Your mindset determines how far you go in natural bodybuilding.
When it comes to contest prep, what’s your mindset? A lot of folks in the natural bodybuilding game are just happy to go to a show, step on stage in any type of condition, get whatever place that they get, and go home.
Plan Of Action
If your plan is to just show up, you’ve already lost.
That may be acceptable for bodybuilders who are not serious about natural bodybuilding. But if you take natural bodybuilding seriously, you prep to win. It’s not good enough just to show up to show up.
Now obviously, no one will win every single show. My overall contest record as it stands today is 1-8. I’ve won the overall once and I haven’t won the overall the eight other times. I’m only counting overall wins to make it easier to follow.
If your mindset is “well I’m just hoping to place 6th at the show” you’ve already lost. The success mindset demands that you prepare for a show with intention of winning.
Possess The Success Mindset For Bodybuilding Even If You’re Not Ready
I was new to the competitive natural bodybuilding game in 2010. Even though I had never stepped on stage, I always had a deep love for bodybuilding.
But even at that stage in the game, with my first show approaching in May 2011, my mindset was that I was going on that stage to win.
The result of the 2011 NGA Mr. Natural Philly was not good for me, at least to the public. I got blown away, folded, and embarrassed on stage. I finished 6th in my class. My training, diet, and recovery protocols were all unrefined. And despite all that I went into that show with the mindset that I was going to win.
The Lion Mindset For Success In Bodybuilding
Lions don’t hunt expecting to fail. They hunt expecting to eat. That’s the mindset you need.
When you are prepping for a show, you have to prep to win that show. That means your training, diet, recovery, and mindset need to be on point. Don’t leave stones unturned because the worst feeling is that you look back and say things like this:
1) “Dang, I shouldn’t have skipped those workouts during prep.”
2) “Dang, I shouldn’t have cheated on my diet so many times during prep.”
3) “Dang, my workouts were unproductive, and my fat loss slowed down because I didn’t get much sleep during prep.”
Having post-contest regrets is one of the worst feelings ever, especially when you don’t place as well as you thought you could have.
A lot of bodybuilders don’t have the lion mindset. They don’t have the mindset of a winner. As a natural bodybuilder you have to accept the fact that there are going to be days during contest prep, when you don’t want to do it.
There will be days you don’t want to train, diet, or stay disciplined. But don’t forget what you’re chasing.
The Chosen One
The main difference between you and the average lifter is that you have chosen to compete in natural bodybuilding. Let’s also extend this to non-competitive natural bodybuilders who just want to build a crazy physique.
This means that you have to live differently, especially with your diet and lifestyle. To attain success, you must have the mindset that you will have to lead a different type of lifestyle, especially on the nutrition side.
The completion of your primary goal, and how achieving that goal will feel has to outweigh the temporary feel-good endorphins that you will get from cheating on your diet. Winning Mr. Natural Philadelphia was the best moment of my career. That feeling outweighed every sacrifice.
Winning the pro cards was a nice cherry on top. But earning the title of Mr. Natural Philadelphia, and being recognized as the best natural bodybuilder in Philadelphia for the 2022 competitive season is what I really wanted.
Now when you win that competition, you can do exactly what I did when that competition was over. You can go eat a whole pepperoni pizza (I very rarely eat pork) and then go on down to Crumbl and get yourself some cookies. You can do this because you have accomplished your goal!
Conclusion
If you are trying to do natural bodybuilding at a high level, you have to be committed to the lifestyle. If you don’t love this lifestyle, that’s fine, but you’re not going to last long in it.
If you’re serious about stepping on stage, fill out your intake form and get started today.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer,
Fitman
