By Brandon Cook

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” - Harvey MacKay

“Everything you now do is something you have chosen to do. Some people don’t want to believe that. But if you’re over age twenty-one, your life is what you’re making of it. To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” -John C. Maxwell

Well, we’re two weeks into the New Year 2010. For many people the motivation has started to fade to black. Their new habits are beginning to seem like false hopes, while their old habits are beckoning them back into the shadows and comforts of their former selves.

In another week they’ll be dropping like flies from gyms around the nation…. as Metallica used to scream “Sad but true.”

However, just because the mass majority of people are lacking the strength of mind, the will, the shear determination and perserverance to make it the 21-30 days it takes to form a new habit… doesn’t mean we do. No, not me and certainly not YOU!

We’re willing, both you and I, to wade through the swamp that is seperating us from the dream life… the life they would live if only they had the stones to. Yet, for us…. failure is no longer an option. To us… failure doesn’t exist. It’s simply an illusion.

I can’t speak for you, but I’m tired of illusions. I desire the truth. And if not THE truth… then at least MY truth.

After all this a fairly subjective world we live in. Everybody is living in their own reality. They see the world filtered through their own eyes and minds, their own thoughts, feelings, and their own perceptions of the world.

Thus, how many of us are trapped living in a life and reality that is on some level an illusion? Maybe we’re not seeing clearly enough. Are we wasting our time and our lives focusing on the wrong things? Maybe “things” that may not even matter in the end?

It’s important for us to see the BIG picture, beyond the egoic fallacies of our own creation and get to the HEART of reality as quickly as possible. In other words, the Essence of our Life.

In reality  I believe fear, doubt, and failure are illusions. Tests that we must overcome to live the life of our dreams. Fear, doubt, and failure are evolutionary mechanisms designed to test the heart of our character. To see what we’re made of. To be radically honest, I know I’ve been held back by these illusions in the past and in some ways still am. Like you I’m working to overcome them.

If we give into these scary illusions and allow them to overcome us, then we’re not only giving up on ourselves, our families, and our friends, but on the dream life we REALLY wanted to live. We forsake the achievement of our desires and goals for the safety of our own cave of comfort and security. The fierce snarl of fear… the bite of doubt… the sharp pain of failure… scares us back into the cave of mediocrity. 

If we’re not careful. We’ll die in that cave. Scared and alone. Too afraid to really live. It’s as William Wallace says in the movie Braveheart ”Every man dies, not every man really lives.”

The Top Five Regrets of the Dying

The other day I stumbled upon an article written by Bronnie Ware, who is a writer, singer/songwriter and speaker from Australia.

The article was titled “Regrets of the Dying” and was based off of her experience of working in palliative care. Basically her patients were people who were dying and forced to come to terms with their own mortality.

Here is a condensed version of that article (you can read the full article by clicking the link above):

Start of Article—————–

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.  All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

End of Article—————–

I guess in the end, there’s not really much to add to this post.

As we enter the third week of the new year, freshly embarking on the journey to change and transform our lives, we are going to encounter resistance. We now realize that this resistance will come in the form of fear, doubt, and failure.

As our old patterns beckon for us to give up on these “stupid goals and resolutions” and return back to our old ways let us imagine the time of our death. Just for a moment imagine yourself dying and contemplating the life you have lived.

Did you REALLY LIVE while you were on this planet?

Did you DO all the things you desired and wanted to do in your heart?

Did you make the most of each day you were alive?

Did you build healthy, positive relationships with those in your life?

Did you ALLOW yourself to be happy and embrace life?

Or did you get caught up in the illusion of fear, doubt, and failure?

Do YOU have any regrets that you will have to take to the grave?

Consider this BEFORE you give up on your goals and resolutions this year. Decide NOW to make 2010 the best year of your life.

Live it up, while time is still on your side!

Brandon Cook

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About the Author:

Brandon Cook is author of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2010 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.

By Brandon Cook

“We all have great inner power. The power is self-faith. There’s really an attitude to winning. You have to see yourself winning before you win.”
-Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.”
-Bruce Lee

The New Year is RISING and my plan for how to gain muscle mass in 2010 is already underway…. I’ve made up my mind to DO THIS and to increase accountability I’m documenting the whole thing on my body transformation page. Stop by and leave me a few words of encouragement and support.

The pressure’s on and I can already tell a BIG difference in my approach to making a transformation this year just knowing that people are watching. I’m fully commited. 

That being said I believe there are 4 Pillars you must study and master if you want to learn how to gain muscle mass:

1. Proper Mindset: You have to fully believe in yourself 100%. Drop any fear and doubt as soon as it arises and eliminate any negative self talk. Focus on your abilty to succeed and KNOW that your success is inevitable.

• Practice meditation and learn to focus your mind on the present moment. This is your only true point of power.

• Use positive self-talk and affirmations with strong positive emotions to train your mind to support your efforts.

