quest for personal
power
I go up the 5 stairs and walk towards the center of the stage covered with old red carpet. Wow! That's really hot under the lights! They were right. I'm all sweaty, covered with artificial tan, completely blinded by the heavy lights above my head, but I need to focus! I take position. Exhale. Music begins... Okay. Now, I can't go back. I need to perform.
quest for personal
power
I go up the 5 stairs and walk towards the center of the stage covered with old red carpet. Wow! That's really hot under the lights! They were right. I'm all sweaty, covered with artificial tan, completely blinded by the heavy lights above my head, but I need to focus! I take position. Exhale. Music begins... Okay. Now, I can't go back. I need to perform.
We are the 8th of May 2010, in St-Michel, France.
I'm 19, and the day of the France finals of Natural Bodybuilding has finally come (drug-tested federation). I feel exuberant, petrified and under pressure all at once.
My middle-school friend, Gaëlig, who plays guitar and dresses like Jimmy Hendrix, came with me to film every moment of it.
Thousands of people followed my physical preparation on YouTube for 3 months now... and it all comes to this very moment.
I don't want to disappoint them. I don't want to disappoint me.
I'm excited to compete, and nervous about the end result at the same time. But everything should go right.
I found an ancient World Champion to help me adjust the draconian diet during the last weeks before the competition.
I found a sponsor for my first year of competition, (which became and still is one of my best friends).
And... I quited my studies right after high-school to live my passion 1 year ago.
E-VE-RY-BO-DY told me it was a wrong idea, a mistake I would regret later. Nobody believed in me.
But here I am. Now it's time to prove to these people I was right.
So everything HAS to go right.
play video
play video
8:30 PM
RESULTS TIME
Now I'm super excited !
That's my time ! I'm going to be France Champion after just 18 months of bodyweight training in my garage !
Chairman : "At the 3rd place... Morgan V!"
Got an inner smile. Hmm yep, got this.
Chairman : "At the 2nd place : Emmanuel Beato!"
What?! Damn! Okay... not too bad for a first time. But damn! What did I do wrong?!
I'm smiling for the public, but my mind is rushing, already beyond the rest of the day.
I could have done more. I should have done more. Be more focused. Do one more leg workout. Do one more rep. Go to sleep one hour earlier. I could have done dozens of little adjustments to get 1% more here and there. Pfff... Now it's so obvious what I should have done better. No. Wait. I knew what to do. So WHY DIDN'T I DO IT THEN?
I didn't like it, but I had the answer. The results of my workout and diet only had one origin : my mindset.
I digested the defeat for a few weeks. And one day it just hit me : If I can do reps to build my chest, back, legs and arms... I can surely find exercises & techniques to build a better and stronger mindset!
My Quest for Personal Power Started.
Something clicks as I am starting to work on my mindset. I ask to myself: "Are bodybuilding contests going to help me achieve my full personal power?" The answer comes through: No.
I need more. I want to feel powerful, but not just in my body, in my entire life. I am at a key redefining moment of my life. My definition of personal power has changed.
I want to control the outcome, not let the decision for my success in the hands of judges. I want to perform at high level... without having to take steroids and drugs to win and make a living.
It's time to apply what I have learned from my first passion, martial arts and from Bruce Lee:
"Absorb what it Useful, Discard what is Useless."
So I take the discipline, the empowerment, the stronger, healthier body and discard the excesses of modern competitive bodybuilding; the drugs, the health problems and I move on.
In sport & in life,
success leaves clues.
So i looked for these clues.
In sport & in life,
success leaves clues.
So looked for these clues.
In YouTube motivational videos first, then in self-help books. You name it, I have read it. Then conferences, seminars and workshops around the World.
One event was part of a 4-day cruise in the Bahamas. I went to the USA for the first time to attend it. It changed my life. Not the event itself. The Florida weather, the palm trees, the all-inclusive cruise, the driven and success hungry people I met.
Hmm... I'm going to get used to that pretty easily I think.
But dancing on pop music just like in nightclubs, hugging strangers, repeating motivational catchphrases outloud and water gun battles weren't for me.
I didn't signed up for an amusement park for adults! I yelled in my head. I want the real practical knowledge, applicable in real life.
I don't want a sound good theory to feel like I am a winner.
I want the applicable knowledge to actually be a winner.
About succellium
I never found that club so
I never
found that club so
I created succellium
After 10 years of real-life experiences all around the world, from France to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and South America, to Estonia and Eastern Europe, I have seen the best and the worst of what people can do with power in their hands.
From martial arts to fitness, to personal development, to real estate and tactical training, I have absorbed what is useful, discarded what is useless, and gathered what really worked for me, to build personal power.
Today through Succellium®, I help other millenials to stand up for themselves and fuel their ambition with the appropriate techniques and mindset. We don't dance on pop music during the breaks, and we don't have water gun battles. We rather focus on building our personal power, and we live high performance every day of our lives.