Bodybuilding and Building Sunriders

I love to workout. I can’t imagine a life where I could not get to the gym on a regular basis to keep in shape. Working out to me is almost as important as breathing oxygen! A few years ago I decided that I wanted to compete in amateur bodybuilding so I hired a personal trainer who had experience competing in the sport himself. I made it clear from the beginning that my goal was to use the competition as a fun way to improve my health, but that I was not willing to resort to harmful drugs to enhance my performance. From the beginning, I understood the importance of having a personal trainer. With the added time commitments I now have with helping my wife raise our young children, the only hour that I have been able to consistently find available to exercise is 6:00 am. That means preparing my business suit and toiletries the night before in order to be in bed by 10:30 pm, so that I have enough energy to get up at 5:30 am, throw everything in my car, and be in the gym on time to start at 6:00 am! The first thing my trainer would ask me to do in the morning was to check my weight and measure my body fat percentage. These measurements gave both of us a report on my progress as I advanced towards the date of the competition. If the numbers didn’t look good, I knew that I had to make some adjustments in my exercise plan, my food intake, or both to get back on track. This regular habit of “accountability” helped keep me focused and aware of my progress at all times.

I gained an entirely new level of appreciation for my Sunrider® foods and supplements as I trained for my first competition. I had to eat the healthiest food possible to have the energy necessary to workout at a high intensity. And I also needed a high-nutritional food source that didn’t include artificial ingredients and empty calories that would prevent me from achieving the lean muscle mass necessary to pose on stage!

Staying motivated and focused for the 6 months leading up to the date of the competition was not always easy. Sometimes my kids didn’t want to sleep when I wanted them to, so that meant no one got to sleep. Maybe a project at work required long hours in the office in order to complete it on time. Time zone changes and unfamiliar hotel rooms during my many business trips also tended to disrupt my regular routine. But no matter where I was or what the challenge, I always knew that when I got back to the gym my trainer was going to be waiting there for me to get back on the scale to check my weight and my body fat percentages and to hold me accountable for my progress! With that type of accountability, I was almost willing to do pull-ups from the hotel shower curtain rods if necessary to workout when I was on a business trip! My personal trainer also provided me with valuable encouragement when I felt discouraged with the pace of my progress. Because I knew that my trainer sincerely wanted me to be successful and that he was available to do whatever he could to help me win the show, I can tell you that part of the motivation that I had to be successful was to honor my helpful trainer.

The principles of preparing for a bodybuilding show also apply to Sunrider leaders and their downlines who are building their Sunrider businesses. When an IBO sponsors a new person into their organization, the IBO becomes a mentor to that new downline and this new relationship should entail a frank discussion at the very beginning to outline the expectations each person has for each other. A successful mentor will help their new downline identify meaningful goals and will then recommend a strategy to accomplish them. Since life gets in the way for even the best of us, regular follow-up will be required to keep the downline motivated and focused. Words of encouragement may be necessary on occasion to remind the downline that even the most successful IBOs face difficulties in reaching their current levels of success. If you do not feel that you are prepared to fill that roll as a mentor to your new downline then your job is to introduce him or her to the next person in your upline who is! There is a higher likelihood for success when an enthusiastic new Sunrider downline is matched up with an experienced and caring Sunrider mentor.

The new downline would also do well to honestly answer the following questions: Are you teachable? Do you have a relationship of trust with your new upline? Are you willing to follow through with the commitments that you and your mentor mutually agreed to from the beginning? Do you understand the VALUE of Sunrider® products? Are you willing to share what you love about Sunrider with other people? Most of these questions entail some degree of action on the part of the new downline. In terms of preparing for my first bodybuilding competition I knew that I was given all the tools to reach my goals. My trainer was experienced and he wanted me to succeed, and I had Sunrider® foods and supplements to give me the proper nutrition my body needed to perform my best. But with everyone rooting for me and having all the tools to work with, I still had to make a personal commitment to get out of bed every day, drive down the street before daybreak, work hard, eat right, stay motivated, and face the fear of standing on a stage in a bathing suit in front of hundreds of strangers! I still had to do my part or nothing else mattered!

Sunrider International is here to support successful mentor/downline relationships by providing them with a multimillion-dollar investment in manufacturing plants that produce the best products on the planet, the best compensation plan in our industry, a stable 28 year-old and family-owned company, and an increasingly comprehensive suite of training and marketing tools to help both mentors and new downlines quickly gain the skills they need to reach out to the 99% of North America still waiting to hear about the amazing “health and wealth” opportunities of Sunrider International for the very first time.

John Teng
North American Sales Manager
Sunrider International