My New Book: The Ironman Concept

Well. Here is another book that I am using for distribution. Enjoy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

As a certified fitness trainer for so many years, it has always been a marvel to see people train for triathlons. Why? This is because even though I am a certified fitness trainer, I have only completed one full triathlon recently!

Yes, triathlon boasts of great endurance and stamina standards, which explains why most people are unable to complete it. I myself have participated in over 10 triathlons but I only managed (and shamefully) completed one only!

Sometimes, I wish to blame my body weight (bulky muscles?). But, when I do give some serious thought about it, I realize that your mental willpower is everything. This was the reason why I even wrote this book in the first place.

The people who complete triathlons are also known as Ironmen (Hence, the title.). In here, you have to learn the secrets of these Ironmen to fully facilitate the potential of Mike Geary's training regime. In fact, these secrets apply virtually to any gym session.

Grueling gym sessions, proper time management and curbing food cravings are issues any average Ironman needs to face. This book is not trying to teach you how to train to be an Ironman. But rather, it is meant to prepare you for the future temptations ahead when you are on your journey to a better body.

THE ULTIMATE THREE EVILS

The word three seems to be everywhere. Good things. Bad things. They all come in threes.

The three little pigs. The three stooges. The ultimate three evils may mean different entities to different people. But, to me, they play the biggest obstacles towards your bodybuilding goals.

What the three ultimate evils then? They are:

1.Procrastination
2.Lack of time management
3.Strong food cravings

From my experience as a certified personal trainer, I have seen many people enter and exit the health and fitness industry. Most of the time, few people succeed in their journey toward their six pack. But, why? Is it that difficult to see visible abdominal muscles?

The answer is a definite, no.

We need our body fat percentage to be well below 10% in order to have visible stomach muscles. To get ripped abs, I would say that the body fat percentage has to be below 6%.

If you still need to figure it out, what I am trying to tell you is that you need discipline to hit the single digit mark. And you need monstrous discipline (like army regulars) to hit that 6%. Sounds tedious?

The moment people hear about this challenging aim to get their six-pack, I see them hugging a six-pack of beer with their eyes glued to their television sets the very next day. If you have not read Mike Geary's article about the dangers of belly fat, take a look here.

Most health associations and clubs will push to people who have poor fitness levels, such as endomorphs and ectomorphs. However, these people have not realized that their failures are actually the success of such health associations!

If you don’t know what are endomorphs, ectomorphs and mesomorphs, read their definitions here:

http://changingminds.org/explanations/personality/sheldon_personality.htm

This is because the salespeople at the health associations do know that you will buy their product and throw it aside because it is not working like it is supposed to. After that, they push to you another similar product and this vicious cycle is repeated hundreds of times.

Your purchasing power keeps the health associations alive. Now, it is different. I can tell you that, if you couple this guide with Mike Geary's "The Truth about Six-Pack Abs", you can make a significant change to your body.

THE POWER OF PROCRASTINATION

Have you heard of this sentence, It is so easy, I will do it tomorrow? I hear it all the time. And honestly, it is making me really sick.

Now, don't you laugh and don't ever underestimate the power of procrastination. It can deal a whole deal of harm! I noticed that many people take action when they anticipate immediate gains. For example, I hear many people say that they will find their respective paths to financial freedom. And yet, till today, these people are still clinging on to their jobs because they want the immediate cash from their salaries!

Almost 95% of the people look for quick gains and get rich quick schemes. This concept almost applies to bodybuilding as well. Many people purchase guide after guide, day after day, thinking that they can get a six- pack just by staring at the book!

What most people do is that they buy the book, read it and then say that they will do it tomorrow. Once tomorrow arrives, they claim that they will do it the day after. And it continues¦

I hate procrastination. Even at the time of writing this book, I will do around 10 pushups between each paragraph I write. You want that muscle? Drop 10 right now. Do Mike Geary's abdominal scissors (Page 60 of The Truth about Six-Pack Abs) when you are watching those Nip/Tuck reruns. JUST DO SOMETHING!

