So what can you do differently this year to keep yourself on track for a longer period of time? Well, here are a few resources to help you!

• Bodybuilding.com Transformation Guide
• Find a Plan with Bodybuilding.com

Use these guides to help you find the right motivation and plan to stay on track and really reach your goals this year.

Let’s look at a few of the different kinds of contests that are available to get motivated and stay that way.

Body Transformation Contests

Every year there are several ‘Body Transformation Contests’ put on by different groups. Some people do really well with these contests because they have a set deadline and it’s a competition. Most people tend to try harder if they aren’t just doing it for themselves but feel like they’re competing against someone.

Different companies and websites run official contests that usually involve some sort of monetary prize to the winner. A really popular one is The Body-for-LIFE Challenge, which has legs running all the time. Sometimes local gyms will run contests as well, so keep your eye out if you think this is the right kind of motivation for you.

Bodybuilding Competitions

Some people like to go for the gold. In our terms, this would be signing up for an actual bodybuilding or fitness contest. Naturally you’ll really have to kick your butt in gear to feel like you can compete, but maybe that’s the motivation you need to succeed.

The first thing to do is to find out when a local competition is going to be held. LiftForLife.com has a great calendar and map to help you find natural bodybuilding competitions in your area. Then you’ll need to sign up for the competition and start working hard to get ready for it!

Here are a couple of guides for transformations and contests from Bodybuilding.comthat might help:

• Competition Info
• Transformation Guide

Start You Own Competition

What if big national contests aren’t your thing? Have you considered starting your own contest? Find a friend, coworker, family member, or anyone that you know well that is also interested in changing their body. This can be one person or a group of people. Maybe it’s as simple as a weight loss competition with 4 people from work. But you can start your own competition

One of the benefits of doing it this way is that you constantly see the people that you’re going to be competing against. That alone can be motivation. If you see what your competition is eating for lunch and you realize that they are eating healthier than you, you’ll be motivated to change. If you both go to the same gym and you notice they aren’t there one day, that could be a boost to help you stay ahead.

The trick on this one is deciding what the reward will be. Set the stakes before the contest starts, and make sure to set a deadline for when the contest is over. You can use the same Transformation Guide to help you make the right changes to your body to win your personalized contest.

No matter what type of contest or competition is the right fit for you, they can all be a great way to motivate yourself to set and reach your fitness goals. You can even combine some of these if you want, such as signing up with a friend for a competition and competing against him or her. Try a few different things and see what works best for you!

Reaching a fitness goal can be broken up in to 3 main tasks: exercise, nutrition, and rest. Some of us are good at 1 out of 3, others are good and 2 out of 3, and few of us actually do all 3. So what are your weak areas? Let’s look at all 3 really quick and help you figure it out.

Area 1 – Exercise

It seems like this is the one that most people have the least trouble with. Granted, there are some people that simply dread going to the gym, but once you get going and start to enjoy it most people can stick with this one pretty good.

Can you spend some time tweaking your workout routine to get more out of it? Definitely! If this is your weak area there are a few things you can do to make it a strong point:

• Have a schedule and stick to it! Start slow if you have to, but find a schedule that works for you and stick to it.
• Get a training partner. Having someone that has similar goals work along side you can be a great motivator and help.
• Plan ahead of time. If you walk into the gym without a plan you probably won’t accomplish much. Know what you’re going to do before you get in there so you can stay focused.

Area 2 – Nutrition

To be completely honest, this has always been one of my weak areas. It’s just so easy to eat something I really shouldn’t. I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way!

No matter your goal, whether it’s to lose weight or pack on muscle, you’re going to have a hard time reaching your goals if your nutrition is out of whack. Either you are not eating enough, eating too much, or just not eating the right stuff. Here are a few tips to help:

• Figure out your calorie requirements. If you know roughly how many calories you should be eating for your goals you’ll have an easier time planning what you’re going to eat.
• Plan ahead of time. Sound familiar to the 3rd tip for exercise? Well, the principle applies here as well. If you don’t plan ahead you’ll end up eating fast food, which you and I both know is not the best way to go! Pack your food the night before, cook meals ahead of time, make your life easier!
• Get rid of the junk! Chances are you have some food in your house right now that is not going to help you reach your goal. Get rid of it and start fresh! That, or save it for a cheat meal.
• Have a cheat meal from time to time. These should be scheduled, not just when you feel like it. Having a cheat meal gives you something to look forward to when you have cravings.
• Remember it’s more than supplements! I believe that bodybuilding supplements can help you reach your goals, but not if yo don’t have the rest of your nutrition right. Figure that part out first, then look to supplements to fill in the gaps.

