The fitness and diet industry is a 200 billion dollar a year cash cow!

Simply put, it pays to confuse you.

You have to take personal responsibility for your life so you need to use your head.

If something sounds stupid it probably is.

If it sounds too good to be true…right again.  It is!

If it promises huge results with no effort.  Don’t buy into it!

Do your homework.  You came to the right place.  Look around IM and use the information that you need for this stage of your life.

Also pay attention to how your body responds to certain exercises and nutrition.

You are smart, so start using your head, make the necessary changes you need and get in the best shape of your life!

What are you NOT using your head for?

Building muscle is simple.  Not easy but simple.

1. You are not stimulating your muscles properly while working out.
2. You are not giving your muscles enough nutrition to grow.
3. You are lifting too heavy.  Yep you heard me right!
4. You are not giving your muscles enough recovery time.
5. You are giving your muscles too much recovery time.

You need to stimulate muscle growth.  As Lee Haney says, “Stimulate don’t annihilate!”  You have to make sure you are eating enough and getting enough rest.  All the answers are right here on the Iron Man Magazine site.  Dig in.  I will be 52 years old in a week and I am getting the best gains I have ever gotten.

How is your progress?

Or, are you doing this because its easy?

When I entered Manhattan Real Estate as a twenty something kid full of fire in his belly one of the first terms I heard used was “highest and best use”  What this means is, are you using the property for its optimal purpose… for the largest return on investment.  For example, the 2nd and 3rd floors in many buildings are difficult to sell for residential use (at least for a good price) then the upper floors.  On the other hand it is prime space for a dentist or attorney’s office.  So if you use it for residential you are leaving potential and profit on the table instead of it adding to your bottom line.  Since this isn’t a real estate lesson we will stop there.

We are much the same.  You have to take an accounting of your life.  Look at your talents, abilities and skills and see if you are living your life to it’s “highest and best use”.  Be honest with yourself.  Are you doing what you are doing because it is the best use of your time and life or because it fell in your lap?  Are you laboring away at something you know in your heart you shouldn’t be doing because it is what your degree says you should be doing?

If you feel you should be doing something else, then start researching it and put a plan of action together that will allow you to get there. You can do it, it may take a little time but once you transition into the way you should be serving the world, your life will take off.  Yes I said serving.  We are all here to serve others with our unique talents, abilities and skills and by doing so we are functioning at our highest and best use.

Even in the gym, are you getting the gains you want?  Are you enjoying your workouts?  Are you lifting that way because it is what you always did?  Challenge every area of your life and make the best use of your time.

Don’t take the easy way out.  You are here for a reason and it is worth the effort to be all you were created to be!

“Vince Del Monte,” the only Fitness Guru who has been coined The Skinny Guy Savior. He earned this name by dedicating his life to transforming the lives of the skinny, scrawny wimpy guys & skinny girls – helping them become healthier, fitter and more confident in their bodies. In the end his students transform themselves to “Live better, Look better & Know better!”

The key to achieving your bodybuilding or fitness goals is to simply make it part of your lifestyle.

The more prepared you are the more confident you become” – John M. Rowley

I see this in every area of life. When people are not prepared for the task at hand they procrastinate doing what they know they should do, because they feel they are not competent in that area. It’s not confidence that is the underlying issue it is competence. In the gym I can always tell the people who don’t know how to use the equipment, they walk around a little, maybe even try one exercise… then off to the treadmill for them. Since they didn’t know how to use the equipment they give up and go to what they know.
I see this often with sales people. The average sales person will avoid prospecting because they don’t know what to say when prospecting or they may not be comfortable with the paperwork they need to complete the sale, so they avoid contact with potential customers. This eventually leads to a different career and is completely avoidable if they just took the time to be competent. People will spend countless hours at the driving range practicing golf but those same people expect to waltz right into the business world or into the gym with no practice or preparation at all and expect to succeed. As ridiculous as it sounds you know this is true.
It is no secret that most people will spend more time preparing for and planning their vacation than they do their own lives. The key to being prepared for all areas of your life is to look at what you want to achieve and plan out simple steps to achieve it.
Let’s look at a simple plan for eating healthy. People are always telling me that they can’t eat healthy at work or when on the go but that is only because they are not prepared to do so.

• Plan out your meals for each day

• Make a grocery list for those meals

• Take one day to make the meals for the rest of the week

• Separate cooked food into individual meals

• Store individual meals in a zip lock bag or air tight container

• Put Monday through Wednesday meals into the refrigerator

• Put Thursday through Saturday meals in the freezer

• On Wednesday take the food out of the freezer for the rest of the week

• Bring your meals with you to work or when you go out.

Put a plan like this together for every area of your life, implement them a little at a time and you will be thrilled with the new direction your life has taken.  I know you are on the Iron Man site because you want to get into incredible shape.  It all about making the bodybuilding lifestyle part of your lifestyle.

As I travel I have countless people come up to me and tell me they would love to follow my advise but simply don’t have the time. Give me a break – You have plenty of time! It doesn’t matter if you are a student, business person, stay at home mom, entrepreneur or employee, time is a rare commodity. Many people today simply don’t accomplish all they need to but I don’t think time is the culprit. These same people are unfocused and drag through the day, taking too long to do tasks because of their lack of focus. Then, when they go home to sleep they have an un-restful night’s sleep and wake up tired. This is an endless, but unnecessary, cycle for many today. We are all given the same 10,080 minutes in a week. Some people have the time to change the world and some barely have the time to change their socks. Time isn’t the issue. The real issue is having enough energy to use the time given to us effectively. Think about that for a moment. It is very profound, if I do say so myself.
Planning and Scheduling
I know I am preaching to the choir when I bring up planning and scheduling but stick with me for a moment. If you are reading Iron Man magazine and are a regular visitor to this site you know how to effectively plan and manage your time for working out, eating and all the essentials in your life. If you are struggling in any area of your life just take the tools and discipline you use to build your body to build a career, a family or a business.

Your mental, physical and spiritual health are your responsibility, not the doctor’s, your pastor’s or your psychiatrist’s. In fact, I have many doctors consult with me on how to eat properly and exercise effectively because medical school doesn’t focus on preventative but on curative medicine. Planning your time is the key to great health and fitness, as well as success in all areas of your life.
You can take the tools that you learn in Iron Man and apply them to other areas of your life so you can be successful in every arena you enter. Commit today, to a lifestyle that supports you instead of cripples you. The Iron Man (or woman) Lifestyle!

This is a true David and Goliath story. What is stopping your from achieving your goals in and out of the gym?