Hey there and Happy New Year!
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written you but I been uber busy which I’ll get into some other time. Over Christmas break my sister gave me the movie Green Lantern on Blu Ray. Now truth be told I need to watch it again because when I popped it in I was exhausted and fell asleep.

Now from what I caught of it and I don’t want to ruin it for you so I’m only going to give a couple details in case you haven’t seen it yet…the Green Lantern’s ring runs off of willpower which is green and it’s weakness is fear which is yellow. In the movie (and this does spoil it a teeny bit) they are afraid that they are running out of will power to fuel their rings which sucks for us all since they are the defenders of the universe. If they fail, we are screwed.

Now how does this relate to your new year’s resolution? Well much like in the movie we only have so much will power to use before we run out and end up giving in so one way of succeeding is to limit the amount of will power you actually need. If you are on a fat loss program, get that chocolate out of sight and therefore out of mind.

Now if you have been following me for any period of time you may have heard me speak of the “terminator mentality” which is a disciplined like a cyborg, concentrated focus on achieving your goals. That will lead to success but it’s meant as a short term solution till you can get to a place where it becomes a habit which is much easier to maintain and can be fit into a lifestyle. Limit your temptation, and you are less likely to cave in.

Now another thing about will power is that much like anything, if you practice building it you can. Start with the idea of success in mind and straying from the course becomes less likely. When I start out a new client I’ll ask them what their goal is not just for me to plan a course to get there but also to remind them of their dream when the going gets tough so that they can power through it. You can train yourself to power through. Just like with anything take it one step at a time but start with the goal in mind.

I’ve recently started strongman training. I have am lucky in that I have a coach willing to teach me the secrets of the old time performing strongmen and I’ll reveal a bit of it here. First you have to have a base level of strength. Second is the technique to pit your strength with. And Third is you have to have a will power greater then steel. I won’t go into technique since I just started learning this 2 weeks ago and I wanted this to be about will power anyways. The way I would describe it is you are pitting your strength against the steel and it is fighting you right back. Just when you think you can’t bend it, you just hang in there a little bit longer, and that’s when it gives up and bends. I got to say it feels pretty awesome to conquer steel.

Now back to the whole green lantern analogy…You can’t let fear prevent you from achieving your goals. In our brains and brawn we have all sorts of protective mechanisms that act like a governor of our strength and just about any kind of success in life. Don’t let the fear limit you….make it motivate you so that failure isn’t an option.

Now since I won’t go into technique I’ll provide you with a great resource about bending steel that I picked up last year. Jedd Johnson is a strong dude with a strong grip and put out a dvd awhile back called How to Melt Steel With Your Hands (Nail Bending Dvd) and it’s got some great stuff in it. It’s interesting that he talks about it melting because when you bend it, it actually does get warm where the bend occurs.

Well anyways work towards your goals and physical awesomeness to you!