Dedication & Time Required of a Professional Athlete: Bodybuilding Commitment

You have to marry your dedication to bodybuilding with the practicalities of life. The dedication and time required of a professional athlete are impractical for typical gym and garage bodybuilders. But even if you could train daily, or twice a day, that would not help you. In fact it would burn you out unless you have the genetics of a superman, as do virtually all the top pro bodybuilders. Furthermore, dedicating your whole life to bodybuilding is only practical if you are earning your living from it or if you do not have to work for a living.

A practical level of dedication for your circumstances is fundamental to your bodybuilding, but it has to be synonymous with strategies that are realistic for typical people. Make no mistake, even a practical level of dedication is very demanding. When you train, you should "become" your training. Everything else should be shut out of your mind. For the time you are in the gym, you must be consumed by your training. Anything less will Limit if not kill your progress. And nothing you do out of the gym can compensate for not giving your all while you are in it. By giving your absolute all while you are in the gym, you earn the right to switch off from training when you are out of it and get on with the rest of your life. But if you fail to deliver the goods at a workout, you will be tormented by the knowledge you should have done better. Make sure you get it right every single workout!

As regards dedication, nutrition mailers big time. No mailer how well you deliver the goods in the gym, if you cut corners with your nutrition, then your bodybuilding progress will be seriously limited it not totally paralyzed. It you are after bigger and stronger muscles, you need to have a nutritious, easily digested meal every three hours, and you must never allow yourself to get very hungry. It is imperative that you satisfy your daily caloric needs. If you need to consume 3,100 calories a day to gain, but you consistently average 2,800 calories, then do not expect to gain. Keep your diet simple and practical, but be sure that you eat when food is needed.

Rest and sleep are major considerations. It you run yourself ragged on a basketball court once or twice a week, or are excessively into aerobics, or nearly always seem to be in sleep deficit then you will not gain in the gym. To realize your bodybuilding potential, you need to focus on your priorities! If you spread your limited physical reserves over several demanding activities, you will never become really good at any one of them.

Bodybuilding dedication means that you train hard and seriously when you work out fully satisfy your nutritional needs every day, avoid excessive physical activity out of the gym, get adequate sleep and rest and stay healthy. All these components of bodybuilding success demand the discipline to say "No" to training excesses, to training foolishness, to partying and late nights, to lousy food and skipping meals, to negative people, to energy-sapping activities, to drugs and to distractions.

In principle, bodybuilding is a relatively simple matter, but the practical application of it is very demanding. Rise to the challenge, kick in the discipline and dedication, persist and then persist some more. Then, and only then, will you give yourself the best platform for building the best physique possible for you.