Pushing ones self to the limit

As an athlete; I have encountered a lot of situations in my life that makes me give up because of different reasons. I always say whine by saying: this is just to much work, I can't take it anymore, I'm to tired. Sounds familiar huh? I have also seen the same excuse in other athletes. We all want to succeed in out athletic endeavors but we always go for a shortcut in achieving success. Sports, just like life is not about shortcuts. We have to push ourselves to the limit by working really hard. We have to make a solid commitment, we have to undergo tremendous pain and sweat it our really hard. I am writing about this as I was facilitating a series on what we call The Total Athlete for the University of The Philippines Judo Team. Our lesson last night focused on overcoming the barriers that would hinder an athlete from performing his best. Several physical barriers were brought up including a weak upper body, lack of stamina, pain etc. We also paid close attention to preparation. Making the necessary preparations and training to overcome those physical barriers. Preparations that are hard but necessary nevertheless.

As we were talking about those things that would prevent us from achieving athletic excellence, I was reminded of my own weaknesses and how I give up so easily when the going gets tough. God reminded me on what I need to do to accomplish certain things and that there is no easy road to take. No shortcuts to success. The Bible says that faith without action is useless. James 2:17. We cannot take things easily just because we are Christians and that God would see us through. We keep praying and asking God to help us and that we put our faith in Him. No! Faith must be supported by action! Remember the old saying? God helps those who help them selves. I guess this holds through because we just can't sit back and let God do everything. That's not the way he works in our lives.


Not all athletes may become a national champion but a total athlete will make the most of the talent that he has and give God his best. A total athlete will always have God's best interest at heart because he loves God. The Bible says that whatever we do, we should do it wholeheartedly and do our best as if working for the lord and not for men. An athlete's life is never easy, he will often encounter barriers along the way, barriers that could either make or break him. Are you trying to get pass each barrier by working hard or are you giving up? A Christian lives by faith and not by sight because what we see can often stop us from reaching our goals. Check out this video to understand what I mean.

Keeping your eyes on your goal can be good but it can also be bad if you let it affect you negatively because you seemed overwhelmed by the great task ahead of you. In this video, the coach challenged his team to have the right attitude. Not just in training but in life as well. Brock, the guy in the blindfold who is carrying someone on his back wouldn't have made it to the end zone if he didn't have the blindfold on. he would have stopped because his mind and body would tell him that it is impossible. With the ongoing encouragement from his coach, he made it! In the same way, God is also motivating us just like a good coach would, our lives here on earth may be difficult but are you going to let that affect you by throwing in the towel? Keep going and work hard, never give up but always push your self to the limit.

Night Rides on my Mountain Bike

One of the things in this world that I enjoy doing is riding my bike. I bike almost everywhere I go and I hardly take public transport anymore. I ride my bike in almost any kind of weather and time of day but my favorite time of day to ride my bike is in the evening. Yup, you read it right., in the evenings. Riding my mountain bike at night gives me such a wonderful feeling which makes me really enjoy my night rides. Here are the reasons why I love night rides: The air is cooler, less cars on the roads, plus; I can go fast without feeling tired. The only thing that I have to deal with are the big bullies of the roads; Trucks! There are enough trucks out there to take on an entire road and bring danger to others but I manage to avoid them anyway. I am extra careful whenever I would ride my bike out in the concrete jungles of Metro manila cause drivers can be pretty unpredictable. I'm just glad that not many cyclists gets into accidents.


I ride my bike home in the evenings at least three times a week alone. Sometimes I would have the company of friends on a group night ride down here in the south just to have fun and ride like the wind. One of these days I'm going to organize a night ride going out of town to places like Tagaytay or Laguna with interested people. We leave at dawn, stay there to wherever we're going till late in the afternoon and ride bike home. I don't know how soon can I make that happen but all things come to him who waits I guess. For now, I just need to be content with my weekly night rides and enjoy it like I always do.