- 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.
Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!
We went over the 8.5 Types Of Thinkers While Weightlifting last week. What you think about while lifting is critical for your progress.
This week, let’s talk about what you should be thinking about!
What Type of Thinker SHOULD You Be?
So now you probably have a little more insight into the type of thinker you naturally are. But I’m here to tell you that you need to become more focused in your thinking and become part of the Elite. Even if you are already super focused, you can get moreso.
All success, in every endeavor, starts in the mind first. Every success guru from Napoleon Hill to Stephen Covey to Tony Robbins, etc. talks about how your frame of mind and the thoughts you intentionally put there impacts whether you succeed or fail.
The same holds true for lifting.
During your workout, you need to monofixate one thing – performance.
- Before your workout starts, look at your training log from the previous workout. Quickly imagine yourself doing today’s exercises. Set goals for a few of the exercises. (I’d say set goals for every set, but I admit that might be asking too much.) Repeat any mantra you need to repeat to get yourself in the zone. This step is really important because it sets your mental frame. And, if you are doing supersets or triplesets, you will have very little resting time and so resetting your mental tone will be harder. Do it now.
- During your warm up, do a body inventory to make sure every muscle you’ll be using today is ready.
- During every set, as you are lifting, tell yourself
- “This is the only set that matters so I have to give it my all”
- “Think about your form and getting full range”
- “Mentally imagine the muscle areas you are you doing are getting bigger/more defined/less flabby/whatever your physique goal is”
Continue reading about What Do You Think About When You Lift? Part 2 of 2
A few weeks ago we had fun talking about what we think about when we run. I figured it would be cool to do the same think with lifting. But I’ve got a serious message at the end of this, so be sure to read all the way through.
Unlike jogging, where you are doing the same physical motion for long periods, weight lifting is more staggered. You have the lifts themselves of course. But you have rest periods. You have between-set activities like changing the weights. [Aside - interval training is somewhat similar, especially if you are doing my "inverted Tabata" routine.]
You may also have a lifting partner who influences what you think about.
And then, in commercial gyms, there’s that dreaded background music. I absolutely hate that. Not because I don’t like the particular music (sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t). I hate it because it’s something I can’t control and it distracts me from my lifting.
But what do you think about during your body building workout? (And I’m using “body building” here generically – as two words – meaning that if you are lifting weights, you are building your body in some form.)
If you unplug your ipod, and tune out the commercial gym music, I’m betting you fall into one of these camps…
The 8.5 Thinking Body Builder Types
1. The gabber – You actually aren’t spending much time thinking – you’re talking, chatting about the weather, and talking up the nearest person. Congratulations on your social skills, but you’d do yourself (and other gym (more…)
Continue reading about What Do You Think About When You Lift? Part 1 of 2
In many countries around the world, today is a day to celebrate fathers.
Being a proud father myself, I like this holiday!
This will be a short post, with a few notices at the end, so that you all can get back to the day’s celebrations.
Father’s Day And Fitness
Father’s Day reminds me of part of the reason I take fitness so seriously:
- to be around longer for my kids and (future) grandkids
- to have the energy to play with my kids, even after a long day
- to model great behavior so that they grow up to be healthy and strong (it’s kind of hard to preach eating right and exercising if I sit on the couch eating chips and drinking beer all the time)
- to keep up with them! My older kids are fast and in an all-out race I can barely win!
- for my daughters, to model the fact they they should choose a partner who also takes his health seriously
You probably have similar reasons. But it’s hard sometimes to help kids understand why I don’t eat the deserts they do. Or why I get up early and work out to build muscle. Or why I’d rather go for a run than watch a movie.
While I’m sure they “get” the big picture, I also have to understand that they can’t see the world exactly through my eyes. So sometimes they think I’m a bit extreme!
But not today! Today will be a carbolicious day!
Now some of you might not have ideal fatherly role models yourself. Maybe your dad is/was fat. Maybe he never taught you how to eat right. Maybe you have to work twice as hard as the rest of us because you have to un-learn bad habits from your youth. Or maybe your dad simply wasn’t around.
None of that matters now.
You are in control of your beliefs and actions.
The very fact that you are reading this says that you are taking responsibility for bettering your health and fitness.
Congratulations!
I don’t want to work out today.
I’m tired. My head hurts. My legs are sore.
Plus, I’m not sure I can get my full workout in before taking my kids to school (I workout in the mornings and I have a home weight room). I’m slated to do a heavy upper body workout, including my deadlifts.
I’m serious, I should just bag it.
Have you ever said these things to yourself? I know you have. It happens to all of us. Some other comments you might say to yourself:
• “I didn’t sleep well.”
• “I have a big project due at work.”
• “I’ve got a sniffle – I wonder if I’m getting sick?”
• “I’ve been (pretty much) sticking to my schedule, so I deserve a day off.”
Days like this really test your motivation. Are you working out for the right reasons? Are you dedicated to getting healthier and looking better and feeling great?
Sure, there are some legitimate reasons to skip a planned workout: • You are really sick (like vomiting, or a high fever; sniffles don’t count!) • You are injured • An opportunity to spend some really excellent time with your kids or spouse that really is a sudden opportunity you can’t replicate (side note-always take the time to play with your kids and workout later; if playing with them means your 45 minute workout can’t happen, then skip your TV show later and workout then) • A family emergency • The muscle group you are going to work today is still sore from your last workout
And remember, if you must skip a workout, try your best to do SOMETHING instead – 15 min of bodyweight exercises, 15 minutes of sprints, etc. Something.
But other than something on the same scale as these (I’m sure there are more), you need to stick to your routine.
