If you’ve been bodybuilding, and especially competing, for any length of time then you have probably figured out several ways to make it all come together and work no matter what. What with the training, cardio, diet, posing, etc. We can’t stop living our lives so we have to figure out ways to work around the other “stuff.”

Here are some examples of the everyday “stuff” that I’m referring to:

• Family
• Work
• School
• Vacations
• Traveling
• Going out

Family

Obviously, family is far too important to categorize merely as “stuff,” but for the sake of the simplicity of the article let’s just go with it. I think we can all agree that family comes first, or at least it should. If it doesn’t for you then you should re-prioritize. Your family will love you for it.

Perhaps your wife (or husband) cooks unhealthy dinners and expects you to eat it. This is a tough one because you want to make your spouse happy. Not eating what they’ve cooked can turn out badly. The best thing to do in this situation is to sit down with your significant other and explain that you appreciate that they cook for you and you love eating dinner together, but ask if they can make better food choices.

If that doesn’t work just pretend like you are allergic to everything they cook. I’m kidding, of course. Instead, maybe just divorce them …again, I’m kidding. 

Fortunately, my wife and are are both health food fanatics so this isn’t an issue in our home. Although, I have been married before and my wife at that time was the quintessential junk food junkie. We managed to eat dinner together but it was rarely the same dinner. Not an ideal situation, but I refuse to eat pizza every night. We’re not together anymore but I don’t think that was the reason …at least I hope not.

Now, going out to eat with family is an easy one. First off, who doesn’t like to enjoy a good meal out? Pretty much any restaurant you go to will have something on the menu that will cater to your bodybuilding lifestyle. Restaurants typically use a lot of oils, butter, sauces, etc., but if you choose to be super strict that night then you can always ask the waiter to cook it plain or just order something like a salad or plain baked potato with a grilled lean meat. Most restaurants will accommodate this request.

The cook may spit on your food, sure, but I don’t think spit contains any calories.  

Work

Work is where we spend most of our waking life. As such, this is where you need to have the most self-control. There is a lot of temptation lurking about in the office environment that can get you off-course with your diet plan. You’ve got co-workers bringing cookies in that they baked the night before, co-workers grabbing doughnuts for the whole office on their way in in the morning, birthday celebrations, candy dishes on desks, and of course, the co-worker popping their head in your office to let you know they are making the ”lunch-run” and asking if you want anything.    

The most important thing in this case is to have your meals prepped for the day before heading into the office. If you leave unprepared then something is going to go wrong, and you don’t want to cave in to the cookies and/or doughnuts …or the candy dish …or “lunch-run.”

What I’ve always found to be the best way to ensure nothing screws up my meals during a work day is to bring two shakes, and a solid food meal for lunch. I’ll drink one shake at around 9:30, eat lunch at 12:30, and drink another shake at 3:30. Something occasionally comes up that will slightly delay a meal, but never ever never ever ever never ever do I skip a meal. That’s committing the ultimate bodybuilding diet sin.

If I’m stuck in a meeting, for instance, then I’ll inconspicuously sip my protein drink during the meeting. If I can’t bring it into the meeting then I will step out to the “restroom” and slam it down. It takes all of 10 seconds.

If your job requires that you travel often then that can pose a unique set of challenges when it comes to your diet. But nothing that can’t be overcome if you dedicated enough to your goals.

How often you travel, how long your trip, and your method of travel will all dictate the best course of action to stick with your diet. If you travel by car and are gone short term (1-3 days) then the easiest thing to do is to pack a cooler with your meals in it. Boom, problem pretty much solved right there. (SIDE NOTE: removing your passenger seat and putting your cooler in its place is a pretty convenient way to travel and eat. I’ve done this before traveling to a competition in Atlanta and it was awesome.) If you travel by plane then that can be a bit trickier.

I remember several years go I was preparing for a natural bodybuilding competition. Near the end of my prep (when staying on-track becomes more critical) I was invited to visit the headquarters of a prospective employer for a job interview. The trip was for three days and I was taking a flight there and back. I wasn’t about to leave my diet to chance. I wanted to be prepared. You never know if the flight will be delayed, if you won’t be able to find anything healthy to eat, etc.

