Hello friends. After my tetralogy about what stacks work
better with each other for muscle gains or for fat loss, as well as my
articles
on what supplements you can take after your cycle, and what stacking
combinations you should avoid, today we will talk about one of the most
important
weapons for your success. Your mind!
Mind power is a tremendous weapon for someone that wants to achieve
their
best.
l am not talking only about bodybuilding. Look at any other
successfull
player/coach/business man, etc. Always the best people in each field,
had a
very strong mind, and a will to "succeed"!
History
For those that have read some history, they are familiar with many wars
which
have finished with the "weaker" side easily defeating the better side.
Haven't you
ever heard of battles in history where 5-10 thousand people were able
to
beat an opponent that was 10 or even 20 times bigger? How do you think
they
did that?
Maybe they wanted to win more badly than their opponents? You
bet
they did!
Also ancient Greeks used to say: "Healthy mind in a healthy body", and
they
could not be more right. A healthy mind always determines how healthy
your
body can be.
In a few words, your body is dependant on your mind.
No matter how
badly
you
want to get a strong and nice body, if your mind does not give the
appropriate
"messages" you are condemned to lose!
Of course we won't talk today about what you should do if you have to
go
to
the army and fight, but if you look at it from one perspective,
isn't
the gym,
(and consequently the iron that you have to lift every time you go
there)
your strongest opponent?
Don't you always feel very satisfied when you
have
made a
new record and you have lifted more weight or when you have done more
reps
in some exercise? And the opposite! Don't you feel very frustrated when
you
can
not lift as much as you could the last time that you hit the gym?
Factors
What factors make a bodybuilder be the best he can be? What does
your
mind have to
do with these factors?
As l have said also in my previous articles, your success in order to
be
as
good
as genetically possible, is depending on 4 factors.
a) Your training,
b) Your dieting,
c) Your recuperation and
d) Your supplementation.
In order to do your best in all these 4 important areas, you have
to
use
your mind power. Let's analyze each one of them and see how you can
help
yourself.
Training
l was fortunate enough to talk with Mike Matarazzo a few months ago.
(lFFB
Pro
and
one of the best bodybuilders in the whole world).
One of my questions was what he believes about mind power and how
important
it is
for a bodybuilder to count on it. Do you want to read the answer he
gave
me?
"For me mind power is the most important thing John. When l enter the
gym,
it's
like a switch on a red light, and it does not close till l finish my
workout.
No
one can disturb me at this time".
Do you want one more example from another person that many people
believed
was the best bodybuilder ever?
Dorian Yates had an attitude of "balls-to-the-wall". No one could work
out
harder than him.
Even now, 3 years after his retirement, if you ask some bodybuilder
what's
the
right way to train, he will tell you to watch a video tape of Dorian
Yates
training.
In order to have very productive workouts you have to "free your
mind"
as
he
did, from anything else that might bother you, and to stay 101% focused
on
your
training.
So for these two people the gym is their opponent. The iron bars and
the
dumbbells are their enemies.
You want to be the best you can? Just
train
like
them. (Hey l don't mean of course to do endless sets, or to lift as
many
pounds
as they did. Don't forget l am talking only about mind power!)
So as you understand, when you go to train, it means that you are going
to
TRAIN. lf you want the best results, you have to have the best training
possible.
l have seen many guys in my gym talking, having fun and generally doing
everything else except training hard. l have also seen many times, guys
talking even during their sets!
And when they ask me why they can not
lift
heavier pounds l ask them: "How can you do that if you are not
concentrated
and the only
thing you care about is having fun and talking with your friends all
the
time, or when you
try to talk with the "brand new" girl that just came into the gym?"
l have said it many times. You can talk with your friends as much as
you
can during the day, and you can peer at any girl (or guy) that you want, but not
when
you
are in the gym! Leave one hour per day for which you can be totally
focused
on
what you must do.
You have 23 hours per day to do anything else, but
this
"precious" hour at the gym, don't blow everything. Don't make one more
workout
"unproductive", and then blame anyone else but you for your fault!
Sorry guys, but either you will go to your local gym for "public
relations"
(and
if this is the reason that you go and train, you don't have to read any
more
of
this article), or you go in order to get a great body. You can not do
both
of
them at the same time. lt's one or the other. Period!
To prevent that now, it's really easy. All you have to do is to have a
simple
workout plan. Just think 1 hour before you hit the gym that:
"Today l will do my best to have a very good workout. No one will
disturb
me
when l will do my sets.
l will visualize myself having a great body
when
l
lift the weights, and l will lift with as good of form as possible. l
will
stay
totally concentrated BEFORE and DURING my set. NOTHING will destroy my
concentration this hour!"
lt sounds easy friends, but believe me, words are easy and action is
difficult.
l
have said exactly the same things to guys that want my advice in my
gym,
but
very few of them can apply it.
lf you want to praise yourself after every workout you did,
the only thing you have to do is just remember these few lines.
l would like to say one last thing. l don't mean that every time
you
go
to
gym you have to act like a "caveman" and have the other guys say: "Hey
the
anti-social guy is here again". There is a big difference between this
and
your
training.
You can say of course "hi" to your friends BEFORE you start
pumping
some serious iron, and during your first 5 minutes of stretching or cardio
time,
or
to
talk with them for few minutes AFTER you have finished your training,
but
that's
all! The point is to stay concentrated this crucial hour that you
train.
