Most Motivational Threads or Posts

[Emma-Leigh]

I thought I would add a thread where people can link to motivational threads they love around the other area's of the boards....

So - to start: Everyday Inspiration
^
A bunch of video's to put you back on the ground when you are feeling down and sorry for yourself.

[ZidaneValor]

Note: I pulled this off of another thread at the beginning of the year which I now cannot find.

Your life is now.

It is not what you did, or looked like, or lifted yesterday. It is not what you will do tomorrow or hope to achieve with your physique in the future. It is now. Do you ever notice that "I really couldn't give 2 wanks and a rats ass" feeling you get when some arrogant, has-been jerk says, "'oh yeah, I used to be really freakin' huge maaaan! I bench pressed 4 million pounds!" As Mr. Personality continues his self centered, biased story of what he used to be, you find yourself extremely uninterested to the point where you'd rather jack off your grandpa! Well, thats how others feel when you and I talk about what we used to do or what we are dead set to accomplish in the world of muscle and fitness. People are impressed only with what you are NOW.

Today is your opportunity to live the real life. Today is your time to get out of the swamp of the status quo. Yes, today is your time to give purpose and drive to your fitness life. Don't keep doing the "Easy" exercises. Don't just do a certain number of reps and sets- no matter if you are straining or not. Don't stop your sets when the burn and pain starts. Remember, now is your time. This is your hour. When I'm in the gym, I see people who are about as focused as a fart. They are all over the road. They'll run many different half-assed exercises together and wonder why they look no different that last year.

Fear can be a bad thing in your life, but it can also yield results.The only fear you need is the fear that you will continue living a life much smaller than your hopes and dreams'.. and awake someday to find yourself past your prime, a product of your mediocre lifestyle as a fitness enthusiast. Or worse yet, you might die unexpectedly tomorrow, next week or next month with your music still in you. Your life is now. Your life is now, or never. When I turned 30, this hit me hard. Up to that point, I was in my 20's. IT didn't matter how late into my 20's I was, I was still in my 20's! Then 30 hit. I realilzed that IF I'm going to be muscular and strong, it had better happen now. Yes, you can be big and strong into your 40's. But I think many agree that the 30's are where its at! I had to decide that the time was now.

You possess unfathomable strength and ability, but you are rarely calling on your tremendous mental and physical resources. They demand to be stretched, exercised and challenged. They demand to be used to their full capacity. The reward your abilities promise is nothing short of greatness and excellence. Have you ever been told you have "potential'" Let me tell you something about "potential"'''. "potential" means that you're not doing it. Think about it'' Would you say that Jay Cutler has "potential?" No, because he's doing it! He's training hard, eating big, and keeping his focus. He is past the "potential" stage. Thats where I want all of us to be. To be to the place where every week we are setting and reaching goals in our fitness. Be it strength, size, or just a funny story from your daily walk as a bodybuilding enthusiast as proof that you are living the life and having a great time doing it!

Let me be blunt, in hopes of making my true point: Everyday you step into the gym, and do not commit yourself to greatness, you are falling asleep, allowing yourself to suffocate in an atmosphere of mediocrity. Is the spirit-killing atmosphere I reference real? Bodybuilding is supposed to be such a positive and demanding sport where just by association with it, you start aiming to better yourself. You only need to look at the newspaper or TV to know we are surrounded by negativity that cares little about inspiring greatness. You are never far from people who care nothing about being different, better, stronger, trying harder, or aiming higher. You know who they are. You get stares and double takes from them at the store when you have to go from the gym, to the store to get more protein for supper. With your swole still in full effect, you got cannonball shoulders bursting out of your sleeveless shirt, and swole chest trying to bust its way out. Furthermore, you're freaking everybody out with pipeline veins crawling beneath the surface of your skin'' so much that it causes all the heroine addicts to orgasm! Yes indeed, you live in an atmosphere of mediocrity, and like poison gas it will dull you, bore you, disillusion you and lessen you if you don't wake up and do something about it. If you are not getting comments from people about your physique, you are still in the mediocrity. If people at work are not tripping out on your disciplined and strict dietary practices, you are still in the mediocrity.

My friend, your life is now. Take a stand against mediocrity, weakness, skinnyness, and obesity. Make your greatness non-negotiable. Put it into higher gear.