This is what I meant by avoiding procrastination. Humans prefer to work in their comfort zones, which explain why we rather procrastinate further. On the other hand, if we start doing SOMETHING, our adrenaline fires up and it becomes an automatic process. Before you know it, you are actually rushing home from work because you want to finish a workout.

Adhering to a workout routine isn't the hardest. The hardest is to do it with enthusiasm. Of course, a sloppy workout is better than ZERO. I am not trying to tell you to do sloppy workouts but you have to tell yourself that it is good for you.

Just do it

Nike's slogan has been a strong motivational force to many people. (Thanks, Nike.) However, the most important thing is to brainwash yourself that a workout allows you to sleep better and have better concentration the next day. What's the best? I personally feel that you are able to enhance your sexual performance by ten fold if you carry out your workouts hard.

Keeping a Personal Dairy

There's nothing better than keeping a perfect track record. Keeping a personal dairy helps. Writing about your personal progress helps. Taking pictures about yourself is even better! Although I am not trying to ask you to be a metrosexual, it helps a lot when you look at your progress over the past few weeks. You won't be tempted to stray from your routine.

Hanging Personal Notes

In our lives, there are always times when we are tempted to give up. So, it is good if you can create little notes and stick them to obvious places. Maybe you can stick a anti-craving note to your fridge? Or maybe you can stick a “Monday, Tues and Wed are gym days!” note on your bedroom wall.

Giving Yourself a Reward

Ever remembered when the teacher gave you a lollipop when you scored full marks for your examinations? Bodybuilding progress works out this way as well. Give yourself a reward when you felt that you had done well in your physical efforts.

Catching a movie, buying that branded watch that you were eyeing at three weeks ago, going for a professional massage are all good ways. Just remember not to go to a restaurant and order a whatever looks good on the menu items. It makes sense to wash down booze and delicious food after a tiring gym session. But, you don't want to waste all that effort, don't you?

To me, after I spent an hour in the gym, I won't go off to eat something that is completely unhealthy stuff like fried chicken. Even if I had something that is unhealthy, I will pick something like pizza. Freshly baked Pizza has fresh ingredients and toppings, unlike those that are preserved.

Make logical choices in your diet! And you will reap the results soon enough.

Lack of time management

As always, there are many excuses for skipping gym. And one of them is a serious problem about time management.

Poor schedules are to blame. I understand that it is hard to adjust schedules due to our fast paced lifestyles. Besides, it is hard to deal with the tight constraint of time with too many commitments.

Our kids, wives, girlfriends, parents all want our attention. It is pretty hard to diversify.

I know of many Ironmen who trained daily even though they are married and they hold full-time occupations. Their career is not a hindrance to their fitness.

How did they do it?

Basically, there are few alternatives for you to choose. Firstly, you can always make it a habit to exercise. If you have read The Truth about Six-Pack Abs already, you should have known by now that most workouts in Mike Geary's book can actually be done at home.

Developing a habit to exercise isn't difficult. For me, I would choose a definite timing everyday and exercise. This timing is chosen according to my schedule every week. So, if I adjust the timing every week, I will have no excuse to say that I have no time to exercise.

For me, I choose to do weight-training on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. While I carry out my cardio workouts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, it makes it easier for me to accommodate my training schedules. This is because I balanced my cardio and resistance training altogether.

Strong food cravings

Abs are made in the kitchen. This is probably the biggest weakness everyone will face. Surely, there will be situations which you find yourselves tempted to eat your favorite foods. How do I know? I myself have given in to temptations many times because I just loved to eat!

Don't worry, I am going to teach you a secret Ironmen use to keep their cravings at bay. Instead of suppressing the food craving, you have to embrace it with open arms.

When you are on your quest for that six-pack abs, all you need to do is to write all the cravings that you have in a notebook and don't eat that food just yet!

