The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (10 page)

Having said this, realize that you must use these mental images in order to fuel your determination to actually do what you have to in order to get there (e.g. train, eat right and rest). Just believing that it is possible to reach your goals is not enough; we need to take
action
in order to get there.

So in conclusion, the secret to achieving success is to program what you want into your subconscious mind by believing in yourself
and seeing yourself as you would ultimately like to look or live. Such mental programming will then motivate you to set a plan (in this case a sound workout and nutrition program), follow through with the plan, and persevere. By programming yourself for success, everything you desire can and will be yours.

THE MANY BENEFITS OF EXERCISE AND CORRECT EATING: YOU WILL GET MUCH MORE THAN YOU HOPED FOR!

Exercise provides many benefits:

•
Increased energy:
When you exercise and eat right your energy levels go through the roof as the body is working at peak efficiency. This is due to the fact that the correct combination of diet and exercise produces a hormonal environment that leads to increased energy, fat loss and increased muscle tone.

•
Increased mental focus:
Did you know that exercise actually boosts brainpower? That’s right; in fact, the latest research indicates that exercise can help keep the brain sharp well into old age, and might prevent many diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, along with other mental disorders that accompany aging. If the brain is able to operate in peak condition, imagine the improvements that could be attained with business, decision-making, brainstorming, and every aspect of your life.

•
Increased self-esteem:
Since you are feeling good about the way that you look, your self-esteem goes up. This leads to self-confidence, something that empowers you with feelings of control and the ability to make critical decisions under pressure with the certainty that you are making the correct one.

•
Increased sense of control over your life:
Once you are able to change the way you look and feel with exercise you’ll notice that you can change anything else that you want in life using the same basic principles that allowed you to make the initial transformation (e.g. Desire, Discipline, & Action). No longer will you be afraid of setting a goal and not meeting it. If you are able to change yourself, you can change anything else that surrounds you.

•
Reduced chances of a heart attack:
By exercising and dieting you lower your cholesterol and your blood pressure, greatly reducing your chances of a heart attack.

•
Reduced chances of osteoporosis:
Correct exercise and diet increase bone density, reducing your risk of osteoporosis.

•
Reduced chances of breast cancer by 60%:
Exercise lowers the body’s production of two ovarian hormones linked to breast tumor production: estradiol and progesterone.

According to Deborah Kallen, M.S., “the body’s susceptibility to exposure to these hormones is greatest between ovulation and the beginning of menstruation. Habitual exercise postpones ovulation until later in a woman’s monthly cycle, reducing the number of days her body must combat these potentially harmful hormones.

Medical researchers have long been aware that exercise burns fat, a known catalyst in the production of estrogen. So, if a woman has a regular exercise regimen, she gets an automatic two-for-one breast cancer prevention ticket. One ticket reduces the amount of time the body must protect itself against unwanted estrogen,
and the other burns the fat that helps to manufacture the unwanted estrogen.”

•
Increased strength and stamina:
Naturally, exercise provides you with more strength and stamina which becomes useful in your daily activities.

•
Less Depression:
Exercise increases your production of endorphins (hormones that make us feel good and happy). Due to increased endorphin production, your chances of getting depressed are greatly reduced.

•
Exercise helps control stress level:
Note that with exercise, worries dissolve while mood rises. Say you had a bad day—the traffic was horrendous, the boss was in a foul mood, the phones wouldn’t stop ringing, and you were late for an important meeting. Could you imagine going to bed with all of that accumulated stress? I certainly couldn’t. Exercising right after work (for those of you that like late afternoon training sessions) is a great natural therapy that lets you forget about all of that and puts you in a great mood at the same time. After a good night’s sleep you’ll be refreshed and ready to tackle anything the next day throws at you.

When you exercise, you improve your whole lifestyle. By knowing the most intelligent, scientific way to train for optimal results you will be able to get so much out of life.

THE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Since we are engineers it is hard for us to write a book that has no formulas. Consider the following formula for success in changing your appearance; it is based on determination.

S = D × (T+N+R)

S is the success that you achieve in your program, D is your determination to succeed, T is your training, N your nutritional program, and R stands for rest.

Each component in the formula above can only have two values. A value of 1 is given to a component if it is followed completely. A value of 0 is given to any component that is not followed or just followed halfway. Therefore, if every single component is followed, you get a maximum value of 3. In this case you would get the fastest results possible from your program. If you stop following one of the components inside of the parenthesis then you get a lesser value and sub-optimal results. However, note that if you don’t have any determination you get a value of 0 and then your whole program fails and you don’t get any results. The reason?
Determination is by far the most important factor in determining the amount of success you will achieve in your Body Sculpting workout
.

After examining the formula above, it is easy to see why just purchasing a sophisticated gadget or a couple of magic pills at the health food store is not going to cut it. In order to achieve permanent weight loss all of the factors described above have to be present and in perfect harmony. Follow one but not the other and your success will be negatively affected.

Now that you have an idea of what it will take to get the body of your dreams, let’s learn how to apply this knowledge. After all, only
applied knowledge
is power.

