Psychology of Bodybuilders

If one were to choose a goal in life, be it bodybuilding or not, they must use some sort of method in order to attempt achieving it. And, depending on one's desire to achieve such a standard or object, they would regularly invest a certain amount of time towards that goal. But what if you were not achieving your goal? What if your efforts were in direct opposition of what is required to achieve your goal? Would you see the error in your ways and stop? Most would, of course, say yes. It is stupid to chase after a goal by running in the opposite direction. But, if it were you, would you REALLY be so inclined to change your ways? Or would you fall victim to denial and persist?

Everyone makes mistakes, big ones at that...and if anyone tells you they don't, they make a lot more than most. But mistakes are good, they are ESSENTIAL to our growth, both intellectually and physically. Mistakes fortify us with the knowledge that something we have done is wrong and, because of which, produced a negative, a bad consequence or a different result than desired. A mistake tells you to look at it more carefully or through some other manner. But only if you first accept the fact that you made one. And with age comes stubbornness and blindness of the minds eye. A child develops because he knows that he does not know everything, but wants to. He/She makes mistakes at an alarming rate, but learn at an equally alarming rate: stove equals hot, snow equals cold, needle equals sharp, etc. But as we grow older, not true pride, but ignorance and pigheadedness shades the glow of a once so eager mind.

The young adult and up seem terrified to express the fact that they do not know everything, that they are making a mistake. I have had the misfortune of being stubborn most my life, but it also offers aid in my continual search for truth. I too have followed down blind alleys of comfort and familiarity, afraid to admit the error in my ways because of all the time that I had invested in such ill-fated efforts. But that is the key; what is most valuable to a man than time? Time equals everything important and time is the last thing that one wants to waste. Depending on the amount of time invested in a method of exercise or anything, people develop a sense of pseudo-pride of their efforts, even to psychotic degrees. In psychology is it termed as "escalation of commitment." The unwillingness of one to change the error in their ways all because they are terrified, mortally terrified, of the idea that they have wasted so much time in their life towards nothing. Individuals like this are usually too far gone to change and denial is their only companion that understands their efforts. And bodybuilding is one of the greatest examples of individuals who have escalation of commitment.

I decided years ago that I would not fall victim to volitional blindness. Everything is on trail in my mind and I suggest that you too judge the evidence presented before you in life with the same scrutiny.

Motivation is the driving force behind all ventures and endeavours, the fire in your belly that fuels the constent move towards a goal. But what fuels this fire? All active states in the universe require some source of energy; no action is indefinitely self-sustaining...even one's motivation for achieve in life. And what separates those who dream of achievement and those who actually achieve is their goals.

Now this is in no way to suggest that certain goals are impossible of achievement, only one of such a narrow mind would put limits on the potential of man. What I mean is, those who dream of grandeur but set their sights on the stars alone are doomed to be dreamers instead of achievers. It is like dreaming of landing on the mars without a spaceshuttle capable of reaching across the vast distances of space. What gets men from dreams to grandeur? Short-ranged goals, taking little steps at a time. There is a BIG mistake among most passionate individuals...and that is that they rush full-bore into something overtax themselves before they are even close to reaching their lofty goals. And what happens when someone exerts themselves tremendously and sees no signs of achievement? The lose motivation, they quit. What IS needed to achieve your goals is constant success.

When you are striving to achieve a long-term or life long goal you need to take little steps at a time. Setting short-term goals in order to work your way up to long-range ones. A constant drive, not a big push. Look for realistic goals and try to achieve them in a certain frame of time. Don't make impossible dreams, impossibilities disconnect you from reality and shake your trust in the faculties that serve as your best tool. Set difficult, yet possible goals. Over time, the progressive attainment of short-term goal after short-term goal will have you standing closer and closer to living that dream of yours, instead of just being an observer.

Garry Spence, practically the most successful lawyer who ever lived, once said, "words that do not create images should be discarded." Brilliant in its simplicity, but it is far more daunting a statement when you think about it.

Gerry Spence understood how to win an argument; look deep down, understand how to reveal your true thoughts and feelings and express what you want. When I am I trying to teach someone about proper exercise, nutrition or philosophy, if I truly am trying to persuade them to understand what I am trying to teach, I am arguing with them. Unless they have lived in a cave and never heard the words exercise or nutrition (but even then they would have some ideas based on their daily activities) I will have to argue with their present concepts, or misconceptions as it is. And it has come to my attention that, for the sake of teaching someone, it is impossible through the internet and the written word. How so you ask? Well this is based on two bold observations that I believe anyone can see.

