Role Models: Beyond Mere Examples

Other people have given me help, advice, knowledge, encouragement and kindness. But first, Merlene’s example helped me make the decision to change. Then I found Tom Venuto’s book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and it was another precious gift. Through Tom I discovered GHF, Chad Tackett and my GHF coach Dani Myers who always has answers for every question.

I have also discovered that the fitness lifestyle is not about the body. It is about giving and receiving, sharing, more spiritual than physical, mind over matter, always, like everything else. I have rarely received so much from so many.

Yet I keep thinking about Merlene. I always will. Whenever getting up in the morning to get on the elliptical seems too hard. Whenever the last rep in a set seems like lifting a mountain. Whenever the goal seems too distant. Whenever doubt tries to weaken my resolve. In all these situations, I ask myself: “How hard is it compared to walking to the starting blocks of an Olympic race track in front of thousands of spectators in the stadium and millions watching on TV, wearing nothing but a skimpy running outfit and a pair of running shoes, among the best young athletes of their generation, at forty-four, and beating most of them?”

The Death Of Doubt!

When I think this, any doubt melts away in a hurry…dissolves into nothingness. Age? Come on…I’m even younger than she was!

This power of inspiration is available to anyone and everyone who cares to look.

And although Merlene is unique in her own way, she is not the only unique athlete.

She inspired me because I saw her when I thought age was an issue, and she shattered that assumption. The timing of that race, on my birthday, made it like a sign for me to read.

For someone who thinks illness is an issue, look at Lance Armstrong…Lance has survived testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs. He has also won six consecutive Tour de France and is now going for a seventh.

The Tour de France is not your normal bike ride, and that’s an understatement if ever there was one. In fact it’s not a “bike ride” at all. It’s something else.

Finishing a single day stage in the Tour de France is simply unthinkable for most people. Not to mention the hardest stages, which may include three or four mountain passes under the searing heat of the Alps in summertime. And the Alps are not “hills”. They are mighty impressive mountains and the Tour de France athletes cycle up and down them at speeds that challenge most people’s idea of how fast a bicycle is supposed to go.

Again, it’s mind over matter. This world is what we make of it, and the easiest thing to change is ourselves.

My Personal Progress

I have already discarded over 30lbs of fat. My little boy loves to flex and show me his muscles. I even had to buy him a set of tiny 2lb dumbbells, because he really wants to be like his daddy, who never misses a workout. I am deeply happy that his subconscious mind will be switched on to fitness and exercise, that it will seem normal to him to take care of his body. I hope that this will stay with him for the rest of his life. Funnily enough, I am now his role model…for now.

I can now walk and run easily, and I look forward to this summer when I can walk up some mountains…something I have not done in a long time…I am impatient. And of course, playing soccer with my son is not a problem anymore, it’s a joy. I’ll be there for him for a very long time.

But this is not about me. I am just an ordinary person, and this is about exceptional people and how their example can inspire anyone to change. Most of the time, we live parallel lives, in our own corridor…like the sprinters on the track, we only look ahead and we do not see the same race as the other sprinters in their own corridor. And with every step we take, we create our success or failure.

Yet if we look sideways and beyond just a little bit, think “outside of the box”, outside of our preconceptions, habits and excuses, outside of our “corridor”, greatness is there for all of us to tap into, and ultimately it is within reach of all of us.