I told you the story of how my obsession with bodybuilding began.
As a little girl growing up in Brooklyn, one of my favorite things to do was get a huge bowl of cereal and watch Saturday morning cartoons.
But for me, the magic happened after the kids’ stuff went off.
You see, NBC used to play coverage of bodybuilding shows from the men’s events to the women’s as well.
And at that time, I used to be OBSESSED with all things superheroes. Especially Shera, Cheetarah, and Storm.
So to see these women on my TV screen looking like REAL LIVE VERSIONS OF SUPERHEROINES… Man! I was FLOORED and vowed to one day look just like them.
And not only just LOOK like them, but to BE like them too. To be up on that stage one day.
Boy did life take me on a fantastic voyage. As you may know, I ended up turning pro and then competing at the Olympia in 2013.
Bodybuilding taught me a lot about myself though. Important lessons that broke the mold about what a woman can and should do when it comes to building her physique.
We hear a lot of messages from the media about how to go about losing weight. But how to REALLY build muscle and get truly stronger for a woman seems to be more of a fringe topic.
But here’s what I want to say to you before we get into today’s conversation… Bodybuilding is for everyone! Regardless of age, or even your starting point. You could be a super skinny gal trying to get a more curvy and toned physique. Or a woman with a lot of weight to lose who wishes to look like the women she sees on the pages of fitness magazines.
But there’s one thing I do have to say that I want you to really take home in today’s conversation.
In order to truly build your body, you’ve got to come out of the matrix. The fitness matrix.
What’s that you might ask? Well, it’s the fake world of fitness created by an industry that doesn’t REALLY want to give you the answers. The answers to what truly leads to success when it comes to your results and goals. So they feed you lies and Gimmicks. Fads and tricks. Tactics and methods that work great for QUICK results but don’t hold up in the long run when it comes to KEEPING your changes.
Look, today what I’m going to share isn’t sexy. But it’s the REAL lessons I’ve learned from bodybuilding – PROFESSIONAL BODYBUILDING – that will help you to have incredible success and the body of your dreams.
But before we get into the 5 tips I have to share with you today, go ahead and SHARE this message if it inspires you. And consider joining my email list below by getting my Contest Prep Crash – for FREE.
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The MENTAL Effort It Takes To Be Successful
So the first thing you’ve got to accept about what it takes to really put on muscle and get leaner is that changing your body takes a lot of MENTAL effort.
We live in a world where we’re told that things should come so easy. But you know what, that’s simply not the case when it comes to changing the body.
This well-oiled organic machine has been developed to infinite precision over thousands of years of evolution. So there is literally NO AMOUNT of trickery you can do to outsmart your body.
And the frustrating truth is that to make it change, takes hard work and focus. But that doesn’t mean that this has to be a boring or frustrating process.
Oh no, quite the contrary.
Continue to set goals focused on reaching new personal bests in your lifts, stepping outside of your comfort zone in your cardio, and forcing your body to adapt to new challenges in your workouts every single day.
Starving Yourself Never Works
But you know what, there’s more than just the gym at play when it comes to results. One of the MOST EPIC lessons I’ve learned as a bodybuilder is that starving yourself never works.
I have a saying and maybe you’ve heard me say it a million times, but I don’t care I’m going to say it again. You must eat to be lean. Eat to be strong. Eat to have the body of your dreams. Food is your greatest ally. It is NOT your worst enemy.
And what I mean by that is that in order to survive this squid game of building muscle and creating the perfect physique (by YOUR standards) you’ve got to eat! Real food! Real calories!
You see this is one of those things we continue to get wrong. Especially as women when it comes to our nutrition. We’ve had dieting and restricting banged into our heads for nearly a century! So the concept of eating to be lean is foreign to many of you still.
I’m telling you the biggest game changer that I embraced as an up and coming physique competitor was learning how the power of FOOD can transform my body and literally change my life.
Starving yourself is never going to work. But eating as much as your body personally needs to sculpt, mold, perform and perfect the body of your dreams is a superpower you MUST acquire.
Now the next thing I have to say… Oh boy. Hold onto your britches.
Training Every Single Day Isn’t Necessary
Ok let’s be honest here, raise your hand if you’re someone who trains 7 days a week. Or maybe you don’t workout at all, yet, but you THINK you HAVE TO workout daily to see results. Especially if you want it quickly (yeah, more on that later).
Now look, I love to workout just as much as any of my fitness addicted comrades in the sport. But the biggest lesson I’ve learned about training is that OVERTRAINING can betray your body and thwart progress.
It goes against everything you thought about fitness right? I mean look, I can’t blame you for even WANTING to push yourself by training daily especially when it feels really good. But what FEELS good in the moment doesn’t always translate to what is ACTUALLY good for the long term.
Here’s the motto I want you to embrace. I know I know, here I go with mottos and slogans again – but they really get the point across. You’re not building a damn thing in the gym. You’re tearing tissue down. Muscle is built in recovery and rest – outside of your workouts.
The next thing we need to really shine a light on is this thing about supplements.
Supplements Are NOT The Answer
Now don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate useful supplements as a part of anyone’s approach to progress. Especially in getting that edge when you’ve pushed your body to the limits. However, that’s the thing. So many people aren’t getting to THAT point, yet they are racing for the hottest new supplements to enhance their results.
My dear, YOU are hustling backwards. Instead, here’s what you’ve got to remember. No amount of supplements can replace a solid meal plan. Supplements are just that, supplemental. They are an addendum to a SOLID nutrition plan. Look at supplements as the stuff filling up the holes left in your nutrition.
Because let’s face it, yes eating enough to see the changes you want is the key behind progress. But no matter what there may be little things missing in your diet by way of vitamins, minerals, omega-3 and more that can only be topped off when you take the appropriate supplements.
But you cannot make up for poor nutrition by popping pills or relying on shakes.
And that’s one thing in the bodybuilding world that tends to be a misconception. Competitors often think that if they take XYZ supplement it will automatically result in better performance and progress. However, that’s not often the case.
I also see so much of this among regular folks too. Especially since supplements are so readily pushed by influencers and celebrities. Get your nutrition down FIRST and then plug up the holes after (through supplementation) to get that winning advantage and tight physique.
And now, we’ve come to the final tip, and the one that is often the hardest for most people to accept.
Slow Progress Is Permanent Progress
We live in this world of instant gratification. Where everything we want is literally a finger snap away. But the reality is that when it comes to building your body, slow progress is what will probably get you the most desired outcome.
Now before you roll your eyes at me or turn this video off, hear me out for a moment. I’m not saying that progress should be so slow that it’s not motivating. Instead what I am saying is that believing the lies that progress should come quickly is exactly what’s going to have you losing that same progress as quickly as you earned it.
Creating a masterpiece and sculpting great art takes precision and mastery. And if you look at your physique in the same way, it’s like your body is clay or marble waiting to take shape under the work of an effective diet and training program.
And it will take patience and persistence to get to that final stage. But once you do the reward will be SO great.
The one thing I can say to you as a bodybuilder is that this journey can be as inspiring as YOU allow it to be.
If you are curious about what it takes to step onto a stage and what you can do to take the first steps to learn about bodybuilding for women, click here to get into my FREE masterclass Getting Started With Competing 101.
