One of the most marvelous things about creating a genuine commitment to changing your weakly, underweight composed body into the solid, ripped, brawny interpretation of your ideal self is the impact that this journey will have on your total life. For the better I might add. Nothing we do, say, or think in this world acts in isolation from the rest of our life story. Everything is attached and intertwined and has a ripple effect that moves outward into additional arenas of our life and even further beyond the boundaries of our own lives.
For instance if you lead off by making simple changes to your diet in an effort to eat healthier, more nutritious and muscle building foods, this change will also effect: the way you feel (i.e. your emotional state), your daily energy levels (i.e. your vitality), your interaction with others (i.e. your relationships), your ability to work, focus, and get things done (i.e. your career) and so on.
Beyond that, people will take notice and see the improvement that this effect is having on your life, which could lead them to make more conscious dietary decisions themselves. In other words, you’ve become a positive example to others merely by making the decision to transform your body, and this decision is having an impact not only on your own life but in the lives of others.
When you choose the commitment to change your body, you are, in effect, making the decision to radically transform every facet of your life.
The WHY is MORE Important than the HOW
Now I recognize that the reason most people want to transform their body is not for such a noble cause, but instead to appear better naked and to pull in the opposite gender… or as the case may be, the same sex (I’ll leave that choice up to you.)
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to appear better nude, I mean when you ponder it who doesn’t want to appear better nude? Furthermore, who doesn’t prefer to pull in the attention of the women or men we find appealing? Most of us do.
But is “appearing good nude” or “attracting hotties” a strong enough, and compelling enough reason to drag your butt to the gym and put yourself through intense, punishing training daily?
Is it a strong enough reason to totally shift your dietary habits and consume tons of food dispersed across 5-7 meals a day, every 3-4 hours?
Is it a compelling enough reason to make sacrifices, go to bed early, discontinue bad habits, and do all the things that are needed to make a transformation of this magnitude?
Is it a strong enough reason to dust yourself off after you’ve failed or hurt yourself once, twice, or more times, to reevaluate your plan and give it another go?
Maybe it will be and perhaps it won’t be. To some it can be very inspiring. To be realistic, that’s one of the reasons I began working out and it’s still one of the reasons I train. It’s a perfectly valid reason and it does have some motivational measure to it, but it is not by any means my only reason. And if you’re to win at this, it shouldn’t be your only reason either. You need a reason so big and powerful that it will motivate you towards success.
The number one secret to alter your body and thus your life is to have a burning wish to do so and in order to fuel this burning desire you have to have a strong enough reason, or list of reasons, as to why you are putting forth the effort to make this body transformation. So ya best to start writing!
Confronting the Reality of Your Mission
As a hardgainer you have your work cut out for you. The last thing I’m going to tell you is that transforming your body or your life is as easy as 1-2-3, because it’s not. It takes commitment, dedication, persistence, discipline, purpose, passion, and confidence.
Now don’t worry if you are deficient any of these character measures, because that’s one of the awesome benefits of working out. As you: (1.) AcquireBuild up/spin your power through stable training, (2.) Make the necessary dietary changes required to nourish your body and build mass , (3.) Abandon bad habits and delay gratification to acquire the body and life you TRULY want… you are constructing and forging these values and furthermore, this whole transformation process acts as the catalyst for the emergence of such values naturally.
This is what I mean when I say that improving your body will change your life. It has a spill over effect into all other aspects of your being. As you are disciplining your body and your mind through intense physical workouts, you are forging a stronger character like a blacksmith uses fire to forge the resilient Katana sword of the Samurai.
Thus, like a Samurai, you must be willing to face the brutal truth of your mission and your goals in life. You must be willing to face the truth about what your journey will demand of you and you must ask yourself these tough questions:
-”Why do I want to transform my body and my life?”
-”What is it going to take for me to improve my body?”
-”What are the steps I must take to realize this goal?”
-”Am I willing to fully commit myself to obtaining this goal?”
-”Am I willing to read, study, and learn what it takes and then to apply what I learn?”
-”How should I be training for my body type?”
-”Where can I make improvements in my diet?”
-”What must I give up in order to get what I want? What must I sacrifice?”
-”Do I truly believe that I can make this transformation my reality?”
-”How can I ensure the success of this journey?”
Remember, you’ve got to have forceful, convincing, and undeniable reasons, and a purpose for realizing this mission. You must put in the time to acquire this and document it to paper. You must read it every day or even twice a day to remind yourself why you are doing all of this. This comes by asking your self these tough questions, by coming up with the answerssolutions, and doing other introspective soul searching to create and develop a burning desire and commitment to changing your body.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is easy and that you’ll add 50 pounds of muscle in a month or two or even six months without even trying. Thousands of people sign up for new gym memberships every day (people with better muscle-building genetics than you), and within less than four weeks they’ve already thrown in the towel, never to step foot in that gym again. Don’t be like them, set your self up to be successful.
I’m not trying to discourage you, I want you to succeed and to believe in yourself and to realize that you can and will transform your life, and you’ll do it by first transforming your body, one step at a time. My brother and I, as well as, Vince Delmonte, Sean Nalewanyj, and Jason Ferruggia are all here to help you and make certain you have the tools you need to complete your mission, but it is YOU who will inevitably bring about the change you seek by taking focused, disciplined action.
We just want you to realize that this requires a conscious pursuit of both physical, mental, and even spiritual growth. You will be pushed and challenged every day. You will want to give in, give up, and run out on this goal before you have achieved it, but only the true warriors will be able to find the strength and courage within themselves to persevere and follow this path to where it leads… to the strong, confident, muscular being that lies dormant within each and every one of us.
*Cultivating the Enlightened Warrior Mentality*
I want you to become a true warrior, not a person who is out fighting wars and killing people, but an Enlightened Warrior; a person who stands up for what they believe in and gives their life for the greater cause. I want you to become a man or a woman who has a higher purpose and a mission for their life and never settles for mediocrity or complacency. You may not know what your purpose is right now, but have the confidence and courage and the heart to believe that you have one. Know that at any moment your mission will be revealed to you.
Yet keep in mind that our purpose is not something we discover in life, but rather it is something we create for ourselves.
The Enlightened Warrior accepts full responsibility for the success or failure of his or her life and makes personal growth and development a conscious part of their everyday experience.
Weight training, cardio, nutrition, meditation, etc. are all a part your growth experience and development into a highly conscious being. And that’s what it means to be human: to be fully conscious, to continually develop in our consciousness, to seek the truth and purpose behind our existence, and to strive for what we believe is true. And when I say fight, I mean to be the example of.
The Enlightened Warrior does NOT need, nor want the blessing of other men or women. The only approval she needs is her own self approval. The Enlightened Warrior is strong, wise, grateful, purposeful, radiant, confident, powerful, compassionate, and a leader to the men and women in his or her life. He leads by his example and by how he carries himself in this world. He lets his actions speak for themselves.
To Your Success in Training and in Life,
Brandon Cook
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About the Author:
Brandon Cook is creator of The Enlightened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach the hardgainer the secrets and scientific principles for building a classic, muscular physique.
HargainerMuscleBuilding features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
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