"Goals change- decisions don't!" This has always been a motto of mine. Once you make a decision to set a certain goal, do not turn around. Not sure where this comes from, but I don't have it in me to turn around. This behavior really makes me take serious looks at my yearly and monthly goal setting.

My personal opinion is to have one major goal or competition a year, and no more. Sure you may have a competition that leads up to a major show, but don't expect to be in peak form in both contests. Having said that, once you become a champion you may be able to stagger two shows really close together, but until them stick to one.

Mentally, I also believe that you should only do one major show a year. It's hard to totally focus, gain size and eat extremely healthy all year round. If you are a trophy hunter, forget being a true bodybuilding champion.

Every one is different when it comes to pre-contest training. The art of it is to not diet to long, lose muscle and fry your brain, or do the opposite crash diet and lose muscle tissue. I personally like about four and a half months to have for pre-contest prep. On a side note; I also never rose over twenty pounds from my contest weight either.

Set one main contest goal for the year. Have an off season training program and an on season training program. This goes for your eating too.

Write all your goals down too - on season and off. This may sound retentive, but I also set thirty day goals to that lead up to the seasonal goals. Do what ever it takes to stay focused on the main yearly goal. There have been times that I had to set a daily goal just to get through the day.

If you have a training partner, allow him/her to see them and take a copy of them if need be. Give them permission to hold you to them no matter what. But, do not show them to anyone else. This is just a promise between you and your training partner.

If you happen to not reach a monthly goal, do not fret. If you have competed before you know many variables abound. Patience, faith, determination, consistency and long term thinking makes a champion. If goal setting scares you because you have a fear of commitment, face the facts that you will continue to be mediocre.

The question is, "How serious are you?"