• Visualize the achievement of your goals right before going to bed. How does it feel to be living the life of your dreams?

• Read books, listen to audio programs, watch educational programs. Continue to learn, grow and evolve. Never stop this.

• Be confident, optimistic, disciplined, persistent, grateful, and enthusiastic in your approach to achieving your goals.

• Be a real man (or woman) and take 100% responsiblity for how your life turns out. You become what YOU believe.

2. Optimal Training: If you don’t know the proper training methods to break your plateaus you MUST educate yourself by absorbing all you can from guys like Vince DelMonte, Jason Ferruggia, Sean Nalewanyj, Jeff Anderson, Nick Nilsson and other competent coaches.

• Use compound exercises like Squats, Dead Lifts, Military Press, Pull-ups, Dips, Chin-ups, Push-Ups, Rows, Planks, etc.

• Do a couple warm-up sets gradually increasing the weight and then do 1-2 working sets per exercise.

• Stay within the 5-8 rep range and work to do another rep or add weight to the bar each week.

• Keep your training short and intense. No more than 45 minutes after doing a 15-20 minute dynamic warm-up.

• Do three workouts per week while allowing a day of rest and recovery between each training session.

• Lift the weight explosively while controlling the lowering portion of the lift. Rest 60-120 seconds between sets.

• Here’s your first workout: Squats, Military Press, Pull-ups. Now get going!

3. Quality Nutrition: You are what you eat. You can’t build your best body now, unless you are eating the best foods that will nourish, strengthen and rebuild it. Just like you can’t build your dream house out of scrap materials… your body is the same way.

• Know where you food comes from and how it got to your plate. Just because it looks like food or says “All Natural” doesn’t mean that it actually is.

• Eat the highest quality food you can afford. There IS a difference! If you got the money go for organic fruits and vegetables, free range, grass fed beef and chicken, cage-free, organic, omega 3 eggs, wild caught fish like salmon.

• Eat 5-6 meals a day. Eat every three to four hours.

• Make breakfast and your post-workout meals the biggest meals of the day. Eat most of your carbohydrates around these meals. Eat mostly protein, fats and vegetables during the other meals.

• Eat like a cave man: fruits, vegetables, lean meats like beef, chicken, fish, whole eggs, nuts and seeds, some grains like brown rice, quinoia, oatmeal.

• Master your peri-workout nutrition. Consume liquid carbs + protein before, during, and after your intense weight training sessions.

• Use time-tested supplements like creatine, fish oils, multivitamin, protein powder, branch chained amino acids.

• Eat enough food to support your muscle growth. You must be in a caloric surplus by 500 calories or so.

4. Rest and Recovery: This is where the magic happens… that’s right… in the bedroom.  Sleep is when the muscles are repairing themselves and actually growing. Neglect this and you are doomed to be scrawny.

• Do everything in your power to get 7-9 hours of sleep or more each night. This is vital to your success.

• If possible take a power nap during the day or after training to speed recovery

• Buy a foam roller and tennis ball and use these tools to massage your body and improve your muscle tissue quality.

• Pay to get a massage, use a hot tub, sauna and/or soak in a hot bath.

• Use ice packs to sooth sore muscles and joints or heal from injuries. Use a heating pad on sore muscles only. No heat on injuries with swelling and inflammation. Ice is the miracle healer. Use it.

• Practice Tai Chi, Meditation, or Yoga to relax and circulate healing energy (chi.)

• Stretch your muscles on recovery days. You should be stretching at least as much as you are lifting to prevent tightness and injuries.

If you’re not growing or achieving your goals… the problem is within one of these four pillars. Make sure you understand and are following these tips on how to gain muscle mass. When you have the four pillars in place and they will support your progress and growth in 2010. You can dooooo it! 

Brandon

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About the Author:

Brandon Cook is creator of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2009 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.

By Brandon Cook

“Learning is a behavior change- if your behavior doesn’t change- you did not learn.” -Bedros Keuilian

“Courage is the ability to act on limited knowledge.”
-Bedros Keuilian (In charge of a fitness marketing website)

Wow! What a great trip to Orlando, Florida this week. I’m still buzzing and high from being surrounded with so many like-minded and successful personal trainers and entreprenuers.

Before I give you the #1 tip I learned, let me tell you about this weekend.

On Thursday Cory and I headed down to Florida along with our Father to attend the Fitness Info Summit. This was a seminar hosted by Bedros Keuilian on how to succeed in fitness, business, and life and how to become a succesful Infoprenuer (information+entreprenuer.)

Three hundred personal trainers from around the world came to absorb the energy and wisdom of Bedros Keuilian and his panel of top six-and seven figure Fitness Professionals. Guys like Vince Delmonte, Craig Ballantyne, Steve Hochman, and Chris McCombs. 

These guys DEFINITELY know their stuff and were very generous and humble guys!

