Are you born fit/strong/fat or do you become fit/strong/fat?

I managed to have a lie-in this morning, and I ended up hearing this short discussion on the radio (click here to listen.  It lasts less than 6 minutes).  They were asking if great athletes are born, or are they made through training?

And the line that really caught my ear was:

“…the limiting factor in the vast majority of sports and most real life situations, is software”

All it takes is HUGE amounts of effort and practise

All it takes is HUGE amounts of effort and practise

“Software” means what goes on in a persons head, as opposed to “hardware” which is the persons body (their muscles, heart, lungs etc).

In other words, the thing that prevents people being as fit/strong/slim as they want is not down to “big bones”, their “glands” or “slow metabolism”, but by them choosing (consciously or sub-consciously) to not put in the 10,000 hours of practice.

They then give a couple of examples of how this “software” can help or hinder you achieving your full potential.

If you think achieving your goal is purely down to talent/genes/metabolism etc, when you slip up on the journey, you give up because “there is no point trying, because it was never meant to be”.

But if you think success is down to effort and lots of practice, then when you slip up on the way, you see this as an opportunity to adapt and grow…and you don’t give up!

So remember this next time something does not go quite right in your training/diet.  It’s not because you had the wrong parents/equipment etc.  Instead, you have just identified a new front from which you can attack your weaknesses/failings from.  And before long, all your weaknesses/failings will be retreating before you, and you will have achieved your goal!

Good luck!