NEVER, NEVER, NEVER STOP TRAINING!

 Never, Never, NEVER Stop Training

Don't worry, this image will make sense shortly.

I was raised by parents from East Texas.  I say this at the beginning so that you can be as bemused—or perhaps befuddled—as much as I am that my mother, Texan through and through, has a deep, abiding, and often (for me, at least) confusing love of all things British.   British movies, British novels (my mother is a novelist, so that might be part of the problem), British mysteries whether in print or screen (small or large), British tea; well, the list could go on and on and on.  She even has a deep love for the Royal Family, which is the most confounding of all to me, and which I gladly point out at a lot of July 4th celebrations.  As a Texan myself, who has made his home in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and (mainly) Alabama, I’m proud that my ancestors fought the British, and kicked their tails back “across the pond.”  But, hey, I’m also proud of my ancestors that fought in the Texas Revolution, both the colonists and the Tejanos that are part of my lineage—all those things that make up me as I am today.   (I’ll skip the part of my ancestry that fought for the South in the American Civil War, but, hey, that’s part of my ancestral past as well.)

But let us return to my mother’s love of all things Union Jack.  Most of it, as I said, confuses me, but there are certain individuals throughout the time of the “British Empire” that I have admired greatly, but I really find this no different than the men (and women) that I admire throughout history in all of the cultures, races, and religions of the world.  Toward the end of the British Empire, one man stands alone as the person probably most admired by my mother, and I suppose she passed this admiration on to me.  And, hey, it could be that he simply has some of the best quotes ever, especially among world leaders.  And you may have already guessed who I’m talking about if you realized the title of this post is nothing more than a play on words from his most famous quote.  “Never, never, never give up.”  I am, of course, quite obviously at this point talking about Sir Winston Churchill.

Many of Churchill’s quotes can be directly related to training, no matter the kind of training you do, and that’s probably because a lot of his quotes have the ring of the warrior to them.  But there are also other quotes of his that are simply amusing and interesting, and although I suppose some of them could be applied to training and lifting, fighting and running, I’m not exactly sure how.  But you can always judge for yourself.  Here are some of my favorite of his, well, non-warriory musings:

“I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”

“I am fond of pigs.  Dogs look up to us.  Cats look down on us.  Pigs see us as equals.”

“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.”

“The best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter.”

Okay, enough silliness (well, for now; I’m not promising anything further down in the essay).  Let’s look at some of his other quotes, and see what we might cull from them.  The first is the one I already mentioned:

“Never, never, never give up.” (It must be noted that Churchill actually said, “never give in,” but the “popular” version has become so well-known that I thought I’d just stick with it.)

I changed this one a little bit for the title of this essay, simply so I (originally, at least; writing rarely goes exactly as planned, along with most things in life) could tie it in to a quote I used a few months back from the founder of Judo, Jigaro Kano: “Never stop training.”

As I wrote at the time about Kano’s quote, both of these quotes should be seen to apply not just in the moment, but in a lifelong pursuit of training, lifting, and fighting.  This also means that you have to be able to adapt.  Usually, for instance, Churchill’s “never give up” quote is preceded or followed by another quote of his:

“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

In other words, if you’re going to achieve your goals, you have to be willing to adapt, tenaciously so if the need be.  And no matter what, you can’t surrender or give in to your inner demons, to your negative voice that tells you it can’t be done, or you’re not good enough, or not talented enough, or maybe it tells you that you’re just too damn old to be able to achieve your goals.  I have been training in martial arts since the early ‘80s, for 40 years, and I have been lifting weights for almost that long (35 years, to be exact) consistently.  Yes, there have been times when I had to take time off for injuries—I believe the longest I went without training was for 6 months after having surgery for herniated disks in my neck/back.  But, overall, I have been very consistent, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I didn’t adapt my training—in lifting and in martial arts—to the situation of my age and my injuries.

I love powerlifting and Strongman-style training.  They are absolutely my preferred methods of training.  I always loved the feeling of lifting extremely heavy weights, and I was always proud of the fact that I would often be the absolute strongest man at powerlifting meets, even though I was sometimes outweighed by other competitors by 100 to 150 pounds.  (This also meant that in martial arts, I could hit like a Mack truck compared to others in my weight class.)  But guess what?  I can’t train that way any more—not very often, at least—and I don’t even try to.  I’m happy that, although not near as strong as I once was, I am in terrific “shape.”  My bodyfat is low.  My cardio is now “good.”  I can train “hard” though not heavy.  And I simply feel great!  And I would like to be able to say the same thing when I’m 80-years old, God willing that I live that long.  But there would be no way that I could say that if I tried to “turn back the clock” and train ultra-heavy, lifting a ¼ of a ton on my exercises at most workouts.  That would be foolhardy, and it would just mean more injuries and pain.  Because here’s the thing: I could do that if I so wanted.  At least for a little while, but that sort of training would eventually catch up with me, as it would most men my age who have been training for as long.

So please adapt, and like Churchill, the adaptation will allow you to conquer your goals in a way that non-adaptation would not!

Now let’s look at some other Churchill quotes that can really piggy-back off of this one.  Apply these principles, and you will succeed no matter your age or training goals, whether you’re a 20-year old MMA fighter, a 35-year old powerlifter, or a 70-year old bodybuilder.

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

“I am an optimist.  It does not seem too much use being anything else.”

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

“It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

And last, but certainly not least:

“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.”

To sum up Churchill’s philosophy for life and lifting: Have a positive attitude, and try your best, no matter what life or the lifting world throws at you, to be optimistic.  It does little good, and in fact is to your detriment, to have a pessimistic attitude about training or your life.  Once you have your mind set on something, you must put it into action, even if this means that you fail at what you’re attempting, then just keep attempting it, no matter how many “failures” you meet in life.  Eventually, you will achieve success.  And realize that this success is your responsibility—as are your failures—and no one else’s.  Do not blame the “world” or your “poor circumstances” or your “lousy genetics.”  Simply put the onus on yourself!

Lastly, no matter what you achieve in your training life, keep in mind the things that are truly important: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, and hope.  These are the most important things, bar none.  No matter what you may think of Churchill—or even what you think of my interpretations of his thoughts herein—you cannot, nor should you ever, deny the truths of these 6 eternal values!

Unlike my dear mother, I may not be fond of all things British, but I must admit: Churchill would have made a damn fine Texan!