Natural Bodybuilding The Key To Endless Growth Part III

The final installment of this series is about developing the Will of a Champion by finding your Big Reason Why.

Face it, every champion has developed an iron will. It is superhuman will-power that propels the individual through grueling workouts, Spartan diets, adversity, to see positives inside of failures, to go beyond conventional limiting belief systems, and to ultimately reach one’s physique goals.

The question is how does one develop the iron will of an Arnold Schwarzenegger, Muhammad Ali or Lance Armstrong?

While psychologists, experts and athletes all talk about different aspects of developing the will to win, the bottom line is developing an iron will comes down to having a big enough reason WHY.

Arnold had a dream, like every other bodybuilder but what separated him from the thousands of other bodybuilders was he leveraged his desire better than anyone else. How did he do this? What gave him so much willpower to succeed? How can you duplicate this in pursuit of your physique goals?

These are important questions that you need to ask yourself to build up the will to reach your physique goals, whether it is losing an extra 10 pounds, putting an inch on your arms, or becoming the greatest bodybuilder in the world. It all starts and ends with Will.

What is Will?

Classically defined will is the ability to exert force.

Every action, either mental or physical requires some energy. Even to breathe, to blink your eyes, or to bench press a heavy barbell. In each of these examples though the force required can be separated into to aspects.

Let’s look at lifting a dumbbell to illustrate.

First if you lift a dumbbell to shoulder height it is going to require two distinct aspects of force production:

One is the electrical energy provided by the muscles in the arm to lift the arm

Two is the will power to lift the dumbbell or the mental energy exerted to initiate, sustain and complete the task.

For example; if you tried to lift a dumbbell that was heavier than you could lift no matter how much mental energy you exerted you will not be able to lift the weight. The will was there but the muscles could not produce enough force to lift the arm.

Conversely, you may have the strength to lift a heavy dumbbell up to shoulder height but you were not sufficiently motivated to do it therefore you failed the lift. However if someone put a gun to your head and said lift this weight or die, you would easily lift the weight as your will was leveraged by the fear of death.

Although this is an extreme and simplistic example it does illustrate there is more to lifting a weight or performing an action than muscle power.

Will power is the ultimate aspect because with a strong enough will one can build the muscle power required to lift heavy weights. When the will is developed properly it can be used for other aspects of life such as dieting, success in business, self development, overcoming adversity and an endless number of possibilities.

In Eastern philosophies such as Yoga and the various Martial arts, the development of will is the foremost component of the individual’s journey and ultimate success. In actuality the development of will is the key to success just as much in the western world as it is in the east.

The development of an iron will is especially true today in building a great physique, winning a national or world championship, or reaching a personal best.

Although there many ways and systems to develop will it really boils down to leveraging too basic emotions, the desire to experience pleasure or the desire to avoid pain.

The 3 Keys to Success –

A Big Reason Why, Hard Work, A Positive Attitude

Bodybuilding is a unique sport where the avoidance of pain will definitely curtail your results. Building a fantastic physique requires you to learn to manage pain from lactic acid, from sore muscles, the pain of being hungry, the pain of missing certain social events, and the list goes on and on.

The only way you are going to get past these roadblocks is too develop an iron will so that you can overcome these challenges.

Arnold is one of the best examples of someone who has overcome and turned pain or suffering into pleasure. He did this by developing a massive reason why, followed by hard work and a relentless positive attitude.

After many years of training he became champion of the world and then used the same principles to become a successful businessman, a top grossing movie actor and finally the Governor of the State of California a country which he moved to as a result of his desire for success.

What allowed someone of such a humble background become so successful in such an unlikely way?

The answer is Arnold developed intense willpower by leveraging his basic desires and transmuting them into the energy and drive to successfully achieve them. When interviewed about his success Arnold radiates his passion, joy and love for whatever he is doing which is his biggest secret.

Arnold leveraged his desires so much that training many hours a day, learning a new language, moving to a foreign country, or running a successful election campaign become merely rungs of achievement naturally achievable by following a plan to achieve his objective and working relentlessly to achieve it.

If you study the lives of almost every successful individual you will see striking similarities in the achievement of their dreams.

The Secret to Unlimited Will Power – The Power of Love

The power of love generates more energy than any other human emotion. Tapping into this love is how you can overcome any barrier to your success. While most people use pain and it’s avoidance to motivate, Arnold tapped into a higher power of will power, one that was generated by his love of bodybuilding, of acting, of business, and of politics.

It is this power of love that activates tremendous willpower in even the weakest individual. We have all heard the stories of the little old lady who lifted a car because a loved one was trapped under it. The will power to achieve this impossible act was created by the love of the individual trapped under the car. Likewise the love of what Arnold was doing propelled him to multiple successes.

In order for you to be successful in building your physique, getting a better job, or successfully accomplishing a challenging task you need to expand and develop your love for whatever you are doing.

How do you do this?

Become passionate about your objective by learning everything you can about it. Involve yourself as deep into your goal as possible and build up a multitude of positive reasons as too why you can achieve your goal.

Read, ask questions, and hang around people who are passionate and positive about the sport. Study the biographies of the individuals who have achieved similar success. Educate yourself about everything in the sport.

Program your mind for success by building joy around every little success. Do not entertain doubt, eliminate negative people from your life and if you cannot use there negativity as fuel to propel you to work harder. Remember…

There Is No Tomorrow, There Is Only “The Now”

To achieve astounding success you need to look at every workout as the most important in your life. Find ways of leveraging time so that you are aware of the preciousness of each moment. There is no tomorrow, there is only now and what you do today is where you start tomorrow.

Become incredibly positive. Recognize the seeds of success lie in today’s failure, and there are no bad results if you learn from each and every one or your experiences. Don’t judge yourself, simply evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and work as hard as possible on overcoming your current limitations. This is how you develop the will of a champion.

All champions love what they do, they are willing do perform even the most unpleasant tasks if leads to success. Often times the most unpleasant tasks are the ones you need to focus on the most. Feed yourself daily positive affirmations and taking some action every day to the achievement of whatever your goal is…

These are some of the keys to developing an iron Will and the way to achieve success in any field. Remember if you can Conceive it, and Believe it, You can Achieve it.