- July 14 / 2009, by Reuben Bajada
Quote from Mike Goldberg, UFC Ultimate 100
"There's a moment that comes in a certain kind of fight.
Those fights where both men are evenly matched and in prime condition.
Filled with the fury and the desire to compete, when each has taken the best shots of the others and withstood the onslaught.
Persevered through the pain, that's when the moment comes, an awareness that you can feel invading the octagon, as the fight passes its halfway mark and there's almost a tacid understanding
in the air that a line has been crossed.
In the eyes of the fighters the message seems clear, there will be no quick stoppages tonight, this thing is going all the way to the final bell and it's going to get rougher, it's going
to take us far far beyond the pale of what we even believed was possible.
But at the end of the long road, lies the promise of immortality." ____________________________________________________________________
This great quote made me think back to some of my biggest battles, the intense sacrifice that was needed and the absolute importance of your preparation and attitude before every challenge. This week I'm putting together what I see as crucial methods of pre - training before actually starting any real training! Success is guaranteed, how to prepare yourself for what's coming? Weather your aim is to stack on 30lbs of muscle, win a football championship or be a healthier parent for your kids, we all have some sort of GOALS. Without them we are destined to failure, they are the hand that never pulls away and the driving force that can be relied upon at the hardest and most fragile of times. 
When is comes to transforming your body, many obstacles are waiting anxiously in the distance, some of these may include; - Motivation
- Injury
- Sickness
- Personal Issues
- Vacations
- Junk Foods
- Social Life
- Negative Feedback
- Relationships
- Income
- Supplements
- Plateaus
- Muscle Soreness
- Inspiration
Put these all together and your ambitions seem even further away from being achieved. What is essential before starting any new program is ONE of SEVERAL strong and worthy goals. If it means taking a week or weekend off training to sit down and really have a think about what you NEED to achieve, it's well worth it. I have had many clients stumble at this first hurdle as their real life desire to change, was nowhere near strong enough. You know what? That's ok too, because if this applies to you, it's much better figuring it out now rather than 4 months down the line, after 4 months of sweat and 4 months of sacrifice. In a job like mine, it's my responsibility to stay in shape all year round, but I'd be lying if I was to say I can train at 100% for that amount of time. See, I know firsthand that it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to train at top intensity when you don't have something factual to train for. A date or a level are the two things that work best for me, once I have one of those I can structure my training directly around it. So take some to ask yourself if this is really for you? Are you really committed to changing your body and changing your life? After all, the rewards are more beneficial than words can describe, come up with a REASON why you want to succeed and tattoo that in the back of your mind permanently. How to track and measure your progress: As you probably already know, we are our own biggest critics. You may see yourself in the mirror looking exactly the same as you did 1 year ago but in reality you have come a very long way. This is actually a psychological process within our brains. Every time we see ourselves we take a mental photograph of that image, because we see ourselves so often, weather it be cleaning our teeth in the morning or looking at photos from the party on the weekend, our memory adjusts and practically erases those previous photos, replacing them with the new ones. So the first thing you should do before starting a serious program is take some still photos of your body and store them away somewhere only you can find. Take the following photos. - Relaxed - Front, left side, right side, rear
- Flexed - Front, left side, right side, read
- Posed - Front double bicep, rear double bicep, side chest , side tricep
Here are some photo examples; 
The next action you should take is an 10 point full body measurement. Point 1 - Height (cm)
Point 2 - Weight (lbs or kg)
Point 3 - Skinfold (bodyfat measurement with callipers, ask at your gym)
Point 4 - Arms (midpoint of shoulder and elbow)
Point 5 - Chest (Right around torso in line with your nipples)
Point 6 - Waist Line (Right around waist, at the skinniest part of your torso)
Point 7 - Abdominals (Right around abdominals in line with your belly button)
Point 8 - Hips (Measure around hips at the widest part of your glutes)
Point 9 - Thighs (Measure from the ground upwards to the midpoint of your thighs, mark that point and measure around)
Point 10 - Calves (Measure around at widest part of calf muscle) Remember: Weight should be taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and measurements are taken on RELAXED muscles, not contracted. The next step now is to record these measurements, date them and store them away with your photos. Re-measure them again after 8 weeks to compare. Why is this so important? Who wants to bust their ass training everyday for NOTHING? You all have the ambition to better yourself, but without the drive to do it, nothing will ever happen. As the quote says, it's your attitude at the beginning of a task that determines success or failure. So, putting in the effort required to finalize your goals and track your progress will provide yourself with PHYSICAL PROOF that every foot you plant on the running track, bar you push in the gym and steak you stuff down your throat for dinner is bringing you that one step closer to your ultimate success! If you would like to add anything, feel free to comment below.
Tired of little or no results?
Join the thousands of people who have discovered how my Permanent Muscle program gives you every tool required including; workouts, meal plans, exercises and more to achieve stunning muscle building results over the next 6 months. 
Even more of my methods for how to build muscle fast!
|
