What's pushing you?

Pigs don't sweat this much.

I was soaked to the bone. A casual observer would have thought that I had just emerged from a swimming pool, dripping from head to toe. If you've ever sweated so much that your socks are dripping when you take them off, then you know what I mean.

Gasping for air and fighting the urge to taste my lunch for the second time that day, I just hoped that it would be enough.

It was the summer of 2003 in Columbus, OH, and I was in the midst of training for my first ever MMA fight. Having only a limited wrestling background and about 2 months of training in kickboxing and jiu jitsu, I was more than a little nervous.

All I knew about my opponent was that he was an experienced fighter with more than 10 bouts under his belt, and that he was bigger than me by about 5 inches and 40 lbs.

When I found out about the fight, I only had 5 weeks to prepare.

Let me tell you, those next 5 weeks were the most intense, focused weeks of my life. I trained like a madman, pushing my body to places I didn't think it could go.

Every time I wanted to quit, every time I wanted to give in to the pain, I kept thinking about my opponent, and how hard he must be training. I thought about being embarrassed and having my ass kicked in front of my friends that were coming all the way from Cleveland and Pittsburgh for the fight. I thought about how incredible it would feel to stand in the middle of the ring in front of a thousand people with my arm raised, victorious.

I visualized both scenarios in extreme detail. I pictured everything from the sound of the crowd, to the feel of the gloves on my hands, to the bounce of the ring under my feet. I pictured standing across from another man that wanted to pound my face into the mat.

Every time I felt hungry and wanted to stop at McDonald's on the way home from work, I thought about how the extra fat would slow me down. I thought about how the greasy food would make me sluggish and lethargic, compromising my training.

My focus was unwavering. There was too much at stake for it to be any other way.

After 5 brutal weeks of training, I walked down to the ring and stood across from my opponent, knowing that I had done everything I could possibly do to be better than him on that day. The results of the fight reflected my hard work when I scored a TKO in the first minute of the bout.

I am reminded of that period of time very often. Any time I set a goal for myself I try to attack it with the same ferocity and single-mindedness that I did back then.

I took all of the negative feelings associated with training and dieting and started seeing them as positive signs that I was on the right track. I also constantly tried to feel what it would be like to succeed, and contrasted that with what it would feel like to fail.

You can do the same thing when it comes to your goals. The key is having a clear picture in your mind of what it is you want to accomplish. You may not have the threat of another human being trying to separate your head from your body to motivate you, but you can still use your perceptions of failure and success to your advantage.

If your goal is to finally get the body you want, you need to condition your mind to experience all of the negative things associated with restrictive diets as positive signs that you are getting closer to your goals.

That rumble of hunger in your belly isn't a reason to panic and shovel Doritos into your face any more. It's a sign that your body is burning fat for fuel. (This is not to say that you should starve yourself, but that's another discussion entirely)

That burning in your lungs and muscles is no reason to give up and take a breather. That's your body's fat burning machinery running at full steam ahead.

When you're pushing yourself hard in the gym, and you feel like you can't do any more, picture your ideal body and honestly ask yourself if quitting will get you closer to that goal. Should you give in to the discomfort or push forward?

When you're tempted to order that Oreo pie after dinner, ask yourself if you can afford to eat things like that if you want to look the way you want to look. Should you satiate your base urges with momentary comfort, or suffer in the short term for lasting satisfaction in the end?

Think of how people will look at you and treat you when you're in the shape you want to be in. Will strangers treat you differently? Will your significant other admire you more? How will they look at you if you do nothing and gain another 20 lbs?



Let's face facts, our bodies do not want to be lean. They do not want to lose fat. Your body doesn't care how much your butt jiggles when you walk or how far your belly hangs over your pants. It just wants to keep you alive by taking in and storing as much energy as possible.

You have to be strong enough mentally to force it to do what you want. You have to push yourself to change.

It's that simple, but it ain't easy.

Check out Top Dog's Dead Sexy Bootcamp for women and Rock Solid Strength Camp for men to find out how you can reach your goals faster and easier than you ever thought possible.