What I ended up doing was pre-cooking and packing every single meal (all 18) in a cooler and bringing it with me. Now, these weren’t simple chicken and white potato meals. My diet at the time consisted of A LOT of cod fish and asparagus.

By the time I had left for this excursion I’d been eating cod fish for weeks. Plus I was on a very low carb diet so I was probably in a state of mild ketosis. Prior to leaving for the trip my co-workers had complained of a “fishy smell” every time they came in to my office. I discovered later it wasn’t my food because I didn’t store it in my office. The fishy smell was coming from me! I reeked of fish!

The fish smell coming from me was bad enough, but then I had packed three days’ worth of fish and asparagus meals onto a plane that no one could escape from. You can be sure, I was hated by the time I got off the plane.

What was my point? -Oh yeah, my point is that even though I was dieting for a show and was only a few weeks away from the competition, I didn’t let a three day business trip prevent me from sticking to my diet. I figured out a way to make it work. You can too.

And yes, I did get the job. Admittedly, however, I scrubbed the bejesus out of my skin and poured on cologne.

School

 When I refer to school, I’m talking about college. When I graduated high school in 1991 I went straight on to the local community college. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up so there was no sense forking over tens of thousands of dollars to go off to a university. Nonetheless, I carried a full course-load and worked nearly full-time as well.

I’m not saying this is right, but I arranged my school schedule around my training. As for the diet part, I have to admit that at that time I hadn’t really gotten the diet part down like I do today. I wasn’t educated enough to know how important that aspect was to achieving my bodybuilding goals so I pretty much ate whatever. I visited the college cafeteria on a regular basis and ate whatever was there. That’s also probably why I was smooth. Very smooth.

I did end up going back to school to finish my Bachelor’s degree in Finance several years later. This time at the University of West Florida. By that time I had acquired a great deal of knowledge about the sport of bodybuilding. 

One college semester I took classes at the main campus, which was over an hour of drive time away. My first class began at 8:30 a.m. My last class endedat 9:30 p.m. And I had a class or two in between. I did that three days a week. It made for an exeptionally long day. Every morning I’d pack a cooler and put it in my car. I brought all of my meals for the whole day. And if my training fell on one of those long school days, then I’d bring my training gear and all the stuff I needed for showering. In hindsight I should have been less strict, but I was laser focued on competing and earning my natural pro card.    

My suggestion today for those of you in college is to rely on either protein shakes to get you through, or do what I did, pack a cooler and keep it in your car. Now, ideally, wait to eat until your between classes, but I routinely ate during class as well – at least protein shakes.

Vacations

Ok, listen, if you’re on vacation enjoy yourself. That doesn’t mean you have to gorge yourself until you can’t move but loosen up on your diet. I don’t think I needed to tell you this, did I? That’s what vacations are for.

Traveling

Not much to say here that would be different from what I’ve already said. Protein powder and coolers are essential when traveling.

Going Out

I’m no longer single and in my 20′s. When I was, I enjoyed it. I went out regularly and stayed up late. Although I went to clubs and bars, I never drank. Drinking has never really been my thing. That’s good, too, since it is counter-productive to reaching your bodybuilding goals and it doesn’t really fit in with living a bodybuilding lifestyle. Many bodybuilders drink and that’s great; it just wasn’t for me. 

Even though I went out I still stayed on my diet. My friend and I would run out to the car, eat our meal or drink our protein shake, and go back in.

Since I got to bed much later than usual on those nights, the trick was deciding whether to eat again before I went to sleep. And if I did decide to eat, what the best thing to eat was. I usually opted for a scoop or two of whey protein and that was about it.

So again, even when going out with your friends, just be prepared.

