Keeping Your Goals in Sight

Cooperation and Competition

What? 

Being in a group working to together can have its benefits and be very productive but, it also can have some draw backs.  Previously I mentioned how great it is to be in a team all working to better one another (Holfstede,1980).  It also needs to be understood that at team is made up of individual’s and they do not always agree on certain goals. I am currently in a team that has added two new additions Power-lifter Andrew Jones, and future bikini competitor Andrea Long.  They are an amazing addition to the team. They are great motivator in the and out of the weight room.  The team could not have made such incredible gains in strength and definition without the addition of Andrew and Andrea.

So what?

Having Andrew now as a workout partner is great we help push one another to our breaking point and then some.  We are both very competitive as well so we love challenging each other in the weight room.  This can be fun at time but it can also take away from our main goal of following a program and getting stronger (Levip.77).  I will admit that it is mainly my fault I feel the need to always be the best and do the most weight.  This is not the right mentality to have.  It can be destructive and have the team lose sight of what we are trying to do (Levi 80).  Also it is a great way to get hurt.  I think it has something to do with the way I was brought up.  My mother had her hands full being divorced working full time and having to raise 3 children.  I will also mention my sister and I were not that well behaved.  Being the youngest of three was not always easy I felt alone most of the time and wanted attention.  I felt as if I was always competing with my brother for attention.  But I want to say that I had an amazing mother and I do not know how she had the courage and the strength to raise all of us alone.  There is much more to the story but that is for another day.  But that is where I believe I developed my competitive nature from fighting with my brother (Levi p77 Culture). 

Now what?

           That is where cooperation and communication comes in to save the day or by back.  Knowing that we are very competitive it helps having someone else in the team step in and talk some sense into us.  Lowering the weight and having good form beats heavy weight bad form any day.  This is where having good communication and knowing your team members well really helps.  Talking to each other working together (cooperating) and doing the weight that is better for you is going to help everybody reach their goals faster and create a better team (Levip.80).  So be smart listen to each other and always be safe.

Achieving Physical Goals With A Bodybuilding Diet

For those committed to bodybuilding, diet and exercise go hand in hand towards achieving the perfectly chiseled form to which they aspire. And if one of those components is not up to par, the other collapses. For this reason, bodybuilders follow an intense and dedicated exercise and diet regime in order to sculpt and define muscle. While exercise strengthens and builds muscle, diet cuts fat and maximizes nutrients to obtain ultimate health. For this reason, bodybuilding enthusiasts turn to an intense and committed bodybuilding diet to achieve their physical goals.
For anyone interested in bolstering their physical fitness and maximizing their nutritional health, the following of a few generally accepted diet guidelines is imperative. For bodybuilders, these guidelines are elevated to even more intense level. A bodybuilding diet follows these standard practices with great strictness.
A bodybuilding diet – like any diet that works to bolster nutrition – focuses on fresh, natural, whole foods and eliminates processed foods as a general rule. Bodybuilders will often begin their bodybuilding diet by significantly reducing – and eventually eliminating altogether – unhealthy fats from their diet. This includes those foods that contain saturated fats, as well as fried and greasy foods. Instead, bodybuilders will increase their intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as lean protein.
Another element that must be gradually eliminated from the diet is those foods that contain refined sugar. And while this does refer to sweetened foods and beverages including candy, pastries, and sodas, it also refers to those foods made from white flour – another tremendous source of sugar. Therefore, many athletes following a bodybuilding diet eventually eliminate white bread, pasta, and white potatoes from their diet, as well as processed foods. Instead, they replace them with whole grain breads, wheat pasta, and sweet potatoes. And in an effort to avoid processed foods, dieters will choose natural, whole foods as much as possible.
Also extremely important in any bodybuilding diet is the adequate consumption of water. It is imperative that people of any fitness level drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. Adequate water hydrates the body, aids digestion, improves overall system function, and acts as a natural appetite suppressant.
Ultimately, a bodybuilding diet follows a food plan that would be of general benefit to anyone. What makes it a bodybuilding diet is the fact that athletes combine this diet with an intensive exercise program in order to optimize fitness and build lean muscle mass in pursuit of their goals.