I can’t stand people who say one thing and do another. We all know people and have friends that do this (hopefully we make it a point to not do it ourselves).

 

Flakes. Wishy-washy. Shady. Uncommitted. Whatever you want to call it, it’s not for me. If you say you’re going to do something then do it- or simply don’t say it or commit to it. Simple.

 

Running a gym that is only for ‘serious’ athletes I’ve witnessed this time and time again. Athlete’s say they want to come for a trial, sign-up after the season, or they’ll get started once their current sports season ends. Nowadays I don’t expect anything until they actually show up. Actually showing up means you’ve taken the first step in becoming serious on a goal you hopefully one day want to achieve.

 

You see- our definition of ‘serious’ isn’t just about signing-up. It’s about following through after you sign-up. It’s about the overall ‘ PowerStrength LIFESTYLE’ that we try to engrain with our athletes. Life happens. Sometimes it gets in the way of your training. I understand this. However, the truly serious individuals plan so they very rarely have life interfere with their training regime. They know how important it is and plan around it IN ADVANCE!

 

Don’t say you want to be great and improve then always have something come up that prevents you from doing so. Great athletes always sacrifice and find a way.

 

I’ve heard all the excuses and I try not to let it bother me. I’d be lying if I said they still don’t get under my skin. Running a business (and being good at it) you can’t sweat the small stuff. But, this small stuff turns into big stuff and will water-down your entire facility and your athletes.

 

Let me give you a few examples of some of our actual athletes who make zero excuses and are truly serious and they follow the LIFESTYLE that we implement here at PowerStrength…

-Zach, Ethan, and Josh- these guys range from 3^rd-6^th grade. They train at least 2x/week and have ultra-dedicated parents who sacrifice to transport them here. (If the parents aren’t serious, supportive, and plan ahead, it will never work until the athletes are old enough to provide transportation for themselves.) The work ethic, discipline, and responsibility these young athletes are developing cannot be measured in pounds!

-Evan- freshman in high school and plays three sports. Trains 2-3x/week year-round without fail! Plans his schedule and finds a way to train. No excuses. No missed sessions. Healthy, strong, athletic, and determined to always improve.

-Alex- trains 3-4x with his team at school then trains with us 1-2x/week. Plans ahead and we work around his school’s workouts to maximize his training and fine-tune his technique and weak points. Having a broken ankle didn’t stop him and he never once complained.

-Bennett- just came back to us but trained with us for 6 months last year. Trains 3x/week and has lacrosse practice 3-4x/week as well. Sometimes pulls double-duty. This work ethic is leading to college lax opportunities. Just one of the athletes that train with us while still practicing and in-season.

-Bob and Ahmad- Have literally trained with me 4x/week for the last 3+years. Train in-season as well. Yes these two love to train and enjoy it but they’re still here even on the days when they may not feel like it. Comfortable being uncomfortable!

-Marcus and Dave- Have trained 3-4x/week for the last two years. More of natural athletes but nobody see’s their dedication and sweat on a weekly basis behind the scenes as they constantly work to better themselves. Marcus sets strict nutritional habits for himself and is one of our more serious athletes about this.

-Kathryn and Jared- Signed-up to train with us 2-3x/week for a year! Hectic school schedules, practices, and a commute never sidetracks these two.

-Travis- Walked over 2 miles to the gym over Christmas break this year to train with us 4-5x/week. Travis has trained with us 3-4x/week for the last year leading up to his freshman college football season. No complaining or excuses…ever. Easily one of our hardest working athletes, and coincidentally, most improved.

-Isiah- always makes it happen and trains with us 4x/week to prepare for college football during the summers. Runs with his team and does his own workouts as well as his PSTS workouts. Serious enough about this lifestyle to wear it on his arm…(literally) :).

-Tyler-drove an hour one-way last year to train 4x/week leading up to his freshman college football season. Still trains with us and is still making that long drive to do so- never says a word about it.

-Cam-now training for the next level. Cam is a rehabbing a knee injury 3x/week then comes to train with us 4x/week. A warrior who is never outworked.

-Jesse-  also training for the next level. This requires 6 days of work with a strict recovery and nutrition schedule. You don’t get to have this opportunity without taking the necessary steps to get there. Trained with us last summer for 12-weeks 4x/week.

-Mike- a D1 soccer player from Indiana stayed with relatives for 4-weeks while he trained with us 6x/week while he prepared for his professional tryout. This was over his holiday break from school and New Year’s Eve. How many college kids would sacrifice that much time away from home during that time of year just to train?

 

I’m not even going to mention our athletes who invest their own money to train with us. Money may be tight but they find a way. I’m talking high school and college kids working jobs to pay for their training (I know adults who can’t even do this!) We’ve had athletes who use PowerStrength as a birthday or Christmas gift. No asking for videogames or iPhones…they ask for a PowerStrength membership!

 

Injuries also don’t count as excuses- knee, ankle/foot, shoulder, wrist, elbow…we’ve had athletes with all these injuries and they still come. Why? We can train around these without harm to the injured area or cause over-use or imbalances (we aren’t Neanderthals here who just lift heavy weights all the time!). This works wonders for competitive athletes and keeps them in a competitive environment- can’t feel sorry for yourself when there’s improvements to be made.

 

Now, tell me how bad you want to train? How bad do you want to get better? You’re going to go play/want to play college ball yet don’t seek out expert help to make you better? What was your excuse again? One of these below I bet…

 

Practice? We have athletes of all sports still train who practice for their sport every day.

 

Transportation? I understand this but we have athletes plan ahead and find carpools.

 

No time? My all-time favorite. Clock how much time you spend on social media, TV, and videogames. This is the worst excuse of all.

 

Too much homework? Yes school comes first. However, don’t do all the above social media stuff then say you have to study. Look at your school/project/homework schedule in advance and plan ahead.  Training and following a routine will help with your grades. The average GPA of a PowerStrength athlete is above a 3.0. Coincidence?

 

Money? Maybe I’ll do a follow-up post on this, as this obviously is a situational topic. If it’s not a possibility then I completely understand as other family needs come first of course (again, we aren’t Neanderthals!). However, if it’s simply a priority thing and you say you’re a serious athlete and want to get better but can’t invest in yourself, then I raise my eyebrows and this probably isn’t the place for you. An athlete could train with us 3x/week year-round for 4-years straight and get a complete reimbursement of this investment with one semester of college paid for with a scholarship. I’ve done the math…just saying.

 

These are just a few examples of some of the sacrifices and dedication our athletes show. We attract awesome athletes and families to us because of this work ethic and mindset. If an athlete can’t show up, or show up ready to get better then we can’t help them. We aren’t for everyone.

 

So now when an athlete or parent says they’re interested and ‘ready to go’ I simply just say ‘Ok, let’s go.” Then tell them to simply fill out the ‘Contact Us’ form on this page and we get a trial workout set up. Until that happens, my focus is solely on getting our current athletes even more lethal for their sports.

 

Live the LIFESTYLE and thanks for reading.

 

-Mark