Motivation Monday! I’m going to let you in on a very well known secret. I love Dungeons and Dragons, and other tabletop RPGs (Role Playing Games). I have played many a game in my life, and different variations. From 3.5, to 4.0, to Pathfinder, to Mutants and Masterminds (a superhero themed one), Call of Cthulhu (horror and modern themed), and more. I spent many a night creating characters while eating chips and drinking Mountain Dew. Crafting my perfect hero. The strong silent warrior? The bookish wizard? The sneaky thief? I played them all. We are, over the next couple of weeks, going to build a D&D character. What type of character? YOU.
OK, I hear you say, you got nerd cred. What’s this got to do with exercise, weight loss, and motivation? Well hold your horses! I’m about to tell you. When creating a character in D&D, there are two main things I always did first. I picked my race and class. Do I play a halfling and sacrifice some strength to be a little more dexterous? Or do I play a dwarf? They might not be quite as charismatic, but they can sure take a punch. Let me in on a secret, for the most part, your race doesn’t matter in the long run. Once you reach “epic” levels (20+), your race doesn’t have a huge impact on the game. A dwarf can be a charismatic person, if he works hard at it. A halfling can be just as strong as anyone else if she trains.
We all have different intrinsic capabilities, genetics. Some people 
might build muscle in their arms easier, but struggle to build muscle in their legs. Some people might have a slightly higher metabolism than another. But these are simply your race, if you work hard, you can make up for the points in your life where you are weaker due to your race.
I personally have a really bad lower back. It’s genetic. I have a bad back, my sister does, my mother does, my uncle on my mother’s side does, and his son does too. It took me a long time to be able to deadlift. Every time I did it, I would wind up throwing my back out. So what did I do? I took some time, lowered my weights, and worked on my form. I can now deadlift over 315 pounds. I overcame what my “race” said I could do, and make a weakness into a strength. My back hurts much less now. I might never be able to pull 1000 pounds like The Mountain, but maybe I will one day. I’m not letting my race define me.
In terms of my “race’s” strength, I am a good runner, and put muscle on my legs very quickly. I have a long stride, and I can run a 5k in under 25 minutes. Within a year of my weight loss journey, I went from not being able to run a mile to running two half marathons in a week. There is another key point, as the saying goes “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” I didn’t run for a long time and I was overweight, so I lost my natural ability to run.
So let me ask you this, friends, what is your “race”? What is your natural strength? Your natural weakness? What are you doing to improve that weakness, any specific exercise or diet that helps you overcome your weakness?
David Jasmin is a formerly obese 25 year old male. After failing to lose weight several times, David and his wife buckled down and lost a combined total of 185 pounds. David is a Software Engineer in the Boston area, enjoys comic books, video games, Magic: The Gathering, reading and all sorts of sedentary activities. He recently added lifting weights and running to his list of activities he likes. He still not so secretly loves food. You can follow his life on instagram 
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