What is it you want to achieve? Why do you even bother working out? I’m sure it’s not just for the pleasure of lifting some metal bars or iron dumbbells. There is a reason for doing it, a method to your madness. What is that reason? Do you even know? What one thing do you want to accomplish more than any other? Have you given any thought to it? I’m sure you didn’t pay money to sit here and read me blabbing about goals. But let me assure you this. Setting muscle building and weight gain goals will be the single most important thing you can do for yourself. Period. If you want any type of great body, you must first set goals and then go after them. Goals are the starting point for anything worthwhile. But goals sound so “formal”, so “wishy.” Simply put, what do you want? What do you want your body to look like, to weigh, what do you want your strength to be like? If you do not know the answers to these questions, how do you know what you’re working towards and going after, or if you will even get it? Let me give you a personal example. In February 2002, I was in pretty good shape, around 220 pounds at 20% body fat. I was pretty muscular but had a little more fat than I really wanted. I had been at that shape and weight for quite some time because... I had no goals and no deadlines to achieve anything else. So I just “was.” I was just “being” and not “doing.” Are you simply “being” or are you “doing.” If you are not in the second category, I suggest you begin doing something about it. What is the first step to “doing”? The first step in this muscle building and weight-gaining program is to know specifically what you want to get. Know your end before you even begin. Is it to gain 50 pounds of weight? Do you want to increase your lifts on all exercises? Or would you rather just get big enough to have a chance at starting linebacker for the football team? We’re all different so if you ask 100 different people, you’ll probably get 100 different answers. But the important thing is this---what do you want? What is your perfect body like 1 year, or 5 years from now? When I say know your end before you begin, just realize what it is you want to achieve. Take out a piece of paper and begin writing down what it is you want. Start setting goals. When you set goals, you put momentum in your corner. You give meaning to your wishes and you set a timeline for completing your wishes. If you do not achieve your goal within that deadline, you set a new one. Goals should be a part of your life from now until the day you die. Unless you don’t want anything. I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on goals because I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about goals. But if you’re hearing about goals all the time from people all over the place, shouldn’t that tell you the importance of goals? If goals weren’t very important, you’d never hear anything of them! Now, back to the story about me in February 2002. When I set a goal to enter and compete in a natural bodybuilding show 10 weeks from the day I decided to enter it, I changed more in that 10-week span than I did MY ENTIRE LIFE! I went from 220 pounds to 175 on contest day with a body fat reading of 5%. All from setting a goal. 10 weeks is not a lot of time. It’s only 70 days. But if I had failed to set that goal, I’d probably still be at 21% body fat. After my competition, I set another goal to go back up to 220 pounds in body weight, but this time at a much lower body fat percentage. I wanted to gain more weight but I wanted it to be quality weight, not all fat. In 4 weeks I was able to accomplish my goal of weighing 220 pounds and it was at 15% body fat this time. I had set a goal and went after it. I knew my outcome before I even began. So please realize how important it is to have goals in building muscle, strength, and any other area of fitness. Proper goals can often motivate and propel you enough to accomplish more in 8 to 10 weeks than you normally would in an entire year! To finish on the importance of goals, try this for an experiment. Go in your car, turn the ignition, and start the car. Now, pull the car out of the lot and start driving. Anywhere. No destination. Just drive around and around with nowhere to go, no particular place to head. Now, how long could you do this without getting bored? Well, I know I can do it for hours without getting tired. I love a nice peaceful drive. But how about a whole day, 24 hours, could you drive nowhere for a full 24 hours. But go even longer, what if you were to drive around in your car with nowhere to go for a full week. Are you calling me crazy yet? But sadly, people “drive” around their whole lives with nowhere to go, no goals set to give them a sense of accomplishment. Going through life without goals is like driving your car around with no destination. You get nowhere. Step 1 in this program is to decide exactly what it is you want to achieve. Know what you want to end up with before you even step one foot in the gym. How can you ever get what you want if you have no idea what it is? When you set a goal you begin to bring that goal into your life, into all that you do. You stop missing workouts, you stop missing post workout shakes, and you stop missing cardio sessions. You start shopping for groceries with your goals in mind. Since you know what you want, you know what it will take to get there. Everything you do revolves around your goals. You now have purpose and that’s a powerful thing. I’m not going to take you through some long, drawn out process of how to set goals, there’s a thousand books on that subject. Just realize that it’s important, really important to set them. That’s why I’ve put it #1. Everything else comes after setting your goals. All the other steps in this program have to do with you reaching your goals. When it comes to a simple plan on setting goals, here’s what I do. I take out a blank piece of paper; write down a certain area of my fitness that I want to tackle. For example, I’ll write Losing Fat or Building Muscle at the top of the page and then I’ll list what I want to accomplish under those headings. Under Losing Fat I may say that I want to lose 10 pounds of fat in a month, or that I want to have washboard abs