No Excuses: Interview with International Natural Bodybuilding Hall of Famer Ron Williams
I recently went one on one with Ron Williams. Ron is a 21-time World Champion Natural Bodybuilder, with more than 250 titles in the Natural Bodybuilding arena. Ron is a 7-time Mr. Natural Universe, Mr. Natural Olympia, and Mr. Natural World. Ron was inducted into the International Natural Bodybuilding Association's Hall of Fame in 2008.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your journey and advice. First things first, though, readers would love to learn more about you. What is something about you that would surprise people?
Ron: I played four sports on an international level before I was 20 years old.
Adam: How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Ron: There wasn’t one experience, but a compilation of decisions and definite turning points that led me to where I am today.
Adam: What have been the key elements to winning so many bodybuilding titles?
Ron: Consistency and learning to see with my eyes closed. Envisioning my goals that would turn into reality and deciding that the only thing that separated the goal in my mind from reality was time.
Adam: What are your best tips for those interested in bodybuilding?
Ron: There are two types of Bodybuilding. Number one is to shape and sculpt your body to get on stage and win at any cost. Number two is to shape and sculpt your body with health, life, and longevity in mind and get on stage and win; not temporarily, but for a lifetime. I decided in the beginning of my career to do the latter; that means my nutrition was different, my training was different, and my mindset was different.
The first thing you must decide is - what type of Bodybuilding do you want to do? The way that I was able to win is, I took the time to study my body and learn what it required to shape, sculpt, and build each area; looking at the muscle fiber, the muscle length, my metabolism, my body’s weaknesses, learning how to capitalize on my strengths, and hiding weaknesses through building them the best I could and posing in a way that brought compliments to those areas.
Every time I competed in an international championship, there were at least two people on stage that were born with better genetics, but it was the study and work that I put into all areas that made my body stand out more so that I could dominate competitions.
Adam: What are your best tips for those interested in improving their general physical fitness?
Ron:
Set specific goals before starting the process.
Make the decision that you are not going to sacrifice what you want most for what you want now. What you want most is to look good, to be healthy, to live a long life, and to enjoy the fitness that you have accomplished.
Be willing to put in the time and stay consistent. This is something that becomes a lifestyle that you do on a daily basis – like brushing your teeth, taking a shower, or breathing. You will never be successful at doing anything without consistency. Two examples of this are – if you go to school most of the time / 80%, you are not likely to graduate. If you go to work 90% of the time, the likelihood of getting fired is great. I look at training and reaching my goals in the same category.
Adam: What are your guiding principles and best pieces of advice on the topic of nutrition?
Ron: All calories are definitely not created equal. Many times, when we want to lose excess body fat, the first thing we do is decrease our calories. That may not be the most appropriate or the best thing to do in order to reach our goals. Often, when we want to put on lean muscle, we focus mainly on eating more protein, not realizing the importance of the other macro and micro-nutrients.
Adam: In your experience, what do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
Ron: Instead of pointing the way, a leader leads the way. Instead of telling the followers what to do, a leader shows them how to do it by demonstrating it with his or her own life. It is hard to successfully lead others on a journey if you first have not traveled the path.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Ron: No one is above having a Coach. I have personally been coached throughout my athletic career in every sport except Bodybuilding. Today, I have a business / life coach. What I have experienced is having a Coach - honoring, listening to, and applying their training - actually makes me a better Coach.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Ron:
Fear is one of the greatest enemies. Fear paralyzes you; fear stunts your growth; fear is an enemy to creativity.
Realize that you don’t know what you don’t know and somebody else does. That means it is important for you to find that somebody else and learn from them in order for you to be truly successful.
Good entrepreneurs are risk-takers. It is important to learn how to take calculated risks and bring other business minds in to help make big financial and time-consuming decisions. This practice will help save a lot of time and a lot of money.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Ron: Do what you do best. Hire someone to do what you can’t do, hire someone to do what you are mediocre at, hire someone to do what you are good at. If you don’t follow these principles, what you are best at becomes less and the world never gets an opportunity to see the greatness that you have to offer.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Ron: Bodybuilding in many ways saved my life. Bodybuilding has prevented me from going down many possible roads that I may not have recovered from. Bodybuilding has taught me a level of discipline that I otherwise would have never acquired. Bodybuilding forced me to face reality.
When you stand on stage in front of judges, there are no excuses to be heard, either you have the goods, or you don’t. The judges don’t want to hear your voice, they only want to see the work that you have been able to accomplish. They can see the twinkies. They can see the soda pop and all those other things that show up around your waist and on your backside, and they judge you accordingly.
I must give some credit to Bodybuilding for my spiritual journey. I learned how to build a physical body with all of its disciplines, and those same disciplines were used to build my spiritual body. I had to feed my mind and spirit on a regiment. I had to exercise my mind and spirit on a regiment. Physically if you eat and eat and never exercise you get fat. The same concept applies to the Spirit. When I learn a spiritual principle I go out and exercise that spiritual principle, this creates spiritual growth. Personally, the way I look on the outside is only a reflection of what is taking place on the inside. I never wanted to be that person that had a great body to look at, but nothing worthwhile inside.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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