Perseverance

As we strive to achieve our goals, the word perseverance always comes up. Do we recognize all that this word means or do we just say, 'oh, that's about sticking to it.' Well, there's more to it then that, consider the following by the great Track and Field Coach Del Hessel:
"Perseverance means showing firmness, steadiness, determination, tenacity and backbone. Perseverance is the ability to endure adversity until the problem is overcome.
Perseverance is remaining confident and faithful to yourself while the odds appear to be mounting against your chance of success.
Perseverance is being able to progressively attack adversity in an intelligent aggressive manner until the task is mastered."
Reads like it could have been written by Cerutty.
How do you measure up?

Encouragement For Those Getting Older

For those of you who are getting "up there" in years and may not be hitting the times you once ran or the amount of  weight you once lifted, consider the following by Jack Lalanne. Talk about having the right attitude and mindset! Oh yes, that's Jack at 84 pictured above.


"Forget about what you used to do. This is the moment you have been waiting for."


With each passing year should come new plans and new goals.

Inspired By The Stotan Creed: The Company You Keep and Your Lifestyle

You say you want to be at the top of your game mentally and physically, but, are you willing to do all the things necessary to reach that point?
Sometimes doing the things required to maintain focus and keep on track can be difficult. Many of us will have to make serious lifestyle adjustments along the way.
For instance; a partying, unstructured life will never get you to where you say you want to be. As an old friend once said, "you can't soar with the eagles if you're out prowling with the dogs every night." Continuing to associate with people who live a kind of day to day, pleasure centered life will only distract and possibly sabotage your best intentions.
Perhaps that's how you once lived but now you realize that it's a dead end route which ultimately leads nowhere except to a life of habitual pleasure seeking, which for most people, includes consuming copious amounts of alcohol.
That is the true "opiate" of the masses these days.
I could go on but you get the picture---in order to reach your goals changes have to be made that will take resolve,organization and discipline. It's all part of the process but it can be an enjoyable process when the end means a life that is meaningful and fulfilling.

So You Want To Be A True Stotan?

Recently I have received a few inquiries about being a Stotan and Stotanism in general.

What you are about to read was something I sent to a sincere seeker who desires to live and breathe the Stotan Life. There are many misconceptions as to what it actually is. The passage in quotes below is by Percy Cerutty, the rest by me. Here goes:

I could go on and on about what being a Stotan is using my words and experiences but it was best said by the man himself---Very important to know AND the truth that the MAJORITY of clubs, groups, etc.miss when they say they are Stotans--it is every bit and maybe more a philosophy of life as it is a way of training---They think it's all about sand dunes and busting your gut running--WRONG!

The Following is sometimes called the Stotan Creed written by Percy Cerutty---you want to be a Stotan--get to know the following so well you have it practically memorized--like you said

You have to walk the talk!!!!!!!!

“A Stotan is one who hardens, strengthens (and) toughens…the (mind &) body by consistent habits and regular exercises, which are consciously and irrevocably made part of the life plan of the individual, as well as consciously determining that the mind will be cultivated upon such abstractions as purity, beauty and logic. Erudition, in as complete a degree as possible shall be the lifelong aim: Truth, in relation to all aspects of life, the unending search.

Stotans will, by virtue of their philosophy, be nature lovers, with a respect and appreciation of all evolved or created things. They will appreciate the sanctity of creative effort both in themselves and in others.

Stotans, for all the reasons that their philosophy stands (viz: hardness, toughness, unswerving devotion to an ideal), would look upon the sea (or mountains) as their pristine element and endeavor to associate themselves with their primeval source by immersing themselves (to training) in all seasons of the year. No practice is disposed to toughen, both the body and the morale, more than this.

Stotans believe that neither the body nor the mind can be maintained at a high pitch of efficiency unless sufficient and regular rest is obtained, and aim at a daily average of 8 hours sleep.

Stotans, also, will not be found in social places after midnight. Stotans shall so regulate their lives that at the end of a period, varying with the intensity of effort, each shall realize that they have attained, without conscious striving, to a state of knowledge, and a position of leadership within the community.

It is axiomatic that only the pure can understand purity, only the cultivated appreciate beauty, and only the strong truly measure their strength.

Therefore, only the self-disciplined can command genuine respect. A program shall be aimed at which shall be designed to [train each Stotan]:

(a)… to withstand physical hardship, to accomplish feats of strength and endurance, to understand orderliness, and the true meaning of intelligence.

(b) To know himself as an organism and a personality

(c) To emerge, eventually emancipated, from all dogmas, creeds, and beliefs, as well as worldly and unworldly hopes and fears.

(d) To habitually function upon the highest planes of thought and physical effort.

