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
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 than nature intended
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 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.
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder,
an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book
in Internet history, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Natural
Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Mens
Exercise. For info on Tom's e-book, visit www.BurnTheFat.com.
To get Tom's FREE Fitness Renaissance monthly newsletter, visit:
www.fitren.com
