MONSTER LESSONS LEARNED

Admittedly, when I first got into this...I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, especially in regard to pacing myself, knowing my limitations, and listening to my body.  The hard lessons learned were the result of an injury, but it was a lesson learned, nonetheless. "That which does not kill me only makes me stronger."

These are some of the lessons I learned throughout this process:

1. Create a realistic work out routine. The body needs time to recover from the last workout, and if you do go back to back days, then you probably did not get a good work out prior. If I do go back-to-back days, then I make sure to work muscle groups I did not work the previous day. 
2. Focus on weaknesses and root them out systematically. For example, my bench press is weak. To remedy it I need to do more chest work/shoulder work, such as Swiss ball push-ups, dips, and front military presses (because my shoulders wobble too much during a bench press movement).
3. Nurture strengths. Areas of excellence are not excellent enough. My strengths are the one-armed deadlift and the leg press. So I continually challenge myself and add more weight.
4. Go until failure. For instance, we did Scott curls (aka, preacher curls) the other day until failure. I did leg presses until failure. Calve raises until failure. Bench presses until failure. Shrugs until failure. Upright rows until failure. You get the point. "Grow or Die," as Kubik says. Pain is weakness escaping the body.
5. This is not going to be pretty. There will be a lot of embarrassment, sputtering, teeth-clenching, straining, aching, yelling, cussing, and general controlled mayhem. To make an omelet you have to break some eggs, as Lenin said.  "This is it. Fuck it. It is what it is."