Trevor Thieme explains why you shouldn’t do the following exercises:
I’ve used all of these exercises, but his explanation of why they should be avoided makes sense. He also suggests alternatives to each.
I have found that you have to stick to a work out regimen for about three months before you start to see significant results. I have also found that I have an annoying habit of making it to gym almost daily for about a month before I start to burn out. Consistency is one of the most important parts of any exercise regimen. No amount of nutritional supplements or personal training will make up for a lack of consistency. If you don’t at least show your face in the gym a couple times a week you will see no significant results. The few times that I have made it past my one month burn out barrier were the times when I had a very specific goal to work towards or an event to prepare for. Having something to work towards is great motivation to get yourself into the gym.
Most recently that motivation was playing the part of Rocky, in The Rocky Horror Show. Rocky is the muscle bound title character, not to be confused with the main character Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Here is a picture from the motion picture with male model Peter Hinwood playing the part of Rocky, lets just say that he wasn’t hired for his acting ability:
I had three months to prepare, so I wasn’t going to look as good as Peter but I also had a lack of acting ability to compensate for. The fear of being on stage in only a speedo in front of a couple thousand people was an excellent motivator. Three months, ~20 pounds of protein powder, ~5% less body fat, and a few more pounds of muscle later the show began. Without the show as a very distinct motivator I wouldn’t have made it the gym nearly as often or been as strict with my diet. Here are a couple pictures of my version of Rocky:
Fear certainly isn’t the only effective motivator. There are many, probably less stressful, other ways to motivate yourself to work towards your desired physique. Here are some links to other bodybuilding sites’ lists of motivations, with a few of my favorite tips below:
Program Your Mind For Bodybuilding Success - Visualize The End Result
I also advice you to just lay down at night and really think of the way that you want your body to look. Then make sure that you just wake up every morning with the mindset that everything you will do that day will contribute in one way or the other to achieving that look. This will give you the motivation to adhere to your bodybuilding routines and diet each and every day. 1
Work out with a friend. Not only can this help you actually get to your workout appointment, but friends can help encourage each other to work out with more intensity. 2
If you’re tired, or your muscles ache, try something a bit gentler - but don’t avoid fitness entirely ‘until you feel better’. Swimming is good because it helps support the whole body, and it is still a good workout. 2
Take before and after pictures and then compare the two. Seeing results will further motivate you to do better and better. Do not only look at pictures of yourself but also of other bodybuilders. Professional bodybuilders are a key to my motivation. I know when I look at a picture of one of them it makes me just want to go out there and tear up my weights so I can one day get that freakishly huge. 3
Set Small Goals:
Sometimes it much easier to think of getting around the next corner then it is to look at the big picture. When I hiked Yosemite’s Half-Dome, I used many small goals to keep me going. Rather then look at my final objective all the time, I used land markers to keep me going from one point to another. A technique you can use at the gym. Set weekly goals (1 lb a week) rather then looking at what you want to accomplish a year from now. 4
A Reward System
This may seem like a funny point considering what you just read on extrinsic motivation, however having a reward system can be very beneficial. What is important is that the rewards are set by you and have a particular meaning to you. This will keep everything under your control so you won’t begin to feel like you are being regulated by someone else (as is usually the case for extrinsic motivation).
By setting small rewards after each step in your plan, you will give yourself something to look forward to and keep yourself motivated to keep pushing onward. 5
Take it slow and steady.
Many people, in a combination of enthusiasm and impatience, wind up doing too much, too soon, too frequently. That results in soreness, exhaustion, and feeling burnout - in other words, lack of motivation. Take your workouts one day at a time and enjoy the journey. “Inch by inch life is a synch, yard by yard life is hard” 6
Josh Hillis has the details of the extreme conditioning the actors in the movie 300 went through in preparation for the movie. The program is run by Mark Twight from Gym Jones and includes “tire flipping, jumping, sprints with a jumpstretch band, runs with kettlebells, turkish get ups with kettlebells, medicine ball throwing, kipping pullups, bear crawls, tuck sits on gymnastics rings, barbell thrusters.”
Tom Venuto argues the merits of the “the pump” in body building: Is ‘THE PUMP’ Necessary for Muscle Growth?
The pump is the short-term sensation you get during training when your muscles fill up with blood faster than the blood can leave the area, making the muscles appear fuller and larger. It’s a tight, swelled feeling, often accompanied by an increase in vascularity.
Basically he says that for physique-orientated weight lifters the pump is very important, but it is less important for strength training.
The pump usually results from superset workouts or lifting with very brief rest intervals between sets. A superset is an advanced training method in which you do two exercises, one after that other, with no rest in between. This can be done with two different muscle groups, but for a good pump it would focus on only one muscle group.
Most bodybuilders and even most exercise physiologists would agree that workouts that produce maximum pump can provide up to 20-25% of the increase in muscle size. This comes from sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial hypertrophy and increased capillarization. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy looks good and is beneficial to bodybuilders, but you do tend to lose it more quickly with de-training.
The pump has virtually nothing to do with increased myofibrillar hypertrophy – the actual fiber growth that’s responsible for 75-80% of the increase in muscle size. That type of fiber growth comes only from heavy training, which produces much less, if any pump.
Tom also mentions the psychological benefits of the pump, referencing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Arnold wrote:
When you are pumped up, you feel better and stronger, and it’s easier to motivate yourself to train hard and achieve a high level of intensity. Sometimes you will walk into the gym and feel tired and lazy but you will get a fantastic pump after a few minutes of work and suddenly feel strong and energetic.
Even if you realize that the pump is only temporary while your muscles are gorged with blood, it can still be very motivating to see your muscles swollen to their max.
