Inside My Head

The want to build muscle is the easiest part to working out. The hard part comes with knowing what to do in order to build muscle. Fear not because in this article I will tell you the 7 methods of madness that have not only helped me train my clients, but have also helped me put on a few pounds of muscle.

1. WORK SMART - Training 6 hours a day seven days a week is a GREAT example of working hard, but it’s definitely not any example of working smart. Even the most educated of gym rats tend to harbor the idea that a long workout that leaves you sore three days later is the only kind of workout to have, but this experience of delayed onset muscle soreness(DOMS) causes a few problems a lot of people are unaware of. One problem to consider is the fact that the sorer you are, the least likely you will want to train any given day. Another issue is the fact that building muscle requires tearing down muscle fibers and building them back up, but if you’re in a constant state of tearing down, there is no chance for your muscles to rest and rebuild.

2. MOTIVATION - What is the force that pushes you to want more? Are you compelled by how others look at you, or do you like to see yourself in the mirror and marvel at the progress you’re making towards the person that you want to be? EVERYONE is motivated by some internal or external desire. The trick is to find out where your motivation lies and use it to your advantage. The main reason motivation is so important is because there will be days that you won’t want to work out or you won’t want to do that last rep, but your motivation will be there to push you along your way.

3. SHOCK - When you dive into cold water, your blood vessels instantly constrict while the blood from your hands and feet move to your abdominal area as you fight for every gasping breath of air you can take in. The same shock your body feels from this experience is akin to the shock you need to give your body in the gym. If you have been doing the same workout routine or training on the same days for the past 3 years, and wonder why you have yet to see any progress, it’s because of the predictability. You can shock your body by adding or subtracting reps, using new exercises to work the same muscles, or just by changing the days in which you train. The main thing to remember is that once your body gets used to a certain workout or a certain training schedule, if you want to get stronger or see more muscle, it’s time for a change.

4. EAT AND DRINK SO YOU CAN BE MERRY - Benjamin Franklin once said, “Eat to live, but don’t live to eat.” I don’t know whether or not Franklin hit the gym, but there is great truth to what he said because a lot of people feel that in order to lose weight or maintain a certain weight, they should eat only once a day. STOP IT! I can’t stress this enough, but trying to survive off one meal a day is like trying to put a cup of gasoline into an SUV and then taking a 3 hour drive. Eventually the car, like your body, will run out of gas and stop. If you haven’t heard it yet, the best benefit of eating 4 or even 5 times a day is that eating more causes you to eat smaller portions because you get fuller faster, and your body has a constant and consistent amount of calories to burn which help to burn fat. As far as water goes, the benefits of drinking it go beyond it simply hydrating you especially during and after workouts. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue, water helps shut down midnight hunger pangs, drinking 8-10 glasses a day can ease back and joint pain in 80% of its sufferers and decrease the risk of colon, breast and bladder cancer by at least 45%.

5. HUMBLE CONFIDENCE - There is no one reading this that can go to their gym and put every 45 lb. plate that’s there on a bar and bench press it. With that said, the weight you can or can not lift doesn’t matter. Just because the guy next to you can squat 405 lbs. but you start shaking under 135 lbs. isn’t a reason to give up working out or even get frustrated. Humility is necessary in the gym because it makes you realize that as long as the weight you’re using exerts your muscles, then you will build muscle. At the same time that you have to be humble and not use more weight than you can handle, you also have the confidence that the more you work out with a weight that challenges you, the easier it will be to move to a heavier weight. Even for those who mainly choose to do cardio, the more you run, bike, or walk, the longer you’ll be able to go.

6. FIRE - In my gym, I work out with a group of powerlifters. Before one of them starts a challenging set, they scream “GIVE ME SOME FIRE!” and the guy who’s spotting them will slap them in their back…HARD. Now I’m not suggesting that you start hitting people in your gym or even get hit yourself, but you do need some fire when you’re working out. Fire is the passion, and the desire you have that makes you want to work out in the gym. Fire is the intensity that makes you focus on whatever goal it is that you have and fire gives you the determination to destroy that goal.

7. PLAN - The last method of this madness should have also been the first because just as it’s impossible to build a house that will not fall without blueprints, it’s impossible to build muscle without a plan. Keep in mind that the more detailed your plan is from the days you work out, to the exercises and amount of reps that you do, and the foods that you eat, the easier it will be for you to focus on your end goal because everything else is mapped out for you.

Now that you’ve read the 7 methods of madness, reread them now. You’ll see that in these methods lies a pattern. No method stands alone just like these 7 can not be whittled down to 6 or 5. When you start with a plan to help you build muscle, you start to develop the motivation that you need to get into the gym. The smarter you work, the quicker you see results thus the more fire you’ll have to work out. Eating and drinking properly will help you maintain the work you’re doing in the gym and as long as you’re humbly confident, you won’t overload yourself to the point of injury, but you will continuously shock your muscles so that you will see growth.