Area 3 – Rest

If you don’t take a break from time to time, or get enough rest in between workouts, you’ll find that you’re not reaching your goals. Your body needs time to recover. This is another area that I know I tend to slack off in, mainly by going to bed too late and then getting up too early.

When you get the proper amount of rest you have more energy. We all know it, but we make excuses on a regular basis and stay tired. Here are some ideas to break that cycle:

• Set a curfew and stick to it! Remember when your parents said “Lights out at 10!” Well, do the same for yourself. Let your family and friends know that you go to bed at a certain time. Come up with whatever reason you have to, but if they know they can respect it.
• Be consistent. If you can get your body on a regular schedule you’ll do a lot better. Figure out as regular of a schedule as you can and then stick to it.
• Plan breaks. You should take at least a week off working out every 10-12 weeks that you work out. This will give your body time to fully recuperate and come back stronger for the next round.

So there you have it. Now it’s time for you to take some action. What are your weak areas? What can you do TODAY to fix those areas and become stronger in them? You can do it. I have some work to do myself. So here’s to both of us!

This is a great question to ask yourself from time to time. After going to the gym, eating right, using body building supplements, and all the other things that you’re doing to build a better body, do you really know why you’re doing it?

There are a lot of reasons that people use. Here are a couple I can think of off the top of my head that I’ve heard people say:

• To be more confident.
• To be more attractive.
• To be more of an athlete/to compete.
• To be stronger.
• etc.

What Are the Best Reasons?

I don’t think there is such a thing as a ‘best reason’ to get in shape and look your best. Everyone has a different reason for wanting to do it. The important thing is that you have a reason that motivates you. Not a reason that you read in some magazine, or a reason that someone else told you that you should have. You have to have a reason that comes from you.

This is the type of reason that will motivate you to wake up early if you have to, to go out in the cold, to not eat that oh-so-tempting treat because you have a bigger goal in mind. This is the most important part of building a better body. If your motivation isn’t strong enough you won’t put forth the necessary effort. So focus first on your reason

How to Get There

The purpose of this post is not to go into a lengthy discussion on exactly what you need to do to build a great body. But there are a few key things that you need to build the body you’re after. Here they are:

1. Proper nutrition
2. Proper exercise
3. Proper rest

You can guess which one most people focus on. Yep, the exercise! But if you aren’t getting the right nutrition or the right amount of rest you won’t see the results you’re after. If you just eat well but don’t exerrcise you won’t get the right results either! You have to work on all three of these to be successful.

Look at what you’ve been doing and see if you’re not giving one or more areas enough priority. If you need to work on improving your nutrition, make that a priority this month. Get in the habit of eating right. Maybe even use a tool like FitDay.com to track what you’re eating. If you’re not working out enough, make that a priority. If you don’t rest enough make that a priority. In other words, figure out what’s broken in what you’re currently doing and make some changes to fix it!

The Role of Body Building Supplements

Can using a body building supplement help you to reach your goal? Definintely! Granted, some work better than others and different people have different reactions to different supplements. But the main point is that creatine supplements or any other supplement will only really help you if the other three areas (nutrition, exercise, rest) are in place. Don’t try to use supplements to replace proper nutrition. You have to use them in addition to proper nutrition.

Here’s a press release from Bodybuilding.com explaining the different things they’re doing to help you and anyone else that is interested to reach their goals for this year!

Boise, ID – December 31, 2008 – Bodybuilding.com, the Internet’s most visited bodybuilding and fitness site and the largest on-line retailer of nutritional supplements, is the ultimate source for all body and mind transformation needs with their much-anticipated, 2009 New Year’s Transformation SuperFeature.

This year Bodybuilding.com has broken down their key points of transformational success: Information, Motivation and Supplementation. These points are so important in fact, they are also the basis of the Company Mission Statement, which states, “To help our visitors reach their health, fitness and appearance goals through information, motivation and supplementation.”

With celebrity workouts and diet plans (including Ryan Reynolds, Christian Bale, Hillary Swank, Gerard Butler, and many more), a 12-Week Online Trainer with daily video hosted by professional competitor and trainer Kris Gethin, printable meal plans and recipes and hundreds of other new articles and content, Bodybuilding.com has information to cover everyone’s needs.

The Motivation SuperFeature gives people the tools to find motivation from within, including goal setting, maintaining both long-term and short-term motivation, and everything else that goes into making goals a reality. Most helpful is Bodybuilding.com’s new BodyGroups feature, where over 240,000+ BodySpace members (Bodybuilding.com’s on-line social community) come together to share common goals and to cheer each other along. More information on BodyGroups can be found at http://groups.bodybuilding.com/. Anyone without a BodySpace account is encouraged to sign-up to better track their progress, hold themselves accountable and have fun with other BodySpace members.

