Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, I competed heavily in martial-arts tournaments all over Texas.  To boost my physical stamina, improving my performance in the sparring ring, I decided to take up swimming at the time.  I opted for long-distance swimming, as I wanted a very challenging non-impact cardio component to complement my advanced high-impact martial arts workouts.  To that end, I considered enrolling in a masters swim class at the Baylor Tom Landry Aquatics Center, which afforded me a free two-week trial membership to sample the course.  Upon completing the trial, I was absolutely stoked about signing onto the program.  At that point, unfortunately, I discovered that it called for a $600 down payment, and I just did not have the money for it.

Consequently, I tried to join a less-expensive swim program at Southern Methodist University; however, the coach, whom I realized was not very interested in talking with me as soon as he learned how old I was, bluntly said over the phone that I was too old and inexperienced to join the team.  Since I wanted a spot in the program so bad, my heart sank, and I was crushed. 

After serious brainwork, I settled on learning how to swim without lessons from an actual certified swim instructor.  I read books on proper swimming techniques and strategies, got my friend, a lifeguard at the time, to allow me free access to the local swimming pool five days a week to practice my swim strokes.  Two weeks later, I joined the Air Force.  A few days after settling into my first duty station, Biloxi, MS, I found the nearest swimming pool and continued honing my swimming strokes while increasing my endurance and becoming progressively stronger, moving more efficiently in the water.  Furthermore, I oftentimes viewed videos of Olympic swimmers, studying their techniques, trying my best to assimilate them into my workouts. 

At my second duty station, Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, TX, I continued my swim workouts.  A year later, I decided to enter my first amateur swimming competition, the 1993 Wichita Falls city-wide Red Cross Swim-a-Thon.  The four-hour long-distance swimming event turned out to be only two hours for me, since I overslept, missing the first half of the competition. 

The funny thing was that I still won the competition, swimming the longest distance out of over a hundred competitors!  Receiving an awards plaque for the win from my squadron commander before the entire squadron composed of over a hundred people was pretty cool, especially for a guy as young as I was. 

My point is not to toot my own horn about my swimming skills, which are not, by the way, extraordinary at all.  It is to illustrate this:  I clearly determined what my goal was (learning how to swim), and I hammered out a strategy to achieve it (reading books and studying videos of professional swimmers), receiving rewards for my hard work (squadron recognition), but most importantly, I never even considered quitting and never let little setbacks (rejected for enrollment into popular swim programs due to age and skill level) deter me from reaching my goal.  Failure and self-doubt were never options.  At UB, this is the type of vision that one should have to succeed, reaching full potential in every aspect of the program.

Before plunging into a huge commitment at our studio, investing a great deal time and money in striving to change your life for the better, set a clear vision of what you want to accomplish.  This may seem like an obvious thing that people should do prior to walking into our studios, but after reading scores of answers to the goals section of our health history form, I realize that people oftentimes do not clearly articulate to us what they really want to gain from the program.  Simply saying that you want to lose fifty pounds, for instance, is not an ultimate goal, and, incidentally, just wanting to lose so many scale pounds is indeed the common response that people give. 

The answer that we look for, however, is something deeper in meaning, like looking sexy or getting healthier and fit or wanting to feel better about yourself or becoming independent from certain medications, or avoiding adult-onset (Type II) diabetes.  These targets have more profound meanings rather than just wanting to become fifty pounds lighter.  Furthermore, as trainers we want to know exactly how to customize the program just for you by knowing exactly what you want to accomplish.

Stick with the program no matter how tough things become.  Since our workout facilities are the sites for life changes, our studios can be very emotionally charged places.  People laugh, cry, get angry, become depressed, and celebrate accomplishments in our studios.  What is more, achieving your ultimate goal is never easy, so realize it and do what you must to get the job done.  You are going to sweat, to ache, to feel fatigued, to have trouble sometimes adjusting to the proper food suggestions, experience bad days and good ones, and make mistakes-maybe lots.  This is life, so accept small setbacks, press on, zoom in on reaching your ultimate goal and persist until you get what you want.  Do not let anything quash your everlasting desire to succeed.  Rest assured that if you try your level best by applying what you learn, you will realize your goal.  Trust me; you will succeed.