They say “success leaves clues.” I’ve always liked that quote, which I first heard from Anthony Robbins, and which I’ve heard re-quoted by many others over the years. Unfortunately, most people don’t follow the advice contained in those three words. They keep pursuing the lean, “hot body” the hard way; trying to figure it out on their own, starting from scratch without a mentor or guide, following the masses, buying into gimmicks and making the same mistakes over and over again. There is a much easier way.
Don’t re-invent the wheel. If you want to be successful, then study the most successful people. In their quest to climb to the top or enter new territory, body transformation successes have left in their wake everything you need to know to complete the same journey yourself. You simply need to look back at the trail they blazed and follow it.
But contrary to popular belief, winners and achievers don’t leave a trail of pure success behind them. They make countless mistakes and leave a long string of failures. Show me a person who hasn’t failed much and you’re showing me a person who hasn’t achieved much.
As you study the most successful people, you begin to realize that they failed their way to success. It was trudging onward through adversity, learning from their mistakes and persevering that allowed them to reach their goal. “Ad astra per aspera!” Through hardship to the stars!
So when you study success, keep in mind that success is the result of failure. However, if you study the mistakes and failures that came before the success and learn what doesn’t work, you will get results even faster and easier than if you only focused on what did work. That’s right. Failure leaves clues too….
Learning from the mistakes of others doesn’t mean you won’t encounter unique obstacles of your own. But it does allow you to pinpoint weaknesses to strengthen, identify your biggest priority areas, shine a light on dangers to avoid, skip an enormous amount of trial and error and short cut your learning curve by weeks, months, or even years.
For decades, my mission has been to make the body transformation process simpler and easier. I’ve devoted my entire life to studying the most successful bodybuilders, physique athletes and fitness success stories in the world, becoming one of them myself, and teaching these strategies to all my readers, members and clients. This is called “modeling” success – it’s the process I teach in Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle – and it’s the only real type of “short cut” there is.
Body transformation success is not an un-researched, unexplored frontier. It is not a secret held by an elite few. It has already been achieved by many, and it didn’t happen by accident. I’ve achieved it and thousands of my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle students have achieved it. Fat loss and fitness success has been studied. It is already a proven science. The fastest path has already been mapped and is available for you to follow. But part of navigating that path also means steering around the potential pitfalls.
Below, you’ll learn the 10 biggest body transformation mistakes that will sabotage your success. It appears to be a short and simple list, and these 10 mistakes might not be the ones you expected. But don’t underestimate the power that awareness of each mistake and application of each solution holds to propel you to greater success than you’ve ever experienced before.
Body transformation mistake #10
Training without intensity; going through the motions
Success strategy
Training with intensity, effort, focus and passion
Body transformation mistake #9
Using only willpower; trying to change consciously with force
Success strategy
Using habit power and programming your subconscious mind to change automatically
Body transformation mistake #8
Giving up at the first obstacle or failure
Success strategy
Persisting through every adversity until you succeed
Body transformation mistake #7
Inconsistency with nutrition and training
Success strategy
Consistently following your nutrition and training plan, every single day
Body transformation mistake #6
Chasing quick fixes; doing the least you can get away with
Success strategy
Developing a hard work ethic; doing whatever it takes
Body transformation mistake #5
Short term perspective: “I’m going on a 12 week program”
Success strategy
Long term perspective: “This is a lifelong journey”
Body transformation mistake #4
No goals, fuzzy goals or lightly taken goals
Success strategy #
Specific, written goals and total commitment to them
Body transformation mistake #3
Blaming something or someone else for your lack of results
Success strategy
Taking personal responsibility for all your results; better or worse
Body transformation mistake #2
No progress tracking or accountability
Success strategy
Tracking, measuring and becoming accountable for everything you want to improve; weight, body fat, performance, etc.
Body transformation mistake #1
Not believing it can be done and/or not believing you can do it
Success strategy
Believing in yourself; cultivating and growing that belief every single day
How many of these mistakes have you made? How many more might you be making?
