May 3, 2010

Principles Of Success Learned From Bodybuilding Pt. 1

Many people are looking for that ever elusive formula for success.

It’s like the Unicorn or the pot of gold at the rainbow that we keep chasing, but never find it.

We never find it because a definitive formula for success DOESN’T exist.

why doesn’t it exist? Because everyone’s definition of their personal success is different.

So if everyone’s definition is different, we can’t all use the same formula to get different results – Duh.

However, there is hope. There are priniciples that lead to a desirable outcome each time. Just like the priniciples in math (such as Algebra – I’m an Algebra teacher right now)
lead to the solution of a given problem – aka, your own personal definition of success.

The first principle I learned a few years ago and it’s the first step to this entire thing – and the backbone of this post.

Princple #1 – The Crossover

No, I’m not talking about a move in basketball. The Crossover refers to the fact that – the principles you used for one area of your life can be applied to another area of your life.

An example would be the principle of progressive overload (which I’ll get into more later)
is used on each muscle to make it grow. This prinicple crosses over to other areas of life also.

Which leads me to my next principle…

Principle #2 – Progressive Overload

Simply put, if you want to get better at anything, you must continue to challenge yourself beyond your previous limits.

I had a quote I used to say to msyelf whenever I felt like quitting, “If you push your limits, you further them.”

Ask any athlete, or any CEO why they are they best, and they will say that they continued to push themselves while everyone else quit.

Principle #3 – Intake Determines Output

In muscle building, this is called calories. You put junk in and your body will look like junk.

In other areas of life, this is called information (which also applies to muscle building).

You can only do what you learn. If all you learn and are fed is negativity, you’ll produce negative results.

So watch what’s coming in, if you care about what’s coming out (this is why I stopped watching TV 2 yrs ago, to have more control over what’s coming into my brain).

Principle #4 – Intensity

Training with intensity is just one of those things I hope you know already. But seeing that I see most people in the gym
aren’t getting the results they would like, they aren’t intense enough about their training.

Part of Intensity is Focusing. You have to focus intensely on your desired outcome in whatever area of life you are working in for it to be successful.

Yes, it’s going to take hard work. Hard/Correct work is the only way to achieve anything worthwhile in life.

Principle #5 – Consistency

I’ll never forget one summer that I made a huge tranformation in my body.

At the end of the summer, people in the gym asked me what was my secret. I replied with one word – Consistency.

I was there day in and day out, whether I felt like it or not. I did what I had to do on a daily basis with my nutrition and weekly with my workouts.

I was consistent and it showed to everyone.

Part of winning is just showing up, and you have to show up over and over again if you ever expect to win.

Those are the first five principles of success that we can take from bodybuilding.

Stay tuned for the last 5 in this series.

Until Next Time,

Get Big. Get Ripped. Get Fit With Mitch.

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