My Holy Cow

        Life, we all have one, we all exist, we all breathe, we all dream, but not all of us live our life. Those of us who decide to not merely exist tend to find out that life is very tough; sometimes it can be so hard on us that it can make us ask ourselves who are we, what do we want and why do we want it. With that said, I will make an approach on how bodybuilding changed an continues to change me using Sarah MacDonald's Holy Cow, Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, and of course, my own body and life building journey. Bodybuilding has taught me a lot, I honestly say it has made me a better person, it has taught me humility, dedication, patience, courage, gratitude, perseverance, but above all, faith. Faith in myself is what has kept me going when I've sacrificed relationships and grades for my dream, and when I constantly sacrifice who and what I am for who and what I will become.

            As Kincaid mentions, "That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native in this place there is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere." It actually feels good when you're at the gym and you see this guy that's got no clue what he's doing there but acts like he's Lou Ferrigno, the bad part is that this happens at a humongous scale, these guys are more than those of us who are willing to go and work hard for 2 or 3 hours a day. I don't mind them being in the gym, just like the natives do about the tourists in Antigua, but I know they're there not knowing the implications and consequences of being there, just like in Antigua. My point being that one does not have to travel to be a tourist, one can be a tourist in the mall or at the supermarket; just like being a traveler doesn't mean going to another country or state, one can be a traveler at the gym if you're willing to take bodybuilding as a personal mind-constructing journey.

            Bodybuilding is a sport; an art and a lifestyle, in order to succeed you must let it become a part of you just as MacDonald made India a part of herself, she mentions that "India is Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” the only way to become successful in this industry is if you let the sport change you. MacDonald explored India and it changed her, in analogy, bodybuilding changed me too. I used to be a very insecure person when it came to making any decision, training and eating right I feel like I'm unstoppable every time I have an intimate yet public encounter with the iron. The gym also is like Hotel California because one does not really leave it, right after you check out you have a 30-minute anabolic window to consume carbohydrates so that glycogen levels can be optimum for muscle growth, one has do eat every 2.5 hours and get 8 to 10 hours of sleep. That's just the beginning and it gets worst from there, the requirements can be quite exhausting sometimes but if you can outlast the pain, at the other side success will be waiting for you.

            Sometimes in life we need a north, something that gets us up even when we feel like sending everything to hell. I still remember when I looked at that myself in the mirror and decided it was time for a change, I was 15 and weighted around 235 pounds, and at that time my goal was to get to 130 pounds, which I did. Once I got down to 130 and looked like the Grim Reaper's brother I discovered it, bodybuilding. I was browsing motivational videos on YouTube and there it was, Pumping Iron, I saw that movie and was blown away; I wanted to become a bodybuilder, one of the best. In that movie you see a young Arnold Schwarzenegger battling a young Lou Ferrigno for the 1975 Mr. Olympia title, that's a very big deal, the Olympia is the single most important championship a bodybuilder can win, Arnold won it 7 times. This made me look up information about Arnold, when I saw "For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer" that quote simply blew my mind away. I understood a lot of things about myself and about why I decided to be a bodybuilder that night I met Arnold, apart from faith I had to have courage to overcome anything life threw at me.

            Now everyday I get up and go to the gym, train, get my meals and sleep, when I'm not in the gym I'm thinking about the gym and everything that applies to the gym, for example, the diet, the routines, etc. Some people have told me that I'm obsessed; I say that I'm dedicated, after all, as Shahir Zag, an accomplished ad maker, says "A tiger doesn't lose sleep over the opinion of a sheep.” which means I will go where no man has ever even remotely dreamed of going. I'm willing to sacrifice everything because I know the success will be substantially bigger than the hard work I put in, I've lost all my friends, my girlfriend, everybody because of this ambition, because I prefer going to the gym and getting my protein shake in instead of going to the beach and downing a beer. My ambition of being a bodybuilder, going to law school and medical school is a very big commitment, nobody has done this, I will. What's the way to get to my north? Succeeding in the gym, my success there means my success everywhere else.

            We were all meant to shine and conquer since the day we were born, we just lose touch with our essence, with our purpose just because people like to stick fingers on our face, fuck people. I will continue sacrificing anything and everything in order to be a successful professional bodybuilder and get my International Federation of Bodybuilding pro card. MacDonald says, "The only thing that can stop a bus is the king of the road, the lord of the jungle and the top dog. The holy cow." my holy cow is that moment when I’m under the weights, the world stops for me, no UPR, no worries, no nothing, just me lifting for my future. 

The Sexy Bald Blogger has returned my peeps.
Zeus bless you.
May the force be with you all.