THE BODY - You Need to Have Realistic Expectations
Look at all of the bodies pictured above. Do you want one of these bodies? Hell yes? No Way? Well, it doesn't matter because you won't get it regardless. Why? Because these are photos of elite athletes and fitness models at the top of their profession, in their prime, training for hours on end, some taking supplements, enhancing the photos...you get the point. This is the top .000something percent we are talking about here. You can thank social media for these false hopes. So before you proceed, unless you plan on making fitness your life, get it out of your head that working out and lifting weights will make you look like this, it wont. Feeling humble? Good, let's move on.
Now even though I said you won't look like an elite athlete doesn't mean you can't make your own version of one with your body. But to make the best possible version of yourself is going to take some work. Don't expect to a) see changes overnight, within a week, or sometimes even a month, you probably won't, and b) get anywhere close to where you need to be without eating right.
Now even though I said you won't look like an elite athlete doesn't mean you can't make your own version of one with your body. But to make the best possible version of yourself is going to take some work. Don't expect to a) see changes overnight, within a week, or sometimes even a month, you probably won't, and b) get anywhere close to where you need to be without eating right.
The Star of the Show, Muscle
If there is one universal agreement in fitness (and believe me there are't many), it's that sculpting your body requires building muscle. There are three types of muscle, but the ones we are trying to build for aesthetics are the muscles surrounding, protecting, and helping move our bones called skeletal muscles. These muscles have two types of fibers in them, fast twitch and slow twitch. Each skeletal muscle has a combination of both fibers, pre-determined by your genetics (usually a 50-50 split), but your lifestyle i.e. how you use your muscles on a daily basis and how you train also play a role.
Type 1
Slow Twitch- slow reception of nerve signal
|
Type 2
Fast Twitch- fast reception of nerve signal
|
The Training Variables- Train to Your Potential
So now that you have a bit of a deeper of an understanding of skeletal muscles and the fibers that comprise them, how do we use this to our advantage? Constructing a foundation of weight training by using my training variables is a good starting point. Certainly you wouldn't live in a house without a foundation, so why would you try to work out without understanding the basic principles? When you learn how to manipulate these variables and engage both of the muscle fibers, building lean muscle is inevitable. I have chosen the most important variables below:
- Repetitions, Sets and Number of Exercises - Each full range of motion of an exercise is a repetition, consisting of 2 opposite motions (up and down, down and up, left and right, right and left). A consecutive number of repetitions is a set. For example, sitting on the toilet and standing up is a repetition. Realizing you weren't finished and continuously sitting and standing in front of the toilet (as I often do) is a set. Congratulations, you just did a "box" squat in the fitness world, which is one exercise.
- Weight - How many pounds or kilograms you add to the exercise. In some exercises your body weight adds to the resistance, but we will never record our actual weight in addition to added weight when doing an exercise. An example of this is a squat. When you stand up (the second part of a squat), you are lifting your body weight in addition to any weight you are holding. However, you will only pay attention to the added weight.
- Exercise Equipment - It seems that every month there is a new machine or a new way to pick something up, move it, and put it back where you got it (buzzkill, eh?). For this website, the equipment I use for individual exercises are mainly dumbbells and barbell, wth the occasional machines, kettlebells, body weight, and medicine balls. I may talk about other equipment in my blog, but for the actual website, these are the only ones you will see.
- Tempo - This is how long it takes to complete a full range of motion. You can, and will, differentiate tempo for the concentric motion (the harder part of the motion, against the resistance), the isometric "motion" (the pause during contraction before the direction of movement changes), and the eccentric motion (the easier part of the motion, with the resistance.) Remember, there are two opposite movements and a pause between them happening to complete a full range of motion. For example, sitting down on the toilet is the eccentric movement, staying on the toilet/squatting (as I've learned most women actually do) is isometric, and standing up is the concentric movement.
- Rest Interval - This is how long you wait before you start your next set. Keeping on the toilet theme because it applies to everyone, are you the person with one scheduled bowel movement every day, meaning your rest interval is one day, or are you more frequent, meaning your rest interval is the time period between each bowel movement. On a side note, as you start working out more, you will hopefully sit on the toilet more frequently because you are speeding up your metabolism when your muscles grow. The average rest intervals we will be using when training are between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. If you're going to the bathroom that often, go see a doctor.
On the next page, I break down the main differences in how to train for strength and for endurance using the above variables. The two Olympic runners pictured at the beginning of this section use these variables VERY differently. Honestly though, this stuff is really easy to master as long as you are patient and you just do it. Shia LaBeouf even has some advice to help.
|
|
The Training Variables- Train to Your Potential II
But wait, there's more! Experience with myself and my clients has taught me that understanding the training variables is only HALF of the equation. What is going to determine their effectiveness, is your adherence to these three guidelines:
- Intensity: Every single workout you need to tell yourself "Today I am going to have the best workout of my life." I don't give a shit if it's true or not. I have had plenty of awful lifts in my lifetime, and plenty more to come. The point is, don't go to the gym sagging ass, because you're going to be wasting your time. Fake it until you make it, as the saying goes. Also, lifting with a hangover is pointless, the epitome of sagging ass. You're better off sitting at home asking yourself why you care more about instant gratification than long term happiness. I have more to say about intensity, because it's so important, on the next page.
- Consistency: Assuming your intensity is on point, if you are working out consistently 1 to 6 times a week results are inevitable. Yes, one time a week with still get you results...slowly. But make sure your workout consistently includes the entire body/the 4 main muscles on 'The Body' drop down tab - Chest, Back, Shoulders, and Legs. A once a week routine is the absolute MINIMUM you can get away with and still see some results, but more is recommended.
- Safety: Not a lot to say about this other than if you're prideful and irresponsible when you workout, you increase your chances of getting hurt, and trust me, there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to work out because of an injury. If you do get hurt, stay away from the area of injury. I recommend doing cardio and core (well, unless your injury is to your core or foot) until the problem gets fixed.
Remember, it's not going to matter how flawlessly you adopt these rules if your diet is shit. Again, because I care about you, I have included enough nutrition information on this website for you to be successful.