Hard work or Excuses?

Hard Work. Excuses.

My husband will tell you I see one or the other, there is no in between with me.

It's either black or white, there is no gray.

So how do I maintain this year round?

It takes a lot of hard work to train every single day, to wake at 4:00 am in the dark cold; to pull on your shorts and lace up your shoes, still wishing you were asleep in the soft, comfortable bed. Standing at the counter, drinking a protein carb replacement meal, attempting to wake up enough to hoist a huge barbell countless times.

It takes a lot of dedication to eat a strict diet when you would rather enjoy almost anything else. Wishing you could sit and eat ice cream from a carton (I have never done that but I have read that many people, especially women do it often); to eat a small bag of chips; to have a couple cocktails and snack on nuts!

To come home from a long day at work, only to put some shorts and training shoes on yet again, and then push yourself out the door for a session of running stadium stairs, track intervals, plyometrics, kettlebells.

Hard work pays off though. I see it in myself everyday. When my muscles grow rounder and fuller with the weights, when my strength increases from the constant pounding.

My skin grows tighter against the muscles as I continue to diet, forming a smooth canvas against the hard roundness of lean muscle mass. I can feel the skin becoming thin, I can feel my body transform into a machine that is almost running on auto pilot.

I do not make excuses, I work hard, everyday.