This ONE phrase guaranteed my success!

My origin story comes from working in a bank to quitting and starting my own Calisthenics community in a park using rings on a tree.

I’ve never shared this story before.

I started my Cali Community (Cowleythenics) in South Park Oxford in 2018/19.

People used to walk past seeing me training giving me the side eye thinking

“What’s this moron doing out in sub-10-degree grey soggy UK weather?”

Every week my posters would get removed by the public and id find them in the bin or floating around the park all screwed up.

Training alone in all weathers went on for months but I kept the hope that someone would show up.

The reality was that no one wants to exercise outdoors in the UK unless the sun is shining and BBQ is cooking which happens maybe 3 or 4 weeks of the year.

It felt like I was swimming upstream. 🏊🏻‍♂️

But one afternoon I met a man named Peter (he’s doing push-ups in the video).

He was interested in unlocking his muscle ups and I had just learnt mine so we bonded over that and started training together.

I wasn’t the only one now!  🤩

People started realising there were 2 of us which eventually turned into 3,4,5 until I reached around 10 people coming to train with me and learn calisthenics.

By now it was summer and this brought out a lot of people☀️
Some with the same idea as me. One after the other groups started popping up from army-style training to running clubs and more.

This made me feel really good initially as it seemed like I had inspired people to help, but after a month or two I soon saw the true colours of these new groups.

I began to realise that as soon as the weather got a little worse or people started dropping off, the leaders seemed to disappear too.

That confirmed to me that these guys are in it for the money rather than the community.

Winter was approaching and regardless of the darker and colder days, every Sunday, Cowleythenics members would show up and get the reps in.

Every week I reaffirmed to the members the one phrase I told myself from the very beginning.

THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL IS TO QUIT.

This helped us realise that no matter the circumstances there is always something we can do to keep the momentum moving forward.

Whether it is an inch or a mile.

It proved to us that by the others quitting when it got cold wet and dark, we were guaranteed success by being the only ones left in the race.

The others had failed at the first hurdle.

So by the time winter had passed and the summer was warming in again Cowleythenics had grown exponentially because everyone had worked through the winter becoming stronger mentally and physically.

Now everyone wanted to be a part of our community and were even willing to pay for it!

I couldn’t believe it. 😃

From simply not giving up I was able to finally earn money from helping people 🙏🏼

Living by that phrase has the power to completely change your life.

By always moving forward opportunities are guaranteed to come your way you just have to keep going. 

Nothing worth having comes easy and my promise to all of you is that I will keep going.

My purpose is ‘to bring people together to improve their mental and physical health using outdoor bodyweight training’.

I will continue to push no matter the circumstances.

Today’s task

Ask yourself every morning this week -

How can I keep the momentum going on my journey today?

SUCCESS IS GUARANTEED IF QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION.

Coach Ramzy, out. 🥷🏽