Week 215 :: How Can One Achieve Bodybuilding Success?

[teamgenetics]

awesome thread, thanks for this!

[aksel114]

sweet topic bro

[marcuskiner]

Consistency

[UaPhckaHoryJit]

make your diet your ABSOLUTE bottom line

no other way. period.

[Vicjustice]

There are too many steps to take to achieve success.

This phrase is enough for me to work with

[Tdxtream]

To me there's only one way and that's to get out there and do it... Motivation is key to success even if it's false...

[Bomber512]

Is this still active? lol

[trailfb12]

[QUOTE=The Solution;432134081][center]

How can one achieve bodybuilding success?

There are too many steps to take to achieve success. As noted above there are a few things any bodybuilder must utilize to become competitive and make a name for themselves as they step on stage. To get things started lets keep it simple. Dedication, motivation, consistency, posing, meal planning, working out smart, and supplementation all have to be put into a puzzle and pieced together slowly. Bodybuilding is not a sprint it is a marathon. To be successful this individual must realize the amount of time and effort to be put in to reach their goal of stepping on stage and placing. With all of these pieces to the puzzle you have to notice that without all of them there is a less chance of becoming that person you dreamed of. The best way to achieve success through my eyes is through transformation with pictures and/or videos. Take pictures every 2-3 weeks and notice how much your body composition changes. Seeing the weekly changes it motivation to keep working harder and striving for your goal. Seeing that gut slowly diminish, the lower back fat starting to shed, and your upper body shredding and veins starting to pop are all signs that you are on the right track and making success to getting your body in prime shape to be successful.

What are some important characteristics a bodybuilder should have?

Dedication - The first thing people struggle with is dedication. They start out having a dream and wanting to achieve success on stage, but in the end they really do not have what it takes to lift and diet on a consistent basis. The first major step for your dedication is picking out a show. If its 10 months away, 1 year away or 2 years away pick a show that you want to do , and STICK TO IT. After you pick your show now its your time to stick and be dedicated to diet and training because that is going to be 95% of how your body shapes up to be successful. Plan ahead for your meals by however you track them (fitday.com, the daily plate, or writing down your calories on a sheet of paper). Write down your workouts in a notebook, and continually take it with you to the gym to measure progress. Are you becoming stronger? Are you hitting a plateau? Are you seeing success in adding more reps to your exercises? These are things you have to gauge to see if you are being successful.

Motivation - As stated above motivation is critical. If you cannot walk into the gym and want to be a better person and improve on what you did yesterday you are setting yourself up for not being successful but going through the motions (which is what you do not want). There has to be a trigger going off inside of yourself saying that this is what I want to do, and if you do not have the fire burning inside you can bet your competition does and that they are outworking you. Motivation for me as stated is best seen through pictures or videos of my physique. I have always taken pictures every 2-3 weeks or a video update once a month to see the body composition changes. I try to pick out lagging body parts, or body-parts that tend to hold more fat and take measurements to see if they are reducing through diet and cardio. If things are not moving in the right direction this is a signal I need to make a change to get my body going in the right direction. As I continue to track my progress I can notice where things are starting to dial in, and where I can improve to bring up my body for the stage to make an identical physique to impress the judges.

Consistency -

Ever hear the phrase "Consistency is Key" That statement is not a lie its 100% truth. If you are not consistent you are setting yourself up for failure. Bodybuilding is all about being consistent. Posing and nailing your routine to make sure things go smooth on stage. Planning your meals and getting in adequate calories to diet and preserve as much Lean Body Mass as possible. Getting in your workouts and cardio every week to attain your ideal physique. Being consistent with taking all your supplements to give yourself that extra edge above your competition. Look at how many scenarios I am giving you and how if you fall off one of them you may be falling behind in success. There are so many little details in bodybuilding that can sidetrack your progress. Not spiking your foot on your side chest, side tricep, or rear lat spread may give your opponent an edge in revealing your body, the only reason to not have this down is by consistently practicing your posing or getting a coach to look over you. Are you willing to give a certain chunk of your time everyday/every week towards fulfilling your goal? That is what consistency is all about. Getting into a rhythm and never skipping a beat, by doing this you are making good habits and allowing yourself to slowly make progress.

