They say “if you don’t use it, you lose it” and it’s true. If you stop working out, your muscles will start to atrophy (shrink).
That’s why you always see the biggest, ripped guys either wearing gym clothes (like they’re on their way to the gym) or you actually see them in the gym.
They don’t want to lose an ounce of muscle so they stay on top of their gym routine and diet.
Many people want to do something once and reap the rewards forever. I’m sorry to tell you, if you want a great physique, the work never ends.
There is never a point where your physique is good enough and you can just stop working out and enjoy your physique.
Remember what they always say? They say, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
FITNESS IS A LIFESTYLE. Working out is fun, it’s a good way to work out any problems or stress. But like JDB said, fitness is a process, not a goal.
RHYTHM IS KEY. Don’t follow a schedule, follow a basic rhythm. Schedules are fine to start, eventually you will internalize the schedule and you will work to your own rhythm.
BUILD MIND MUSCLE CONNECTION. If you don’t think about the muscles, you won’t work the muscles. It’s called mind muscle connection and you need it to build a body. If you don’t have a mind-muscle connection then you are probably not working your target muscles when you go to the gym and train. How do you develop mind-muscle connection? Simple; it takes a long time of training in the gym to understand your body.
TRAIN FOR SUCCESS, NOT FAILURE. Training to failure is a waste of time if you aren’t a true bodybuilder. Training to failure only helps if you’re taking enough gear to recover. If you train too hard and you don’t take enough recovery agents, you won’t recover. Always train for success and do just enough to accomplish your goal. Be like Lee Haney who always said stimulate, don’t annihilate. Stimulate your muscles for success, don’t annihilate your muscles into failure.
POSTURE IS KEY. Lifting weights properly will help you develop proper posture. Specifically, developing your back muscles will help you form correct posture. Stand up with your back straight like a Gorilla. Some people call this invisible lat syndrome. In reality? It is perfect posture for males.
BE SURE TO STRETCH. The body is a finely tuned engine. What to happens to an engine when it’s out of tune? It doesn’t run properly. I learned this the hard way by not stretching. Now it’s a must that I devote part of my gym time to stretching, and you should too – from day one. If you don’t stretch and you train hard, you will become muscle and your functional movement will become limited.
DIET IS KEY. Losing fat is mostly a matter of diet. Work out as hard as you want, if you eat too much pizza, wings and beer you will never develop a body. For fast fat loss, the zero carbohydrate diet is king.
BUILD ENERGY NATURALLY. Train to build energy if you train in the morning. Only train all-out later at night. If you train in the morning before work, train to your peak of energy and then leave. Only deplete energy by working out hard if you don’t have a day of work ahead of you.
Hard training requires hard recovery. This is not permission to be lazy and hang around the house all day, it’s the opposite – make sure you aren’t so exhausted that all you’re capable of doing is sitting on the couch. Never exhaust your energy supply in a morning workout. If you’re going to “leave it all in the gym”, do it at night.
WHEN TO TRAIN. The 3 times of day each have different benefits and drawbacks. Morning workouts are good to build energy and get your workout out of the way for the day. Afternoon workouts are good to work through the downtime of the day. Nighttime workouts are good to go all out, work out aggression and have more intense workouts. When should you train? Train whenever is best for you.
FIND A GOOD GYM. You have to find a gym with good energy. A low energy gym will always give you a low energy workout. The best gyms I ever worked out at always had a high energy atmosphere.
Equipment list, price, location – all matters. But I’ve had the best workouts of my life at a $1 per day gym in Vietnam. EVERYONE in that gym was there to work hard. If you can find a gym where everyone works out hard, you will begin to work out hard too.
WORK IN TUNE WITH YOUR BODY. Of course we’re all human, but everybody’s body is slightly different. Work your body for your particular strengths and weaknesses. For example: I work legs one at a time, I like the longer bar for lat pulldowns, I use half reps for bench press. Find what works for your body.
To tall bodybuilders with long arms, this bar is the best bar I've ever used for lat pull downs. Very comfortable and works the lats well. pic.twitter.com/jg27aiyagn
— VICTOR PRIDE (@VICTOR_PRIDE) January 21, 2017
FEED THE MUSCLE. Don’t forget to feed the muscles with protein. Personally, I don’t love eating frequently so I simply take protein shakes over real food about half the time. Red Protein is the best tasting protein so it’s easy. I don’t need a shaker cup, I don’t even need cold water. Red protein mixes with water in a glass and tastes delicious. It really is the most delicious protein powder in the world.