Conclusion

Although there are times when life “gets in the way” of our routine, and particularly your meal schedule, there are still ways to keep on track. Going to the extremes I went to in order to stay strict on my diet plan may or may not be necessary for you. At that time in my life I had a clear goal in mind and I was willing to do anything and everything to accomplish it. Consequently, I stunk up some planes. That, I would have reconsidered had I had to do it again. Don’t stink up planes. It’s not cool.

If you have a specific question about your unique circumstance please let me know. Leave me a comment below. If there is one thing I’m good at it’s organization and developing a strategy to make something work. Maybe I can help you with your problem.

If I haven’t told you already then let me tell you now – I freakin’ love making spreadsheets. If a job title of “Spreadsheet Technician” existed then I would apply for that job. Lo and behold, that job title does not exist (that I know of) so I must satisfy my urges by making them on my own time for free. This is good though because if I can make one that I think you may find helful that I can share with you on this blog then I will. And I have!

So I created a simple little spreadsheet to make life easier. Ok, it’s basically just a list (this is definitely not one of the more complex spreadsheets I’ve ever done).

My wife and I seem to spend no less than two hours in the store shopping for groceries. We go every Friday or Saturday and do our shoping for the week. With drive time factored in, we spend up to three hours of our life every week getting food. That is far too much time. And the worst part is we always seem to forget something and end up having to make another trip at some point later on. Ugh!

We all tend to gravitate towards the same foods we like to eat week after week with few exceptions (I’m completely guessing. I have zero scientific data to back up that statement). With that in mind, I created this pre-made grocery list in Excel that lists all the foods or other household items that my wife and I tend to buy each week.

Below is a snapshot of the list.

As you can see, it’s stupidly simple. Each column is three cells across: one to place a checkmark (or “X”) in, one with the name of the food or household item, and one to enter the quantity of the item. You will also notice, however, that it alternates sections of bolded and non-bolded items (doesn’t show up too well in the image but trust me, they’re bolded) to indicate that those items are in the same aisle. The green highlighted items are ones we get at Sam’s Club. You don’t have to do that on yours if you don’t want to.

Before we head out to the store, the idea is to glance at the list and either highlight the items we need or blackout the ones you don’t need. Of the items we need, we can pencil in how much of it we need to buy in the quantity field. Then once we’re at the store and we’ve grabbed the item, we just put a check in the designated box.

Now that I’ve given you an unnecessary explanation of the most simple spreadsheet on planet earth. Here is a link to download a copy of it for yourself if you want.*

How much time will it save you? I have no idea because I haven’t yet used the list. But it’s got to shave off some significant amount of time! Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, it will prevent us from forgetting anything!

I’m sure I’ll continue to make minor tweaks to improve it but hey, it’s a start. It’s not much but I hope you find it helpful.

*NOTE: The font size on the Excel spreadsheet is set to 6 pt font. I did this so that it will all fit on the top half of a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Feel free to enlarge the font size if you want.

Like I said, my assumption is that most of you reading this blog are not “fat” so to speak, but maybe you’re not in the shape you’d like to be in either (shit, who is). Below are 23 reasons why you are fat not as lean you you could be.

1. Eating too much  (I could probably stop right there and make that the one and only reason!)
2. Eating the wrong foods
3. Eating fast food way too often
4. Skipping breakfast
5. Not exercising
6. Lying around all day doing nothing
7. Doing too much cardio and not enough weight training
8. Eating only once or twice a day
9. Eating too many carbs
10. Jumping on the latest diet craze bandwagon
11. Drinking too much soda
12. Drinking too much alcohol
13. Snacking on sweets between meals
14. Lacking self-control
15. Not knowing HOW to make healthy choices
16. Ordering dessert far too often
17. Keeping a candy jar at your desk
18. Making excuses
19. Not caring about your body
20. Giving up
21. Accepting that this is the way you are and that you can’t change
22. Eating too many processed foods
23. Thinking that you have to give up foods you like forever

Many of these can be grouped together. I realize that. Do any of these ring true for you? Any I’m leaving out?

Stay tuned for some helpful tips to avoiding these fat traps and losing the lard!