Hold your head high,
Critical Mass

[Fallfree]

A++ Thread..Would read again (no sarcasm)...Repped

[JBisGod]

Pretty cool and certainly motivational but also pretty dam repetitive.

[ramsesthe2]

My personal favourite for fat loss

Were you treated differently after losing a lot of weight?

[Mouzer]

I find this very inspirational towards life and wanted to share it with you all.

"TOMORROW IS NEVER PROMISED"

Sometimes people come into your life
and you know right away that they were meant to be there,
they serve some sort of purpose,
teach you a lesson
or help figure out who you are
and who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be:
your neighbor, child, long lost friend, lover, or even a complete stranger
who, when you lock eyes with them,
you know at that very moment that they will affect your life
in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you
and at the time they seem painful and unfair,
but in reflection you realize
that without overcoming those obstacles
you would have never realized
your potential strength, will power, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason.
Nothing happens by chance
or by means of good or bad luck.
Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity
all occur to test the limits of your soul.


Without these small tests,
whether they be events, illnesses or relationships,
life would be like a smoothly paved straight flat road to nowhere,
safe and comfortable,
but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life
and the successes and downfalls you experience
create who you are,
and even the bad experiences can be learned from,
In fact, they are probably the poignant and important ones.

If someone loves you,
love them back unconditionally,
not only because they love you,
but because they are teaching you to love
and opening your heart and eyes to things
you would have never seen or felt without them.

Make every day count.
Appreciate every moment
and take from it everything that you possibly can,
for you may never be able to experience it again...
Work hard, train hard, laugh hard, love hard

Hold your head up
because you have every right too.
Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself...
for if you don't believe in yourself,
no one else will believe in you either.
You can make of your life anything you wish.

[ouija818]

I find this very inspirational towards life and wanted to share it with you all.

"TOMORROW IS NEVER PROMISED"

Sometimes people come into your life
and you know right away that they were meant to be there,
they serve some sort of purpose,
teach you a lesson
or help figure out who you are
and who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be:
your neighbor, child, long lost friend, lover, or even a complete stranger
who, when you lock eyes with them,
you know at that very moment that they will affect your life
in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you
and at the time they seem painful and unfair,
but in reflection you realize
that without overcoming those obstacles
you would have never realized
your potential strength, will power, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason.
Nothing happens by chance
or by means of good or bad luck.
Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity
all occur to test the limits of your soul.


Without these small tests,
whether they be events, illnesses or relationships,
life would be like a smoothly paved straight flat road to nowhere,
safe and comfortable,
but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life
and the successes and downfalls you experience
create who you are,
and even the bad experiences can be learned from,
In fact, they are probably the poignant and important ones.

If someone loves you,
love them back unconditionally,
not only because they love you,
but because they are teaching you to love
and opening your heart and eyes to things
you would have never seen or felt without them.

Make every day count.
Appreciate every moment
and take from it everything that you possibly can,
for you may never be able to experience it again...
Work hard, train hard, laugh hard, love hard

Hold your head up
because you have every right too.
Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself...
for if you don't believe in yourself,
no one else will believe in you either.
You can make of your life anything you wish.

thanks man you made my day

[earl33]

Originally posted by devl:


I'm sure many of you have seen this article time and time again. But for those who haven't it's probably the only motivation you'll ever need. Whenever I am having a bad week etc, I read this. I hope that many of the bro's who haven't seen this before will use these words for motivation when the chips are down.

<b>What Seperates us from them

"So, what are you doing for a living these days?" Bob asked me. We're sitting on the couch at one of those tedious holiday get-togethers, you know, the ones where you're supposed to be nice to family members you never see except during major holidays and funerals. I think Bob is my wife's brother-in-law's second cousin or something.

"I'm the assistant editor and a writer for Testosterone magazine," I say. Bob looks at me with a blank expression on his face, as if I'd just told him I sell handmade testicle warmers beside the freeway and was looking to open franchises across the nation.

"It's a bodybuilding magazine," I say.

Blank expression. Deer caught in the headlights. Ronnie Coleman doing trigonometry.

"Oh," Bob finally says, "I heard you were, like, one of those bodybuilder guys or something. So, what's that like, you know, working out every day and stuff? I just don't have time to lift weights all day, but I have been meaning to get rid of this beer belly." He takes another sip of beer. "What do you suggest?" Sip.

