Two Case Studies - Comfort Zones

 

Case Study - CT Fletcher

 

This first story isn’t a sob story, or one to make people feel guilty for making excuses. It’s a demonstration of how your inner workings determine your results.

Having a comfort zone far above what most would consider normal pushed this man to achieve what he has.

 

CT was a world champion strongman, he was huge. With 9 championships in the bench press under his belt he felt like he could take on the world. In his viral video he says this:

‘I thought that any amount of weight that I put on a bar, if I went down with it, it was coming back up. I felt there was nothing I can’t do. I felt like a real f*****g superman walking around on planet earth’

‘I wanted to stop traffic. I wanted to crack the sidewalk with every step. I wanted to be the king of the jungle, the baddest beast on the planet…’

Then disaster struck, in 2005 he had to have emergency open heart surgery, he lost it all. He felt humbled and weakened. Before the surgery he weighed around 300lbs, after the whole series of treatment he weighed in at 190lbs,

‘Looking like I’d never lifted weights before in my life, I was a human skeleton’.

CT has a belief that being 190lbs is tiny and weak, that it is something to be ashamed about. For most guys that is a good weight to be, most guys would love to weigh 190lbs. But because CT is so annoyed by this weight, because it makes him feel so uncomfortable, he bounced back to beyond where he was before in no time. His comfort zone is far above most people’s and so are his results.



Case Study - Arnie

The second example highlights how you have to make aggressive but simple steps to altering your comfort zone if you want to grow.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger entered his first ever Mr Universe he had an impressive physique, but was roundly criticised for one feature. He had 'small' calves.

In his teenage years when he was competing at a national level, all he focussed on were the main muscle groups. Lots of upper body, and legs consisted of working on his hips and thighs.

But now he was competing against the world's best and the other competitors had a far more holistic approach to bodybuilding. As a result of this, Arnie placed badly.

So what did he do? He made himself as uncomfortable as possible in order to motivate him to make the necessary adaptations. He wore shorts all of the time, he even cut the bottoms off of his training trousers, so that he would be constantly reminded of what he needed to achieve.

It worked, because the guy ended up with calves like this.



Thoughts and Actions

• Imagine you want to be 2 dress sizes smaller. What if someone threw away all of your current clothes and replaced them with the size you wanted to be. Would that motivate you?
• Imagine you want big arms. What if you had to walk around with a string vest on 24 hours a day? Would that motivate you?
• Think of what you would have to do to make failure impossible, and do it.

• What are your friends and family like? Are their habits similar or worse then yours? If you hang around with people like this,  they will only hold you back. Being a big fish in a small pond is no achievement.
• Hang around with people you aspire to be like, and consciously dissociate your diet and exercise habits from those you spend most time with. You don't have to disown them at all, just realise their habits don't have to be yours. Be a positive influence to them, pull them up with you rather than let them hold you back.