big Quad Blend etc. When struck with reality, the lifter encounters the Ds and falters, seeing only the lack of swift progress, unaware of or unimpressed by the slow, hard-earned benefits of the efforts. That dam Tren is too slow.
Here’s where the strong are separated from the weak: press on or pull back.
I suspect we’re dealing with two natures of the twin beasts: there’s disappointment and discouragement we bring upon ourselves, and there’s the discouragement and disappointment that broadsides us while we’re innocently occupying our space. Both are destructive, the former requiring preemptive action in the form of consideration, caution and discipline, and the latter, strength from the heart as the conditions envelop us.
Allow me to offer a couple of general examples, a field upon which we might study the wild beasts in their habitat and render them harmless... or, at least, less harmful.
Foremost, the disappointment and discouragement that result from the idiotic things we do by our own hands, the things we have immediate control over. Your imagination, please.
1) The periodic treat of sitting on the couch watching television, eating pizza and drinking beer engenders the Double Ds.
I don’t care if it’s leap year, NASCAR tryouts, Thursday night with the girls at the Bowlorama or you’re just hungry and pooped. Random gorging is trouble. This is a large, waist-sized problem and it’s gonna cost big time. The dominoes have begun to fall. Discouragement and disappointment hover like buzzards.
You’re digging yourself a pit.
You have just set yourself up for hardcore D&D. Are you willing to pay that price? Think about it. At some point you will feel weak, fat and stupid. Why? What did the pizza and beer really do for you? Once it was down the pie hole then what did it do for you? Brought on D &D? Oh but gee it was the super what ever...right?
Guilt is a mean companion, unrelenting, almost sadistic.
Disdain and rationales accompany this self-cast disappointment: I’ll do what I want, when and where I want, you’ll say, I’m free. No, no, no. That lie is as old as the hills; you won’t accept it and you’ll continue to berate yourself. You say you are free to gorge on pizza and beer yet deep down you know you are an ass for doing it.

You want to get in shape, you want to build muscle and you want to be strong. But you lack discipline and are unable to deny yourself for a day...not one day.

Or it’s going to take forever, with a mountain of cliff-hanging discouragements and rocky disappointments along the way. But you don’t understand, some of you say, it’s my mother, my father, the kids, the stress, the deeply engrained habits, the culture, the career... yeah, yeah, yeah.
Excuses have no place in the life of a iron chaser. Fact is, you ate pizza and drank beer while you sat on the couch and watched the tube. You did it before and you’ll do it again and that’s the way it works.

The solution I offer is composed of 10 two-word commands, uncomplicated, unequivocal, indisputable: Stop it. Right now. Don’t submit. Train hard. Eat right. Be strong. Know thyself. Love thyself. Be happy. Be wise.
Keep those handy; line them up on the shelf with your current vials of sarms and gear. Use regularly and generously, but not carelessly. May be taken separately or together, with food or on an empty stomach. Savor for maximum absorption.

To be con't next week. No never mind...I am finishing this today.

Some folks have real problems. More than just the regular D&D. To them I offer my heartfelt best wishes and prayers.
The second loss of control, equally devastating, deals with the iron, or, rather, not dealing with it.
2) I’m skipping a workout because I feel icky; I’m snoozy; there’s a chill in the air and the shadows are long; I have a knot in my shoelace; it’s Vice President’s Day. The list of excuses is endless and embarrassing.

There are times when we are absolutely compelled to miss a workout -- plagues, earthquakes, the fiery end of civilization as we know it, we’re out of... gasp... gear and sarms -- and times when we don’t need an excuse. But I’m talking about those times that indicate the development of chronic misbehavior and irresponsibility. Several discarded workouts a year are permissible, three or four a month and we’re in trouble.
An authentic weightlifter does not skip workouts. A true seeker of muscle and might cannot omit a training session; a musclehead wouldn’t know how and a bodybuilder would rather die. Unmotivated imposters miss workouts. Hapless wimps and doodlers let their workouts slide, sure, but not men and women of steel. Got that sarala,s&s and mizzbizz? This means you too.
The next time the urge to skip a workout arises, will you regard it as an opportunity to exhibit strength or a moment before a catastrophe? Will you submit to the moment or fight it with all your strength? If you choose the former, you lose. The catastrophe and you become one.
A workout abandoned is an opportunity lost. It weakens the structure. Worse yet, it indicates a structure that is already weak.

