Tired of the "Get Your Dream Body in 30 Days" promises? Fitness author realist Paul Johnson gives a unique mix of honest personal experiences and useful insights into the fitness/bodybuilding mindset necessary to succeed. He does not go into specific exercises or diet plans, but rather provides the tools and a general direction for those looking to truly change their bodies.
Not the book you want, but the book you probably need.
Tell me your vision of bodybuilding, and I’ll tell you whether or not you’re bound to fail.
Surfing the Internet, one might think that bodybuilding is something fun, easy and, most importantly, that significant amounts of muscle can be grown fast if you’ve got enough motivation. That is simply not true. Building muscle tissue is a very, very slow process, and requires an adequate approach.
Growing your muscle base is a huge project. It will require years of consistent work, both in and outside the gym, and the progress will be so continuous that it will be almost invisible. That’s why the better prepared you are from the very beginning, the less likely you are to quit somewhere along the way.
How many of your friends have had gym memberships? Out of those people, how many have trained long enough to reach their dream physique?
Of course, everyone who quits has a valid reason. Usually it’s lack of time due to work, school or kids. Sometimes people quit for other reasons. But most of the time, the real reason why people stop building their body is that they expected something else. They expected more, sooner.
And I can’t blame them. We’re all eager to see results, and we get discouraged when we don’t. The problem with bodybuilding is that it is such a slow process that it’s extremely hard to notice any results. That’s why the best approach is not to look for evidence of muscle growth every now and then, and rather set up your mind for a long journey with an undefined arrival date.
In this book, I’ll try to show you what bodybuilding is truly all about. I won’t go into specific exercises or nutrition plans. I will talk about realistic expectations and tuning your mind for long-term success rather than jumping into bodybuilding after a spike of motivation. I will also cover basic nutritional principles which will provide you with tools to make your own bodybuilding diets. Lastly, I will illustrate how bodybuilding diets integrate into our daily lives, talk what are the sacrifices and compromises we have to make to eat properly, and share a couple of practical tips that will soften the impact of said sacrifices.