Posing -

A vital part of going on stage and showing off your physique is posing. One of the most underrated tools in bodybuilding is knowing how to expose your body and show your strengths/weakness's. While many people do not believe in practicing posing in the offseason, and only paying attention as time closes in on you contest they are setting them self up for failure. Posing is a great tool to know because by showing your weakness's in the offseason it allows yourself time to hammer away at them in the weight room prior to your show. Bringing up a body part that will lack on stage is a good tool to know because this will create symmetry which judges will be looking for. Having a big back, thick striated glutes, bulging biceps, and thick triceps will make a complete package, but if you step on stage and you cannot show off your lats or know how to nail a front double bicep by forgetting to flex your quads or suck in your gut, You are falling behind! I highly recommend finding or hiring a posing coach. If not try to find someone in your gym who has competed to spend time with them on getting to expose your body and understanding how to get down the basic 8 mandatory poses.

Meal Planning -

What makes the most of your physique? Diet. People have said your body is reflected 80% through your diet and what you eat. I have to confirm that this is true. While calories are calories if you fuel your body with sugar laden foods, high amounts of trans fat, and greasy burgers are you really going to set yourself up for success? Not so much. Finding the foods that suit your body best is the first and foremost things bodybuilders need to do. Some people do not react very well to grains. People will find that they get bloated very easy off eating whole wheat breads, oatmeal, and pasta. If this is the case you need to go back to the drawing board and sketch up a low carb, higher fat, and high protein diet. A great example of this would be the Scivation Cut-Diet or CHA diet which has been utilized by many members of Team Scivation in Contest Prep and have come back with hardware! Some individuals on the other hand swear by carbohydrates. Some people can eat up to 350-400g of carbs while dieting and achieve success. They are flowing with energy, keeping a very full physique, and slowly losing weight. A prime example would be Tommy Jeffers in his prep with Layne Norton when he won his Pro-Card at the OCB Midwest states. At the lowest caloric total he had carbohydrates at a steady rate of 250 grams a day! Most people do not even bulk on that amount. Through that number he planned out his meals and made sure to take in 50% of his carbs around his training, 25% at breakfast, and the other amount spread throughout the rest of his meals. Focusing on a diet rich in whole grains, lean proteins, and essential fatty acids is the key to success is keeping a bodybuilding physique!

Training Smarter Not Harder -

Some people believe that when dieting its essential to do a lot of reps and a lot of sets. FALSE! Lyle McDonald sums this up best when dieting and training. You must train with lower volume, higher intensity, and less frequency. To achieve success you have to put as much pressure on the muscle as possible to preserve what you have. Doing a lot of reps and sets is only depleting your body and stressing cortisol to the max. Doing that will decrease recovery and lead your body to being banged up and run down. This is the last thing you need while on contest prep and going down the stretch towards peak week. Some people may fall off the train, but to those who go into the gym, get their session in, hit their cardio, and stay on track with diet will be walking away with hardware at the end of their show. I would suggest training hard and heavy on compound movements 4-5x a week, you can increase the reps on small isolation movements, but the sole focus should be on a 45-60 minute session.

Supplementation -

The last piece of the puzzle is supplementation. As a bodybuilder you should be taking the essentials - Whey Protein (to hit your protein needs), Creatine (to give your body extra ATP towards strength gains), Fish-Oils (to hit your EFA's), and a Multi-Vitamin (to get those essential vitamins you cannot get through whole foods). As you continue to drop calories you get to eat less food. This is critical while a multi-vitamin can give you those vitamins and minerals which cannot be obtained in your caloric limit. The last two products I would add are Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's) and a Fat-Burner. Branch Chains are awesome because they are instantly absorbed by the bloodstream. A great product to have is Scivation Xtend. During training what do you lose? Aminos and Protein because the body is breaking down muscle. BCAA's instantly recharge your body of what it is losing to keep yourself in an anabolic state at ALL TIMES!. What do you need to get rid of that last layer of fat on your abs? Are you holding a little extra water/fat on your hamstrings? Have no fear when you add in a fat burner on top of good cardio and diet. This will be able to give you a boost of energy and shed that last layer of fat to have you looking your best on stage!

