The General’s good friend and sometime training buddy, The Dancer, popped her head round the corner a few weeks ago and asked me to give her an upleasant workout. (It is worth noting at this point that contrary to many people’s belief, there is no such thing as an easy workout - The General will elaborate on this point in a future post, ov corz.)

Being the kind soul that I  am, and also not wishing to miss out on an opportunity to inflict pain on a fellow Spartan, I wrote down a very tough 60:30 programme (if you’re not familiar with this sytem, look out for more info in our Members Forum, to be added soon)

The Dancer later told me that several people had asked where her workout had come from, and one of them had remarked “if that’s one of The General’s workout’s I’m going to try and remember it, it will be like gold dust!”

From then on, The Dancer and I jokingly referred to this workout as ’The Gold Dust’. When people overheard us talking about it, they wanted to do it…we kept it secret, ov corz, and so the story grew.

Soon, many of my clients wanted to ‘do the gold dust’ – so that’s what I did during their training sessions.

Was it the same workout that The Dancer did.

No.

What would be the point of that?

The Dancer’s workout was written for her, based on her abilities, her determination, and her willingness to undergo pain in search of personal improvement.

Not everyone posseses the same level of any of these things, so the workout had to be modified, usually beyond recogniton. Incidentally, that’s why it’s called Personal Training – something that most commercial gym chains, health publications (you know which ones I mean, comrades), and sadly most people who incorrectly call themselves Personal Trainers fail to realise.

This week there will be up to a dozen people in that gym who tell people they are ‘doing the gold dust’.

Are they all doing the same workout?
No – every one is different.

Are they all doing a push-to-the-limit, glad-it’s-over, workout?
Ov corz – if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be training.

But they must be lying about doing the gold dust, if they are all doing something different, right?

Wrong.

The gold dust for you, me, The Dancer, The Fox, Snake, The Animal – it’s different for all of us.

And it’s the same for all of us.
It’s the path to where we want to be.
The shortest distance between two points.
The often unpleasant straight line that too many people lack the courage to follow.

To each individual doing their workout, it is THE Gold Dust workout. They believe in it….so they believe in themselves.

And ultimately, my brothers and sisters, belief in ourselves is all we have.

Make sure it’s all you need.

General Out

Today, The General would like to quote from the classic work of flawed genius Charles Darwin, the Theory Of Evolution:

“…From this it may be inferred that: In a world of stable populations where each individual must struggle to survive, those with the “best” characteristics will be more likely to survive, and those desirable traits will be passed on to their offspring. These advantageous characteristics are therefore inherited by following generations, becoming dominant among the population through an extended period of time. This is natural selection. It may be further inferred that natural selection, if carried far enough, makes changes in a population, which will lead, eventually to new species arsing. These observations have been amply demonstrated in biology, and even fossils demonstrate the veracity of these observations.

To summarise;

1. Variation: There is Variation in Every Population.
2. Competition: Organisms Compete for limited resources.
3. Offspring: Organisms produce more Offspring than can survive.
4. Genetics: Organisms pass Genetic traits on to their offspring.
5. Natural Selection: Those organisms with the Most Beneficial Traits
are more likely to Survive and Reproduce.”

STOP!

You are bored, yes?
To be quite honest, The General does not blame you.

So please allow The General to simplify this for us all…

If our corrupt and decadent civilisation collapsed tomorrow, would you be a survivor or a statistic?
Think about it?
What do you base your answer upon, Comrade?

Who do you want to be:

Sarah Connor or Sarah Jessica Parker?
Russell Crowe or Russell Brand?
Fighter Or Fashion Victim?
Fearless or Fop?

Let’s make this even simpler, shall we?
Here’s what the Theory Of Evolution should really have said:

ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE

Weakness or  Strength?

It’s your choice, and you make it everyday, whether you realise it or not…

General Out

…it’s literally nothing to do with strength & weakness, the anti-inflamatory drug changes the dynamic between your stomach lining and stomach acid in favour of the acid, which is damaging.

The General:

But it hasn’t hurt [him]. If it was all about chemical reactions then strong people would get ill as often as weak people, but we don’t.

J-Dog:

What do you think it’s about if it’s not about chemisty?