Bodybuilding.com is also providing contests to help provide further motivation. The 2nd Annual MuscleTech $50,000 Transformation Contest presented by BodySpace gives all BodySpace members the chance to win $25,000 cash, $1,000 in MuscleTech supplements from Bodybuilding.com and the opportunity to spend a day with 2008 Mr. Olympia, Dexter Jackson. Plus, MuscleTech is also giving away more than $20,000 in runner-up prizes. BodySpace is also holding a Hydroxycut Max! Transformation Contest for all female BodySpace members where the winner will take home $5,000 cash and receive a photo shoot vacation. And best of all, the winner’s transformation story and photos will be featured on Bodybuilding.com! Those interested in these transformational contests can visit http://www.bodybuilding.com/09muscletech_50000_contest.htm for additional information and entry forms.

Bodybuilding.com’s third key point of transformational success, supplementation, helps people get faster, higher-quality results from their diet and workout programs. The right supplements will help with muscle gain and fat loss, and help people feel better and stay healthy. Bodybuilding.com offers premade supplement stacks based on different goals with Bodybuilding.com Supplement Award winning products. But don’t just take their word for it; their new Bodybuilding.com Product Ratings and Review section holds the largest source of supplement reviews online, generated solely from customer recommendations. This new review feature can be seen at http://reviews.bodybuilding.com/Brand_Listing.

By combining Information, Motivation and Supplementation in one comprehensive feature, the 2009 Bodybuilding.com New Year’s Transformation SuperFeature will prove itself to be the true source for everyone’s transformational needs.

For all your transformation needs visit http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/newyearsguide.htm

Bodybuilding.com offers more than 8,500 health and fitness supplements & accessories to help people achieve their fitness goals. They offer more than 25,000 pages of FREE bodybuilding & fitness information, including more than 12,000 articles (written by 525+ writers), video & audio segments, and new content added daily.

It’s amazing to me to think that 2009 starts tomorrow. Where did 2008 go?

Honestly though, 2008 was a great year. I reached some goals, missed others, but either way I feel like I did some real growing in a lot of different areas this year. I hope that your year was good as well.

With 2009 starting tomorrow it’s a great time to think about the things you’ve accomplished this year and what you want to accomplish next year. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What great things did I accomplish in 2008?
• What changes did I make for the better in 2008?
• How can I continue to improve my health, fitness, and self in 2009?
• What are some things I’d like to accomplish in 2009?

I’m a big fan of setting New Year’s Resolutions because I feel that they help me focus in on the growth I want to have in the coming year. But I also know that it’s important to break those goals down into sizeable chunks. Most of us realistically can’t focus on a goal for a year at a time. 2-3 months is a much more realisitc time frame.

So set some goals for the year. Then break them down into smaller goals that you can reach every 2-3 months. You’ll find that you stay focused on your goals a lot better this way.

2009 is going to be great. Have a safe New Year!

• I don’t feel like it.
• I ache when I do it.
• I’m getting results as fast as I want anyway.
• I don’t feel good today.
• I’m just not motivated.
• People will look at me if I do it wrong.
• _________________ (fill in the blank)

We’ve all made excuses. But you’ll notice that the people that really achieve something in life are the ones that don’t make the same excuses others make. Instead, they focus on what they want and they go out and get it.

Here’s an awesome ad by Nike. When I first saw this ad I thought it was incredibly motivating. I hope you find it motivating as well. And if you do, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought.

Yesterday I saw a quote from fitness and weight loss giant Tom Venuto on Twitter that really got me thinking. Here’s the quote:

You can either make excuses or get results, but you can’t do both!

How many of us are guilty of this? How many of us really want to achieve something, but we let all of the excuses get in the way instead? And what do we get in return? A bunch of excuses and no results to show for it.

Overcoming Excuses

It’s easy to make excuses. Life will continue to happen, things will always come up that seem to take priority, or we can always think of something else we’d rather do.

In the end, it all comes down to one thing: how passionate are you about your goal? If you have a goal that you’re trying to achieve and you’re keyed in on that goal, you’ll stop making excuses. Instead you’ll find ways to accomplish that goal because of your desire to do so.

That’s why you’ll find in most books on exercise, nutrition, or really anything else that has to do with self improvement you find they always have at least one (if not more) chapters dedicated to having the right attitude or mindset. It’s because you can have all of the technical knowledge in the world, but if your goal isn’t something that motivates you it doesn’t matter!

