Lately, I have dedicated a lot of my social media (and a lot of my life) to fitness. I still talk about my main field of expertise which is communication and public relations, but my passion for fitness and bodybuilding has somehow affected both my life and profession in ways that I did not expect.
Firstly, why bodybuilding? I suffered a significant amount of injuries, especially while playing rugby. The latest injury caused me triple foot and ankle surgery which ended my possibility to do any competitive contact sports in the future. Bodybuilding was an alternative I discovered while working at the World Expo in Milan last year. After surgery, apart from the physical situation, I was in a bad place emotionally for a number of reasons. I always enjoyed doing some heave weight lifting and hitting the gym regularly, but bodybuilding is a whole new experience, and I was totally hooked since day one.
What’s the difference between “going to the gym” and bodybuilding? We can talk about this for ages but it all comes down to one very thing: Bodybuilders compete. It’s that simple. Even though you might find very dedicated people who study, grow and develop their ability to grow muscle, it is the pain, the dedication, the concentration and the mental sacrifice required to get ready for the stage that draws the line between bodybuilding and hitting the gym. This path has taught me a few things I try to apply in my working life:
Let results speak for themselves. How many people do you know talking about fitness and well-being that want to sound like experts…while being visibly overweight? “You know, you should follow this diet…” or “My coach (that I got just two weeks ago…) says cardio is better than weight-lifting to lose fat…” and other nonsense. Similarly, I see and hear so many people talking about best communication, management or community building practices while not actually getting results.
If you get great results, whether you are showing your beach body or running a communication campaign, you won’t need to explain what you are doing. Work in the dark and shine when it matters. Since I got into this beautiful world, I have noticed that the guys that kill it on competition day are those who are always silent at the gym. Hoody on, headphones on, meals packed and go lift some heavy weight. Not many shenanigans but a big mix of dedication and perseverance. Apply the same to your work and career. Your results will speak for you and people will come to you asking how you managed to get results.
Grow out of your comfort zone. I have been very fortunate to be prepared for my first contest by an icon of Italian bodybuilding and a two-times Mr. Universe. Apart from killing me, making me puke (from over-exhaustion) and helping me to reach failure at each and every workout together, these sessions have taught me a very simple principle that accompanies the way I now see life: “To be what you have never been, you gotta be ready to do what you have never done.”
How many people do you see at the gym who have been training for three, five or even ten years and display no change in their physique or strength or condition? Similarly, how many professionals do you know who are stuck in the very same job, who still have the very same skills and level of expertise they had years ago? That is because our body and brain become very quickly accustomed to stimuli, and the moment they plateau is the moment they stop growing. Whether you’re building muscle or your career, it is crucial to keep challenging yourself with new stimuli. To keep growing you have got to change your workout routine, your diet, your rest patterns every month. Similarly try to change your working methods and the way you look at things regularly. Especially if you work in communication, you are challenged by an insanely fast-paced environment where it is easy to lag behind on the latest technology. Sure, many times you will fail both physically and mentally but it is this continuous shock that will make you a more mature human being and a more complete professional on the long run.
The winning team is the one doing the basics best. When I was a kid growing up in a small village in the North of Italy, most of my time I would spend it playing football. At a certain point our team was pretty good. I remember we went on a 30 games winning streak and some of our players got called into pro teams. A local newspaper came to interview our coach who was asked, “How do you get 11 kids to keep winning?” – his response: “We do the basics, every training session, until it is impossible to get a single pass wrong.” I remember that for one year we were given a task: at every session we would count the amount of keepie-uppies we managed to do without the ball touching the ground. At every following session we were not allowed to start practice until we beat our previous personal record.
When you make a decision to improve your body it is useless to think about supplements before learning how to have perfect nutrition and training technique. Still, most beginners are more interested in how to consume creatine and BCAA before learning how to eat 6/8 times a day to increase muscle mass. The very same way, you can’t build a great communications project by skipping the basics of continuous proper copyright, user experience and SEO to go straight into Facebook ads or Google AdWords…unless you have infinite budget.
This is how this sport has helped me look at life differently and definitely more analytically. Has anything happened to you that made you change the way you see your life and profession? Share it with me!
He “loves haters”: In the fitness industry, haters are an everyday business. As soon as you get success, you get haters. People jealous of your achievements will focus on any small possible tiny detail they could use to undermine you or discourage you from going your own way and do what you love. The best strategy to deal with haters? Love them. Let them come to you and respond appropriately by showing results, dedication, and most importantly, composure. Lex is constantly under attack and still manages to keep it cool but always respond. This takes guts and a much bigger mental effort that bodybuilding already requires.