Am I Still A Hulkamaniac?

Growing up I like to think I was a "normal" kid. I enjoyed sports and being active. I rode my bike, played pick-up games of basketball, football,etc., played the normal run-around-like-you're-crazy games like hide-n-seek and just enjoyed being a kid. I just had a thought, what happened to those days? LOL! One thing I loved as a kid was watching wrestling. Of course, at one point I was a Hulkamaniac. Who wasn't? You could catch me trying to rip my shirt trying to be like Hulk Hogan and doing my impersonations of the different wrestlers. I used to love to impersonate the "Macho Man" Randy Savage, which unfortunately my parents have some embarassing pictures of. I think all of us probably have lots of embarrassing pictures hidden somewhere!

Over the years I watched my fair share of episodes of wrestling but lost interest as I got older. I haven't watched any wrestling in years but some things I will probably never forget about it. One of those things is the embarrassing photo of me impersonating the "Macho Man" and another is Hulk Hogan's famous saying, "Train, Say Your Prayers, Eat Your Vitamins, (Be True to Yourself!"). Still to this day I think of those words when I take my vitamins and sometimes when I work out. His words left a lasting positive impression on me many years later. When I was younger the wrestlers were a motivation for me to workout and try to be in good shape like I thought they were. A couple of the favorite motivational tools of my family were the eating spinach so I could be like Popeye and taking my vitamins and exercising to be like Hulk! With a little reinforcement from my family encouraging me to take my vitamins, eat my spinach and exercise so I could be big and strong like my heroes it made me develop a commitment to exercise and (unknowingly) try to have proper nutrition at an early age that is still having a slight effect on me in adulthood. So taking all of that into consideration, what positve influences or motivations have you had in life to keep you on the right track to be healthy? What is your current motivation to have good or improved health? Do you keep your motivation in mind constantly? If you have children, are you motivating them to make healthy lifestyle choices? If you get off track do you use your motivation to get back on track?

Some of my motivations in recent years are just wanting to feel better in general, being sick and tired of being sick and tired, just to prove to myself that I can get back into the best shape of my life if I really wanted to (if you don't truly have the desire for improved health, I think that it unlikely you will succeed in achieving it), seeing some of my relatives and friends in bad health-related situations that may have been avoidable and not wanting to be in their situations myself and several other reasons.

My point to saying all of this is for you to use your motivation to fuel your efforts. Don't lose sight of what you are trying to accomplish and more importantly WHY you are trying to accomplish it. Sometimes I don't feel like working out or start to pick up a menu to order something bad for myself to eat just because it's convenient, but thankfully most of the time now my motivation kicks in and I remember WHY I want to be healthier in the first place and end up making a healthier decision. I must say that I am human and have my days where I don't end up working out and occasionally give in to my temptaions to eat bad but those days are alot less than they used to be, which I am proud of!

After all of these years I guess I still have a little Hulkamania motivating me. I'm still trying to Train, Say My Prayers, Eat My Vitamins and Be True to Myself! Whether it be good health or whatever you want in life, keep your mind on your motivation and use that motivation to help you accomplish your goals!

Here is a nostalgic video from YouTube I thought would be appropriate to end with. Enjoy!



Wikipedia on Hulk Hogan