The Brutal Truth...

Take a good long look in mirror, and what do you see?

This is the part of bodybuilding or the physique lifestyle that takes the most courage...honest, brutally sincere self-scrutinization...

If you're a physique athlete, you're driven to be better than you were yesterday, if for no other reason than the nature of our sport means stripping down to nothing more than a tiny little skivvies to stand on-stage in front of the judges and the rest of the world, for the world to scrutinize, nit-pik and compare...

Like I tell my clients when they tell me that they can't comply with their nutritional program - "Hell, it's not my ass that's going to be jiggling on that stage."

Think of it this way - Being a physique athlete - at least trying to be the best competitor you can be - means you gotta live your life sticking to some plan, some outline or strategy to succeed.

There are 3 primary goals in the bodybuilders world.  1.  Build as much muscle mass as possible; 2. but, build that mass under the restriction that the development must improve on or at least maintain the natural aesthetic and flow of the healthy, balanced body as God created it, and 3. Come contest time, reveal that muscle by stripping away as much bodyfat as possible, while preserving as much muscle tissue in the leaning-out process as possible. 

Given these 3 basic goals, it goes without saying that bodybuilders are the experts, the masters, bar-none, at manipulating the body using the tools of exercise, nutrition and supplementation to create a favorable body composition of maximum functional, lean tissue, and absence of bodyfat. 

Makes sense, right?  Lose fat, preserve and/or gain muscle.  Nobody does it better.

given that, here's the top 5 reasons why it might just take a bodybuilder (or at least the bodybuilding lifestyle)to save the world!

5.  Focus on Fat Loss:  See previous blog entry.  Nobody knows how to lose fat like the bodybuilder...and keep it off!  That's the whole point, it's the name of the game!

4.  Favorable Body Composition:  Again, see previous blog entry.  It's not just about losing fat, it's also about holding on to that precious, functional and healthy lean tissue.  The human body is healthiest when carrying around low levels of fat, relatively high levels of metabolically active, healthy, functional muscle.  Countless studies have shown (and common sense should tell you) that the more fat you carry, the worse your health, PERIOD.  Again, see previous blog entry.  High body fat percentages mean sicker population, more disease-ridden, less-strong, less-healthy, and less active, less-productive population.  So, get healthy, get strong, get up, work and improve yourself, to improve society.

3.  Bodybuilders are stubborn.  Ask a bodybuilder to give up meal #4 of his daily regimen...you'll probably have more luck trying to pull a t-bone steak from a hungry lion.  Bodybuilders know that consistency over time is the only way to impact change on the body, this amazingly adaptive, dynamic machine.  A bodybuilder on track with his diet will not stray from his program, because he knows that his competition will likely be sticking hard to their plan, too...and he doesn't want his ass up on that stage jiggling!

2.  Bodybuilders are focused.  Without relentless attention to detail, nutrition, exercise and supplementation, and adherence to an ongoing, structured program, a bodybuilder knows he will not succeed. 

1.  Above all else, the bodybuilder is focused on self-improvement.  A bodybuilder knows that the only physique he has control over is his own.  He realizes that he cannot change the way his competition comes in on the day of the show, all he can do is focus on his own strengths, his own weaknesses, and maximizing his own effort, perfecting his own plan, organizing and following through with his own preparation for showtime.

Tamer "Razor" El Guindy, 2009 NPC USA lightheavyweight champ, told me recently, "I want to make the other guys look like they are 3 weeks out from the show when I step on stage."  But, like he says, "There's alot of good guys out there...there can be only ONE winner.  May as well be me!"  Tamer knows, like any honest bodybuilder, that there is no real way to ensure success, but by focusing on every detail, by leaving no stone unturned, a bodybuilder can go to sleep the night before the show, and sleep soundly, knowing that they are peaked, there is nothing more for them to do...and at that point, in most cases, the peace is a comforting quiet, knowing that they have achieved what Maslow calls a fleeting "peak experience" - and if but for a moment, the bodybuilder has escaped the doldrums of mediocrity and achieved his own personal greatness.

This ongoing quest for self-improvement, to be better than he was yesterday, accepting his weaknesses and flaws with honesty, while at the same time strategizing to improve them, downplay or overcome them, this drive is inspiring to the mere mortals...and, it's also an opportunity common to all man...

And most importantly, this single characteristic of bodybuilders, the ongoing quest for self-improvement, and the honest self-assessment that accompanies this quest, these are the critical components that we can all learn from - these are the things that make bodybuilders great...that make them into superheroes among a world filled with mediocrity and mere mortal, "Joe averages"...

And this is how a bodybuilder can change the world.