I went ten pin bowling this weekend with the wife and kids and noticed a worrying trend.

The people bowling around me had their lane guards up.

I don’t know what the official word is for these things but it it’s those things you put up, to stop the ball going down the side.

In a nutshell, they’re designed to make it easier.

Now my daughter who is 5 uses them and I think that is fair enough but for an adult man or woman – that’s ridiculous!

What this got to do with training or nutrition??

Well, it made me think that basically, people are looking for a winning result but with no effort, or through not doing it right!

They want a strike but they don’t want to do it the traditional way.

They want it for free.

On the whole, I think this is the way our society is headed.

People want to be fit, lean and fast but without doing the really hard yards – without making the sacrifice.

I get that but it’s just not the way it is.

To be truly good at anything, you have to commit.

You have to risk not getting a strike to actually get one – unfortunately, there are no absolute guarantees.

What you can do though is maximise your chances.

If you go ten pin bowling once a year, you are likely to be crap – like me, or……

You could go once a week, maybe two or three times and you would get better.

You would meet people who did the same, learn from them.

Hell, you could even get a lesson or two.

But putting those guard things up – that’s just not an option.

I’d rather be rubbish and know it rather than hiding away pretending I was Fred Flintstone!

You catch my drift!

Jamie “King Pin” Leighton