I first started taking selfies seriously when I was working with an online trainer who had me start taking them weekly so he could see my progress. He had me take shots in the same location with the same lighting and wearing the same shorts. We would put the photos side by side every week and it was pretty amazing how the juxtaposition really showed progress from week to week.

I still use this method now with the guys I train and they always really like it. It’s able to show you how you’re doing, what’s working, where the areas are that you need to target, and how you can modify your routine to meet your goals.

I also love a technique that is taken from Vision Boarding pictures from magazines and Google Images searches to create a collage of the elements that would make up their ideal life. Here we are using this technique to create your perfect body. A picture you can hold in your mind of you with the body you want. You can make a perfect body vision board or just one vision of yourself. But all the bodies you use must have a cut-and-paste version of your head on top of the bodies you’ve chosen to give you the sense of or at least an approximation of you with that goal body.

This may sound silly at first but when you do this you will see how powerful it is. Something inside you will expand to accommodate the actual possibility of your own body looking like this. It’s a very visceral and physical visualization that you can use in a number of ways.

The most common ways people use workout selfies are for motivation, encouragement, and the enhancement of self-esteem. There is nothing more powerful than seeing your results visualized and p

I knew a man who was over 350 pounds. He got the surgery, went into a heavy training mode, and dropped down to 190. Do you think it feels good to see his body transformation pictures? You bet it does!

Participate in an online workout group. Share your pictures with the other guys. Hear the positive feedback they give you and let it go towards building your confidence. Experiment and take a lot of pictures to see where and how you look best. And let those pictures enhance and increase your self-confidence too. Let all the pictures move you in the right direction and shake off anything that’s not positive. These are tools to move you forward never backward. You are a work in progress and you always will be; so focus on the progress and let the rest go.