WORKING WITH WHAT YOU GOT
One of the most crowned champs of the CrossFit Games (Masters division), was popped for PEDs recently.
Having competed against him, I can still remember finishing up the first round of a three round event, and he was nearly starting the third round.... I remember thinking to myself "how is that possible?"
But, to be clear, I don't want to say that it was only possible with assistance of the chemical type. The guy is one heck of an athlete, no matter what.
I'm no pharmacological expert, but I do know that for the most part, Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), basically allow hard working athletes to work even harder, and to recover faster so that they can train MORE.
In case it's not immediately apparent, no one at the top level of any sport, is sitting on the couch with a pina colada in one hand and a syringe in the other, getting insanely fit while watching TV. They bust their arses, and then those who dabble with chemical assistance, simply bust their arses even more.
Legal and medical ramifications aside, would you do it? Let's apply to something else. Say I gave you a drug, that would allow you to take more Spanish lessons than you are currently taking, would you? Oh, you aren't taking any Spanish lessons right now? Well, will you take more if I promise you can double the results of a normal person? No? Oh, you don't have time....? You can't actually be bothered......? Ok, so no Spanish at all for you...
Feeble analogy maybe, but the point is, people who take PEDs still work hard as heck. Harder than you probably ever will. If you take PEDs and then don't dedicate your life to the pursuit of physical excellence, nothing much will happen.
I AM NOT ENDORSING THE USE OF PEDS.
All caps and bold to make sure you don't miss the point of this. I'm not a fan of juicing on sport in the slightest.
The point was that it's first and foremost about the hard work.
Doing the work, practicing the basics over and over, for as long as you can.
Sure, most of us DON'T have the same amount of time as a pro, semi-pro or even, really enthusiastic amateur.
We also tend to have many more priorities than those people.
BUT that doesn't mean you shouldn't work as hard as your life and schedule allows.
And it doesn't mean, you shouldn't try to become a little better every single year.
But it does mean, you have to look at your goals and make sure that they aren't someone else's goals, based on what someone else has achieved.
Because you aren't that person, and you don't have the same training history as that person, and you aren't training as much as that person is training, or doing everything that person is doing, legal or otherwise.
Set your sights high by all means, but be realistic too.
You have to work with what you've got.
But no matter what you've got, it's more than enough to mould into something better.