Promise yourself that you will be able to eat that particular kind of food only after that week. Usually, Ironmen know that most food cravings can be suppressed after a week. If after one week and the craving has yet to subside, you do know that the inevitable cannot be avoided. One caveat though, you can only treat yourself to one type of food each week.

If you really want speedy results, avoiding all cravings is the way to go even though it is nearly impossible. It is alright if you do give in to your cravings only ONCE a week. Anymore than that, you might as well stuff your stomach like a Santa's sack.

The True Goals of Ironmen

You might think that this is an absolutely dumb chapter. Obviously, the goal of the Ironmen is to complete the triathlon!

Well, you're right. But, there is more to that. Ironmen train for extraordinary fitness standards. This literally means that they are dedicating their lives to fitness.

Meanwhile, these Ironmen have to watch what they put in their mouths very carefully and undergo vigorous training. But, nothing stops them. Why?

I am about to drop a bombshell. These Ironmen have no goals at all!

Huh?

Yes, you heard me correctly.

Ok, let me explain. Let's assume that your current goal is to lose 30lbs. So, what happens after you lose those 30lbs?

Answer: You are going to gain this weight back!

This happens to many people. Many people assume that after they lose a stipulated amount of weight, their aim is reached. They start to eat atrociously again, be lazy again and etc.

True Ironmen have no goals. If you really want them to state a goal, all I can say is that being healthy is their goal. They take pride in being healthy, looking good and feeling good.

Real mental secrets of Ironmen

Don't you just feel so amazed when you see that triathlon Ironmen just running, biking and swimming like as though little or no energy is used?

In actuality, these Ironmen are gasping for air, they are not much different from most athletes. Their lungs are probably screaming. Maybe there is just only one difference which separates the rest of the athletes and them.

Just one.

It may be hard to believe. But, I am really telling the whole truth. They rely on this one secret.

Imagine a long-distance running competition, each person is running really hard and they are losing lots of fluids. They start to dehydrate and their lungs are going to burst.

Take notice that there will be three groups of athletes. Let's name them:

1.Alpha group
2.Beta group
3.Charlie group – The Ironmen team

The Alpha group is the first group of athletes that are the weakest. They can’t tolerate much long-distance running and they just stop at the slightest moments of weakness.

The Beta group keeps on running because they want to win. They want to beat the Charlie group. Winning the medal makes them feel alive. However, after a while, they too, slow down and stop to rest.

The Charlie group, which is also the Ironmen team, completes the long-distance race. Some members of the Charlie group may reach the finishing line faster than the other members. But ultimately, everyone in the Charlie group finished.

Have you ever wondered why the Alpha and the Beta groups can't even see the finishing line?

The Ironmen team only relied on one mindset during the entire race, while the other two groups had too many mentalities!

Let me explain. The Alpha group had several negative mentalities such as, This race is just tiring, I can't do it anymore! I should stop right now!

The Beta group was thinking of beating the other team, No, I can't stop now. I need to win this. I want that gold medal.The Charlie team can do it, why not me?

If you are thinking that the mentalities that I had just stated (from the Beta group) are positive aspects. Think again.

The Charlie group only had one single mentality. They were running to beat themselves.

You don't need to defeat anyone. You just have to defeat yourself!

The theory that the Ironmen apply goes for The Truth about Six-Pack Abs. While you are on your quest to build sexy, abdominal muscles, don't compete with anyone, compete with yourself! Compete with the person that is deep within you!

Ask your friends and family members for care and support towards your quest to lose belly fat. I don't really suppose they can do much. But, you can ask them to give you a gentle reminder when you are just about to give up on your goals! I need to repeat this, it is your mentality that counts. If you have an iron will, nothing will bend it.

This is the clear reason why I like bodybuilding. Getting a good body shape and living healthily is one thing. Now, I have the determination and perseverance to deal with most issues in my life. Currently, I have a wonderful career, great health and a fantastic girlfriend.

The Ironmen concepts can be applied to all aspects in your life. Use them and you will find that reaching out to your goals was never easier.