Motivation

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The body cannot live without the mind... unless one considers merely existing as living. The body cannot live much like opportunities, goal attainment and leveling up is damn near impossible with a poor outlook and mindset.

Before Nathalia Melo became a world class bikini pro winning the Bikini Olympia and international identity and brand she had to have a vision, a burn the boat mentality and a work ethic to match her vision.

We get a bit more back gourd on Nathalia here and learn that she married her husband Roger and made another huge "burn the boat" move when she relocated to Ireland. Burning this metaphoric boat this time opened up her horizons and brand to a massive European audience and ultimately paid off huge dividends. Long story short, it was all worth the risk BUT the risk is nothing without the mentality to expect it to pay off and to expect to work for it.

Set Your Mind & Make It Happen - Nathalia Melo

It's get busy living or get busy dying. Retirement is a concept that means work for 60 years and then start living your golden years. This makes no sense when you have all the strength and vigor in your earlier years. For Bo Jones, competing, turning pro and competing on the pro stage is part of what he considers living.

What is living: "It's feeling. That's the one thing that separates being dead and being alive. Its emotion, experiences, friendships, happiness and sadness. Everything wont always be great but then again everything wont always be bad. Living is doing things and experiencing things to the best of your ability."

Here Bo links up with Ray Baker at destination in route to his 2021 competitive season. Ray has a very unique approach to training and posing. Posture is key with a lot Ray prescribes and he explains briefly why he has Bo start with several things before hitting the horizontal leg press.

Stay Competitive - Bo Jones

What does it take to turn pro? Loving the process will be a huge advantage to facilitate and expedite becoming a true professional in any trade you choose.

. Both turned professional in the IFBB this year. Christina won the overall in bikini at the IFBB North American and Olivia won the overall in figure at the NPC Jr. USA.

Both Olivia and Christina work extremely demanding jobs in healthcare with shifts ranging from 12-14 hours and most of the time never getting breaks and ALWAYS on call with an immense amount of responsibility and human lives in their care. They share with us the demands of their professions and the discipline it takes to still continue to set goals and then steps they execute to make sure they ALWAYS make progress towards them.

Check out the full video and follow Christina and Olivia. Stay tuned for more from these gals.

Discipline Prioritization & Competition - Olivia Gravengaard and Christina Heath

[Samantha Jerring](Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthajerring/) lives in Helsingborg, Sweden. In this video she is 14 weeks out from her PRO-qualifier competition in Spain. Samantha did her first PRO-qualifier show last year and finished second in the overall.

_"The woman that beat me was amazing and she definitely deserved it. Hopefully, this is my time."

Samantha is trying to make the most out of every workout she has and trying to stay as strong as possible.

_"I try to eat as much as I can and not doing too much cardio because I want my muscles to look as full and healthy as possible."

The reason why Samantha got into bodybuilding is a long story but to make it short; she was overweight and really insecure about herself. That got her into fitness and back in 2013, she followed an Olympia level Pro Women's Physique athlete on Instagram when this division was new. This inspired her. Samantha wanted to look like her and got herself a gym card. She had no idea what she was doing, literally no clue about anything in the gym.

_"I walked in there and I knew it was my place to be. I am always doing my thing despite what anybody says. Many people have told me that I cant do this, you are not able to do that, you are not gonna make it and so on. As long as you believe in yourself, who gives a f*ck what anyone thinks."

14 Weeks Out With Samantha Jerring

_"Fear is such an important emotion. I love fear."

John Tao is a pro MMA fighter who is 2-0 and has 30 amateur fights under his belt. He grew up in Garland, Texas and once he saw his first MMA fight he was hooked and began training.

As with all other athletes, nutrition and training are key components to success.

_"I like to stick to alkaline foods and consume carbs around my workout."

Along with the strategy around nutrition and training John emphasizes mental health and training.

"Fear can produce pressure, but if you let fear get to you, it can render you immobile. You wont be able to move. Fear can also put you under pressure. Some of the most amazing individuals perform well under pressure. I am ready for some pressure."

Don't let fear take up too much space in your mind. Instead re-frame fear to help you stay pressured to improve and to keep moving in a positive direction!

Use Your Fear - Pro MMA Fighter John Tao

In this in depth interview with IFBB Pro Jeremy Potvin and Better Bodies CEO Michael Johansson they dive into what makes Jeremy tick, why he got into bodybuilding, what aspects he enjoys about training and what he wants to convey to people following his journey.

I approach everything with purpose. When it comes to weight training, I live by intensity. Giving everything you got and then some and then getting out of the gym and on to the next task.

