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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 Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program,
click
here.
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Articles By Tom Venuto
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