Top 5 Obstacles You Must Overcome To Get a Head-Turning Body!
You are about to enter the School of Lean. Today's lesson - the top 5 obstacles you must overcome if you want to get that body you've always wanted!
1.) Tendency to be Complacent: Losing your desire to have a lean and muscular body is your cue to hit the showers! Don't settle or make excuses for that spare tire around your waist. Take action! Get motivated! Get "unstuck" and raise yourself to a higher level!
A.) Tape a picture of your favorite physique star to remind yourself about what you want to accomplish. Don't stop there. You must picture yourself with this body on a daily basis. Programming!
B.) Role Models. Learn from people who have achieved what you want to achieve and copy them. Copy the training routines of your role models. Copy diets. This can be a great sub-conscious motivator. Copy the good habits of your influential friends. (This also means you stop hanging-out with friends when they invade Burger King. )
C.) Stop and really think about all the "pain" you have or will experience from those extra pounds of unwanted body fat. Believe me, it can affect virtually every area of your life. Then, imagine the positive things improving your body will bring you: unstoppable confidence, improved self-esteem, and a few admiring glances from the opposite sex! Now let this unstoppable desire propel you towards your new goals each and every day!
2.) Failure To Set Goals: Fail to plan and you're planning to fail. Do not disregard this powerful statement. It's 100% true! Rarely in life do great things just happen out of thin air. You're not going to wake up one morning and discover you've won the "bodybuilding lottery" complete with a well-defined midsection and muscular arms.
Constantly set goals and deadlines. Then, hold yourself accountable to these deadlines. (I don't get to take part in my cheat day of "forbidden foods" if my weekly goals aren't met.)
For example, if you want to lose 12 pounds of body fat in the next six weeks then write this down on a piece of paper and review it every night and morning. Tape it on the refrigerator next to your motivational picture. By doing so you'll be "programming" your mind for success! (Trust me, this single tip alone helped me place in the top three of every single bodybuilding contest I ever entered!)
3.) Failure To Follow A Quality Program Consistently: If you set goals and fail to design a plan to attain these goals you can scratch the idea of ever looking great on the beach (or anywhere else for that matter). Sorry, but it's true.
Now you may say, "Okay Jim, no big deal. I workout pretty hard, take a few supplements, and eat right most of the time." If so, let me ask you a question. Are you making spectacular gains most of the time? Most of you reading this are not. But I don't blame you.
The task of designing an optimal program can be down-right confusing. You have dozens of self-proclaimed "experts" telling you what to do. Be careful whom you listen to. There's nothing more damaging than bad information!
The scope of this article does not permit me to go into great detail on training and nutrition plans, but check out past articles for easy-to-follow programs that you can use to dial-in the training and nutrition components once and for all!
4.) Being A Fool: Our definition of a "fool" is someone who keeps doing the exact same thing over and over but expects a different result.
Here's the problem: let's say you try some crazy diet and lose a few pounds but end up gaining it all back a few weeks later. Why on earth would you ever try this diet again and expect a different result? Why do so many keep repeating this defeating pattern?
I will tell you why. They haven't taken the time to learn a more effective approach (which leads us to the last thing you must overcome if you expect to ever have a head-turning body).
5.) Failure To Learn: To be lean, you must learn. ABL - Always Be Learning. If you aren't continuously filling your mind with accurate and useful information to help you achieve your goals, all kinds of garbage will enter your brain and fill the void.
Now, I'm not talking about going to your library and reading an entire text book on nutrition or metabolic processes (Boring). But what I am suggesting is that you learn from your mistakes and continue to seek out real experts on the subject-experts who can explain the process in a clear and user-friendly manner! (Uncertainty is like cancer in one's fitness endeavors - Clarity can be very powerful.)
That's why I encourage you to keep reading each and every installment of my weekly articles and monthly newsletter (sign up on the home page if you haven't done so already). This way, you can avoid the trial-and-error approach to results because I do my very best to provide you with clear and easy to follow tips to keep you moving on the right path no matter what your physique goal may be. (Exception: if you want to become an emaciated long distance runner. If that's the case, I'm not going to be of much help. No offense to you distance runners out there!)
So, in review, if you want to achieve a truly lean physique you'll need to:
- Avoid complacency and continuously fuel your desire!
- Set goals and deadlines and hold yourself accountable!
- Follow a quality plan to achieve your goals!
- Notice if the plan is working and if it isn't try something new!
- And always be learning new and better strategies to achieve your goals!
(These aren't in order of importance-they're all important!)
Try this simple plan and I guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results!