While visiting the Better Bodies headquarters at destination, Jeremy along with Jen Ronzitti, Priscilla Aquilla and Shane and Irina Post give new product feedback to the Swedish design team in Stockholm, visit the gun range, barbecue and take the corvette out for a quick spin to feel all the horsepower since Jeremy is a car fanatic.

A take home message from Jeremy is to do everything with purpose and to not lose yourself. Always be yourself!

Be Real: Bodybuilding with Jeremy Potvin

Eileen Walraven with the help of Destination trainer Greg Mead adopted a total "can do" mindset and as a product of this mindset Eileen has gotten in the best shape of her life, built muscle, grew more confident and has built up her immune system that serves her in her professional side of life as an ER nurse.

_"As an ER nurse I generally have a strong immune system but I could only get it stronger by working out and eating right so I knew that it was time to start coming to the gym and to start doing strength training."

Eileen committed to training 3-5 times a week with Greg and has went from 180lbs to 135lbs with improved cardiovascular endurance along with muscle tone and strength. From the initial phase of training Greg instilled a "can-do attitude."

_"Once you eliminate excuses, we start getting things done!"

Positivity is contagious! During the transformation, Eileen experienced an amazing amount of feedback from her kids and co workers but she maintains the winning formula is the healthy diet and being able to build and maintain muscle is what is mostly responsible for her transformation.

_"There is no magic pill. If you remember your why the how will find a way of happening. Have a strong why. Why do you want to train and get in shape."

Stay tuned for more amazing stories like Eileen's.

Mind and Body Transformation - Eileen Walraven

To go through life without being eager to get up and get it every single day deserves some thought and maybe a change of habit, trajectory and goals.

Bernardo Costa is an avid weight room junkie who really refined his passion for lifting, turned pro in Classic Physique and is preparing for his pro debut here in 2020.

Amid all of the uncertainty and sometimes chaos of the times, Bernardo gets real with us and tells us how he is having to revisit his why. His reason for training anywhere possible and following through with every detail of the relentless lifestyle through even uncertain times.

Suffer the pain and sacrifice it takes to get to where you want to go in life or suffer the pain of never knowing what could have been if you did.

Check out Bernardo and his thoughts on you "why" and stay tuned!

Why Bodybuilding - Bernardo Costa

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have!

Better Bodies CEO Michael Johansson is fired up seeing all the uncompromising ways of training by everyone in the community! Times are tough but that has not stopped any of us.

In the spirit of everyone amping up the training and everyone keeping the energy at a new high, MJ wants to give back.

! To enter, post a video of you training wherever you have to under these circumstances and tag @officialgasp @officialbetterbodies and @destinationdallastexas

We will re-post your stories and you're eligible to win one of the $50 gift cards.

Better Bodies Give Back with CEO Michael Johansson

_"Do what you can, the best way you can with what you have to work with."

Better Bodies Transformation challenge winner Nina Åberg suffered a life changing injury that resulted in her being forced to decide between giving up or using her competitive nature to focus on a goal and aggressively pursue it.

_"The only one who benefits from being as good as you can be is myself. That has always been my motto."

Nina shares her transformation story, winning the challenge and getting to come to Texas to meet the team behind Better Bodies. The challenge represents not only a physical transformation but more importantly huge adaptations in the mental aspect of health and fitness.

Circumstances can be framed in many ways. One thing will always be true no matter what and that is the exact way you choose to frame any situation.

Video: Healthy Mind Healthy Body - Nina Åberg

Stress can kill any efforts you try to have in the gym or any other area of your life that you want to stay productive in by altering your mental peace and composure.

This is a pro tip on a couple of things I do to be proactive when it comes to stress.

1. When your day feels chaotic, try breaking down your day hour by hour. Don't focus on every task you need to accomplish but only the task at hand.

2. Try making a list. When you're feeling over whelmed it might help to make a list to visualize everything you need together done that day and then physically cross out every task when you have completed it.

Dealing With Stress - Jennifer Ronzitti Pro Tip 5

One week out from he 2020 Mr. Olympia we link up with Divine Master at Destination and get a glimpse of what he's serving up for the Classic Physique Olympia. At first glance Divine presents such a dramatic physique that thoughts of "genetics" creep into anyone's thoughts.

Divine's training and sports background has helped him build a super athletic look coupled with how he approached bodybuilding training and mind muscle connect giving him the size and shape to shake things up on the Olympia stage.

Divine credits work ethic to his success in building the athleticism to excel in team sports, in academics and now in the IFBB on the worlds most prestigious stage.

If you have great work ethic, you can no doubt excel in anything that piques your interest."

Check out everything Divine says here and let us know what you think.