
Want long-lasting bodybuilding results in 2009? Follow these seven easy steps!
1) Self Evaluation
First, you need to do a brutally honest evaluation of yourself in order to find your weaknesses and what you want to change or improve on. As stupid as it sounds, stand in front of a full-length mirror and analyze. Do you want larger legs in order to have a more symmetrical body, do you have small calf’s, want to lose some bodyfat, gain some size, get bigger arms, enter a bodybuilding contest, etc. Make sure it’s a realistic and attainable goal – something that can be achieved in a year’s time. Write these long-term goals down in order of priority or importance.
2) Baseline Measurements & External Evaluation
You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you are coming from. With that said, get baseline body measurements by soliciting a friend or trainer at your gym. These should include girth measurements at various locations on your body preferably with a tape measure. Record your bodyweight with a balanced and trusted scale wearing as little clothing as possible. Also have your bodyfat percentage tested by a trained and competent professional using either skinfold calipers or underwater weighing. These girth, bodyfat, and bodyweight measurements should be taken all at once. Make sure the date as well as the time of day is recorded. Photographs help too! Take some with your digital camera or webcam!
3) Setting Short-term Goals
Now that you have established your long-term goals. You need to devise clear, well-defined, realistic, and dated short-term goals that will lead to that long-term goal. Without setting periodic short-term goals you are setting yourself up for long-term failure. For instance, a long-term goal of “I want to be 10% bodyfat” might have a short-term goal of “I want to lose 2 percent bodyfat by February 13th”. Write down your short-term goals in addition to your long-term goals. You may want to date your short-term goals on a calendar, and hang the calendar in plain view somewhere so as to constantly remind you.
4) Make Steps Toward Short-term Goals a Priority
The baby steps needed to accomplish your short-term goals need to be made a priority. Weaknesses require priority and to not be put on the back burner or as an afterthought. Is what you are doing conductive to achieving your goals? If not, then change it so it is! That means that if your legs are your weak point and it’s leg day don’t blow it off to bench press or do some hammer curls – in fact maybe you should train legs twice a week if they are a priority.
5) Tips for Adherence
Write reminders to yourself and hang pictures on a calendar to inspire you to work harder and to stick with your program. Put them on the fridge, cupboards, as wallpaper on your computer, on your cell phone, near your weights or cardio machine if you workout at home, etc. This will subconsciously inspire you, keep you focused, and remind you why you are working so hard, what you are working toward, and what the reward(s) will be.
6) Reward Yourself
Avoid burnout by rewarding yourself. Bodybuilding is hard work and a lifestyle but it should also be fun. Don’t neglect your social or emotional health – everything in moderation. Don’t get too overzealous and kill yourself in the process of achieving your goals. In some instances less is more. Have a light workout day or give yourself a cheat day. Or maybe even have 1-2 cheat meals per week if you are eating relatively clean at least 5 times a day, as you should be. Whatever works for you!
7) Reassess Your Baseline Measuremets and Your Goals
Have periodic body composition measurements as well as photos taken regularly to assess your progress and reassess your goals. When re-testing, try to have the same tester and at the same time of day in order to keep the variables to a minimum and the results as accurate as possible. After re-testing, maybe your goals will change. Maybe your original goal was to gain weight and in the process you’ve gained a little too much extra bodyfat and now you want to lose weight (bodyfat). Repeat the goal setting steps.
Following these steps will help you to achieve your goals as well as set you up to be a bodybuilding success….. SO START WRITING DOWN YOUR GOALS RIGHT NOW, GYM JOCKERS!!!