Way too often we start on our prep with an eye toward being that perfect person on stage—tiny waist, huge chest, deep cuts in the rib cage, cannon ball shoulders, biceps the size of cantelopes. veins coming out of our head, neck, arms, thighs, calves pulsing with life, Abs like a washboard. But!!! If we are honest this adonis is usually not reached each and every time we think about it or we set out to get it. We have to get our heads around the concept that nothing is free and our rich imagination cannot make it so. Each step toward this image is gained through superior and consistent “EFFORT!!” In fact, we have to do better than this. We have to turn “EFFORT” into the consistency that shapes not only our bodies but our personalities too. We have to see “EFFORT” as the norm and the habit that we perform daily and that makes us better just because we did it.
Today it seems that there are many bodybuilders who think that if they do some work they must be automatic winners and they cannot fail. In reality, a great bodybuilder works and exerts effort with a deep seated feat that they are lazy and cannot succeed. I have a T-shirt that I bought from the great Branch Warren that says across the front, “DRIVEN BY THE FEAR OF BEING AVERAGE!” Our self assessment must always be that we are never good enough until the judges say so. Nobody, including ourselves, says that we are ok and then we are ok.
Perfection is a delusion! But we can be better than we are with heavy doses of effort and the realization that we can expect more than we have but it will cost us “EFFORT.” We may approach that which we consider to be perfection but that is a soft target and it cannot be trusted. Instead focus on the here, the now, and tomorrow. Perfection will take care of itself. Last bit of advice. Never compare yourself against others. They will never be as good as me anyway. I am my own worst enemy and my own worst judge so nobody can survive my scrutiny. It’s harsh.
Bottom Line: Perfection is a illusion. Effort to be better is not. So stop dreaming and begin doing that which will make you better.
Six Pack and Senior 