JoeJustice
01-16-2009, 09:30 AM
I was talking to John last night and he mentioned to me what he called “Muscular Joy”, which is just enjoying your body and exercise in a kind of Zen-like way. The more I thought about this, the more it struck me that this, more than anything, is probably the key to the Transformetrics training system. It has, without a doubt, been the key to my success, though until John said it, I had never put a label on it.
I dare say the word “joy” doesn’t fit into most men’s view of exercise. When you look at magazines, books or movies on exercise you get hit with words like “grueling,” “sweat soaked,” and “exhausting.” You’ve got to “annihilate” or “destroy” a certain muscle! No pain no gain! Push yourself to the limit! In those last few reps, when the muscles are burning and your joints are aching and you’re crying for it to end, that’s the only way to build muscle!! BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS!
And then we wonder why people have a negative view of exercise!
People in America, and maybe all over the world, have a very negative view of exercise because they see it as something hard that they have to do. Some people actually look at exercise as a penance for eating a muffin in the morning or associate it with the discipline dished out by their high-school gym teacher. Some think this grueling pain is the only way to get into shape and it’s often these people that seem to make no progress. The same people you see going to the gym but seeing no results.
I’ve been there, I know.
So strong are these negative emotions that they eventually overcome you and you give up. You have big plans for the New Year, you join a gym and push yourself to the limit! After a few weeks the end of the day is coming and you look at your gym bag with disgust. You hate driving to the gym. As soon as you step instead the sweat stained air that invigorated you at first is now so tied to negative emotions that it instantly drains all of your strength. You start feeling less and less motivated, miss a few days and eventually your membership renewal comes up and you say, “I can’t afford this, I hardly go anyhow.”
This is where John’s philosophy of, “Do what you can, right here and now!” really comes into play. There are a number of things that work into it all, from being able to exercise at home to seeing realistic results rather than the juiced up men you see in magazines, the bottom line is that it’s all about muscular joy. Actually enjoying your workout rather than making it a chore.
Now I’ll us myself as an example. If I pushed myself harder could I see results faster? Probably. I’m sure I could really push my body to the limit with every workout and have slightly better grain that I have had. But more likely I would have gotten burned out and given up. As it is, I’ve made pretty good progress, I enjoy my workouts and I live totally pain free.
I’m not saying you don’t need to work hard. I’m not saying that grueling workouts won’t give you results. I’m just saying that viewing exercise as a painful chore where you have to kill yourself day after day isn’t going to work in the long run for most people. (If it works for you, that’s great!)
There’s sooooo much psychology to changing your body. More psychology than physiology, if you ask me. You have to enjoy yourself and you can’t view your exercise as a chore or something you MUST do. You don’t HAVE to go workout, you WANT to go workout. You don’t have to kill yourself with every workout, you just need to push yourself and have fun wile you’re doing it. Get your heard rate up and have some fun connecting with your muscles.
In the long run, I think “muscular joy” will get you a lot further than “no pain no gain.”
Joe Justice April of 2007 vs. Joe Justice December of 2008:
http://www.joejustice.org/Honeymoon-Small.jpg http://www.joejustice.org/Dec08.jpg
And the best is yet to come. Stay tuned.
-Joe
I dare say the word “joy” doesn’t fit into most men’s view of exercise. When you look at magazines, books or movies on exercise you get hit with words like “grueling,” “sweat soaked,” and “exhausting.” You’ve got to “annihilate” or “destroy” a certain muscle! No pain no gain! Push yourself to the limit! In those last few reps, when the muscles are burning and your joints are aching and you’re crying for it to end, that’s the only way to build muscle!! BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS!
And then we wonder why people have a negative view of exercise!
People in America, and maybe all over the world, have a very negative view of exercise because they see it as something hard that they have to do. Some people actually look at exercise as a penance for eating a muffin in the morning or associate it with the discipline dished out by their high-school gym teacher. Some think this grueling pain is the only way to get into shape and it’s often these people that seem to make no progress. The same people you see going to the gym but seeing no results.
I’ve been there, I know.
So strong are these negative emotions that they eventually overcome you and you give up. You have big plans for the New Year, you join a gym and push yourself to the limit! After a few weeks the end of the day is coming and you look at your gym bag with disgust. You hate driving to the gym. As soon as you step instead the sweat stained air that invigorated you at first is now so tied to negative emotions that it instantly drains all of your strength. You start feeling less and less motivated, miss a few days and eventually your membership renewal comes up and you say, “I can’t afford this, I hardly go anyhow.”
This is where John’s philosophy of, “Do what you can, right here and now!” really comes into play. There are a number of things that work into it all, from being able to exercise at home to seeing realistic results rather than the juiced up men you see in magazines, the bottom line is that it’s all about muscular joy. Actually enjoying your workout rather than making it a chore.
Now I’ll us myself as an example. If I pushed myself harder could I see results faster? Probably. I’m sure I could really push my body to the limit with every workout and have slightly better grain that I have had. But more likely I would have gotten burned out and given up. As it is, I’ve made pretty good progress, I enjoy my workouts and I live totally pain free.
I’m not saying you don’t need to work hard. I’m not saying that grueling workouts won’t give you results. I’m just saying that viewing exercise as a painful chore where you have to kill yourself day after day isn’t going to work in the long run for most people. (If it works for you, that’s great!)
There’s sooooo much psychology to changing your body. More psychology than physiology, if you ask me. You have to enjoy yourself and you can’t view your exercise as a chore or something you MUST do. You don’t HAVE to go workout, you WANT to go workout. You don’t have to kill yourself with every workout, you just need to push yourself and have fun wile you’re doing it. Get your heard rate up and have some fun connecting with your muscles.
In the long run, I think “muscular joy” will get you a lot further than “no pain no gain.”
Joe Justice April of 2007 vs. Joe Justice December of 2008:
http://www.joejustice.org/Honeymoon-Small.jpg http://www.joejustice.org/Dec08.jpg
And the best is yet to come. Stay tuned.
-Joe