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  1. #1
    Member XFrEdX's Avatar
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    psychology of bodybuilding 101

    I've been involved in competiting sports for most of my life. I played soccer when I was a kid, then when I was 12, I played football until I injured my back when I was 18. From early on, I noticed that the mental aspect was a really important, if not the most important aspect of any sport, competitive or not. My parents, who are both psychologists, encouraged me to develop the psychological skills that could help me perform better. In this article I'm going to talk about the basics of bodybuilding, psychology wise and introduce a few techniques that I have been taught. Keep in mind that I'm currently studying psychology in college but I'm not a certified psychologist. I'm going to rely on my personnal experience and what my parents, coaches and some teachers have taught me to write this article.

    The basic of bodybuilding for beginners
    As this is called psychology of bodybuilding 101, i'm going to start with the basic.

    So you've decided to start bodybuilding. You want to better your physique or you may even want to be competing some day. Remember that this requires a big comitment.
    Before you get in a gym and start learning about routines, nutrition and supplements, you need to prepare yourself mentally.
    Bodybuilding is a lifestyle, as many have stated before me, so you may want to ask yourself some important questions first:
    1- what is my main motivation for this?
    There are better reasons to start such as health improvement or to break your own limits. Wanting to attract girls is not that good altough any reason that forces you to go to the gym is good enough!
    2-Am I willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve my goals?
    You have to cut some food out, you may need to say no to a party sometimes and even you may lose friend because you won't be drinking, smoking weed as much. Are you willing to make those or any other sacrifices to meet your objectives?
    3-What exactly are these goals?
    This may be the most important question of all. You need to set REACHEABLE goals in order to succeed. Also make sure that they push your to your limits and farther ! This is the key to success. Examples of good goals : drop my bodyfat by X%, lift Ylbs at a given exercice, gain Z lbs of lean mass, you get the idea. Also set a timeframe for those and intermediate goals to monitor your progress.
    ***- Write every of your answer down in a note book and read them often. I read my motivation and my goals every morning when i get up. This notebook will also be your log where you'll write everything about your training
    4-What, where, when , who???
    Now you are ready to go! Before your start you need to address these questions: Where am I going to train? When am I going to train? Do I want a partner? if so where can I find one? How do I train? This is where you go looking for a gym that suits your needs. It's time to establish a schedule with your training session, school, job, leasure time, meals! It is also a good time to start learning the principle of bodybuilding. You can do so by reading alot, asking question to experienced people, getting a personnal trainer, etc. reading this site and forum is a good idea.
    Remember: ask every questions that comes to your mind or try to figure out the answer by yourself!

    So that should give you the basic guideline for mental preparation if you are starting. Note that if you are an intermediate or advanced bodybuilder and you never took the time to do this, it is never too late! If you already did this when you started, it is also a good thing to take a look at your anwser and update them!


    3 psychological tools
    So you've been training hard for a couple months or years now. You've gotten pretty big or not. The following is a introduction of 3 tools that can help you alot in your quest.

    1- Education
    This will make you go : "duhhh!" but do you really educate yourself to the best knowledge possible. Always try to know everything about anything in bodybuilding. Nutrition , supplements, routines, exercices, competitions(if you want to compete of course). I cannot put emphasis enough on this: LEARN CONSTANTLY. Also don't be afraid to critisize and doubt!
    You must also learn about other fields such as kinesiology, physiotherapy, psychology and neurophysiology! If you know how the mind and body work, you've got a big advantage! You'll know what and why thing works! I'm not telling you to write a thesis here but the bigger your field of knowledge is the better you'll be at bodybuilding and you'll be better at recognizing bull cr*p so that you don't waste time. You can take every good thing about different theories and blend them as a whole to create one that is adapted to your needs. We always tell kids to stay in school, so I'll tell you to do the same: keep learning!

    2- Visualization
    This is also important and quite easy to use! My dad taught me everything I know about visualization. I have to say that it's because of this that i could run my 40 yards dash at 4,9sec !
    There are many techniques of visualization but I'll state the main guideline: if you go through the process in your mind, the actual process will be easier ! Here a way to start : write down your routine for the day after and read it a couple of time so that you know it by heart. Then go over each and every reps, sets in your head:always visualize with a weight a little greater than what you lifted the other session and with ABSOLUTE PERFECT form. Repeat a couple of times during the day. If you train in the evening i suggest you do this in the day but if your train in the morning do this the day before. Try to be in a relaxed state when you perform this. A good time is right before bed, if you get good at this, you might even dream your routine:)
    There are other ways visualization can be used but I'll stick to this one for the 101 article

