What Qualities Are Essential to Success As a Bodybuilder?
In his article The Mindset of a Successful Bodybuilder, national bodybuilding champion Hugo Rivera wrote, “[a]s bodybuilders we must keep our eyes on the ultimate goal, which is always more muscle mass with less fat.” The qualities inherent in the most successful bodybuilders, therefore, are those that aid them in attaining this ultimate goal. These qualities, moreover, can be encapsulated into two primary areas-mindset and training.
The Correct Bodybuilding Mindset
The one quality that sets successful bodybuilders apart from unsuccessful ones is the consistency of training, and this consistency depends upon the correct mindset. There should be no room, says Rivera, for thoughts of “giving” upon the achievement of the ultimate vision for one’s body – or even deviating from one’s training schedule. Paradoxically, consistency requires flexibility and preparedness.
Be Flexible
Many bodybuilders fail by allowing their much-loved sport consume them. Although dedication is admirable, it should never come at the expense of one’s personal life. Since few people can commit their time to bodybuilding-and few would, or should, want to-there must be a healthy balance between training and personal commitments.
Creates a bodybuilding routine around one’s personal schedule and commitments. Once personal time commitments are analyzed and a bodybuilding routine devised, however, one should endeavor to attain 100% adherence to his or her bodybuilding routine.
– But if a session is missed, one should not become unduly discouraged. Instead, one should be sufficiently flexible to reschedule such session as quickly as possible. Similarly, if a meal is missed, it should be consumed at the earliest possible opportunity. Likewise, if a scheduled training session is missed, it should be rescheduled one’s for the following day. This way, one acknowledges life’s unexpected changes, while maintaining the routine designed to achieve the ideal goal.
Be Prepared
Ensure that you take the time to prepare meals and snacks in advance to avoid missing meals; try to schedule your routines for the early hours before life’s demands and unforeseen circumstances arise; determine your routine for the week at the beginning of the week so that you can minimize time spent each day endeavoring to create a plan and rather simply execute on a predetermined plan.
The Bodybuilder in Training
There are many precise training recommendations for bodybuilders, but few methods applicable to everyone. Although these varied effects were puzzling, it was not until the science of “body types” emerged that bodybuilders began to understand these discrepancies. Moreover, they began to understand how to use their individual body types to maximize their bodybuilding success.
The Science of Body Types
In the 1940’s, psychologist Dr. William Sheldon became interested in the possible connection between one’s body type and one’s personality or temperament. In order to test his theory, he studied the photographs-front view, side view, and back view of approximately four thousand men.
From this study and his observations, Sheldon concluded that there were three elements that determined one’s physique and temperaments. Because these elements, he theorized, were related to the three layers of the human embryo-which are the endoderm, the mesoderm, and the ectoderm-he aptly named these body types: Endomorphy, Mesomorphy, and Ectomorphy.
Moreover, these body types had vastly different physiological focuses.
– Endomorphy: Digestive system and stomach
– Mesomorphy: Musculature and circulatory system
– Ectomorphy: Nervous system and brain
Although most individuals are a mixture of these three body types, one will predominate. Furthermore, whichever one predominates will vastly influence one’s physical functioning (metabolism, musculature, even predisposition to certain diseases) as well as one’s temperament.