THE “TRICK” IS TO HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE

 My sleep habits have become a recent hot topic of discussion among the internet lifting sphere, so allow me to talk about myself here.  Put straight: I average about 5.5 hours of broken sleep a night.  I get up around 0330 to train, and I go to sleep around 2200.  Whenever I announce what time I get up to sleep, people will immediately conclude I get to bed at 2000 and go on to bloviate about how they can’t POSSIBLY go to sleep that early so earl morning training is out the window…and then when they find out when I go to sleep they conclude that “It must be nice to not need 8 hours of sleep in order to function well and feel good.”  Folks: I’m tired.  I’m not the worst X-man ever, with the power to function on 5.5 hours of sleep like someone with 8 hours of sleep (or, for you DnD nerds: an elf).  I am “Human: all too human”.  It’s not a matter of me activating some latent super power: the “trick” is to have no other choice.

Alright, I've mentioned humans and elves: I needed to post this.  But you should pick the half-orc

 

In my list of priorities, being with my family, keeping my job, and continued physical transformation rank high.  All of these priorities require investments of time.  So I’ve shaved off time where I can: I meal prep, and use fast cooking devices (instant pots, air fryers, microwaves, etc) to make that a faster process.  Those who have watched my lifting videos know that I have a limited wardrobe, which shaves off decision making time.  I have a haircut that has meant not needing to own a comb since 2004.  But somewhere else I could find to shave off time was the end of my sleep cycle.  It was a great spot of time to discover, because my family was still asleep and my work day had not yet begun, so I wasn’t compromising there AND I could use that time to get in my training, so I could meet one of my priorities as well.  Win-win. 

 

“But how do you motivate yourself to get up so early to train?”  Folks: there’s no ROOM for motivation on this timeline.  If I spent 5 minutes rolling around in bed wondering if I should get up or go back to sleep, I just lost 5 minutes of training time.  The “trick” is to have no other choice.  I am either getting up and training or I am FAILING, and my priorities are so high that failure is NOT an option.  I’m not going to let anyone or anything take away that time with my family and I’m not going to let anyone or anything stop me from keeping the job that provides for said family, so when it comes time to get up to train, I am the only one that is stopping me if I choose to not wake up…and I’m not going to let me stop myself from reaching my goals.  That’s “the trick”. 

But don't forget the importance of good nutrition! 

 

“But how do you function with so little sleep?”  The “trick” is to have no other choice.  Again, what am I going to do: STOP being a husband, father and employee simply because I’m sleepy?  Quite literally just lay down and die?  These are my priorities: they are what matter to ME.  If they weren’t my priorities, I wouldn’t care for them.  That’s why I have a Playstation 4 that is covered in dust with a bunch of “new” games still in the plastic wrap sitting on top of it: I keep buying these things THINKING “I’ll get around to them”, but they simply don’t matter enough for me to dedicate time.  I am too sleepy for video games: I have no other choice but to succeed in being a husband, father and employee.

 

And this is SO dramatic too: all we’re talking about here is a sleepy dude that can still put in a full day’s work, come home, make dinner and eat with the family and hang out and play games/watch movies until it’s time to start it all over again.  Real deal “no other choice” situations are out there happening every day.  Mothers are lifting vehicles off their children, soldiers are engaged in 28 hour long fire-fights with opposing units, men run into burning buildings to rescue others, people cut off their own limbs to escape being trapped: all because they had no other choice.  The human body and mind are both incredible and we limit them significantly primarily because, if left unchecked, we’ll self-destruct in our pursuit of finding our own limits.  That’s Nietzsche’s “Will to Power” taken to it’s inevitable conclusion.  But before that happens, we’ll realize the amazing completely untapped potential that resides within us.  Which, tying back to Nietzsche again, is the whole “overman” concept.  We’re all operating at such a small fraction of what we could be at.  You “optimal” nerds out there, take note.  You really wanna maximize your output, start pushing yourself WELL beyond your preconceived limits.

Have you ever seen anything more optimal than this?

 

You have SO many opportunities to have “no other choice”.  I think about how many trainees refuse to try a new movement or new piece of equipment or new program until they have a “failure plan” in place, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.  “How do I safely fail a squat”, “what do I do when I stall on the program”: folks, have no other choice BUT to succeed.  “Failure is not an option” is a cliché BECAUSE it’s such an important piece of advice that it SHOULD be tattooed on your eyelids so that you never forget it.  When you approach a situation where the ONLY possible choice you have is to succeed, you’ll find yourself doing everything in your power TO succeed.  A mom who HAS to lift a car off their kid in order to keep them alive WILL do it.  If you walk the tight-rope without a net, you WILL make it to the other side. 

 

Have no other choice in your path to physical transformation.  It makes things so much simpler.  How do you possibly manage to stick to your diet?  By having no other choice.  Either we eat the foods we’re supposed to eat or we will fail.  How do you hit the weights, reps and sets that the training program prescribes?  By having no other choice.  And hey: if we ate that food we were supposed to eat, we’ll most likely hit those weights too: crazy.  You don’t need magic, voodoo, super powers, deals with devils or any other “trick” besides simply having no other choice.