At first I was a little offended. I wanted to grab him up and say, "You can't tell I'm a bodybuilder?! Look at my ass! Now, if that's not a nice round squat-built piece of sirloin, I don't know what is! You think that comes naturally? I can crack walnuts with this puppy! Wanna see? Huh, punk? Do ya? Do ya?"

Then I realize this just might cause a scene and could cost me several Christmas presents. I was planning on returning any presents I got and using the money to buy a power rack, so I didn't want to jeopardize this gift getting opportunity. I also realized that old Bob probably had a certain preconceived image of a bodybuilder and I just didn't fit that image. I'm not gorilla huge; I weigh about 205 at 5'11" right now. (When I first started lifting I was a pudgy 159, so that's not too shabby.) Also, I wasn't wearing clown pants, a fluorescent string tank top, a hanky on my head and one of those little fanny packs. And isn't that what real bodybuilders are supposed to wear?

Bob continued to sit there drinking his Natural Light, smoking a cigarette and waiting for an answer, oblivious to the fact that he'd come this close to seeing some serious walnut- crunching ass power. I tried to figure out how I could explain to the average guy what the typical T-Man does and why he does it. How could I get him to understand what it is we do, how we feel, how we live? So I took a deep breath and told him something like this:

"Well, Bob, I guess you could use the term bodybuilder if you really need a label for what it is we do. Most of us actually don't stand on stage and compete, though. We lift weights and manipulate our diets so that we'll look good naked. Sure, it's healthy too, and we'll probably live a longer and more productive life than the average guy, but mostly it's about the naked thing. Truthfully, it goes beyond even that.

"Let's be honest here. We do it because of people like you, Bob. We look at you sitting there with your gut hanging over your belt and we watch you grunt and groan just getting out of a chair. Guys like you are our inspiration, Bob. You're better than Anthony Robbins, Bill Phillips, Deepak Chopra, and Zig ****ing Ziglar all wrapped up into one. We love it when guys like you talk about not having time to exercise. Every time we see you munching on a bag of potato chips, you inspire us. You're my shot in the arm, Bob, my living and breathing wake-up call, my own personal success coach.

"You want to know what it is we do? We overcome. We're too busy to train, too, but we overcome. We're too busy to prepare healthy meals and eat them five or six times a day, but we overcome. We can't always afford supplements, our genetics aren't perfect, and we don't always feel like going to the gym. Some of us used to be just like you, Bob, but guess what? We've overcome.

"We like to watch 'normal' people like you tell us about how they can't get in shape. We smile and nod sympathetically like we feel your pain, but actually, we're thinking that you're a pathetic piece of **** that needs to grow a spine and join a gym. You smile sheepishly and say that you just can't stay motivated and just can't stand that feeling of being sore. (For some reason you think that admitting your weaknesses somehow justifies them.) We listen to you ***** and moan. We watch you look for the easy way out. Because of people like you, Bob, we never miss a workout.

"You ask us for advice about diet and training and usually we politely offer some guidance, but deep inside we know you won't take our advice. You know that too. We smile and say, 'Hope that helps. Good luck,' but actually we're thinking, 'Boy, it would suck to be you.' We know that 99% of people won't listen to us. Once they hear that it takes hard work, sacrifice and discipline, they stop listening and tune us out.

"We know they wanted us to say that building a great body is easy, but it just isn't. This did not take five minutes a day on a TorsoTrack. We did not get this way in 12 short weeks using a Bowflex and the Suzanne Somers' 'Get Skinny' diet. A good body does not cost five easy payments of $39.95.

"We like it that while you're eating a candy bar and drinking Mountain Dew, we're sucking down a protein shake. You see, that makes it taste even better to us. While you're asleep we're either getting up early or staying up late, hitting the iron, pushing ourselves, learning, succeeding and failing and rising above the norm with every rep. Can you feel that, Bob? Can you relate? No? Good. This wouldn't be half as fun if you could.

"We do it because we absolutely and totally get off on it. We do it because people like you, Bob, either can't or won't. We do it because what we do in the gym transfers over into the rest of our lives and changes us, physically, mentally, maybe even spiritually. We do it because it beats watching fishing and golf on TV. By the way, do you know what it's like to turn the head of a beautiful woman because of the way you're built? It feels good, Bob. Damned good.