by the summer time. Under Building Muscle, I may write that I want 21-inch biceps or I want to look more vascular (that “vein” look). When you’ve identified what it is you want, give it a deadline to achieve it. If you want six pack abs, set a deadline of 10 weeks or 90 days, whatever you feel is reasonable. Set a deadline you feel that you have a 50-50 chance of reaching. Don’t make your goals too easy. If goals you have set are too easy to reach, they are probably not worthwhile goals to go after. Do not make them too hard either. What’s the point of setting a goal that is too difficult to reach? All you do is set yourself up for frustration. So write down what you want to achieve and then give it a reasonable deadline. When I made the decision to do my first bodybuilding show, I gave myself 10 weeks to prepare. That was a time frame that was both demanding to meet as well as possible to meet. There’s nothing worse for your confidence than setting a bunch of goals that you have no shot in achieving. The flipside to that is this. There is nothing else quite like the satisfaction of reaching a goal that you have worked hard to complete. A worthwhile goal that you achieve will make all of those difficult times seem worth it. After you’ve written what it is you want to achieve and have given it a deadline, start writing down the steps you need to get what it is you want. That’s where this program comes in handy; I’m going to give you the steps. You just have to put them to use with effort and intensity. So, if under the heading of Losing Fat you wrote “six pack abs” as one of your goals and have set a deadline of 10 weeks (beach season), start writing all the things you have to do to get six pack abs. For example, you know that you have to clean up your diet and that you have to make sure you are doing your intense cardio sessions. Hold yourself accountable for each and every step along the way. That way, you have no one to blame but yourself for not reaching your goals. If you’d like a goal checklist I devised over the years, here’s one you can use to keep you on track. Goal work sheet Here is a checklist you can use to accomplish any of your fitness (or life) goals, one by one! Step 1: Determine your fitness goal; My fitness goal is ______________________________ Step 2: Here's what is necessary to achieve my goal: **Desire-- desire is the force that drives you towards your fitness goals. It is what motivates you to endure those intense, physical workouts. You have to want your goal badly. If you don't want it, believe me, nobody else wants it for you! **Belief-- You must believe, without a doubt, that you can achieve your fitness goals. Belief is the foundation of success. **They're written-- your goals need to be written, or they are merely wishes. If a goal is worth setting, then it is worth writing. Write it in as much detail as possible. **Determine the benefits-- why do you want this goal so badly? If you cannot think of a good enough reason, is it worth going after. Make a list of all the benefits you will receive from achieving your fitness goal. Do you want more energy, more confidence, to feel sexier? **Where are you at now-- where are you currently in your fitness endeavor? Until you know where you are, you will never know where you need to be. The most detailed map in the world is useless if you do not know your current location. **Set a realistic deadline-- when do you want to achieve your goal? On most goals, you need a deadline, or you will not strive to achieve it in a timely manner. Deadlines create a sense of urgency. Make it realistic. Chances are you will not lose 10 pounds of fat a week but 1 to 2 pounds is very realistic. **Identify hurdles-- be prepared to face hurdles along the way. But if you are prepared to handle the worse, everything else that comes your way is a walk in the park. **Identify the knowledge you'll need-- we often must learn new things to completely accomplish our goals. Whether it is a new weight loss program or a fitness book you are reading, identify the knowledge you will need to know in order to reach your goals. ** Devise a step-by-step plan-- put down, on paper, and in detail, how you are going to achieve your goal. Put down the activities you will need to get involved in so that you reach your goal. Most people do not have a fitness plan devised, they just wander from machine to machine, exercise to exercise. Develop a plan to get to where you want to be. **Create a mental picture-- Imagine your goal already attained. Create a crystal clear picture of you enjoying your fitness goal (less weight, more energy, fitting into clothes better). The more you think about enjoying your goal, the more your subconscious begins to work and move you closer to the attainment of your goal. **Resolve never to quit-- finally, resolve to never, ever quit. You must determine the price you have to pay to achieve your fitness goals, and then simply strive to pay that price. Be persistent and determined to reach that finish line. You'll be a much stronger person for it in the end. THE MORE BOXES YOU CHECK, THE CLOSER YOU GET TO YOUR GOALS
To wrap up this section on goals, please remember this saying I read recently. Those people without goals will always work for those people with goals. That’s the importance of setting goals in bodybuilding and fitness. Those with goals will always get further ahead than those without goals. Success in life is simply a series of setting and achieving worthwhile goals. One of the books I have read recently that talk about success in all areas of life is called “The Science of Success” written by Gary Varnum. It amazes me how many people I know who will spend 20 bucks on a music CD or 20 bucks on a pizza, but will not spend 20 bucks to ensure that their life is as successful as can be. It boggles me that more people are not motivated enough to want to make sure they are the best they can be in ANYTHING they do. “The Science of Success” is a book that breaks down success in life into bitesized, understandable pieces. When is your life not worth studying success? To recap this Step in 7 words: Know what you want before you begin! CONT ON PAGE 3
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