5 Steps to a Bigger, Leaner, More Muscular You
If I had to narrow building the body you want to 5 steps, they would be:
- Train harder than you think you can
- Train less frequently than you think you need
- Eat more than you think you need
- Sleep more than you think you need
- Train with fewer exercises than you think you need
See that pattern here? If you're currently in a rut or aren't making the kind of progress you want,
C-H-A-N-G-E
This quote has been attributed to a few people, but no matter who said it, it still rings true: The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, expecting a different result.
It's true. Most of us don't train heavy enough. We don't push ourselves. We think we can make up these deficiencies by training more often. Training heavy and training frequently are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT things!
If we are trying to build muscle mass, we try to “eat more.” But it's almost never enough! If you consume 2500 calories right now, and you're not gaining weight, you probably won't gain any mass at all without upping your calories by at least 1000. Yeah, one thousand.
Why? Because our bodies are terribly resistant to change!
We also live on too little sleep. Yes, I fall prey to this all the time! I certainly burn the candle at both ends (but I'm better today than I was at half my age – and I always wondered why I couldn't gain muscle…), raising two very young children, working a “Joe Job,” building my internet businesses, training and consulting with people, writing books, etc. Oh, yeah, the hobbies, too! My gosh, 24 hours is not enough time!!!
Oh, another thing. Why do we have 17 different exercises for the biceps but only 7 for the pecs (count them: Bench press, inclines, declines, flyes, pec-deck, crossover, dips), when you really only need 2 (incline bench, dip – one builds the upper, the other the mid and lower)?
We stress ourselves out by making our workouts longer than they need be (anything over 45 minutes and you're either a ‘roided out bodbuilder or professional athlete – OR you're training for failure), more frequent than they ought to be, less strenuous than they have to be, and we eat crap (but not enough good stuff), and then, THEN, at the end of the day, we have nothing to show for it and only 5 hours of sleep time.
It's no wonder progress is so hard to attain.
Simply. Say it out loud.
S-I-M-P-L-I-F-Y
- Train intensely
- Train less frequently
- Eat more quality food
- Sleep more (if you need an alarm clock to wake your ass up, you're not sleeping enough)
- Pare down the number of exercises you do
It's really that simple. KISS still works. You gotta stimulate the muscle fibers; you cannot overtrain them. Then you gotta feed them, repair them, and make them bigger through high-quality food. Finally, you gotta rest (that really means sleep). In future posts, I'll cover these topics in more depth. Now, get to the gym and train hard but simple. Eat before, during, and after your workout. And for goshsakes, get 8 hours of sound, restful sleep tonight. (I think all the above was a pep talk for me!)