(e) To place the objective of an alert, informed intelligence, and a perfected body, as primary in Life. And to arrive at the conclusion that all else will follow on.

(f) To learn that on this basis, the whole world, and all that it has to offer, opens out as a vision, splendid, normal and realizable.

(g) To understand that Past, Futures, Fates, Fears, Death, Selfishness, Egoism, Pride, Envy, Hate and Prejudice can be replaced by Intelligence that controls emotion, dominates destiny, manifests completeness and exults in Life.

(h) To understand that, in actuality, evolved man is a King, but without the trappings. That Kingship is his right and his destiny. That we can make ourselves, in time, all that we would. That we honour real men but are subservient to none.

In addition, Stotans shall train themselves to withstand, stoically, personal criticism, also, scepticism as the necessity or wisdom of such a Way of Life. In this regard, Stotans soon learn that they command knowledge, experience and ability not available to the prejudiced, the ignorant or the slothful.

Also, having embarked upon the Stotan Way of Life, like the Spartans, one must go through with it to the end. There is no giving up throughout life. The first pre-requisite for a Stotan is tenacity. The next is to understand that his loyalties are towards making the most of the material that is his, to the expansion, or at least the manifestation of the Life Force, and a constant identification of himself with his Life Force through his Way of Life.

To live this Way of Life is hard. It is not for weaklings. It is the Way that is travelled by all the truly great ones. It requires strenuous effort of body and mind.”

Brilliant, inspired--Keep me posted

Why Serious Athletes Need To Listen To Jack

In the past I have featured articles on the late Jack LaLanne whom I have described as a modern day Cerutty.
 I have also previously posted this picture above as well as one of Jack doing fingertip push-ups with his arms fully extended in front of him, at the age of 84!
Jack was totally committed to personal fitness as well encouraging others to recognize the benefits of working out and eating right. He "walked the talk" as they say.
What follows are some things he said that all of us can learn from and be inspired by.
When asked if at the age of 84 he still worked out 7 days a week he responded: "Absolutely,see I'm one of these guys who don't want to take a step backward. I either want to hold on to what I have or improve a little bit. My workouts are part of who I am."
 I think most of us can relate to that last statement. Commenting on training Jack said this: :"Fitness starts between your ears (editor: where have you heard that before?). You have to figure out what you want and then go ahead and do it. Your body is your slave. We must learn to control the bestial and sensual sides of ourselves."
 A few thoughts on these remarks: many times people who say they desire running or athletic success are a bit hazy as to exactly what kind of success they want outside of the generic,"I just wanna race(perform) well." If you really want success you have to be much more specific then that or chances are you will simply continue on by just sort of going through the motions. Jack was big on the quote, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." If you really want it, then commit,totally! Finally,"controlling the bestial and sensual sides of ourselves" has become less common in this day and age,even among athletes. It is a quality we must have to not only achieve success but to become better people

Random Cerutty Quotes

"It cannot be over-stressed,for survival--intelligent survival and longevity,there must be some return by man to the natural enviroment,the elements,in a word,the simple life of the country or the seashore."
Herb Elliott once said that the ideal life for an athlete is one of simplicity. How true that is. Too many activities,committments and striving for more "things" will eventually become the determining factors as to how you live your life. If you can't put yourself in the enviroment that Cerutty describes in the opening quote then you should make a point of regularly training in the ones he mentions above.

"Fitness,above all,pays dividends as no other investment can." The only thing better than being fit is being optimally fit,ready to race fit.
I see people walking down the beach at about a 15 to 20 minute per mile pace and wish I could tell them that if they really want to get fit they have to do more than what they are doing. Sure, it's better than sitting in front of the TV eating Doritos but they've bought into the lie that sauntering down the street for X amount of minutes is a way to physical health.
Getting fit takes work,sweat and dedication. The dividends paid out are both mental and physical. Those of us who live for the run know this only to well. Ideally,we should become an example to family and friends of what a healthy lifestyle can bring.

"Living is not only getting and gaining but doing." I think I've cited this quote previously but for obvious reasons it's a good one.

Not only is living vicariously through the lives of million dollar pro athletes a waste of time but it can detract the spectator from actually being a particpant in sport.

In closing--Live life vigorously!

One Thing We Must Not Forget

As human beings we are all capable of change,mentally and physically. The big question is, do we want to change and do we believe a change can actually happen?
Emil Zatopek,who won the gold at the 1952 Olympics in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and the marathon, has something to say about this:
"By a persistent effort of will it is possible to change the whole body. The athlete must always keep in mind this concept of change and progression; he must never accept his limitations as being permanent,because they are not."
Emil was living proof of the validity of that quote.The logical question is, are we accepting our perceived limitations as being permanent?