Building A Better Body One Brick At A Time
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.burnthefat.com
The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a long,
slow journey. It's not something you achieve overnight by popping a few
pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.
Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew the
whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those "ab zappers" had
swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately,
some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some! The FTC charged
three companies - Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab Energizer - with false advertising
and deceptive warranty practices for these "ABSurd" products.
But I digress… back to what I was saying about the journey to a
better body...
Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing but
a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick condo complex.
If someone looked at this massive completed structure for the first time,
they might not be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction
process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed - amazed even
- at what goes into erecting this kind of structure.
I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day like busy
bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the next, it didn't
seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a year and a half,
I watched the building gradually morph into the finished product.
When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished product,
you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard work it took
to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the
gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it's easy to attribute
such a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement (they
just took product XYZ and voila - overnight abs). What you don't see or
appreciate are all the months and years of sweat and hard work.
Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must
be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a blueprint.
It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow.
On a daily basis, it doesn't seem like much is happening. You look in the
mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But
sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding
interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and "suddenly," your
blueprint has become reality.
The body of a fitness pro or bodybuilding champion is no more likely to
be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It's not physically
possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement
or machine of any kind will make it happen sooner is pure folly. You can't
force it.
Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation period.
For a baby, it's nine months. For corn, I believe it's about three months.
If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry the process? Could
any new development in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful
miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you try to harvest your
crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up your seeds to see if anything
was growing down there?
The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient, nurturing "mother's" or "farmer's
mindset" towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their money on "fast
abs" or "exercise in a bottle" or any such silliness ever again. We would
understand that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you
can't sow and reap in the same season.
If you ever get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who doesn't),
just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing in
the world can stop someone who knows what they want and is willing to continue
paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.
Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL build
the body you want eventually if you're patient enough and you refuse to
quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo
said, “The greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and
miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach
them.”
Envision a castle - a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There's nothing wrong
with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work at putting
the foundations underneath them. There are very few unrealistic goals; only
goals with unrealistic deadlines. So keep laying those "bricks" - every
day - one at a time - and sure enough, eventually, you'll build yourself
a palace.
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS),
and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom
has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines
such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development,
Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites
worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program, visit:
www.burnthefat.com
