#84 You’re the Only One That Actually Believes

You're the Only One

You’re the only one that fully believes in yourself.  I’m going to refer back to when I ruptured my supraspinatus, aka my rotator cuff.  It completed ripped off the bone.  Full surgery appeared to be my best option for recovery, with no guarantees of getting things back to where they were before.  I wasn’t going to be able to lift for eight months.  Things were looking grim.

I Believed

I decided against surgery.  Was deciding to forgo surgery an easy decision?  Absolutely not.  Was the road to recovery going to be easy?  Hell no.  Was it possible to continue to train and not lose business momentum?  Yes, but I had to be the one that believed. 

I began to study and understand the anatomy more and more.  I identified what I needed to support my rotator cuff and surrounding structures.  I sought advice from the smartest people I know.  I began to believe that I could do it.  I’ve been an outlier my whole life.

Here's What I Did

I went home and signed up for a bodybuilding show.  I signed up for a bodybuilding show when I could barely do a push-up on my knees.  I couldn’t even lift 15-pound dumbbells.  Not only did I sign up for a bodybuilding show, but I also did physique, bodybuilding and a natural show three months later.  

If you look back at the pictures, you’ll see my one shoulder is flat.  I'm shredded, but my shoulder's flat.  I still posed around it and did my best.  The fact that I was able to compete, despite my shoulder injury, sent my confidence through the roof.  The result was me winning my pro card in the physique category.  My whole career, I've trained to get a pro card as a natural athlete and it's never happened.

I've gotten second place multiple times, but I finally broke into first place.  I think it's because I was the outlier.  

Fast Forward

Fast forward a year.  Now I’m able to squat and bench with a regular grip again.  My chest is getting pumped back up again.  Does my physique look exactly the same?  No, but it's going to.  Is my strength what it was before?  No, but it's about to be.  I lost no momentum.

The belief is paramount.  You have to believe that there's something different about you, even if no one else fucking believes it.  Whether I'm lying to myself or not, I've always believed in myself at a different level.  It comes down to having everything in line.  Training, lunges, the material in my headphones when I'm lunging, and the people I surround myself with.