Barbell Shrugged — Why You Need to Go Through Hardship w/ Bradley Martyn

Bradley Martyn is a bodybuilder, physique competitor, a fitness guru, and a social media star. He started weight training at 15 years old, spent a lot of time learning about training and nutrition over the years, and started selling his own training programs in January 2006.

Although these programs were described by Bradley as successful, it wasn’t until 2014 when he truly began gaining recognition in the fitness world. Today, Bradley owns his own gym, Zoo Culture, has his own clothing line, BMFit, and is an Instagram celebrity with 2.8 million followers!

In this episode, Bradley discusses his methods for overcoming hardships and the importance of mindset in getting through hard times. He talks about the importance of not getting “caught up in the process”, and having heart in times of suffering in order to rise above the situation and continue achieving greatness.

Enjoy!

– Mike, Doug and Anders

A post shared by Bradley Martyn (@bradleymartyn) on Mar 30, 2018 at 10:38am PDT

Connecting with Others

Bradley attributes much of the success he has experienced throughout his career to the hardships that he faced earlier in life. Losing his father early in life was truly one of the more defining moments that shaped Bradley into the man he is today.

One of Bradley’s greatest realizations in recent years has been the importance of connecting with the people around him. Bradley has always used lifting weights as a means of getting out of his own mind, and spending time with people has helped to remove himself from getting trapped in his thoughts even further.

“Nothing really matters without other people.” — Bradley Martyn

A post shared by Bradley Martyn (@bradleymartyn) on Dec 30, 2017 at 11:45am PST

KEY TAKEAWAYS

approach to programming or training is better than any of the others — CrossFit, bodybuilding, powerlifting, and yoga all bring different approaches that are all beautiful in their own way. Bradley encourages us to stop putting down other methodologies and come together as human beings who strive to feel good and healthy.
Meditation has great benefits for many areas in life — One of the practices that has had the largest effect of both Bradley’s personal life, professional life, and training, is the adoption of a meditation practice. Bradley points out that meditation can be anything that takes him out of the loops of his mind, whether it be exercise or watching the breath.
It has to matter — Anything that an individual will see true success in, will be something that truly matters to them. The level of passion you have is very transparent in the quality of the work you put out.
Let it go — When there is something negative going on in your life, don’t dwell on it or give it any more energy. Simply, let it go. Bradley uses the example of road rage. When something happens that upsets you in the car, you have the choice of whether to engage with it and let it bring you down, or let it pass.
Have heart: Gravitate towards the things that you are not necessarily comfortable doing — Do those things because you are supposed to do them, even when you don’t want to. Anything in life that is worth having will require suffering, so we must seek out and get better with suffering.
Growing social media: When you start out on social media, the number one priority should be to just be yourself and be authentic — It is important to be persistent and understand that it won’t take a year or two. The more you stay on it and the more real you are, the more successful you will be.

“I’m not the reason why, you are the reason why. I could have said something that made you look at your life differently, but you had the strength to finally say fuck it.” — Bradley Martyn