This is where my (your) workout schedule comes into play. If I skip today, it throws off the rest of the week’s workout schedules.
Ask yourself if you’ve ever felt worse when you did exercise on days even after you tried to convince yourself not to. I bet you’ve never regretted workout out anyway.
And the inverse of that question is, “Now think back to the days that your skipped your exercise after mentally debating if you should or you shouldn’t. Have you ever felt worse?” My guess is that when you’ve skipped, you felt worse (emotionally and physically).
No matter how bad you feel, you must put 100% into your workout.
There’s so much science that shows how critical intensity is to building lean muscle. Don’t think you can do a half-way effort and get half the results. No, it doesn’t work that way. A 100% effort gets your maximum results. But a 50% effort, not really trying too hard, going through the motions, etc. only gets you about 25% of the results. If you’re going to go, go big.
So back to today…
I got myself downstairs.
I got my protein shake and a small bite to eat.
I did my dynamic stretches and warm-ups.
And after the first set, something amazing happened.
It’s probably obvious to you that steroid use is just about the last thing we’d recommend at WFN. It’s exactly the wrong look we are going for in our ideal physique. The photo to the right is not our goal. To refresh your memory on what our ideal physique is, check out (and comment on) the WFN Manifesto.
But so many bodybuilding sites, especially those with forums, have entire sections devoted to them. Why is that?
I really question where people are coming from when they consider steroids. What’s the motivation?
Is it just to get bigger in a shorter period of time? Why?
Just simply “to be bigger”? That’s sad.
Is it because they were scrawny as a kid and now want to prove to everyone they can be a big man? Pathetic.
Although still twisted, I can at least understand the motivation for professional athletes – “everyone else” is doing it, and their livelihoods depend on them performing at an inhuman level. I still don’t agree with it, and it still says something about the weakness of that athlete’s self-worth, but I can understand it.
Yet illegal is illegal. You are cheating yourself, cheating your peers, cheating your fans (if you are a pro) and cheating “the system”. Illegal is a pretty black and white word.
I could never look my kids in the eye, tell them to obey the law, and at the same time be taking steriods. I’m also one of those people who never copies a CD or DVD from someone else.
But even if someone wants to argue that there are shades of grey in “illegal”, it comes back to the motivation.
For me, the motivation for lifting is to be healthy for my kids and grandkids, to look good, and certainly see how far I can push my body safely. Those are part of my UFG. Weight training is pretty much unparalleled in this regard. There’s a real thrill in seeing progress and knowing that it’s purely my willpower and hard work getting me there.
If you want to take steroids, I think you really need to question your motivation and find something else in your life worth striving for. When you strip down to the basic motivations involved, I would argue that there’s nothing admirable about anyone’s primal drive that would lead them to take illegal steroids.
Darrin
p.s. I can hear some people saying “yeah, but adding protein powder to your meals isn’t natural either”. Come on. You really can’t compare them. Protein powder (more…)
Continue reading about You Don’t Need Steroids To Develop Lean Muscle
Your body is 100% unable to do anything that your brain does not tell it to do. Period.
For every movement you make, and for every action you take, the initiation and completion begins and ends with the signals that come from your brain. Since your brain is the central command center for your body, it makes sense that improving the function of your mind also improves your physical capabilities.
This improvement can be accomplished through mental rehearsal and visualization. By using your mind to visualize the actions you will take, dramatic increases in performance are possible. Here is an example:
Individuals were divided into 3 groups. Each group was tested to see how many free throws they could successfully shoot with a basketball at the beginning and the end of the study.
Group A: Practiced free throws for 20 minutes Group B: Did not practice free throws at all Group C: Practiced mental free throws every night for 20 minutes. No real free throws were done, only a mental (more…)
Continue reading about Mind Over Matter: Performance Through Visualization
Think you’re too wimpy or too small to be seen in a gym? Better think again.
His name is Aditya, but his friends call him Romeo. He is 2’9” tall, weighs in at less than 20 pounds, and feels no shame whatsoever as throngs of people come to see him as the smallest bodybuilder ever.
And why should he feel any shame whatsoever?
What is wrong with being born with a frame that’s smaller or larger than usual?
Yeah, I know that it’s easy for a beginner to feel out of place in a gym. You’re struggling to press an empty bar while some beast of a man is pressing 500 pounds next to you. You might feel too embarrassed to be seen in public with all the other fit people.
“Look at the fat guy jiggling on the treadmill!”
“What’s that little wimp doing near my bench!”
But these are only voices in your head. Voices that are helping you to rationalize and not take control of your life. It is the fear of ridicule from your peers… And while this self-consciousness can be a powerful motivator, it can also be an overpowering inhibitor.
Take the words of Romeo:
“I’ve been training as a bodybuilder for the last two years, and by now I think I must be the strongest dwarf in the world.”
“I have always been fit, but since I started working out, I have become famous for my strength.”
May the best dwarf win
Weight training can build your confidence, but confidence is also required just to get started with any pursuit in life. Whether you’re learning to lift, learning a new language, learning to sing… the fear of doing poorly is often the greatest factor that holds you back from what you could become.
There’s nothing wrong with being naturally larger or smaller (less witty, less handsome, etc.) than other people. What matters the most is how you deal with what you’ve been given in life. And if you happen to feel abnormal or like you’re a dwarf in life, don’t let it get in the way of your goals or your dreams.
What matters most is not what you’ve been given in life, but what you give, so give it your best so that you can live without any regrets. Whether it’s your workout, your career, or your social life… Just get out there and be the best dwarf in the world.
Continue reading about I Am The Strongest Dwarf In The World
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