My friends don’t see why I go to bed when they start doing their homework, or why I go the gym four times a week even when it is raining or snowing as hell (I’m in Maine) outside, or why I opt for staying back on campus (so that I will not miss any meal) instead of going hiking with them. To them, I am missing out on all the wonderful things in life. And honestly, they have all the rights to think so.

I would be a big fat liar if I say that I don’t have to sacrifice anything for training. No, on the other hand, to a normal person, the cost of my training is OUTRAGEOUS. Did I consider all these costs when I decided to train? Yes I did, but not for all of them. But did I know back then how much I would enjoy training? Not completely either. The thing is, these expenses don’t appear as costly to me as to my friends. To me, they are outweighed by all the benefits of training.

I believe that once you have been able to achieve something worth wide in your life, there is NO REASON why you cannot achieve something else. Did you ever say to yourself: It is impossible for me to gain muscle and get huge? Yet you CAN get huge, massively huge if you want. Imagine how confident you will be of yourself once you have achieved this goal, not only of your awesome awesome physique, but also of your ability to attain any dream in life.

But this is what I like most about training: every little thing you do matters! Skip just one meal? At the end of the week, that one meal makes all the difference between gaining 1.5 pounds or just 1 pound. Get only 6-hour sleep last night? The 2 hours that you lost is the reason you can only squat 18 reps instead of 20 reps 240 pounds of Squat today. That in turn means you did not give your body enough stress to overcompensate (gain muscle). Miss one work out? That’s even worse than missing 2 reps of Squat. And just think about all the little things that can cause you to miss anything. That’s why I say: EVERYTHING MATTERS!

This is not only applicable to training. Everything matters for any goal that you may have in life. But in no other areas in life can you see the consequences of your action as clearly and as quickly as in training. Put it another way, train properly for one week and you can see the difference immediately. What better source of motivation can you find than your own hard-earned results?

You still think it sucks to have to miss out on all the fun activities with your friends? Well, that depends. I am not missing out on anything. If I go on the trip with them, I will miss out on training for my goals. I will not be able to enjoy myself anyway. What’s more, it’s not like I will miss out on all of that for the rest of my life! No, just 1-2 years of hard training, and once you have got THERE, it will not be as demanding. To me, getting huge is more urgent. All those fun things can wait.

Recap: Train properly for a week, and you will see the PHYSICAL difference immediately. Just remember, EVERYTHING MATTERS.