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Remember when we asked you to Take Your Worst Picture Ever? Well it’s time to take it out. If you haven’t taken it yet, or are new to World Fitness Network, we’ve got reminders at the end of this post…
What Do You See?
That old picture of yourself – is that what you still look like? Have you made any progress? Have you made enough progress? I’m not here to lecture you – I’m here to help you lecture yourself.
If you think you’ve made good progress, skip to the Take a New Picture section and then compare.
If you haven’t made progress, do these things right now:
- write down every excuse you can come up with; don’t hold back!
- now rank those excuses by their “power”; the stronger their power over you, the closer to the top of the list they go
- for each of your top 5 excuses (more if you have the gumption), write down at least one action you are going to take to eliminate it as an excuse moving forward
- take your top 5 excuses and share them with someone who cares about you; ask them for their advice on how they think you can eliminate those; don’t share the previous step with them – you want original ideas
- take the combined list of approximately 10 ideas to combat your 5 major excuses, and tape the list to your bathroom mirror
- every day (especially on your workout days) recite that list out loud; if you get embarrassed reading it out loud, good! you’ve got to break through some barriers if you want to eliminate those excuses
- now act!
And time to take a new picture:
Haven’t Taken Your Picture Yet? Or Need To Take A New Picture?
Did you fail your self-evaluation? Or are you just now planning to get in shape, but haven’t quite started yet?
Or even if you’ve made progress, you now need a new benchmark – a new picture.
Go into your room and take all your clothes off. That’s right, strip down to nothing but your briefs, your Spiderman Underoos, your boxers, your lingerie, whatever you are wearing underneath. Read the rest of this entry »
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Those of you who have ever bought any of my lifting programs know I always include shoulder presses, in various forms.
I adamantly believe that the standard barbell vertical press (a/k/a barbell shoulder press, a/k/a military press, a/k/a some other names) is the best form to be doing throughout the year. That said, I hate monotony and include Arnold Presses in some routines (for example the 6×6x6 Routine).
Most people do Arnold Presses sitting down. DON’T!
Doing them sitting with your back on a seated bench has various drawbacks:
- reduced core stabilization
- usually done with improper back arch
- requires you to wait around for that seated bench to be available (wastes time)
- less transfer of skill/strength to other exercises
Instead, do them standing. This video shows you how to do them, but I add something most people forget about: low ceilings.
Many of you, like me, often work out in home gyms with low ceilings. So what should you do?
Should you do them sitting? Again, NO!
You do them kneeling. So I call them “Kneeling Arnolds”. You get almost all the benefits of standing.
Here’s the video: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Arnold, dumbbell, overhead press, shoulder press
- Don’t delay getting in the best shape of your life…
Are you waiting until January to get serious about fitness?
I’m already starting to hear a phrase I absolutely hate: “After the holidays I will… [fill in the blank]“
For some it’s “After the holidays I’ll get serious about eating right.” For others it’s “…I’ll start lifting heavy,” or “…I’ll start on that workout program I bought last month.” You get the picture.
Are you guilty of saying this?
What in the world is so magical about “after the holidays?”
I’ll tell you what the “magic” is – it’s the dark magic of excuses and procrastination.
Because “the holidays” are a recognized calendar demarcation, it’s easy to put things off until afterward.
“I’ll be too busy until then.”
“There are too many temptations during the holidays.”
Wah wah wah.
And then you bring in the worst self-improvement lie I know of: the New Year’s Resolution.
I’m going to be sharing with you REAL strategies on goal setting in the coming weeks and let me assure you, there is nothing special about New Year’s except what’s in your head. That means it’s perception, and you can change your perception.
Your fitness is too important to wait.
You are ready now.
You are subscribed to this website (or else you landed here because you did a web search for something fitness related) and you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t considering getting serious.
There is no better time.
Some of you (thank goodness) are already well on your way to having a great physique and I’ll bet you didn’t “turn the corner” because of a New Year’s Resolution or by saying “I’ll start after the holidays.”
Sometimes it takes a life-changing event to push you into making change. Don’t wait for a life-changing event.
You are there now.
You have no excuse.
