Body Building: The Benefits Transcend mere Vanity

"If you're not going to improve your appearance for yourself, then do it for other people. After all, they're the ones that are stuck looking at you all day." I don't recall where I saw this quote about vanity (or lack thereof) so I can't give credit where it's due. However, I've thought it amusing ever since I first ran across it a couple of years ago. But aside from the hidden value that this humorous quote brings forth, there are benefits in your quest for physique improvement that rise far above what most of our society deems as nothing more than superficiality. These are not obvious at first glance, so I'd like to take the time to point them out. The Health Benefit This is no secret, yet sometimes we need to be reminded. Just about every major disease in modern society - from cancer to diabetes to heart disease - is linked in one way or another to lugging around too much body fat. Getting lean and in-shape can dramatically reduce your risks of contracting one of these life-threatening maladies. So why not frame this fact in a selfless manner? If you or I were to fall over dead prematurely from an obesity-linked disease, how many loved ones would miss us and to what intensity? How much unnecessary heartache would we cause just because we never got around to getting our physical act together? This is not a pleasant thing to dwell on, but it definitely shows a more magnanimous side of getting a 'hard body'. The Performance Benefit When you're in shape, you'll be able to perform better at EVERYTHING. And I'm not just alluding to your private life. I'm talking about your career. I'm referring to you becoming a high-performance person in everything you do; having a sharper mind, requiring less sleep, feeling more energized for the people you love. And there we go again with the less vain side of having a nice body. Generally, the nicer looking bodies tend to perform at a higher level too. So when you become more dynamic and your career and social performance goes up - just think about all the increased value you'll bring to the lives of others. The Discipline Benefit Perhaps better than anything, you'll develop a blueprint for life success and hardwire it into your physiology. How might that positively affect those around you? I know of a 70-year-old bodybuilder who has been hitting the iron since he was a teenager. He just happens to have no more than a 7th grade formal education. Would you like to know something interesting? He's a multi-millionaire businessman. This guy is a real estate mogul, a gym chain owner, and he leases out a fleet of lear jets. He has to be one of the savviest businessmen I'm aware of and he credits all his business success to the lessons he's learned from bodybuilding. That's right - bodybuilding! He says that bodybuilding can teach you how to set goals, use discipline to move toward them, and develop the patience to wait for the results. This is the same basic formula that's required for succeeding in business or politics or starting a youth development center or becoming a good golfer or anything. In fact, when you think about it, bodybuilding is human creation in its rawest form. It consists of only you (the mold), some equipment used for the process, and the desire, goals, and strategy to make it happen. And that's one of the ways that it provides its own unique reward. You see; success in every other endeavor requires us to pull out a trophy or provide a demonstration of our skill. But with physique development, you'll carry the rewards of your hard work and discipline wherever you go. Your trophy is your improved body. So what does that do? It tells the world that you're a serious contender in the game of life. It clearly illustrates to everyone that you have discipline. You possess the ability to create a vision in your mind and make outer circumstances eventually match that vision. That's powerful! And just think about the inspiration that can give to the lives of people you care about.