The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a
long, slow journey. It's not something you achieve overnight by popping
a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.

Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew
the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those "ab
zappers" had swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting
consumers? Fortunately, some of those companies had to pay it back, and
then some! The FTC charged three companies - Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab
Energizer - with false advertising and deceptive warranty practices for
these "ABSurd" products.

But I digress… back to what I was saying about the journey to a better body...

Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing
but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick
condo complex. If someone looked at this massive completed structure
for the first time, they might not be impressed. However, since I
observed the entire construction process unfold from my living room
window, I was impressed - amazed even - at what goes into erecting this
kind of structure.

I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day
like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the
next, it didn't seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a
year and a half, I watched the building gradually morph into the
finished product.

When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished
product, you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard
work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that
person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved,
it's easy to attribute such a chiseled physique to genetics or give
credit to a supplement (they just took product XYZ and voila -
overnight abs). What you don't see or appreciate are all the months and
years of sweat and hard work.

Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there
must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a
blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of
work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn't seem like much is
happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the
same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are
slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you
look in the mirror and "suddenly," your blueprint has become reality.

The body of a fitness pro or bodybuilding champion is no more likely
to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It's
not physically possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill,
powder, drug, supplement or machine of any kind will make it happen
sooner is pure folly. You can't force it.

Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation
period. For a baby, it's nine months. For corn, I believe it's about
three months. If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry
the process? Could any new development in nutrition or medical science
speed up this wonderful miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer,
would you try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up
your seeds to see if anything was growing down there?

The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient,
nurturing "mother's" or "farmer's mindset" towards getting in shape,
then no one would waste their money on "fast abs" or "exercise in a
bottle" or any such silliness ever again. We would understand that one
must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you can't sow and reap
in the same season.

If you ever get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who
doesn't), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the
persistent. Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they
want and is willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It
just takes time.

Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL
build the body you want eventually if you're patient enough and you
refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint.
Michelangelo said, “The greatest danger is not that we set our goals
too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals
too low and we reach them.”

Envision a castle - a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There's nothing
wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work
at putting the foundations underneath them. There are very few
unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines. So keep
laying those "bricks" - every day - one at a time - and sure enough,
eventually, you'll build yourself a palace.

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto

www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified
personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle"
Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print
magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding,
Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as
on hundreds of websites worldwide.

For information on Tom's Fat Loss
program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com