Discipline

To attain any goal a champion has to be determined enough not to miss any workout, meal, etc.  To do this it takes an enormous amount of discipline to accomplish these things.  Over the past 20 years I have been fortunate enough to keep such a schedule which has allowed me to achieve many of the goals I have set for myself in the bodybuilding world.  I don’t want to say it was easy to do these things but it always seemed like they were programmed in my DNA and it always felt right to make the right choices.  I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in over 20 years and don’t smoke.  When I travel for my speaking engagements one question that is always brought up is what my diet is like.  Literally it hasn’t changed much in 20 years, especially my lunch.  One thing that shocks people to learn is that I eat a can of tuna fish for lunch everyday.  No mayonnaise, no mustard, no bread, just a can of tuna.  I started it my freshman year of college and it has stuck to this day.  For teacher appreciation week again this year my colleagues bought me cans of tuna because the have observed this for over 13 years.  Another question I always get is, how often do I workout and do I ever miss.  I workout at least 4 times a week and add cardio on my rest days.  The only days off I have ever taken are usually right after a bodybuilding show because I am so sore, but within 3 days I’m back in the gym because I can’t stand being still.  My wife would always get mad at me because we would get up Christmas morning and if it fell on a workout day after opening gifts I would either workout in the garage or run to the gym real quick before having our family meal that day.  When my kids were born, similar events happened, if it fell on a workout day, I would leave the hospital to get a quick workout in and come back.  Well, I missed a workout this last Friday.  My sister called me at work and after leaving around 10am, I didn’t leave my mothers side for over 12 hours.  Watching her this past 15 months going through 2 surgeries, 6 weeks of chemo, 5 weeks of radiation, still taking her vitamins, meds, making her grandchildren’s games, even her last night before bed cleaning her teeth with small bristle and toothpaste, I began to realize where this innate feeling of schedule and discipline came from.  My mother was an amazing person, extremely disciplined, never smoke or drank in her entire life, got up and walked every morning around the block, and waited on a husband, 4 children and 13 grandchildren her entire life, which we tried to return in her last days but would never measure up to her unselfish servitude.  I can only hope and pray to be half the father or husband my mother was to us.  She was extremely conscious of cleanliness and details.  She wouldn’t miss a thing; if something was out of place she knew it.  She taught us many things but discipline by far was on the top of the list.      

In Memory of Joanne Martin
12/20/1943-5/14/2011