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One step at a time
| Want an incredible body? Sweat it out |
No quick ways To get into shape
The quest to develop a fit, lean and attractive body is a long, slow one. It’s not something you achieve overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.
When you look at someone with an incredible body, you often ignore the long journey and hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it’s easy to attribute a chiselled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement. Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes on to paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn’t seem like much is happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and suddenly, your blueprint has become a reality.
Getting into a proper form takes time. For a baby, it’s nine months. For corn, I believe it’s about three months. If only we adopted patient ways, no one would waste money on “fast abs” or “exercise in a bottle” or any such senseless thing. One must first sow, then reap the harvest, you can’t sow and reap in the same season.
If you ever get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who doesn’t?), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing can stop those who know what they want and are willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.
Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. Michelangelo said, “The greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach them.” There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines.
So, keep laying those “bricks” — everyday, one at a time — and eventually, you’ll build yourself a palace.
(The writer is a CSCS (NSCA), C.H.E.K. and expert trainer)
S. BASU
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