"When we're in the gym, we're in this indescribable euphoria zone. It's a feeling of being on, of being completely alive and aware. If you haven't been there, then it's like trying to describe color to a person who's been blind since birth. Within this haze of pleasure and pain, there's knowledge and power, self-discipline and self-reliance. If you do it long enough, Bob, there's even enlightenment. Sometimes, the answers to questions you didn't even know you had are sitting there on those rubber mats, wrapped up in a neat package of iron plates and bars.

"Want to lose that beer belly, Bob? I have a nutty idea. Put down the ****ing beer. I'll tell you what, Bob. Christmas morning I'm getting up real early and hitting the iron. I want to watch my daughter open her presents and spend the whole day with her, so this is the only time I have to train. The gym will be closed, so I'm going out in my garage to workout. You be at my house at six in the morning, okay? I'll be glad to help you get started on a weight training program. It'll be colder than Hillary Clinton's coochie in there, so dress warm.

"But let me tell you something, Bob. If you don't show up, don't bother asking me again. And don't you ever sit there and let me hear you ***** about your beer belly again. This is your chance, your big opportunity to break out of that rut. If you don't show up, Bob, you've learned a very important lesson about yourself, haven't you? You won't like that lesson.

"You won't like that feeling in the pit of your stomach either or that taste in your mouth. It will taste worse than defeat, Bob. Defeat tastes pretty goddamned nasty, but what you'll be experiencing will be much worse. It will be the knowledge that you're weak, mentally and physically. What's worse is that you'll have accepted that feeling. The feeling will always be with you. In the happiest moments of your life, it'll be there, lying under the surface like a malignant tumor. Ignore it at your own peril, Bob.

"Don't look at me like that either. This just may be the best Christmas present you'll get this year. Next Christmas, Bob, when I see you again, I'm going to be a little bigger, a little stronger, and a little leaner. What will you be? Will you still be making excuses? This is a gift, Bob, from me to you. I'm giving you the chance to look fate in those pretty eyes of hers and say, 'Step off, *****. This is my party and you're not invited.' What do you say, Bob? Monday, Christmas morning, 6am, my house. The ball's in your court."

Okay, so maybe that's not the exact words I used with Bob, but you get the picture. Will Bob show up Monday? I don't know, but I kind of doubt it. In fact, Bob will probably take me off his Christmas card list. He probably thinks I've got "too much Testosterone," like that's a bad thing. I think Bob is just stuck in a rut, and as the saying goes, the only difference between a rut and a grave is depth.

The way out of the rut is to make major changes in your life, most of which won't be too pleasant in the beginning. The opportunity to make those changes seldom comes as bluntly as I put it to Bob. Most of the time, that opportunity knocks very softly. What I did was basically give Bob a verbal slap in the face. You can react two ways to a slap. You can get angry at the person doing the slapping, or you can realize that he was just trying to get you to wake up and focus on what you really want and, more importantly, what it'll take to get it.

If you're a regular T-mag reader, I doubt you need to be called out like Bob. But maybe you've caught yourself slacking a little here lately. Maybe you've missed a few workouts or maybe you started a little too early on the usual holiday feasting, like, say, back in September. Just remember that the time to start working on that summer body is now. The time to get rid of those bad habits that hold you back in the gym is now. You want to look totally different by next Christmas? Start now. This isn't because of the holidays or any corny New Year's resolutions either. The best time is always now.

Christmas day I want you to enjoy being with your family and friends. I want you to open presents, sip a little eggnog and have a good meal. But if your regularily scheduled workout happens to fall on December 25th, what will you be doing at six o'clock that morning?

That's what separates us from guys like Bob.

Credit for this article to T-Mag.com

[lyrics312]

I found this in another section of bb.com and thought I'd put it here since the words are very motivating. I hope this helps someone out there. From Arnold:

Stay Hungry

by Arnold Schwarzenegger

I look down on people who are waiting, who are helpless. I like people who think there is more to life than eating or going to the toilet.

Ever since I was a child, I would say to myself, "There must be more to life than this," and I found that I didn't want to be like everybody else. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be part of the small percentage of people who were leaders, not the large mass of followers. I think it was because I saw that leaders use 100 percent of their potential. I was always fascinated by people in control of other people.

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. You must want to be the greatest.

As a kid I always idolized the winning athletes. It is one thing to idolize heroes. It is quite another to visualize yourself in their place. When I saw great people, I said to myself: "I can be there."