Compared to other sports, how difficult is it for one to achieve success in the bodybuilding sport?




Very accurate statement. And even when you do all of these things your genetics can still screw you over!

[curl20s]

It's simple really.

"Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, but don't nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weight!"
-Ronnie Coleman

Unless you're making a maximum effort to increase your training weights every week, you may as well give up trying to be a bodybuilder and be content as a fitness enthusiast.

haha, great quote

[samos]

Ronnie C summed it up nicely!

[Ranniks]

There are three words that keep me going: Never give up!

[shanegdog]

Some great things said here..

[HikingEd]

Mental discipline can NOT be understated. It is so important to success. If you don't think you can do it, you won't be able to do it. Yes, sometimes you will surprise yourself, but you lose nothing by trying.

[BigBanh]

I stuck posters of successful presidents, conquerers, philosophers all over my house. So i could feel so inadequate about myself... Which forces me to pick myself up and make something of myself.

Everyday i wake up, i see this poster saying, "What the **** did you do today?" A picture of arnold schwarz. (Nailed to the ceiling, the first thing i see when i open my eyes.

[Sammywin]

Nice thread !

[tomajan]

best answer.......thank's

[KrunkMasterKyle]

If you have the money hire a great coach IMO

[bcondie]

Really good read, lots of knowledgeable people on here to keel it short, motivation, dedication, diet, and consistency are key

[shamroc617]

There are three words that keep me going: Never give up!

Dat dere's da motto mayne!

[curbstompking]

not writing long abstract bull****, workout+eat+rest= aesthtics brah

[Jason155]

make your diet your ABSOLUTE bottom line

no other way. period.

Agreed, you really can't do much if your diet is full of carbs and junk food.

[Arimatest]

Good article, anyone can go through the motions but few can actually stick to there goals and achieve what they see in there mind! Stay hungry people reach your potential and then some!

[rustang560]

It is more of a lifestyle change. It first must be dedicated to changing your diet you can live a healthier lifestyle. You must maintain a proper a diet if you want to build anything in the gym. A proper exercide routine has to be researched, evaluated, and determined the best exercide for your body so you can achieve the best results and ypu can remain postive and push through the resistance the body will have on you mentally and physically. Last but not least one the hardest the factors of achieveing the kind of succese strive for is rest. We must have a routine rest regiment so are body can recover from the over exertion we put our bodies through and we can once agian see the best result. Well thats mytwo cents

Thank You

[dip2rip]

I believe that in order to achieve succes in bodybuilding/Lifting one needs to show true dedication and heart to what he/she is doing. That person must be excited when it's time to go to the gym, they must be willing to eat against their apetite and above all, you need discipline!

[Arimatest]

another good way to stay motivated i tend to use is, on large closet mirrors and or bathroom mirror i write in erasable marker quotes that fuel me quotes that drive me or any other inspirational quotes i can find that get me pumped. seeing them everyday helps a ton. this is just one more bullet for your arsenal to success

[somethingpro]

How can one achieve bodybuilding success?
One can achieve success by fulfilling all of their goals. If they fulfill their goals, no matter what they are, then that person will have achieved their very own type of success in bodybuilding.

What are some important characteristics a bodybuilder should have?
Determination, Dedication, Ambition, Hunger, Drive, Discipline, Reason, Organization

Compared to other sports, how difficult is it for one to achieve success in the bodybuilding sport?
Well, you can not really compare difficulties. It all depends on the person. For some people hitting a baseball is easier than pushing yourself to go to the gym everyday. For others it can be the opposite way around. They find exercizing everyday, getting new maxes, pushing themselves to every last rep is much easier than going out and shooting a basketball.
In a way, they all have the same difficulty. To find success in any of them, you need to push yourself to the brink, devote a lot of time to it, and most importantly you will experience failure at some point!

[somethingpro]

I know its been months, but I still thought it would be fun to put in my own input xD

[marshiechen]

Simple: blood, sweat, tears.

The formula for everything hard in life.

[beastyboyswag]

Its about believing in yourself that your gonna be one, have a dream and go do that what we call hard work and pain and I will 100% tell you that you will achieve whatever you want to be

[ettienne237]

1,3 Dimethylamylamine