Tags: Goals, motivation
This guy looks a little too happy with his lifts - he needs to work harder!
Quick tip here for you that works with just about lifting program you are using. (Of course, you only use my lifting programs, right????? [smile]). The only routines I would NOT use this technique with is when you are doing sets to failure. I’ll explain why.
Science has shown that the eccentric portion of the lift (the lowering, or “negative”) actually stimulates more muscle growth than the concentric (the lifting or pushing portion). The theories as to why this is true are varied and inconclusive; yet the fact remains that negatives are great for progression.
Does that mean you should do sets of 10 negatives? Not really. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: negatives
- Taylor Lautner’s Muscle Gain Story (pic from buzznet.com)
How many stories have you heard about how Taylor Lautner, the 17-yr old kid in the popular Twilight movie “New Moon“, went from scrawny to brawny?
Some of you might saying “who?” but if you’ve got teenage daughters, you are probably sick of hearing about him.
Well here’s another story about how Taylor Lautner gained so much muscle. But I’m taking a different angle than other writers.
I’ve dug up interviews with him and with his trainer to dissect what he did and what you can learn from it. Although I’m a fan, this is not a “fan post”. This is about your physique and how you can improve.
I think any guy out there has to be impressed with this kid. He gained 30 pounds of muscle in a year, all naturally, and looks fantastic. Who wouldn’t want that? (There is one imbalance we’ll need to talk about though.)
But here’s the question: If you want those results, why don’t you have them?
Reason: Because it takes hard work!
He’s no genetic superior to you! The only advantage he might have over most of you (and me included) is that he’s younger. Ok, so I’ll handicap him 10% because he’s at a great age metabolically to see muscle growth without fat growth. But that’s only 10%.
So why don’t you look 90% as good as him?
Taylor Lawtner did two critical things:
a) he got great advice from someone who knew more than him
b) he worked incredibly hard, even when he didn’t feel like it
Can you say the same about yourself? If not, why not?
Ok Darrin, Enough Lecture. What Are the SECRETS He Used?
First, hear his own words for some of the techniques:
From what I can tell (using many resources beyond this video), he used 8 techniques that made a difference:
Tags: muscle gain, twilight
I hurt my wrist recently (long story) and so Yates rows have been causing pain. So I moved to dumbbell rows but added a couple variations. (The barbell requires pronated grip, which causes the pain, but the dumbbells allow for a semi-neutral grip and no pain.) Here’s a video: Read the rest of this entry »
Editor’s note – There is so much monthly science news when it comes to muscle fitness, that it’s probably hard for you to keep up. In these ~monthly posts, I’ll summarize various items of recent research. I’ll cite the official reports so that the hard-core of you can read the science for yourself. But for the rest of you, these summaries should save you some time…
High School Lifting Getting More Elaborate
Some researchers from Wisconsin recently surveyed high school strength and conditioning coaches to find out what routines they were doing. I figured since many of you have kids, and lots of you ask me questions about kids and weight training, this might be interesting.
Among various fun facts appearing in J Strength Cond Res, 23(8): 2188-2203, 2009:
- 95% of coaches use a periodization model (though there were wide ranges in the types of periodization)
- 97% include at least one Olympic lift
- 100% use plyometrics
- The most common answer to “what is the single most important lift” was “squat or squat variations”
If you have a kid in high school training, do these match what your child is doing?
By the way, I now include a copy of my report “Starting Weight Training, For Older Adults and Younger Youths” with every order at http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/more/fullbodyattack.html .
Two Lessons For Older Lifters
Can aerobic training improve strength and/or power in older people?
The answer is yes, but the gains are quickly lost, according to a study (in press) from Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. The test subjects were Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: science
Ever wonder what other readers of worldfitnessnetwork are doing for their workouts? What’s working for them? What isn’t?
I’ve started asking some of our readers – normal people like you – to talk to me about their routines. I think you’ll learn from these interviews and get inspired!
For LeanLifters members, I’ll send you a separate email with the MP3 download. Everyone else can listen using the buttons on the new page from the link below.
Each one is only about 15 minutes – give a listen and see if you can pick up some tips!
If you have questions about these answers, add a comment below!
Tags: Q&A, teleseminar
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