The General:

It’s about who you are. Strong people are not bio-chemically different to weak  people, so according to your theory there should be no difference in rates of sickness between the weak and the strong.

J-Dog:

No! That’s the same logic as the smokers who argue that their grandma smoked twenty cigarettes a day and lived  until she was ninety, so smoking isn’t unhealthy.

The General:

The twenty-a-day ninety year old is an exception. The rule is that weak people are more susceptible to illness than strong people.

J-Dog:

What makes you think strong people get ill less than weak people?

The General:

Observation. Experience.

J-Dog:

Maybe it’s the other way around.  Maybe strong people are only strong because they’re not unfortunate enough to get ill, where as weak people are weak because they get lots of illness?

The General:

Interesting theory…but if that were the case, it wouldn’t be possible for a weak person to become strong, would it?

J-Dog:

I guess not. So you’re saying all, or most of us, start off weak but can become strong through hard work and focused training?

The General:

Ov Corz! In the West everyone starts off weak, as they grow they can choose to stay weak like normal people, or become strong like you did, J-Dog. They could all become strong, but they choose not to.

J-Dog:

But not all weak people get sick, although maybe it is more likely, and yes most people choose not to become strong. However, you say this as if they are to blame, but most of them don’t know how to get strong.

The General:

I agree, but that too is part of their weakness. We live in an information rich society, so said information is available, but it’s implementation, whilst simple, isn’t easy.

J-Dog:

It’s not about easy! I didn’t have this information until we met.

The General:

But when you had the information, you used it. Your path has not been easy, but you have forged a new you in the fire of knowledge, effort and willpower. Why can’t everyone do this? Because they don’t want to hear our message, they want the magic bullet solution, the instant gratification fix.

J-Dog:

But there is no quick fix!

The General:

Exactly, but the weak, the lazy, the stupid, don’t want to hear this simple truth.

J-Dog:

Then they will remain weak.

The General:

Yes.  But we will continue to be strong. The General may use this conversation as the basis of a future blog about strength & weakness…

J-Dog:

Don’t you dare!

The General:

General Out

Why do the scrawny boys with no functional strength or muscle size feel the need to do a nonsense of an exercise like decline bench press?

Why do the overweight guys with no functional strength or stamina think that endless bicep curls will help them towards the look they desire?

Why are so many women – and some men – afraid of lifting either themselves or iron because they believe they’ll get ‘muscle bound’?

It really isn’t about how much you can bench, or how many pointless hours you can spend on the ‘cross trainer’ before boredom sets in.

It’s about what you can do, and, more importantly, who you are.

Because…
If you’re the guy who can’t walk upstairs without getting out of breath.
If you’re the guy who can’t push or pull his own weight around.
If you’re the guy who can’t act when action is needed.

Then really, what use are you?
To your family, your friends, your neighbours?
I’m not saying we should all have skills and training.

But I am saying this:
If my kid had fallen in the street, I’d want to be able to run out in front of a car and scoop him to safety.
Wouldn’t you?
But could you?
You don’t need to be a superhero to do this…you just need to be capable of doing what nature designed your body for!

Wake up and smell the coffee.
Because too many of you are sleeping…

General Out

J-Dog has been asked by many of her friends to show them how to use Kettlebells so they can be as fit as her.

The F-Unit has admirers and wannabees who want to know how to have abs like her.

The secret must be Kettlebells, right?
Wrong.
The secret must be diet, right?
Wrong.
So the secret must be long cardio sessions, right?
Wrong again, comrades.

So what is the secret?

What has turned J-Dog from a 75kg unconditioned student into a 55kg athlete with a frightening power to weight ratio?

What has given the F-Unit the ripped abdominals and sleek, toned muscles of a professional athlete?

The same thing.
The same simple thing.
Is it complicated, this ‘secret’?
Can it really be that simple?
Yes comrades, it’s as simple as ABC:

Attitude
Belief
Commitment

To quote Tyler Durden from the excellent movie Fight Club:

“Without pain, without sacrifice, we have nothing”

The answer to your problems lies within you.

You already know the path that leads to the future you want.
Why are you afraid to follow it?

General Out