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How Motivation And Goal Setting Lead To Muscle Gain Success

Motivation and planning are key factors in a muscle building program. Before you head to gym, take a moment to form a plan or you could end up wasting the next few months.

By Jon Cardozo

You may think that the only thing you have to worry about to gain weight is what kind of food to eat and what exercises you should do in the gym.  However, before starting any new endeavor, it would be a wise move to take a moment (or several hours) to plan out your new muscle building program.  The temptation when starting a bodybuilding program, or any new ordeal for that matter, is to simply jump in immediately.  It’s easy to make this mistake in the beginning when you’re highly motivated and you want to see huge improvements in your life as soon as possible.  Enthusiasm is a good thing, but you have to realize that this kind of project will take time, and you must be fully committed for the long-term.  If you take some time now to set your goals and discover exactly what you’re trying to accomplish and why, you’ll have a much easier time sticking to your goals later on.

You need to think about what you’re trying to accomplish even before you head to the gym or to the grocery store.  Do you know exactly how many pounds you would like to gain?  Perhaps you should ask your doctor how much weight you can gain and how quickly you can do so without harming your health.  Based on this advice, you can then set a timetable for achieving your goal.  Divide your goal into more manageable pieces and tackle them one by one.  Remember the old adage - inch by inch.

Knowing what you want to accomplish before you start your weight gain program is very important for your success.  If you can see yourself having already accomplished your goal, you will be much more likely to succeed.  The other pillar of success, however, is proper motivation.  There always comes a time in your journey when you begin to doubt your plans, and this is when your initial soul searching will help you get through these tough times.  Even if you set your goal properly, you’ll wonder if you really are capable of achieving your objectives or if you even want to achieve them.

When this happens, you must return to the original reason that you wanted to gain muscle.  Did you want to look more attractive?  Do you want to be more physically fit so you could participate in sports?  This is where you have to decide for yourself what exactly your motivation is.  By the way, intrinsic motivation is far superior to extrinsic motivation.  What does this mean?  It means that the goal has to be your own, and you must know exactly why you want to accomplish it.  You are far more likely to succeed in achieving your goal if it is truly your goal and not just the result of peer pressure or some other outside motivation.  If you keep these things in mind, you are well on your way to muscle gain success.

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