The Bodybuilding Network

Building Your Dream Body - It's All in Your Head

Congratulations! You just won the lottery and you have the freedom and money to take a great vacation. I want you to think seriously about this next question. How exactly would you go about planning for this fantastic getaway? I bet you would start by thinking of all the places in the world that you have always wanted to travel to but never had the means. With that barrier down, you might want to visit Europe for a mountain retreat, or perhaps to Fiji and soak up the sun on the beach for a week. But before you do anything about the details of the vacation, like book a flight or find a hotel, you must first have a set destination in your mind that you want to go to. So what does bodybuilding have to do with vacation planning? A lot actually.

Too many people, when they decide on changing something in their lives, have no idea or clear plan of action. To apply this to gaining muscle, they simply start at the beginning without seeing the overall picture and just do some useless routine they saw in a bodybuilding magazine at the grocery store. They give no thought as to WHY they even want to do this, or what the end will be. Getting the body of your dreams starts in your head, and lives in there. You must know why you even desire to change your body and have a clear picture of what you will look like as well as the numerical values for the physique you want. In much the same way that you can not plan a vacation without knowing your destination, you can not expect to be successful in building your body without this knowledge firmly planted in your thoughts.

In order to increase the likelihood of seeing your dream physique become reality, let's start with finding out why you would even consider putting yourself through this transformational process and all the hard times you will surely encounter. Take it from someone who has been there, you will need extra motivation on those mornings when you would rather sleep in an extra hour than get up out of your warm, comfortable bed and go lift. This motivation comes from defining your Why. You need a solid reason so you'll keep at this and eat your meals consistently for the next six months. The good news is that it does get a little easier as you see results, but building that momentum from nothing is hard at first. Whether you're fed up with being the skinny guy who's afraid to take off his shirt, or you want to change to attract women or just want to change for yourself, you need a very strong impetus to get the momentum going. Just think about this and come up with your Why. It will help you tremendously when you feel like giving in to laziness.

You know you should have a strong reason for wanting to start this journey, and now you should know what you are going to look like at the end, at which point, you will work on maintaining, but that is a whole different situation. I want you to go to the advanced search page on the Bodyspace website. From there, enter your sex and in the "Body Stats" section, choose your height and a range for the weight that you think you might like to end up at. For example, I would choose male, 6'2" and a weight range of 200 - 230. This will allow me to see people that have a body similar to what I want to look like eventually. It gives me a clear idea of what is possible and what I am capable of achieving.

Once you have that crystal clear mental photo, you need to create an affirmation. This is a simple saying that you can memorize and recite at least once a day. My affirmation is as follows: "I'm ecstatic and joyful that I weigh 220 pounds and have 5% bodyfat. My chest is protruding and hard. I can clearly see the razor sharp definition in my cut, six-pack abs. My arms and shoulders are huge. My back is wide and muscular. My thighs are developed and ripped. My thighs are like tree trunks." I have this memorized and say it when I feel lazy or like not eating something I know I should be eating. I also visualize the body parts as I say them.

With your mental image and affirmation handy, you now know your destination and can begin focusing on the details of how to get there. These details include figuring out which training routine you will use in the gym and the nutrition plan you need to gain weight. As long as you have a solid reason why you want to change your body along with a clear mental image and the weight that you would like to be at the end, pretty much any "skinny guy" workout program will allow you to see noticeable gains. Just remember, that it's all on you to stay disciplined and follow the guide that you decide on.

To get reviews of skinny guy workouts that will work for you, check out SkinnyToBig.com.

Best of luck in your bodybuilding journey. See you in the gym!

Get reviews of muscle building programs for skinny guys at SkinnyToBig.com

About the Author

KAILASH PERSAUD - Bodybuilding.com 2011 BodySpace Spokesmodel Search