This is an edited transcript from my Table Talk video Where's The Discipline? 

Everybody wants Powerlifting to be recognized as a sport. Many of those who are at the top of the sport treat it like they're playing a fucking game of Candyland.

I came up through the sport, training with people that I didn't know were living in their fucking cars just to be able to train with the best lifters and gyms they could.  Sacrifices that were made to be able to put another pound or another five pounds. Half of these sacrifices, I can't even say on video, but they were made by many. It was the number one priority in my life for a long time. I can't even think back of how long it took me to graduate from college, but it certainly wasn't four. I didn't care.

What I cared about was my fucking total.

If there was a meet coming up, or the Nationals coming up, or the Junior Nationals coming up, I didn't fucking take classes. I trained for the meet. Everything I did, every single day was geared around...

How am I going to be ready for this meet?

What do I need to do to be ready for this meet?

Who do I need to meet to be ready for this meet?

Every fucking thing I did for 20 + years evolved around getting ready for Powerlifting meets, and I wasn't even that good of a lifter. I didn't want to walk away from the sport saying,

"I could have done this. I should have done that."

Fuck that!

I wanted to walk away from the sport knowing I did every thing I possibly could do to try to make, and advance myself in the sport and be the best I could be.

Today, I read shit like ...

"My gym has shitty equipment"

"My training partner ........."

"I need to find a better coach or program"

"I can't travel that far to compete"

"I have to make sure my life stays balanced"

"I can't go to the gym, because I've gotta fucking walk my dog."

"I can't go to the gym because my cat box needs changed."

Where's the discipline in that?

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I understand people want to be balanced and have a balanced life, but how the fuck do you know what balance even is, unless you're unbalanced? You don't.

How is it any different than any other sport, if that's what you're striving to be?

How can a Junior High wrestler be more committed to their wrestling sport then a powerlifter training for the top title in their federation, country or whatnot? Because it happens!

We all see it every day. A junior high athletes got more fucking discipline and dedication for the betterment of their sport than some the best lifters we have in our sport, and we sit back and say...

"Oh, look at our kids, they're fucking lazy, they all get participation awards. They get this, they get that."

They're more fucking dedicated than half the lifters I see!

When you get older there's going to be a time when you're not going to be able to do this anymore. It may be because of injuries, it may be because of personal choice, it may be because of job. It may be because of a lot of different things. There a window of opportunity that you have if you're blessed to be one of the best in the sport. That window of opportunity needs to be taken advantage of, not  broken and cloudy with all this bullshit, because when it's gone, it's gone.

When it's gone and you look back, are you going to have regrets? Fuck yes, I know I have regrets! I've  got a lot of regrets, so does everybody who's ever been, and tried to be the most successful in any sport endeavor that they really cared about, and really wanted to try to be their best in.

You know the thing with regrets? You have to fucking earn them.

You just can't sit back and say, "Oh, I wish I didn't go out with the boys on Friday night." That's not a  regret.  A real regret will stay with you for your entire life. A real regret, you learn to forgive yourself for and live with. A real regret will provide you with lessons that can and will change who you are, A real regret can be re-framed into some of the best learning experiences you will ever have.

You need to go out and earn your own regrets, but you're not going to earn them unless you put yourself out there, because I'm telling you right now, if you're in it, and you're trying to be the best of the best, unless your genetics are so damn good that you can do whatever you want,  the person who's going to sacrifice the most is going to be the person who's going to win and the person who's going to advance.

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