Developing the Passion

Unfortunately, I don’t believe there is just one simple way to keep yourself motivated. This is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ type thing. Instead, you have to find out what motivates you! Here are some ideas. Try different things and see what works for you, or in other words what keeps you motivated:

• Read stories of people that have accomplished what you want to accomplish.
• Create a picture file of people that represent what you want to accomplish.
• Subscribe to other blogs of people going through transformations and comment on their blogs. Be socially involved online with other people trying to accomplish goals, too.
• Take action! Sometimes just doing something can be motivating in and of itself.
• Track your progress. If you can see what you’ve accomplished so far it can motivate you to keep working towards your goal.

I do a combination of the things listed above. I have a few pictures that I look at from time to time that remind me of my goal. I also track my progress to see the changes that are happening. And I’ll also read other people’s blogs to gain motivation from them. I got the quote at the beginning of this post by interacting with people on Twitter, which is another great thing to do.

Set Effective Goals to Stay Focused

In order to achieve your goal you have to really want it. Set small and realistic goals that you can accomplish. This way you can start to see results and you can keep moving forward. A great way to demotivate yourself is to have a goal that is unreachable in the short term. Most people can only focus on something for 1-3 months at a time, so set your goals in that time frame.

My idea here is not to go in depth on how to set goals. There are plenty of other blogs out there that can teach you all about that. But it is important to have goals that you can work towards.

Choose – Don’t Make Excuses

I had the pleasure of attending a speech a few weeks ago by motivational speaker Mark Sanborn. He said something really profound that also really got me thinking about how to achieve goals. Here’s the quote:

The most powerful tool for living fully is to be engaged in the present moment… The successes in life are those who live intentionally.

So just make sure that when you do something that you intentionally chose to do it. Then it can’t be considered an excuse. As long as you chose to do it, be happy with your choice. You choose to work out. You choose to eat right, you also choose not to eat right. Don’t let it become an excuse or circumstance that is ‘out of your control.’ This way you’ll be more aware of your choices and be able to make better choices each and every day.

Conclusion

I really feel that this is an area that all of us can work on. I include myself in this. And being that it’s almost 2009, now is the time to start thinking about how you’re going to set goals for the new year. I wish you luck in achieving your goals, and hopefully some of these tips help you do just that!

So how did you do? I personally did ok, but admittedly ate more pie than I should have. Did you do the same?

If so, don’t be hard on yourself, but get back with it and stick it out throught the rest of the holiday season. Christmas is only in a couple of weeks I’m sure you’ll have plenty of parties to go to between now and then. You’ll be tempted to throw everything out the window and just get back on track later. Don’t do it!

Every day you have to make a choice of if you’re going to work towards your goals or against your goals. Every day you have to make that decision.

So how bad do you want it?

I’d love to hear some comments on what you’ve done either this year or in the past to keep on track through the holidays. Feel free to share some below!

Are You Up For a Challenge?

For the next month and a half I want to offer you a challenge: stick with whatever program you’re on! If you’re trying to lean up, keep working on it during the holidays. If you’re trying to bulk up, keep with it through the holidays. No matter what your goal is, just keep it up.

This is the time of year when a lot of people let themselves get off track. To me this really explains why so many people set a new goal for losing weight in the next year and sign up for a new gym membership. It’s all because they let themselves get off track in November and December!

Have an Action Plan

Now I’m not suggesting that you should avoid all of the parties and be a humbug this season. Not at all! I encourage you to go out and have fun and enjoy the season. What I am recommending is that you just be a little more aware of what you’re eating at the parties that you go to. Know what your limits are. Then stick to it.

Remember that you control what you put in your mouth. Sticking with it at a party or family gathering is going to take some extra discipline. You have to think about how bad you really want it! Sure, that extra slice of pie looks good, but is it worth it in comparison with what you really want to achieve? This is the question you’ll have to ask yourself a lot in the coming month.

Before you go to a gathering, just mentally prepare yourself to be aware that there will be lots of junk that you should either avoid or keep to minimum levels. Then use self discipline and stick with it. I’m not saying it won’t be tough to not take a handful of chocolates, but it’s worth it. Think of your goals, and stay motivated. If you have an action plan in place, you’ll be more successful.

And no, your action plan should not simply be doing extra cardio to burn off the extra piece of pie you ate!

Be the Exception

You have to realize that whatever your goal is, whether it is to be lean or bulk up, you have to be dedicated to that plan. You see, most people just go with the flow and let whatever happens happen. That’s why they gain so much weight during the holidays! That’s why they have to start all over when the new year starts. But you can be the exception.

Keep your motivation high during the coming month and a half. Be the exception to the rule that December is when most people gain the weight. Instead, let it be the month that you have some of your best results ever! The choice is up to you, so are you willing to accept the challenge?