Building
A Better Body One Brick At A Time
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
The quest
to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body
is a long, slow journey. It's not something you achieve
overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric
gizmo to your belly.
Which reminds
me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew
the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers
of those "ab zappers" had swindled over $100
million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately,
some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some!
The FTC charged three companies - Fast Abs, Ab Tronic
and Ab Energizer - with false advertising and deceptive
warranty practices for these "ABSurd" products.
But I digress
back to what I was saying about the journey to a better
body...
Last week I
looked out my window, and where there was once nothing
but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six
story brick condo complex. If someone looked at this massive
completed structure for the first time, they might not
be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction
process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed
- amazed even - at what goes into erecting this kind of
structure.
I remember
watching the crew humming around diligently every day
like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one
day to the next, it didn't seem like much changed. But
slowly, over a period of a year and a half, I watched
the building gradually morph into the finished product.
When you look
at someone with an incredible body as a finished product,
you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and
hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were
side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen),
observing the work involved, it's easy to attribute such
a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement
(they just took product XYZ and voila - overnight abs).
What you don't see or appreciate are all the months and
years of sweat and hard work.
Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project.
First, there
must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto
paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the
foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily
basis, it doesn't seem like much is happening. You look
in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same
as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements
are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the
bank. One day, you look in the mirror and "suddenly,"
your blueprint has become reality.
The body of
a fitness pro or bodybuilding champion is no more likely
to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built
overnight. It's not physically possible. Accepting the
idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement or
machine of any kind will make it happen sooner is pure
folly. You can't force it.
Growth and
development of any kind always requires a gestation period.
For a baby, it's nine months. For corn, I believe it's
about three months. If you were an expectant mother, would
you want to hurry the process? Could any new development
in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful
miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you
try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you
dig up your seeds to see if anything was growing down
there?
The answers
are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient,
nurturing "mother's" or "farmer's mindset"
towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their
money on "fast abs" or "exercise in a bottle"
or any such silliness ever again. We would understand
that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that
you can't sow and reap in the same season.
If you ever
get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who doesn't),
just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent.
Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they
want and is willing to continue paying the price until
they get it. It just takes time.
Become the architect and builder of your own dream body.
You WILL build
the body you want eventually if you're patient enough
and you refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create
a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo said, The greatest
danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss
them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too
low and we reach them.
Envision a
castle - a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There's nothing
wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you
patiently work at putting the foundations underneath them.
There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with
unrealistic deadlines. So keep laying those "bricks"
- every day - one at a time - and sure enough, eventually,
you'll build yourself a palace.
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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