We all have great inner power. The power is self-faith. There's really an attitude to winning. You have to see yourself winning before you win. And you have to be hungry. You have to want to conquer.

Good things don't happen by coincidence. Every dream carries with it certain risks, especially the risk of failure. But I am not stopped by risks. Suppose a great person takes the risk and fails. Then the person must try again. You cannot fail forever. If you try ten times, you have a better chance of making it on the eleventh try than if you didn't try at all.

What I am most happy about is that I can zero in on a vision of where I want to be in the future. I can see it so clearly in front of me when I daydream that it's almost a reality. Then I get this easy feeling, and I don't have to be uptight to get there because I already feel like I'm there, that it's just a matter of time.

[Ronin4help]

This is good stuff. Thanks!

[Whomper107]

I always take Arnold's training and nutrition advice with a grain of salt, but I have to admit he DOES have a knack for coming up with motivating words.

[lyrics312]

I always take Arnold's training and nutrition advice with a grain of salt, but I have to admit he DOES have a knack for coming up with motivating words.

Yeah his ability to articulate what he's thinking always surprised me

[-Lucifer]

Found this here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=116776321

--------------

1. You can't get stronger.
****ing add weight to the bar and crank the tunes. Stop being scared of the weights.

2. You can't gain muscle.
You're not training hard enough, period. You train like a pussy and eat like a bird, enough said.

3. You think dumbbells can't do the job.
I have a 150 lb dumbbell in my gym. If you can snatch it, clean & press it, floor press it, row it, carry it and swing it, you ARE a strong MoFo! Dumbbells work, and if they don't work, it means you ain't workin? hard enough.

4. You keep looking for the "Secret Sauce".
Stop looking for the secret supplement. You won't find results in a bottle or a jar. Earn it, SON!

5. You have NO passion for strength and muscle.
If you don't love the iron you will NEVER gain strength and muscle as fast as the next guy who loves wrapping his hands around a heavy barbell or dumbbell.

6. You're a ****ing Quitter.
Push yourself to the limit. Train hard. Stop popping zits in the mirror and checking your hair. The set ends when you have pushed past your limits.

7. You use a cell phone while training.
Do you check text messages or take phone calls when training? You SUCK!

8. You don't Deadlift.
This exercise ain't pretty. Squat down, grip it and rip it. And NO, the leg press is not a substitute!

9. You don't Squat.
Putting BIG weights on your back is no joke. Squatting heavy AND for high reps will shock your body into new growth.

10. Your stomach always hurts.
If you eat like **** your stomach will always bother you. Stop eating like **** and do what needs to be done to improver your fitness. If not, you will always be nauseous. Get in shape and commit to yourself. And guess what, sometimes you just might throw up. Oh well.

[Big Slim DaDDy]

It's like an iron slap across the face to manginas round the world!

[Ironlife]

wow i like that stuff

''you have to spread reputation before giving it to DaRk LuCiFeR again''

[touchofevil04]

concur with all the above!!!!

[-Lucifer]

wow i like that stuff

''you have to spread reputation before giving it to DaRk LuCiFeR again''

lol guys, don't rep me. Rep the guy that wrote it.

Glad you guys liked it btw. Just what I wanted.

[Eric-Navy]

definitely motivational, thanks man

[MikeTyson30]

bump for awesomeness

[-Lucifer]

That was a nice read man.

[zeebodybuilder]

I like it,,

Good job typing it up here...

[Shr3dJunki3]

Thank you for that article, wow.

[Universal64]

Good first post to read for the day man! REP'D for an amazing post!

[readyforthepain]

great read thank man

[jon_carter13]

It's like the Ten Commandments of Bodybuilding Motivation!!!

[tabbe]

That was amazing, i got goosebumps.

[Mouzer]

Glad all of you got something positive and uplifiting from reading this.

[nano.ix]

my mangina is sore

[Mouzer]

Great read! Thanx for posting

[bresine]

I always take Arnold's training and nutrition advice with a grain of salt, but I have to admit he DOES have a knack for coming up with motivating words.

Why would you take what Arnold says with a grain of salt? He basically made weight lifting and bodybuilding sky rocket to popularity in a time when team sports dominated every aspect of American culture. Ive read his "Encyclepedia" and use it constantly as a reference.