PLAY GOOD MUSIC. Music makes all the difference. All music gives you a feeling. When training, play music that either pumps you up with adrenaline or play music that gives you endurance. A heavy metal song like Jamey Jasta’s Anthem of the Freedom Fighter produces adrenaline. A steady beat hip hop song like Bone Thugs’ Handle the Vibe produces endurance.
OVER-TRAIN AND UNDER-TRAIN. Periods of under-training and periods of over-training work best. I’ve always found that I get better results when I take breaks in intensity and frequency of training. When I take breaks, I foam at the mouth to get back in the gym hard-core. It’s hard to take a day off, but if you never take a day off you never fully appreciate the power of working out.
USE SUPPLEMENTS THAT ACTUALLY WORK. Most supplements don’t work. The following two work extremely well: Red-PCT and Red Burner. Red-PCT is a supplement that increases testosterone which increases intensity and makes your workouts more intense. Red Burner provides pre workout energy and STAMINA, which makes your workout more intense.
DO CARDIO FOR BRAIN BENEFITS. Cardio gives you a chance to think clearly. The best ideas come to me in the gym, when my mind/body is occupied. Cardio is great for writers block. You will get the physical benefits of cardio just from doing it. You don’t need a “mind muscle connection” to do cardio.
In fact, it’s better to think about other things while doing cardio. I use cardio to brainstorm ideas, fire off emails, or even write the outline for articles. Put the treadmill on a 5 incline and walk at about 2.2-2.5 mph for an hour. It’s slow enough to not interrupt your thoughts but quick enough to give you cardiovascular benefits.
LEARN FROM YOUR TRAINING. Working out and building a body will teach you how to build and maintain a business. Success is always the same. If you can build a body from scratch, you can also build a business from scratch. The principle of building bigger things is always the same.
TO GET STRONG, GO SLOW. Don’t rush when training for strength. The strength will come when it comes. Until then, be patient. To warmup for lifting heavy, lift light and only do 50% of your max reps. You will build strength like this. Being a strength athlete requires a lot of gym time, simply because you have to wake up and “unlock” your strength.
The best warmup for strength is slow, and do only 50% of the reps you normally can. If you can normally get 12 reps, do 6 reps. Continue this warmup while steadily adding weight to the bar until 5 reps seems heavy, that’s when you’ve “activated” your strength.
BONUS 50/50 ROUTINE FOR STRENGTH AND MUSCLE. This 50/50 routine was inspired by Body of a Spartan. Plan to spend about 45-60 minutes in the gym. This is what you do: Train for strength the first 50% of the time you’re in the gym, train for reps and a pump the 2nd half of the time.
Spend the first half of the workout building strength by using 5 reps or less (no matter the weight). After your strength is “activated”, spend the second half of the workout building muscle using higher reps (8-15 reps) on normal bodybuilding exercises.
Since you’ve built your strength by spending the first 50% training for strength, you should now be able to lift heavier weight for more reps, in turn building more muscle. Bro science? No. Vast personal experience. Try it and you will see.
Here’s a sample 50/50 routine for chest: Warm-up at the bench press using only the empty bar for 5 reps. Then add 25 lbs to each side and hit 5 reps. Then take off the 25 lb weight plates and add 45 lb plates and do 5 reps. Continue adding weight and dong 5 reps until 5 reps feels heavy. Feel free to take as much rest time as you like, training for strength is a marathon not a sprint.
When 5 reps feels heavy, your strength has been activated and you can move on to the muscle building phase of the workout. Go to incline bench press for 3 sets of 12 reps, then to dumbbell chest flys for 3 sets of 12 reps. Done, and that’s how you get strong and build muscle at the same time. Strength and muscle are not the same thing, but they can get damn close if you follow the 50/50 routine which is a condensed version of Body of a Spartan.
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MORE REGARDING SUPPLEMENTS. At Red Supplements we do not offer a lot of product. We only offer what actually works. These two supplements actually work as advertised: Red-PCT increases testosterone and Red Burner gives you pre-workout energy and burns fat (assuming you also diet).
For a look at additional supplements that actually work, check out these 8 links (full reviews):
Super Size and Super Strength on Super Mandro!!!
Super Mandro: The Best 1 Andro Supplement for Building Muscle
The Top 9 Essential Health Supplements for Bodybuilders
Best Tasting Protein Powder: 3 Delicious Recipes with Red Supplements Whey
How to Sleep Better with Anesthetized by Blackstone Labs!!!
Hypershock and Joyful Joints: Pre-Workout Energy and Joint Support That Works
RED-PCT: The Ultimate Estrogen Control Supplement (Arimistane Review)
How to Get Shredded on Red Burner (Fat Loss Supplement)!!
Until next time.