Many of the clients I deal with are natural bodybuilders or other natural athletes. Many are not. the difference between the two is actually very small in the way I want them to think about their training and eating. What you CHOOSE to do everyday affects every aspect of your life. If something you are CHOOSING to do is making you happy, feel more complete as a person, and not negatively affecting personal relationships, that activity is adding to your life and is a long term sustainable addition. If something you are CHOOSING to do is giving you a negative outlook on life, alienating a spouse or friends and has no long term benefit, then that action or activity is taking away from your life.

Competitive sport, especially bodybuilding is not sustainable long term at its highest level (the actual competition) Just as a sprinter does not go out and run his best race day after day, a bodybuilder is building to this peak that only lasts a few days a most. That is the nature of competition. It is when the unrealistic obsession of trying to maintain this “peak” over the long term, that you can really run into problems. Individuals start associating exercise and food with guilt and this can have devastating effects on your personal life.

I don’t want to ramble on about this forever and try to make myself out as a perfect person who never has obsessed maybe a little too much over how much I was eating or how much I was training. At the highest levels of competition you have to. I just want people to stand back and take a look at your life and your training and ask, “one year from now will I be better off because of what I am doing now?”

That does not mean you can’t be passionate about what you do and put your best effort forward. Quite the opposite. Training hard makes people tired. Getting ripped makes people hungry. Neither one of these thing should make someone miserable.

The satisfaction of achieving a goal, no mater if it is stepping onstage, competing in a track meet, or losing 50 pounds, should be a huge reward and not followed by a feeling of emptiness and guilt afterward. This is very evident in athletes and bodybuilders that always seem to be in competition mode. They are always competing or training and dieting like they are, even if there is no event on the horizon. If you are 8 weeks from a event or competition yes I am sorry to say you might have to say no to somethings you enjoy. A dedicated athlete has no problem doing this. But if that same athlete skips his nieces wedding because it is leg day and his cheat day is on Sunday not Saturday, not to mention that competition that is 10 months away so I have my cardio to do, thats a problem. Compulsion and obsession are being confused for dedication and passion.

This post may seem a little all over the place but what I am trying to get across is this. Have goals. Work as hard as you can to achieve those goals. Don’t confuse working more and eating less for working hard and eating properly for your goal. Don’t lose perspective on what is really important. Bodybuilding or whatever sport you do is just that, Something you do. It is not who you are.

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