Bedros was constantly throwing out plastic eggs filled with money into the audience and everybody was going crazy to get some. One guy jumped off of a chair, almost  knocked over the table and landed on me… I literally had to keep him from hitting the floor!

I lost count of how much money he was throwing out to us! He was also giving away tons of t-shirts.

Steve Hochman gave away one full year of mindset coaching (valued at over $5K) to the first action taker who bomb-rushed the stage and grabbed the certificate. The whole panel of experts and crowd was just feeding off of the great energy there.

Cory and I also got to meet one of featured experts on Hardgainer Muscle Building, Vince Delmonte. Vince, as you probably know is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building, which is the highly successful training program specifically designed for Hardgainers.

Cory, Vince, and Brandon

Vince was giving away one of his $130 8 Disc DVD training packages.  This is the only product of Vince’s that I haven’t personally purchased.

I have a great story about this… right before Vince drew from hundreds of business cards to determine the winner… I used my visualization technique, which I’ll soon cover in Harnessing the Power of Your Subconscious Mind series.

I simply visualized in my mind that Vince would call my name, I imagined how awesome it would feel to win it, then I saw myself walking up there to get it and thanking Vince.

Seconds later, Vince dug a card out and called out my name! I’m telling you this S#!! works… it’s a NO BS Science! After I got the DVD’s, I sat down and told Cory. He said he was visualizing that I would win as well, since he didn’t put his business card in the bowl. I can only conclude that this amplified the effect and guaranteed me the winning spot!

Okay, What’s This Got to Do With YOU?

Well, we came out of there with so much info that it’s going to take a few days to go through it and absorb it. However, here are a couple tips I would specifically like to share with you. These mindset tips will totally change your life and help you transform yourself into the ideal person you know you can be… if YOU APPLY THEM.

The #1 Tip to Transforming Your Body and Life: Control Your Inner and Outer Environment

Bedros asked the audience “Do you know why people fail?”

He then said there are two reasons:

1. The thoughts that occupy your mind
2. The people you surround yourself with

Let’s look at the first one:

I’ve been hammering away on this mindset thing (for good reason) and really pushing you to take this to heart. If you are not thinking the right way, or the right thoughts that will empower you, inspire you, and literally build yourself up… you won’t take the right actions that will lead you to the results you desire.

Our thoughts lead us to feel a certain way. Our feelings lead us to ACT a certain way. It’s your thoughts and beliefs that will literally drive you into action or inaction, depending on the type and quality of the thoughts and beliefs you entertain.

For example, my belief in myself and my own success caused me to act and purchase a ticket to this seminar. It led Cory and I to drive to Florida to spend the day networking with these guys and find out what we can learn from them and how to emulate them. 

My thoughts lead me into the gym every day, lead me to better nutritional choices, drive me to meditate, train, read, learn, grow, post these blogs, and empower me to share ALL that I know with all of you.  

Without the right thoughts and beliefs, I would have never even bothered. I wouldn’t have the desire or the strong reasons WHY I intend to succeed and help others succeed… I wouldn’t be willing to put forth the effort it takes.

Control your inner environment by selecting your thoughts carefully. Examine your beliefs and ask yourself what beliefs are working, which ones empower me, which ones should I keep. Then write down all the beliefs that holding you back, that are disempowering you, and keeping you from achieving your true potential.

After you’ve decided which ones to keep and which ones to discard, look over the list once again. Specifically look at the disempowering beliefs. Cross them out and change those beliefs into empowering ones.

For example if you wrote one of your beliefs as: I don’t know how to train properly and don’t fully understand the nutrition principles. Change that to “I am learning how to train properly. I seek out the principles of healthy, muscle-building nutrition.”

Look over these new empowering beliefs often.

Control Your Outer Environment 

You become like the people you surround yourself with the most. Take a look at the five people you are around the most. Now, realize that you will become the average of these five people. Does that excite you?… scare you?… empower you?… or make you want to cry?

It’s true… the people you invite into your life will have a tremendous impact on you, whether you realize this or not. You have got to surround yourself with people that inspire you to embetter yourself.

Attend a seminar, event, or workshop on something your interested in

Go out and make friends with people that have done, or are doing the things that you would like to do. Seek out people that know more than you, that have walked the path before you and can encourage you to succeed.

One theme that all of the experts at the Fitness Info Summit echoed was that they used to be like all of us. They found success by incorporating these principles into their lives and they consistently reminded us that we could do the same.

Yet, all of them insisted that we take action NOW! As Vince said at the event, “You need to get a degree in G.S.D (Getting $h!! Done.)

The good news is you have TOTAL control over your inner and outer environments. You can choose or change the thoughts that are going through your head every day. You can choose or change the people you spend the most time with. These factors are under your control and influence.

Choose your beliefs and friends wisely… Start right now, for they WILL determine who you become!

 Brandon

——————————————————
About the Author:

Brandon Cook is creator of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach people with the ectomorph body type the laws and scientific principles for building a classic, muscular and functional physique.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2009 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.