Every bad gym day becomes a great gym day once you pass the front door. The cold ugly weights melt in your hands and become as a sculpture to the lover of art. Soreness dissipates like the morning dew, and the strength of the warm sun fills your veins. What was lifeless or hopeless is revived by the renewed power of inspired limbs. The gym enables, enlightens and excites. The workout creates, restores and fulfills.
And you receive, respond and progress.

Yes, I’m almost done.
Some of you are ready to fly; I hear the rumble and feel the vibrations.
The disappointment and discouragement that result from circumstances beyond our control must be met straight on and handled with courage. These are the dreadful incidents of which half of life is comprised. Where there is happiness, so is there misery. We know pleasure to the degree we know pain. Joy and sorrow are doled out in near-equal proportions.
One thing I know: The backbone and guts needed to lift weights develop as do the muscles, and these collective attributes are essential in countering enemies of all kinds.
The disciplined characters, men and women, who work out, eat right and meet these tests regularly are those who survive the thrusts of disappointment and discouragement, and are seldom depressed. Like osmosis, the iron and steel has a way of entering the body and lining it with strength and durability. The sets and reps provide resilience and internal energy. And their combined application heightens the spirits.
We have too much to live for to be grounded and weak.
My love to you all!
DrB
 
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Fabulous read and 1000% agree. I am a huge optimist and very spiritually in tuned so I normally stay in a good mood year round. However, life can happen and when it does the best thing is to stick to your good habits and never let worry take a foot hold in your life. We all have somuch to be thankful for (especially if your still sucking wind) and each day is a new day to make it the best you can. Stay encouraged my brothers!

True strength is the ability to conquer something with courage and not fear. The will to endure to the end - to get knocked down seventy times and get up and say, here comes seventy one.

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
 
Very good read, and I share a lot of the same outlooks. However, I think what's important (at least to me) is finding that balance in my life, and not only being fine with it, but I wouldn't have it any other way. This lifestyle is my passion, but I don't let my lifestyle get in the way of life. I structure cheat meals accordingly so I can have pizza each week with my family, and maybe have some burgers on another day, or tacos on another. Once or twice a month I like to go out and have some beers socially with my wife or friends. When I go on vacation (like I am in a week and a half) I don't worry about the gym at all. I take that week and let my body enjoy the time off
Deload and recovery and I enjoy my time with my family. I also eat what I want and get back to business when vacation is over.

I keep progressing quite well, and enjoy my life at the same time. It's the best of both worlds to me.

I only hope everyone finds whatever it is that works best for them to keep getting better, and living life to its fullest at the same time. Find your happiness and run with it!


(PM me for a price list for Biotech Labs and 10% discount)
 
Great read indeed!Very inspirational!
I'm going to come back to this the next time I feel like gorging myself with junk food.
Missing workouts have never been a problem for me.I have to be deathly ill to miss one & even then I feel guilty,but the diet is where I screw up way too much.
Thanks


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Defiately true but im good about pizza and dont drink alcohol but Ive always got that next goal in mind and push so hard for it sometimes cutting Ill push the drugs too spare muscle and ill eat half my basal metabolic rate and do cardio for days trying too get too a show ready physique in redlcord time and your body will go into survival mode and leptin disapears amd you find your self with a jar of peanut butter and a box of cookie at 2 am going what have I done. Just shake it off and get back onyour grind tomorrow is another day
 
Great read doc

Personally I've never understood the rationalization of a "cheat day"
Just an excuse to do something you know you shouldn't be doing
 
I don't design cheat days, because after a cheat of restaurant food I never feel so good. So a cheat would be some top notch cheese grated over some tortilla chips with diced jalepenos,tomatoes,avocados etc. ...microwaved and cheese melted!

If the cheat is well thought out in advance and you don't let your self go for the entire night and then again the next day then good if that works. We also have to be dads,and fathers and sons. It is still all structured within our discipline and that is what counts
 
Wonderful read, brother. All the bros and girls in the fitness industry that "reward" themselves for a week of hard training and dieting with an all out gorge fest are really limiting their true potential. I don't get it.
 
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