From Left: John, Nicole, Billy, Liz, Shelly, Curtis, Sophia, & Christina

Life and Fitness Lessons from Billy Blanks

You could'nt learn a thing or two from somebody who is massively successful, could you?

He's 50 years young but in better shape than 99% of all people. Nah, it's just the lighting, right?

That's what makes him appear to be in great shape.

I'll tell you what, I stood right next to him while he was throwing these lightning kicks past my face.

He IS in GREAT shape.

Keep reading to find out Billy's secret to fitness and LIFE success.

Billy Blanks with Cal State Fullerton ROTC

I just got back from the Billy Blanks Tae Bo Boot Camp workout at Cal State Fullerton.

Here’s what happened.

A group of us all met up at 5:30 AM and walked over to the school for the workout. So we show up and it’s just us and about 100 Army ROTC cadets.

That’s it. We’re the only ones on time for Billy.

6:00 AM rolls around and a few dozen more people show up. Some Army and some students.

At about 6:30 Billy is finally unveiled to everyone. He comes out with his daughter, Shelly, and a couple of his assistants. By the way, Shelly is 7 months pregnant. And she was doing these crazy kicks. Here was a woman basically carrying a bowling ball around in her belly, and she was out there doing the workout better than 95% of the audience.

After settling in, Billy is introduced and proceeds to take everyone through a fun, exciting, and thoroughly effective workout.

Sweat was dripping off my brow. All good.

The guy to my right kicked me a few times. All good.

Some ROTC cadets kept giving pins, empty water bottles, and pencils to everyone – during the workout. Still all good.

Billy brought his contagious energy. All AWESOME.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE WHOLE THING however was the very end of the workout. At the very end he calls everyone into him. He tells everyone to get up close so he can just talk to us all. About 200-300 people all having an intimate chat with Billy Blanks.

I’m front row.

I knew this was coming because I’ve seen his videos. I just knew he was going to give a talk afterward. And boy does he!

You see, Billy Blanks isn’t massively successful because he can do the splits or “kick well”, or because he has “nice muscles”. He is who he is and where he is because of what he decided to do. He made a decision to focus on his goals. He stuck to his decision. When people all around him told him to quit and give up, he kept going.

That is why he is successful. That is why millions of people all over the world look up to him. Because when ANYBODY makes a decision to do something, a REAL decision to stick to something no matter what, THE WORLD TAKES NOTICE.

That is what Billy talked about. He grabbed a kid from the audience and told him to go into this deep, deep, squat with his thighs parallel to the ground. About 20 seconds into it the guy is shaking. His thighs are vibrating, visibly. He’s grimacing. Then he just stands up.

Billy says, “What happened to this guy? Why did he stand up?” The answers start coming in, “Because his will wasn’t strong enough”, “His muscles weren’t strong enough”, etc.

Billy says, “No. He stood up because he didn’t take control of his senses. He let his feelings get in the way.”

“How long could he hold that position if his mother, or sister would be killed if he stood up? A lot longer, right?”

So it’s simply a matter of having a strong reason to do something, then, right? You can do far more of ANYTHING of you have a reason to do it.

Then he takes the same kid and tells him to punch his hands. He begins moving his hands all around as targets for the kid. He starts off slow, letting the kid punch him, then he picks up the pace so that the kid is missing the target every time.

Why did he miss? He was missing because the goal is in the center. He should have watched Billy. Instead he was watching the distractions – targets. If he would have focused on Billy, he would have hit the targets every time.

He also told everyone a secret.

Want to know what it is?

Here it is:

Wait for it:

Are you ready?

The secret is:

WORDS.

The words you use most often have a POWERFUL EFFECT on yourself. If you tell yourself, “I can do it”, then you can. Also, if you were to tell yourself the opposite, that would be true too.

Choose your words wisely. Pick your goal and then use words that support the goal. If your goal is to lose 20 lbs., then say to yourself, “I am getting in better and better shape ALL the time.” And you will.

Monitor the words you use today. Make a conscious decision to KNOW that you are in control of EVERY aspect of your life.

To quote Billy:

“Where I am today, is where my mind and will put me, where I am tomorrow is where my my mind will put me.”

Yours in health,

Curtis Ludlow

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