This is possibly never more true then when it comes to training and nutrition. We are now more then ever in a society, as it pertains to every aspect of life, but most certainly the physical realm, of weak willed, impatient, weaklings that feel that they deserve the same accolades and accomplishments as those of us who bust our butts every day, day in and day out.
They feel they have a God given right to all their hopes, dreams, and desired abilities just due to the fact their Mommy and Daddy had a few drinks in the back of a sedan 19 years ago and nine month later they were blessed to waste some of our precious oxygen. A population who feel they have a right to everything, and when they don’t get it with only an inkling of the work needed put forth, piss and moan that, “The man's getting me down.” or “I don’t have the genetics, your so lucky” etc. etc., blaming anything and anyone but their own feeble efforts.
We live in a world full of people who have a keen eye for seeing athletic or physique accomplishment, achievement, and possession, while at the same time seemingly having a pair of blinders on that block out the work, struggle, and sacrifice imparted by those they champion to reach extreme heights.
I touched on this in-part in my article “Champion The Journey Not The Destination” as a broad explanation of where people are going wrong in what traits they look up to in those they place on pedestals. Now I go bit further and flesh out just a few quick examples from my own life that I hope will clarify this a bit further and serve as a wake-up call to a growing population of those in search of, and worse, in expectation of, the “easy” way, to their wildest dreams.
Food/Eating: Now I'll be honest, I get a pleasure of nearly daily posting on my face book page what I call my “Food Porn” 
series.
I purposely post pictures of the most dense, calorie crammed meals I can for others to view and comment knowing I’ll get responses running the gamut from lust to disgust. One comment that never fails to rise, whether it be in person or on my food porn series is, "Man if I ate like that I'd be a blubbering fat pig! Your soooo lucky! You must have the genetics of a Greek god!"
Um??? Not unless THIS is a Greek god:
Yhea, that’s me at roughly 20 years of age prior to me topping the scales at around 315lb of untrained adipose tissue. What did it take to make a transformation then? How can I now eat what then made me look more like the Goodyear blimp then a muscled pimp, if not my supreme genetics? Hard work, dedication and a love of the journey.
Everyone wants similar results and champions me for transforming my body from what it was to various forms of slender, svelte, ripped and rugged. They all want the magic recipe, but when laid out in simple plain speak, none of them want to face the music and believe reality. Instead they travel from expert to guru, pill to potion, in search of the “one” that will assure them they can get what they want with no back-breaking, will-wearing effort.
Where do they end up? The same damn place as they were prior or worse. Wake up people. Yeah, I can eat a ton of calorie dense foods, none of which are or should be labeled, “Evil” as many do, they are simply fuel. Fuel that the body I have built in years of sweat, and the activity I demand of it, requires.
They neglect to see the years of low carb living, the plates of salads and greens, chicken breasts, and olive oil or the now mounds of food I don’t GET to, but MUST eat to keep my progress inching ever so slowly forward; the calorie bombs I have to eat, not get to, to maintain the weight and performance I demand.
They see me deadlifting 725lbs for a new PR, a new record, and champion the accomplishment, and desire to reach it themselves, or even better yet hate on it for “poor form” which always makes me smile...
What they fail to see is, of course, the big picture. Everyone loves the glamor, the flashes, lights, and dreams of a great accomplishment. They all want to desire it, and have it given to, or imparted on them - blaming my success again on superior genetics.
What they blind and plug their ears to is the truth. The truth of a man who fought from the age of 7 for even his life. Having had his leg ripped off, pelvic shattered in 17 places, the main artery in his leg severed, and the leg as a whole hanging by just a thread of an adolescent hamstring; while the ambulance rushed him and his mother to the ER explaining along the way how he would not survive the trip let alone be able to save the leg.
They don’t want to see the hours in surgery, months in bed rest, and years of recovery. They blind themselves to the tears, the fighting, the never taking “you can't” for an answer. Always pushing more, proving himself and others wrong. The years and reps at 135, then 225, then 315, all well prior to reaching 500lb let alone 725lb accomplishment. The aches, the pains, the timeless hours spent laboring in sweat with a smile on my face. Knowing only where I will be, not a clear path of how to reach it. Guessing sometimes right, sometimes wrong but always pushing on the path closer to the goal.
People love to ogle at my paintings, drawing sculpture, and state how they only wish they had such a gift.
What they fail to see is a kid who dropped out of high school drawing. A kid who struggled, and hell still does, to make a decent stick figure. They fail to see the years of formal and informal training. The all-nighters reading, learning, and practicing his craft. The weeks and months of drawing, painting, paperwork and preparation to get into graduate schooling all of which came prior to the moment in time they champion as a gift.
Why? Why do they fail to see such things? It proves the only thing they have to blame for their lack of reaching their dreams is their own neglect of living the life and actions it takes to grab them. That they don’t have the spine to live in the joy of ever pushing forward to something greater than themselves all the while being kicked in the gut and knocked down many more times then they reach new pinnacles.
People live only in the minute, and seemingly don’t have the mental capacity to recognize the journey. They see only the snap shot and not what comes many year prior or after the action. They don’t see or want the sacrifice, the work, or the repercussions of the actions, only the prize with none of the sacrifice before or after.
It’s time to wake up. Accomplishment ain't easy, so you better learn to enjoy the ride and to champion and enjoy the journey, yours and those you look up to. No one is going to give you a thing in this world you don’t earn through actions. You were not born with the rights to great achievements, traits or possessions and furthermore nothing you have done yesterday gives you the right to them today.
Achievement, accomplishment is a constant journey from first to last breath, so you better learn to love and learn to live it or learn to live without it.
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