Finding a Worthy Mentor
Dan John discusses an important topic—Find a Worthy Mentor in the book titled Way To Go. He quotes, “This is not what most people think. I’m not talking about those who guide, coach or teach you. What I’m saying is that you should carefully watch someone who is ten, twenty or thirty years older than you, someone you admire and salute the success in life, learning and lifting.”
Yes, I am fortunate and feel immensely blessed to have a mentor like the way Dan suggests. Todd Reinhard, my mentor, educated me on topics such as life, ethics, fitness science and nutrition, and English language learning.
Life
The lessons of life I learnt from Todd I follow until now. Studying and reading books was/is an integral part of my life. Todd proposed me that indeed a good book can be a great teacher and that a worthy life is the one which is dedicated to learning than amassing wealth. In fact, we both exchanged several books on a plethora of topics. Topics such as Hinduism, Buddhism, isms, God, Western philosophy, The Complete works of Swami Vivekananda, etc. I now say that my motto in life is, as my Mentor says, dedicated to learning, but to provide essential and rightful due money deserves.
Ethics
One very important lesson of ethics he suggested was not to train steroid using bodybuilders. In fact, I had allowed them in the initial years of my operating the gym. Since Todd indicated that I shouldn’t train them anymore I didn’t. My gym clients are a witness to that. Monetarily it didn’t help me, as I could have dreamt of making huge chunks of money. But it provides me lasting happiness to stick to my ground. Moreover, the man behind me operating the website is Todd. He insisted me that an appropriate approach to performing honest and enduring business is to possess a website. He said that it is one of the best way to connect with my gym clients. He was so true in predicting the future.
Fitness science and nutrition
He also taught me how to choose the best writers among the lot particularly in strength training. For example, several strength training related, nutrition and diet books merely beat around the bush. I now believe that I have the ability to remove unnecessary cluttered, alleged intelligent books and articles. Moreover, he repeatedly expressed that I should not believe any story at face value, and always to take a grain of sand from whatever they say. I even now rely on his suggestion whenever I am in a dilemma. Yesterday, for example, I asked him on how the response of insulin is on glucose and fructose. He dutifully replies whenever I ask him. I can boldly endorse that Todd’s view continues to hit the core of the issue and is one of the best.
As a strength and conditioning coach he taught me several things about physical training. He even guided me through a routine when I competed in bodybuilding in the year two thousand five. The exercise routine and diet strategy he provided, helped me to reach single digit body fat percentage. Some even suggested me that my body fat percentage was lower than five when they saw my competition photos. The effective dieting strategy he taught me, I teach my gym clients even today. Moreover, the HIIT (high intensity interval training) routines which we perform twice weekly was introduced to me by Todd.
English language learning
Likewise, he taught me the subtlety of writing in the blog—grammar, sentence forming, avoiding clutter, not being repetitive, etc. I still struggle with these rules when I blog. Moreover, Skype helped me tremendously to connect and learn from him. He taught me the nuance of the language for a period of six months on video calls without charging a single rupee. It’s unlike Americans, as they charge you for whatever service they provide. Moreover, learning grammar skills is a painful task, and I reluctantly agreed to Todd’s suggestion. I now appreciate writing in the blog, but sometimes find the act of writing, arduous.
PS: Todd lives in US, Ohio. He is forty nine years old. He trains every day and enjoys every bit of physical training. He also commits to healthy eating and experiments with his diet frequently. He teaches English at Cincinnati International Language Center.