One: No one can be taught. Teaching is predominantly ineffectual for the purpose of educating someone. Knowledge is self-taught under the premise that all information is useless unless an individual mind attempts to grasp it and draw abstractions and form concepts. The schools, especially those of "higher" education, have their students learn NOTHING. It is all short term memorization. The effort to get students to retain any of the information is nonexistent. The impersonal atmosphere has little in the way of benefit to individuals who actually seek knowledge. Think otherwise? Why not ask a student who is in university and what they learn. I am not talking about the trades since they are given personal one-on-one education and are given the time to understand (individuals who study the trades are FAR better off than damn near all of the university students in North America). What do they learn? One thing I have found is they learn intolerance for other cultures and races, the exact opposite of what the Canadian government is trying to produce with their multicultural schools. I am not being racist when I say that. Back ground means little to nothing to me, individuals must be judged as individuals, but the attempt to complicate and contradict everything you are teaching with every philosophy attacking every other philosophy only results in intellectual impotence and hatred.

Two: People learn, and I mean truly grasp the full meaning of something, when they witness and practice it. The written word is almost completely useless since I cannot stand in front of you and demonstrate the exact concept that I am trying to get you to understand. A mere theoretical understanding of something is utterly meaningless unless you grasp the significance and results of practicing it. The internet has allowed individuals to be flooded with an astronomical amount of information that would truly boggle the mind of everyone if they understood its extent. But unlike the pre-internet days, you have 90-pound sticks that have never even seen a barbell let alone trained that are telling successful and strong men and women that they do not know anything.The internet is cyber-courage, giving every little weak-minded fool the guts to attack and ridicule others and disseminate worthless and dangerous information. It used to be that if someone was interested in exercise they would travel to see the successful individuals and learn by watching first hand and practicing exactly what they learned and not what they assumed so-and-so meant.

If You truly want to learn anything of value in the world, learn it first hand by true observation, video included, or trial and error on your part. Because the internet is no place for an empty mind to fill up.

Trepidation is something I spoke about in my book...trepidation is a hesitance caused by an uneasiness, a fear. I found myself dwelling on such little things that grew into such big problems. Case-in-point, squats.

My imagination manifested the deep-knee-bend into an indomitable monster that loomed every Sunday. I found myself panicking about the idea, the mere notion of performing that agonizing exercise. It was not a mere maximum attempt effort that dampened my fire, it was the heavy, high rep deep-knee-bend. Such an extraordinary effort that no other exercise or combination of exercises could match. It is not hard to believe that nearly EVER trainee in the gym would rather opt not to do them than gain the near proportionate return from them. I found myself going into, literal, cold sweats and producing mild to severe diarrhea at the mere thought of doing the exercise, not even on the same day that I was to do them.

The deep-knee-bend represented a mountain that seemed far too high to climb. No other exercise I have ever performed has ever done such trauma to myself and I have done a lot of stupid and seemingly impossible stunts--including, 380lbs. double on squat + 500lbs. leg press for 100 reps + pushing a truck with someone on the breaks for 1.4 kms with a hill on the end. And can you blame someone for wanting to opt for something easier when the first 1-2 reps feels as hard as hell and you have 18-19 to go? But there it is...that desire for the easy over true hard work. And I was not about to let one exercise stop me. So then began an interpersonal reflection of what was internally required to go through such a brutal and mind blowing effort.

I found that it did not actually take that long to figure it out. It was clear as day actually and I found that I actually stumbled upon a fantastic tool that will have you gaining many times more results from your leg work (i.e. deadlifts, squats and leg presses). I found that when it comes to heavy, high rep leg work one requires a totally different mind-set. For upper body you can focus on some asshole who pissed you off at work or trying to protect a value, but those ideas burn far to fast. They have you burning out before you even hit the half way mark. What is truly needed though is a positive and supportive attitude. You literally need to cheerlead yourself into grinding out those last 8 or 5 reps. constantly remind yourself, in your head and aloud that it is easy, light, that you can do it and you've got this. And do it right from the get go. You must keep telling yourself that you can do it, that it is easy and that it is within your power to achieve that 20 rep squat or 30 rep leg press or 15 rep deadlift. Support yourself and you can achieve anything.