Staying motivated is key to holding onto you gains.

Dedication is an important tool for success. It gives us the drive, the motivation, the shear will to push us to completing our goals. Its a huge aspect of any athletic endeavor that can’t be ignored. It you want to be a champion athlete, an accomplished artist, a successful businessman, then you’re going to need dedication to get you through.

But it’s not always easy, staying motivated. Some people aren’t blessed with the gift to just miraculously find themselves in the gym every day. It requires single-minded devotion to a given task that can border on obsession. No matter how you slice it, if you want to be great at something you’re going to have to cross that line of the obsessive.

It’s also true that as we get older that dedication and drive will begin to wane. Whether it’s because of physical deterioration, work, family, or other responsibilities, the older you get the more likely you won’t be able to find yourself at the gym. It’s unavoidable for some, an excuse for others, and merely just the cold hard truth.

But that’s not true for everyone. There are some people, no matter how young or old, that will find themselves in the gym. Responsibilities or age be damned, they maintain the same passion they have for building their bodies as they always had. Which brings us to this video of a 74 year old bodybuilder Manuel Valbuena who doesn’t no the word quit. Take a look.

So what’s your excuse not to get into gym? Bodybuilding is perhaps the one thing that has kept Vanbuela going strong for all these years. If this he can stay focused and get into the gym then there’s no excuse that could be given that would sound reasonable. Let us know what motivates you to get you into the gym in comments below and be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.