Men, maybe you wish you had that ripped six-pack, bigger arms, huge boulder-like shouders, quads that rub together when you walk from their sheer muscular girth, calves that stretch out your dorky 80′s style striped tube socks,  you know what I’m talking about. Women, perhaps you yearn for a bigger “chest”, toned abs and arms, a tight little round butt that makes men drool and women hate you. Surely there is something you would like to improve. Right?

The obvious, and not so obvious

So what’s the secret to getting the body you want? It’s not this. I guess it could help, but probably won’t do much other than make Suzanne Somers richer. The secret to getting the body you want is hard work, sacrifice, and commitment. (Good genetics doesn’t hurt either.)

“PFFFT! GREG, YOU’RE NOT TELLING ME ANYTHING I DON’T ALREADY KNOW! EVERYONE KNOWS THIS!” I hear you screaming.

Ok, now that we have gotten the obvious requirements out of the way there is another secret, visualization. Dictionary.com defines visualization ”to recall or form mental images or pictures” to which I will add “…of what you want to happen or feel.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “What you believe you can achieve,” or the great quote by Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” They don’t directly speak about visualization per sé, but when you believe in something or think of yourself doing (or not doing) something then you create a mental image in your head, right? You visualize it. You see, it all starts with what’s in your head.

So first you must ask yourself if you believe you can achieve a great body. If you say no then I can promise you that you will never look like natural bodybuilder Jeff Rodriguez, or figure athlete Monica Brant, or anyone else with a physique that looks like theirs.

If you answer ”yes,” then congratulations, you’ve made it pass the first hurdle!

Ok, visualize, now what?

So what now? You’ve got the image in your head of the body you want but “so what,” right? Well, keep that image in your mind. Think about it everyday. When you wake up in the morning, visualize that body. When you brush your teeth, take a shower, drive to work, eat lunch, drive home, cook dinner, talk on the phone to your mother, lie on the couch watching tv, have sex with your partner (maybe not then), get ready for bed, and as you are lying in bed waiting to fall asleep …visualize it.

What will this accomplish? It will program your subconscious mind to find ways to manifest this vision and make it reality. Your mind is incredibly powerful. And by visualizing you are creating a belief system for your brain.

To make this visualization technique more effective, however, be detailed. When you are visualizing your body you desire, associate smell, touch, and emotion to it. In other words, don’t just create an image in your mind and leave it at that. Rather, imagine not only what your body will feel like, but how having this body will feel. What emotion(s) will it will evoke? How will you smell? How will people react to you? Visualize every minor detail. The clearer and more detailed this mental image, the more engrained it becomes into your subconscious, and the faster it will become a reality.

When I first began competing I would visualize myself onstage. I would close my eyes and think about the lights, how I posed, I visualized every vein showing through my paper thin skin. I imagined the crowd’s reaction. Most importantly, I imagined myself being announced as the winner. When it was time to actually get onstage and do my thing it was no big deal because I had done it thousands of times already …in my mind.

Now, I haven’t competed dozens of times or anything, but in my first contest I got 2nd, and in my second, third, and fourth contests I got 1st. I won the overall in my third show, which was held in Houston, Texas. I’d like to believe that visualization helped give me an edge.

I continue to use this visualization technique even to this day before I perform a set of an exercise. Before I lie back on the bench to do a set of dumbell presses, for example, I will sit at the end of the bench holding the two dumbells resting on my knees. I will close my eyes and picture myself performing the whole set. If I did eight reps last time and I want to do nine on this set, then I will visualize myself doing all nine reps. More often than not I will achieve all nine because I’ve mentally rehearsed it already. All I needed to do was execute the set.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, you know that in order to get anything you want in life it takes hard work, sacrifice, and discipline. But don’t discount the power of doing nothing …but visualizing want you want to accomplish. It will still require those other elements, but you may just get there a lot faster if you already ”see” yourself with arms like Arnold or, women, a butt that you can bouce a quarter off of.

So what do you think? Do you use visualization to help you? What has been your experience?