Intro After a week and half of a serious case of pharyngitis (basically a sore throat), barely being able to drink water, let alone eat, I found myself 10kg's lighter (or 22 pounds lighter for you Americans), looking in the mirror, and seeing my 2-3 years of hard work and training in the gym melt before my eyes.

Okay that's a bit of an exaggeration, but a bit of hyperbole always makes for an interesting story.

For a few days I moped around a bit. I went back to work at my part time job, where my fellow employees noticed I'd lost a lot of weight, particularly from my arms, chest and shoulders. This killed my confidence and any motivation I had for the gym. I knew I had to get back into the gym, I just needed to pull myself out of the rut.

Sidenote: I had not weighed myself yet. I just knew I had lost a bit of weight.

Body

Cut to today. Today was my first day of practical work as a teacher. Basically I'm studying to be a high school English teacher in Australia (I plan to help stop the spread of toxic feminism from within the education system, at least within my classroom). They send you out first for one week observation in a classroom. When walking around the school and entering the classroom, I felt that spark of confidence start to come back. I felt like I was coming back to myself. Maybe I was finally getting over the sickness that had left me couch ridden, watching Vikings and The Inbetweeners.

(I'd like to throw in this is the same sickness I had when I wrote this post here: http://archive.is/jcmZz)

I got home, had a bit to eat and looked at myself in the mirror. The loss of gains lit a fire inside me, I grabbed a shirt and head to the gym. This is where I really had to struggle to keep my cool, and put in some hard work.

I did my deadlifts (after warming up of course) and as you'd expect after a week and a half out of the gym with little to no energy being fed to my body in that time, I got nowhere near my best. (Pulled 120kg for 3 reps, normally hitting 6-8 reps for 120). I was feeling a bit down, it was peak hour, and I felt as though everyone was looking at me, at this skinny pathetic mess I'd become. I started doing pull-ups. The easiest fucking pull-ups of my life. I turned to my mate, and couldn't believe how easy the pull-ups felt. I weighed myself, and boom, I found the reason. 78.5kgs, instead of my normal 76-80kg range I sit in. Even though I'd lost weight, the feeling of doing more pull-ups than I could do previously sparked my motivation, and the rest of my workout was amazing. Right now I'm back at home in that post-workout buzz. I feel ridiculously good.

Conclusion and Learning Points

I realise I waffled on about my story, but I feel there are some important lessons to grasp from this.

  1. No matter how hard everything feels and how bad it initially makes you feel, if you commit, persist and show some resilience, you'll hit a point that makes it all worthwhile.

  2. No matter how big, how strong, how mighty you think you are, no one is immune to sickness. It's part and parcel of life. You will get sick. You will lose motivation, weight, anything and everything. What is important is to get back on the horse and get yourself back out there.

  3. No one's opinion of you matters more than the opinion of yourself. I was so busy worried about what everyone else in the gym thought of me, I forgot about my opinion of myself. Those pull-ups helped.

And finally.

  1. Lifting is the ultimate way to combat feelings of self doubt, issues with confidence and general feelings of sadness. Lifting and fitness should be the foundation for every red pilled man.

Thank you.