Finally, remember one very good example that will make you think
more
about how important the right concentration is when you train.
When you are working at your job and your boss has told you to do some
task
and he wants it done within 1 hour.
Or for people that are still in
high
school
or university, and your teacher/professor has given you an exam that
you
should have done within 1 hour, when would you have the best results in
both
cases?
Will you be able to stay completely focused on what you do for
that
hour when people interupt you all the time and won't let
you
stay
focused?
Got it?
So the choice is yours!
Dieting
Another one tough thing for your mind is to stay consistent on your
bodybuilding diet. Believe me, l know maybe better than anyone else how
hard it is to keep a strict schedule for your food, how hard it is to eat
almost the
same foods again and again, and even more difficult, how hard it is
when
some friend
calls you and tells you to go out for fun but you can not do that
because
you have to eat every 2-3 hours and you can not afford some spare time
and
also you don't want some extra alcohol to ruin your diet.
No one said that bodybuilding is an easy sport. But that's what makes
you
different from all the others.
lt's what l used to learn in my
Economics
course,
"The Opportunity Cost". You want to get something, but in order to get
it,
you
have to sacrifice something else. (Remember my example that you can not
do
everything at the same time?)
l doubt if for every one hundred people there is only one person that has
a
very good and muscular body.
That person has sacrificed his taste
habits along with many
other things, in order to get a noticable body. No one can get a wide
back,
big
arms, broad shoulders, strong legs, and 6 pack abs by eating junk food
all
the time.
Of course l have talked many times about how important it is to have
one
totally
junk food day per week.
The only way to stay motivated and focused on
your
dieting,
is to know that every Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, you will have a
great
day, by eating nice chocolate Dunkin donuts for breakfast, a tasty
Domino's
pizza for lunch, a delicious cheeseburger from Burger King for dinner,
and
finally a nice Mars bar before you sleep, and also to have lots of fun
with
your friends all day. (You can drink some alcohol of course if you
want,
but
don't over do it!)
Just give a promise to yourselves that you will do
your
best
in order to eat your 5-6 nutritional meals every day at the right
times,
for
6
days per week, and praise yourself with any food that you like on
your 7th.
lf you start doing that on a consistant basis, then your mind
also
will
learn to wait till your junk day. After some point, even if you will
have
the
desire to eat something junk, you will get a "signal" from your brain
that
will
say: "Hey, wait a few more days and you can eat whatever you want!"
Ok
it
needs some time to reach that level, but if you have the desire to do
what
is right, you will succeed for sure!
Recuperation
Now we will talk about something that is also equally important to the
previous
two. lf you don't recuperate appropriately, your mind power will never
be
strong enough to tell you what you should do.
l will give you a small example. When you have to study all day and all
night
for countless hours for your final exam or when your boss has given you
a
very
hard plan to design and you have to work on it until very late at
night,
how
do you
feel the next day since you have not slept good? Do you feel good like
the
days when you have slept very nice, or not?
Can your brain "absorb"
the
same
kind of
information when you have slept for at least 7-8 non-stop hours or when
you
have
slept for much less? Do you feel more focused when you sleep for only a
few
hours,
or when you are sleeping for more? Can you listen carefully and
understand
everything that someone else is telling you?
Or do you seem unable to
concentrate
on
the topic, you act strange, and finally they ask you: "Hey what's
wrong with you today? You seem very absent-minded!"
And absent-minded also means that it is very easy to forget things.
(i.e.
when you
have to eat, and when you have to take your supplements).
Don't say
anymore:
"Oops, I forgot to eat again. One more skipped meal for this week!" Or
"Hmmm
I
think I forgot to take my multivitamin
formula again, and my whey/creatine/glutamine powder! Why on earth
can't
I
remember?" (Typical situation that happens often, and usually it seems
that
it happens when you have not slept good)!
Recuperation is maybe the most important factor for your mind, friends.
Everything starts from resting right. Your brain can function only if
your body has recuperated adequately.
l am sure that you have observed also for yourselves when you go to
train
and
you have slept for only few hours.
Even if sometimes you might manage
to
have a good workout, was it as good as the times you went and you
trained
like a warrior? No way! lt does not matter if you took the next miracle
"Make me Mr. Olympia" supplement, or if you eat 10 perfect nutritional
meals
every day.
lf you don't sleep right you will lack something major. Very
good
recuperation, also means a healthy mind. Healthy mind means
that you can stay focused for most of the day.
And staying focused
means
that
you can schedule very good workouts, very good dieting, and very good
supplementation program.
Supplementation
l will finish this article by talking about supplementation. Many of
you
might wonder now: "Hey John, ok we understand the importance of mind
power
in
exercising nutrition and recuperation, but what does mind power have to
do
with supplementation?"
Well, do you know that there are some
good mind (and memory) enhancers on the supplement market? They can
really
help you stay focused with your diet and training, as well as help you
to sleep better.
In my next week's article, I will talk more about these supplements and
what
they can do for you, as well as l will analyze some very good ways
to make you use one of your most powerful weapons more. The
mind. Stay tuned!
Back to Mind Power #2
Take care all,
giannis@bodybuilders.com
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