Tom Venuto,
Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
www.BurnTheFat.com
Author of The Body Fat Solution
www.BodyFatSolution.com
Founder & CEO, Burn the Fat Inner Circle
www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com
About Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, fitness writer and author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of Bodybuilders and Fitness Models (e-book) and the national bestseller, The Body Fat Solution, which was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Oprah Magazine, Muscle and Fitness Magazine, Ironman Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine, as well as on dozens of radio shows including Sirius Satellite Radio, ESPN-1250 and WCBS. Tom is also the founder and CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle – a fitness support community for inspiration and transformation
You are inspiring to men and women alike your motivation is contagious as is mine I have lost 100 pounds in less than a year through diet and exercise only. At one time I thought it was impossible. We have to be good stewards over our bodies just as we are over finances family etc. You are keeping me motivated through this journey. Keep in mind,it will not end at our goal weight we have to maintain but it is easier when there are average people like us motivating others to do above average things. I wish I can show my picture here but they are on my blog sites. Thanks for the post, with love from The Average Joe.
Hi Tom,
Love the list of mistakes and success strategies. The one I connect with most is the one on how to deal failure.
We simply need to understand that there is no success without some failure. You need to always keep trying and never give up. This is how you succeed.
Very good top 10 list. With regard to mistake #10 – training without intensity; going through the motions – I see this mistake being made quite frequently at my gym.
Great list Tom! Thanks for sharing.
One of the greatest benefits about being an active member of your amazing Burn The Fat Community is following along with the complete journey that every is going through. We all seem to follow a very similar blueprint…
…make nutrition a top priority, perform regular resistance training, incorporate some form of cardio, guard and strengthen our mind, support one another, enjoy the process, and focus on becoming the best that we can be and believing that we can and will continue to grow as individuals.
Although the blueprint is similar, we can still use and apply different tools. Although we are all following the incredible BFFM nutrition lifestyle, the type of resistance training programs can vary from person to person as well as the type of cardio… but the blueprint is still the same.
As you mentioned, although we follow the same blueprint, we all face unique struggles. Having the opportunity to share in thousands of BTFIC members journey’s allows you to see these unique struggles and how each person rises to the challenge and uses this adversity to drive them forward. At this point it’s incredibly rewarding to celebrate and share in their successes and triumphs.
Tom, I believe that the type of people whom you attract to your Inner Circle and to your programs is a direct reflection of your values and character. I have never felt more welcome, more supported, more encouraged to become the best that I can be. I am inspired by every member.
Thank you for all that you do and for helping me continue to grow.
thanks for that Mr. Tousignant… sending you an email
Number 9, Number 9, Number 9, Number 9, Number 9…(any Beatles fans will get that joke)…but that’s the one that has come together for me recently! Thanks for everything Tom!
!(:!*GOD BLESS YOU “MARGARET”!YOUR “NUMBER9″COMMENT JUST LED ME TO A BERRY IMPPORTANT “CLUE”!!!!AND YOU CAN THANK THE “BEETLES” (: AND THE SUMMER OF “69”!!!!PEAS BE WITH YOU…YOUR FREIND IN CHRIST.-KARINA (:
[…] https://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2011/09/10-biggest-body-transformation-mistakes.php […]
I believe that one of the hardest attributes that people struggle with is motivation, if you can keep consistent, and keep your motivation levels high, everything else will slowly fall into place.
I have always followed your guidelines and have always seen results with your advice. I eat junk and I still manage to lose weight but lose more when I control my diet.
Doing the Holiday and Summer Challenge has totally transformed my body. My friends are all impressed with the results I have had and are amazed because of the challenges I have encountered in my life. They keep saying that I have come so far from where I started. It is true, and at first I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it because of my injury, surgery and loss of strength. I really do not want to sabotage all the hard work I have done now that I am done with the summer challenge. Just hearing what my friends are saying in how far I have come, and seeing the strength I have gained in this is enough to make me press on. I almost feel like I need to do it for them as well as for myself.
But yes, most of the successful people in life encountered multiple failures, but that didn’t stop them. They persevered the obstacles until they found what worked.
Dear mr. Venuto. This article was an eye opener. Thanks
(: If success leaves behind “CLUES”!(:I better hurry up and start “PICKING THEM UP”!!!AND “QUICKLY”!!!(:WHO WANTS TO HELP ME PICK UP CLUES?(:
[…] 8.- Tom Venuto’s Burn the fat blog : […]
I needed to read this today… keeping it simple, keeping it real! Thank You!!
