MusKels

Sitting here, trying to find inspiration for this next post, I decided to do some pushups to get the blood flowing.

This reminded me of my experiences over the past year or so at the gym.

I've somehow always had it in my mind that it would be nice to somehow have a Jacob Black-esque bulging biceps/rippling abs type body. So over the past six or seven years of my life, I've tried various methods of weight training and exercise.

Frustrated with only moderate success, I decided about a year ago to invest in a personal trainer.

Having a trainer has been great. It's given me the accountability I need to keep going to the gym, and it's been helpful to have an "expert" guiding you through the process and making sure you don't get hurt.

While my body is not quite a perfect picturesque Michelangelo's David . . . yet, I have learned a few things in the process.

One of the most significant lessons, I've learned is that while doing your weight training, if your body is not in the correct alignment then you will never reach your intended goal.

Let's say for example, your goal is to build up your chest muscles and you decide that the bench press is the way to go. You load up your weights, lie down on the bench, or sit in one of those bench-press machines, and you start your exercise. Up and down go your arms, up and down go the weights. After about 10 reps, you rest. Only there's a problem. You feel nothing in your chest. Your chest feels like it hasn't been worked out at all. Your arms however are exhausted. What happened?

Your focus was off. You were doing the motion, but you were using the wrong muscles to do it.

I did this for years. I spent hours at the gym lifting weights, expecting to develop a nicely shaped chest. But the problem was, I didn't work my chest out at all. The result, beautifully sculpted arms, and a flat chest.

My point?

As we strive for success are we concentrating our efforts in the right areas? When we put in time, money and effort in result-producing activities? Or are we doing things either in the wrong way or with the wrong focus so that we get no results or the wrong results?

Continuing with the gym analogy, you can pedal as fast as you can on a stationary bike, but you're never going to get anywhere. It's stationery.

Translating this into the outside world, you can all of your best efforts into networking, or gaining knowledge, or practicing a craft, but in the end are you networking with the right people? Are you gaining the right knowledge? Are you gaining skills that are useful?

Are you being productive?

The best way to figure this out? Get an outside opinion. I only learned that I was doing the exercises the wrong way AFTER I hired a trainer. Because my trainer was able to see me in a way that I could not, he was able to help me make adjustments and tweak different things. Making my efforts more efficient and effective.

So it's time to evaluate, for all of your efforts are you getting the results that you hoped and worked for? If not, perhaps it's time to make some adjustments. Think about it.

OK. Time for more pushups.