Build Your Life To Order ™

Expand by Demand!” I once heard Tony Robbins say, and I loved it! Tony was telling the story of an encounter with a bodybuilder who was explaining his muscles got to be so huge. “Every day I push against massive resistance!” said the bodybuilder. Therein lies the connection with personal development for me. To sculpt our bodies we must push against resistance, to sculpt our characters we must do the same.

Daily Achievement

With bodybuilding there is a sense of progress, of moving forward that mirrors what we’re all after with our personal development. Every day I lift, I go with the intention of beating my performance the previous week. For example if I get 5 reps of 24Kg/53lbs on a dumbbell curl one week, I’ll try to get 6 reps the next week. I get visible results every week, I improve and better myself which is exactly the state I want to experience. As I work a different body part each day, I get to experience a sense of achievement on a daily basis, a practice that enriches my life tremendously.

Discipline

Bodybuilders are some of the most disciplined people on earth and I believe this warrants respect. In order to get the body you desire you must cultivate a high degree of discipline. We never miss a workout no matter how we feel. I sometimes am very tired after a day’s work but I don’t even consider it an option to skip a workout, it’s non-negotiable. I exercise in my garage where there is no heat and winter in Ireland can be pretty darn cold, but you’ll find me in there hitting the iron nevertheless. We also plan and make most of our meals in advance to make sure we are digesting the right amount and ratio of nutrients. When chocolates are being passed around we say ‘no’ even though we’re likely to hear someone put us down for being too rigid. This lifestyle instills discipline that bleeds into other areas of your life.

A Healthy Diet

Following on from the last point, bodybuilding ensures that you eat a healthy diet. While others eat crap and intermittently flirt with healthy diets, it’s natural for us to eat this way most, if not the whole year round. I don’t have to think about doing this or motivate myself to eat this way; it’s what I’m defaulted to as I am focused on my long-term goals. This is another quality bodybuilders have i.e. the ability to sacrifice short-term pain for long-term gain, a quality I admire in anyone.

Goal-Setting

We set goals and work to achieve them like I personally do for all areas of my life. When working to get from A to B the course often takes a zigzag pattern. What I mean is that you rarely just go straight to the accomplishment of your goal, you try, you fail, you correct and try again. I often hear the metaphor of an aeroplane journeying towards a destination. It rarely travels in a straight line, actually it goes off-course many times. However, its radar system alerts the pilot to this and they correct their course and move on. In bodybuilding, as with other goals, we often go off-course too. Do we quit? Never! We constantly are checking our progress to give us feedback; if it confirms that we are heading in the right direction then we maintain our current approach, but if not, we simply change something and move on and monitor that too. An example would be when trying to cut fat off our bodies (usually before the summer) we try a certain diet and a certain cardio program. If when measuring our body fat at the end of the week, we either didn’t lose anything or perhaps we lost a lot of muscle instead of fat, we know that we must change our approach and try again. Constant feedback and change is absolutely essential when trying to reach your goals, smart bodybuilders know this. I personally do this once a week, which gives me a 52 times greater chance of achieving my goals than someone who checks in once a year (usually at new years).

Energy

Bodybuilding gives me energy! As well as raising your metabolic rate, lifting weights supplies what I call ‘mental energy.’ When we think of achieving our goals we get a burst of energy and enthusiasm. As bodybuilders achieve something on a daily basis, our energy and passion for life is naturally at a high level. When we lift heavier weights or do more reps, we get a buzz which carries us on for the next workout, this positive cycle in personal development circles is referred to as, ‘momentum.’

Happiness

It is very well documented that exercise releases endorphins in the brain. I don’t know how much of my happiness can be directly attributed to my workouts but it definitely doesn’t hurt. Endorphin release occurs more for aerobic exercise, the runner’s ‘high’ is said to be experienced by 60-70% of well conditioned runners. This is true for me, as I always feel great after a run, which I do more of when I’m cutting.

Conclusion

This Lifestyle approach is for the achievers of our world. It takes serious commitment, time and a lot of physical effort. Goals are set and goals are achieved; it is for this reason that my hat goes off to each and every bodybuilder out there who is pushing themselves to the next level. These people deserve respect.

For the lifters reading this, I would like you to consider how other areas of your life could be positively impacted with the mindset that you bring to bodybuilding. You already have the right strength of character and an unwavering will to succeed, use it! You can apply these traits to your emotional life, your finances, your relationships, your career and excel! You have half the battle won just by being the type of person you are. If this seems like something you would like to consider, please come back here or subscribe to my rss feed as I’ll be detailing strategies on how to get the edge in each of these areas as well as a lot more articles on bodybuilding and fitness itself e.g. bulking, cutting, supplements, cardio, diet, how to get a six-pack and much more.

For personal development enthusiasts who are lagging in this aspect of their life, ignore it no longer. If building muscle doesn’t interest you, aim to get fit. For the sake of around 45 minutes a day, 4 or 5 days a week, you will deepen you resolve to succeed, cultivate unshakeable discipline, achieve something daily, eat a better diet, have more energy, be happier (from endorphin release and increased oxygen intake), and you’ll also start to look pretty damn good. Once you start you’ll ever go back to the old you, there are just too many benefits to be had.

Here are some articles to check out:

• How To Build Muscle
• Best Bodybuilding Diet
• Free Bodybuilding Workout Plan
• How To Get Six Pack Abs

Mark McManus

Related Articles:

• How To Build A Great Body - The Training

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