    3-Behavioral conditionning
    This is a concept widely used in psychology. The definition is: when an stimulus has a response, adding a different stimulus to the original one will have the subject associate the new stimulus with the response. Example: everyone has heard of the Pavlov dogs: the dogs salivated at the presence of food, Pavlov rung a bell everytime food was served. After a while, the dogs salivated at the simple ring of a bell.
    You also have positive or negative reinforcement where you reward or punish an action for it to be repeated or not. Example: you want to teach your dog to sit. When he does, you give him a treat: positive reinforcement. You want your puppy to stop releaving himself on the rug. When he does, you slap him or put his face in the mess: negative reinforcement. You get the idea here. I suggest using the positive reinforcement in the training case because you will be the one implementing the reward or punishment.
    Examples of how you can incorporate this in training:
    - you achieved you goal of losing 10 lbs of fat in two weeks: reward yourself with a junk food item you love!
    - you didn't miss any training session for the past month: buy yourself a CD.
    You get the picture !
    It can also be applied in the pavlov's dogs way :
    lets say you managed to bench press 225lbs X 8 with perfect form for the first time, take note of some details, clothes you were wearing, spotter, tune the was playing at the moment, things you ate, anything. Also note in your head the way you felt right after, the well being, the pride, the congratulation of others. When you going to attempt the weight the next time and when you'll try a greater weight, try to recreate the same pattern and go trought the feelings you had when you accomplished it the first time!

    These techniques will not help you make incredible gains but if applied correctly can help you make gains and reach your goal faster.
    I've used these techniques when i played football and I'm still using them when I train. They worked for me. They helped me run faster, lift bigger and bust plateaus. They are like supplements, they won't compensate for any lack of the basics but they can give you an edge, a great edge!

    So that's it for psychology of bodybuilding 101. I hope it has helped the beginners and more advanced bodybuilders. If i get good feedback I might write the 201 part in which I'll focus more on advanced technique of visualization and the mind-muscle connection every one is talking about!
    Thanks for reading .

    FrEd
    you can always do one more!
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  2. #2
    Member Matrixit187's Avatar
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    Hey, I really enjoyed your article. It's a shame no one's replied yet. Most people ignore the mental side of thing and I don't understand why because it's one of the most important skills to learn. I'm sure everyone like me has noticed that they lift a whole lot better when they are focused. Everything really is mostly mental. I think this is why most people get discouraged and stop working out, because they lose focus of their goal. I'd love to read 201 if you're still planning on posting it. People need to become more aware of the importance of the mental side of bodybuilding. Thanks for the article!
    -Fho
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  3. #3
    Senior Member jrpestana's Avatar
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    Thumbs up

    Good job! Will do further research on the advanced visualization methods. Any great books to start with?
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  4. #4
    New Member MaxMussel's Avatar
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    This is going to sound really weird to some, but:
    Visualisation works because the brain can't tell the difference between fiction and fact.
    You've all tried the "bite the lemon"-scenario..? That's a classic example of the brain's inability to tell the two apart. It will react "as if" if you can "see" what you want to achieve strongly enough. Platz said on Total Rebuild that he felt bodybuilding was more mental than physical, and I have to agree with him. It's a matter of mind over matter...

    I'd say any book on self-hypnosis should be good if you want to learn more. NLP as well...
    I found Paul McKenna's book "The Hypnotic world of Paul McKenna" rather enlightening... =)
    Anything is possible, except skiing through a revolving door.
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  5. #5
    Registered User tunahelper's Avatar
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    well in response to your article, not everone is the same, i have a chemical imbalace in my brain, my mind doesn't work the same way yours does, but i'm considered a genious and in perfect health, but will agree working out is: 90% mental and 10% lifting.
    "Might makes right" Tharasymacus, bad ass philosopher!
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  6. #6
    Registered User Zee Deveel's Avatar
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    Haha, is this Fred from Ra2?
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  7. #7
    Registered User beatslooseleaf's Avatar
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    Awesome article FrEd. I repped you. Preparing yourself mentally is just as if not more important than nutrition and the actual workout. A really good book on the subject is "Mind and Muscle: Psych up, Build Up" by Blair Whitmarsh. Can you write more on what visualization techniques have most helped you?
    "Success in anything seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but don't quit. They hang on after others have let go."

    "You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there."
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  8. #8
    Registered User kmshannon's Avatar
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    Nice job on that article XFrEdX

    Hey XFrEdX, That article you wrote is pretty good.
    It's succinct and to the point.
    I keyed in on the visualization tool you mentioned because that is my primary tool for motivation.
    I can VISUALIZE the "ripped" Kevin inside my body just waiting to pop out.

    Thanks for your thoughts.


    Kevin
    Kevin, in OKC, OK

    **Hey, I have recently started a transformation program. Please look at my BodyBlog page: http://blog.bodybuilding.com/kmshannon
    and let me know what you think about my daily meals.**

    "Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder...but don't nobody wanna lift no heavy ass weight." -Ronnie Coleman
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  9. #9
    Registered User AlexWeston's Avatar
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    Very informative thread Interesting stuff
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  10. #10
    Registered User rbb1986's Avatar
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    Good write up, I always pause just before attempting a lift and imagine completing the reps. Never tried visualising it throughout the day, will start.
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