In a world focused purely on the physical attributes of its players, bodybuilding lends itself to a rather superficial way of thinking. What wins competitions and drives us through grueling workouts and early morning cardio sessions is the hope that what we see in the mirror will suffice and provide inner joy. On the surface, the fruits of our labors are readily visible, and we wear our craft everywhere we go.
When competition season hits, we fight with everything we have on stage putting our physical best against another. At the end of the night, our opponents become respected friends or acquaintances, and we carry on doing what we do best, pumping iron. But the game doesn’t stop there and certainly didn’t begin there either.
What I am referring to is the mental game that is continuously being played out in our heads as we prepare to do battle with others under the lights. It’s the daily struggle to be the best you can be each day. It’s the hidden adversary only you and others who compete know about that the crowd never sees as the physicality of it all supersedes the toughest challenge of all.
Will Power
A recent study released indicated that the most powerful strength we have as humans is our will power. This attribute is one’s ability to abstain from all that is bad and refrain from temptation. No one knows this better than a bodybuilder. As bodybuilders graduate through the phases of their prep, their willpower is tested daily. You must be willing to stick to the foods on your menu, stick with the portion sizes provided and fight your urges to have just one little piece of whatever it is that could throw off your prep.
You have to make it clear in your mind that when your friends are asking you to come out for just one drink, your self-omission from the event could leave you to solidarity but knowing it will be all worth it, in the end, is a better feeling.
Finally, having the willpower to do whatever it takes to make sure your prep went 100% according to how you initially mapped it out sticking with the plan to the end is the ultimate test of your will power; especially when at many times during your prep, what is happening all around you seems a lot better than what you are doing in that moment.
Intrinsic Motivation
There is no doubt that to make the decision to compete and then see it through to the end, takes an enormous amount of self-motivation. Sure you have your support group and those who want to see you do well and offer encouragement, but at the end of the day, it is you who must put the work in. No one can instill intrinsic motivation into another, and it must come from the deep recesses of your mind. To have the ability to get up in the morning before everyone else and hit that treadmill isn’t easy and simply rolling over in bed would be the choice for many, but you are a bodybuilder, and this is what we do.
Our motivations to be physically superior to those around us and our motivations to bring out the best our genetics have to offer is a mental force for which we have to harness and utilize to our benefit. Those who are gifted but lazy will eventually lose to those who have this inner drive and mental toughness.
Visualization
When you close your eyes what do you see? Can you envision a successful workout? Can you see your body changing, your arms getting bigger, your abs becoming more defined? What do you see on the day of the competition? Are you winning and getting handed that first place trophy or are you on the sidelines applauding someone else’s success? These are key visualization exercises that you must do every day. Visualization is a very strong mental component for success.
If you have difficulty seeing success in your head that may transfer into what others see when they look at you. Many athletes spend hours working on this with sports psychologists, and as one of those athletes who studied this at University and spent time working on visualization techniques, I can tell you that the power of visualization is strong and transfers into reality many times. If you see yourself as a winner, then you are one.
Second Guessing
One aspect of bodybuilding contest preparation is the fact that second guessing can become second nature. Second guessing has led many competitors down the wrong path, and it’s a mental struggle you deal with every decision you make. The best course of action is to make a plan and stick with it. Do not allow yourself to listen to too many people and pick those you trust to surround yourself with. When you allow the people at your gym to fill your head with confidence (and to be fair, they are only being nice and supportive) when they do not have the trained eye you need giving you feedback, this can give you a false sense of security and you may end up second guessing the upcoming choices you’ve made and back off a little.
One thing I can guarantee you’ll never have to second guess is what AST Sports Science has to offer and the decision to make use of all the information their website contains. With products such as Dymetadrine Xtreme, Urso-X and CLA 1000 at your disposal, you can allow your mind to rest a little knowing you’re using the best products available to help get you in contest shape.
Being mentally tough is an attribute that not all athletes possess. Those who do possess this attribute will be very successful, and those who don’t will end up being the punch line of jokes or the subject of those “can you imagine if” stories you always hear about. You have to work on being mentally acute and maintain your clarity to be successful. Yes, it is going to be hard, and only you will know and understand the internal struggles you’ve gone through. In the end when the physicality of your struggles shines through, and your visions of grandeur become a reality, you’ll think back for a brief moment of all that you went through to get to this point and realize it was all worth it and you were able to beat your biggest adversary.
