You’ve heard the phrase in the gym many times by bodybuilder’s, weightlifters and fitness enthusiasts “NO PAIN NO GAIN” they would shout! Well Today I’d like to talk to you about how “NO PAIN NO GAIN” not only applies to building muscles, it applies to success on every level of every game including the game of life.

I’ve been training for over 26 years now, and I still remember the first day I started. A young 15 year old kid with a dream of becoming the greatest in and out of the gym. You see, for many people just the thought of hard work turns them away but after reading this article, you will come to understand that nothing wonderful in life comes without a little blood sweat and tears.

When I look back at life my finest hours where when I was struggling at some point. I’ve always said “in order to learn to walk, you have to fall down a few times.” Without the struggles in life, we would never truly know what we are capable of. It’s like when a mother gives birth to her child she experiences incredible pain hour after hour but she doesn’t care about the pain only about the baby. Once her baby is born, she forgets all about the pain she was just in. The same goes for everyone in life. If you look for the easy way out you will never truly know how strong you truly are.

A lot of people ask me Tony I work out hard and I watch what I eat how come I don’t look the way I want to? Well the first thing I’ll say to them is this; how do you know your diet and training is correct in the first place? I’ve been in and out of gyms my whole life and I’ll look around and see 90% of people making mistakes left and right. This is the main cause of failure. Giving it your all and doing it correctly is the secret to success.

Here are 10 steps on how to apply “NO PAIN NO GAIN” to your training and to your life!

1: Focus on what truly makes you happy:

Too many times in life we become the person others want us to be. What’s most important is who YOU want to be and that you must be willing to go through whatever it takes to become that person.

2: Hang around the right people:

I’ve always said you become your environment. Its so import to hang around the right people. Little do we realize that we become influenced by what we are around on a daily basis. Hang around the right people who will encourage you not discourage you.

3: Training partner or baby sitter:

This is very important if your going to train with a partner, make sure your partner is as motivated as you are otherwise you will get nothing out of it. It’s important that you push each other otherwise it called babysitting.

4: Stay on a balanced diet:

I’ve heard of every diet in the book and this is the biggest mistake people make when it comes to nutrition. The best diet is a balanced diet. Eating whole foods like fresh vegetables and fruit along with good proteins like chicken breast and fish with good fats like olive oils and nuts is a great way to fuel the body and get the most out of your training and your life.

5: Stop treating yourself to failure:

I’ve seen this many times people go from the gym right to the pizzeria. They feel oh well I just worked out hard so I can indulge. To me, this is like taking a shower putting on a suit and then rolling around in the dirt. Eating the wrong foods is not called indulging, it’s called setting yourself up for failure. There is nothing wrong with having pizza or your favorite foods sometimes don’t make them a daily ritual.

6: Don’t be afraid to go that extra mile:

It’s never the calm ride we remember it’s always the ride through the storm that makes us who we are. Going that extra mile when you don’t think you can makes all the difference in your life.

7: Have confidence in yourself:

Too many people rely on others to do things for them. We will never build up our self confidence that way. It’s like if we rely on being carried around, what would be the purpose for our legs? Never allow yourself to feel you’re anything less than perfect.

8: Tired or not here I come:

The biggest excuse people have is that there too tired to workout. It’s the number one excuse people use. I’ve come to learn that training when I was tired was the greatest workouts of my life.

9: Stay true to yourself:

I’ve been training for over 26 years while never once turning to any type of enhancement drug. I’ve always said I don’t just want to be healthy on the outside, I want to be healthy on the inside. “Never cheat your health to please your looks.”

10: Faith over fear:

This is something I talk a lot about. In life the one thing you need to have in order to be your best is faith. Faith in yourself and what you believe in is the key to happiness. Life is not easy and fear will always be apart of our lives in one way or another, but if we practice more Faith we will live a life with less fear.