THE FIRST COMPONENT: DETERMINATION

Determination is the first component of the formula for good reason. Of all of the four components that make up the formula this is the most important. If you are not determined enough to make the sacrifices necessary to get in shape,
then nothing is going to happen. You can have all the knowledge that we have on how to get in superb shape, but if you don’t apply it then all you have is wasted knowledge. You need to want to change your appearance as badly as you would need to breathe if you were drowning. You also have to believe in yourself and know that you can do it. You must not doubt your ability to change. If you have doubts, you will fail! You will also need tunnel vision; in other words focus goal and, no matter how much adversity you encounter, stick to your plan, follow through, and get there. It is not an easy path. In a day and age where skepticism and negativity rule, roadblocks will appear (such as people telling you that you will not succeed or putting your program down, etc.). Every time you encounter a negative situation like that, use it to your own advantage. Use it to fuel your desire to achieve your goal. Don’t let anybody put you down! This is important stuff. This not only applies to changing your appearance; this applies to every aspect of your life! If you want something, and you want it badly enough, you will be able to get it no matter what. Set a goal, develop an action plan and follow through—no matter what happens—until you reach that goal. In this book we give you a proven plan to change the way you look. Whether you want to lose a few pounds and firm up or lose 100 pounds, we provide you with a road map on how to get there. Use your desire and put the plan to work for you.

THE OTHER COMPONENTS OF THE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

In the next few chapters we will cover the topics of training, nutrition, and recuperation. Due to the enormous amount of information necessary to thoroughly cover these topics, we have decided to dedicate a full chapter to each one of them.

Chapter 3
covers training,
Chapter 4
discusses nutrition and delves into the importance of supplements, and
Chapter 5
is dedicated to the often neglected components of rest and recovery.

Part 2

The Building Blocks of Body Sculpting

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Before you move any further in this book, you should first ask yourself what has brought you here. This may seem like a silly question, but it’s not. In order for this program to help you achieve your body sculpting goals, you first need to identify your exact reasons for wanting to create a perfect physique.

A seemingly crazier question may be: are you
really
ready to get your body in amazing shape? We have always believed that there is a time and a place for everything. Have you ever wondered what makes the difference when someone finally quits smoking after so many failed attempts? Or how a person can finally lose 200 pounds after trying for years without success? The answer is surprisingly simple:
Those people were ready!

Being ready is just as important as being able. Once you are truly ready to begin, you’ll find that your fitness goals will finally become a reality. Sound familiar? We’ve watched people shovel in a five-course meal on Tuesday night and then wake up on Wednesday morning and eat healthy for the rest of the year, dropping dozens of pounds in the process and enjoying a life they never thought possible before. How? Simple: they’d had enough; they were finally ready. I’ve watched people slouch past the gym every day for years before they finally came inside; but once they did, they all had one thing in common: they were ready for action!

Creating your ultimate body is not as simple as just wanting to create your ultimate body. It requires a time commitment, sacrificing some of your favorite foods, rearranging your schedule, embracing a new philosophy and, let’s face it, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. We are not going to lie to you. To make such a commitment, to draw that proverbial line in the sand between your old life and your new, you simply have to be ready. Otherwise, it’s all just pomp and circumstance.

Call it intuition, but we can always tell which of our clients will succeed and which won’t. This judgment doesn’t have anything to do with how they look, how much money they have, how old they are, how close they live to the gym, what kind of sneakers they wear, or what they do for a living. It all boils down to whether or not they’re ready.

Don’t just take our word for it, though; let’s turn to science for evidence. According to a study done by Sarah Whitehead, and reported in the February 2005
Journal of Sport Sciences
, research has shown that the enjoyment of exercise and the willingness to go it alone (e.g. without a friend) are both related to our level of physical activity and participation in sports. The research revealed that the more a person finds pleasure in exercise and the more his desire to exercise comes from within, the more likely he is going to engage in physical activity.

Another study, done by Amanda Daley and Gaynor Parfitt, and reported in the June 1996
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
, found that exercise improves both mood and job performance.

Both studies support our theory that when you embrace health, fitness, and nutrition you don’t just look better; you feel better! You don’t just lose weight; you gain confidence. These are scientific studies delving into the matters of sports and fitness and yet they have both revealed that your physical and mental realities are interdependent.

Mind and body are not mutually exclusive; where one benefits, the other benefits. The better you feel, the better you perform; the better you perform, the better you feel. Like a snowball rolling downhill, the benefits just keep increasing until one day you look up to find the best looking you that you can be staring
back in the mirror. If you haven’t yet felt this, stick with us and we guarantee that you soon will!

READY, SET, GO! DISCOVERING YOUR READINESS!

We all think that strong muscles and proper nutrition are the backbone upon which your perfect body is built. Yes, they’re absolutely important, but your intentions and attitude toward your fitness lifestyle are two of the most important factors when it comes to your decisions about finally being ready to get in great shape.

In order to achieve success you must first decide exactly what you want to attain from it, verbalizing your goal and visualizing it, picturing what you want in your mind, and keeping that image firmly before you, every moment, until your goals are brought to fruition.

Naturally, in order to receive you must give something, so it’s necessary to decide what you are going to give. Fair enough? First and foremost, be willing to invest a feasible amount of time, as there are no shortcuts in achieving a beautiful physique. When you are an all-natural athlete, one of the most rewarding gifts is the empowerment in knowing that you and you alone are fully responsible for all of your wonderful body sculpting results! Therefore, results cannot be expected to appear in five minutes.