“AD ASTRA PER ESPERA”!!!*JUST* SO YOU KNOW!THIS ONE STILL HAS “ME” CRYING!!!!”LORD WILLING” I WON”T “DEHYDRERATE”!!!! ILL GO DRINK ANOTHER “CUP” OF “WATER” BEFORE I RUN OUT OF TEARS!!!THAT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ITALIAN ONE LINER I HAVE EVER READ.”GOD BLESS WHO EVER WROTE THAT POST”!WELL…IT MAY NOT HAVE OPENED MY “EYES”!!(:BUT IT SURE DID OPEN MY”HEART”!(:BEACUSE I LOVE “ITALY”! (:
italian, latin… same thing (wink)… still a beautiful line indeed
ARE YOU SURE ITS THE SAME THING BECAUSE I’VE BEEN WORKING ON SOME IMPORTANT”ITALIAN”STUFF ..BUDDBETTER YET Y! EXACTLY HOW GOOD IS YOUR “LATIN ..ITALAIN”…DO YOU AT LEAST KNOW OF A REALLY GOOD ITALIAN “DICTIONARY”THAT YOU CAN SUGGEST BECAUSE I NEED THE BEST ITALIAN DICTIONARY….”THINK” “11”! SERIOUSLY….FMHTY…NO RUSH (:
OKAYTUM….SO WHAT DOES (WINK) TRANSLATI INTO????PORFAVORI?? (:
I just transformed into a grandmother for the second time ~ :) :) ~ The baby is a girl and her name is ~ <3 LUNA <3 ~ in your language Mr. Wink it is ~ @@ ~ oops ~ :) :) ~ xoxoxoxo LUNA xoxoxoxo ~ :) :) ~ ore should I say Luna , Luna …. same thing ~ :) :) ~ Buonanotte Mr. Wink a.k.a Tom !! :) :) !!
I know ):!I am so happy to read that you agree with this despite the confussion with the entire “LATIN”?….”ITAlIAN” ISSUE ):I WOULD ASK THE POPE TO “TRANSLATI” BUT I’D WAIT FOR MY “ETERNO”THANKYOU VERY MUCH !
My husband stumbled upon BFFM one year ago. I have lost 35# and he has dropped over 50#. We are still making progress and would love to review the 50 mistakes to avoid information. As noted on many posts above, I am having difficulty finding this information. Thanks for all the great information so far any help in getting more?
Tom, I really enjoyed reading this post. I think if we were all honest with ourselves, most of us have fallen somewhere into at least a few of these categories! Thank you for the reminder that we don’t have to go about doing things the hard way to achieve our goals. Just becoming more focused and developing the right mindset will get us where we desire to be!
I AGREE WITH YOU “MONIQUE” (:!AND SINCE I DESIRE TO SIMPLIFY MY LIFE….HOW ABOUT YOU? (: DO YOU KNOW OF A REALLY GOOD ITALIAN/LATIN?”DICTIONARY” THAT YOU CAN RECOMMEND?BECAUSE MY “PIGLATIN” IS GOOD BUT I DONT THINK THE POPE WILL UNDERSTAND ONE WORD OF IT! ):FMHTY…..”HONEST LEE” (;
For the past 2 month, I started looking around the Internet for good information on nutrition, fitness and training programs and I found that this is the best blog I ever discovered…good information, a lot of useful tips + free gifts…great blog Tom and thanks for sharing tips and information.
This is definitely true. The biggest mistake I see people make is to think that there is an end goal. Thinking that somehow getting the 6 pack is “job done” and that they can then rest on their laurels. If you want a great body year round, you’ve got to put the effort in year round.
Right now, I’m tackling mistake #10. I’ve read your newsletter for years and NEVER actually did anything. So last year this time, I decided to make a permanent change and DO everything I had read. I decided not to buy another health magazine until I had done what was in the ones I had.
12 months later, I am 12Kgs lighter, fit and healthy and about to run my second half marathon! I’ve worked my way through the top ten beginning with “it can’t be done” to “counting calories and getting onto the scales every morning,” to figuring out that me+nutrition+exercise = friends for life.
The weight crawled off – 1kg every 6 weeks or so, but since I was in for the long run, I kept at it. If I’d known I’d get here, I would have take pictures, but I was sooo embarrassed. Now I’m taking on “intensity” and I can’t wait to see what a year of doing weights right will do for my body.
We all learn from our mistakes but when it comes to our body and health which we have to be careful. In the future kt will only the side effect of it. The mistakes listed will be a good guidance to the readers.
“Training with intensity, effort, focus and passion” and many great points which I found engrossing. The only thing I found missing was a mention about diet, whereas it is one compelling aspect for a body transformation. A well planned diet plan contributes immensely towards right body transformation.