Why do the ‘skinny’ guys fail?
Your thinking makes it so and put simply ‘successful people have the habit of finishing what they started’. Hardgainers must learn from this and stay committed as it is due to these traits that will determine your overall success in anything in life even before you start!
Lack of desire- You will only get the results you truly desire to get. Don;t give up and cut the ‘cow poo’, Just do it or deal with allowing yourself to fail and not really wanting it! Enough said. How much do you want it? Do you want it enough that you will create a habit and stick with it, day in and day out? Eat, train, sleep, rest, week in and out!
“It’s motivation that gets us started but habit that keeps us going”!
Train smarter not harder- The term less is more is so important for hard gainers as often your metabolism as a hard gainer is already in overdrive and therefore training everyday is just too much. This is a great intention but focus on quality of training and not quantity! You grow outside of the gym remember so you must aim for 7 hours of sleep and even some powernaps on the weekend. Sleep is the best way for your bodies metabolism to slow down and for you to recover. You ca’t get enough when you are training like an athlete, especially the hardgainer.
No Overload Progression- If you are using the same weight over and over your body is not progressing.You must schedule in small progressions to each workout. One repetition goes a long way so each workout find a high point in each body part and plan on moving forward towards a realistic target.
Insufficient Diet- You have read what to do by now…. so do it! No excuses, you simply need more and remember calories are your best friend.
Lack of Hard-Work
On entering the gym I see more than 50% even perhaps 80% of the guys simply not working hard enough. They think they are but they are not. Mucking about with light weights ‘because apparently that gets you ripped and big’… so I am informed. I personally do not bother educating these guys because it is a waste of my time and I will walk up there next week and see the same thing. (instead I encourage a small change and play to their ego’s as that always seems to get a response from the majority of vain bodybuilders). These guys waste so much time on machines, talking to others and checking themselves out in the mirror rather than using a diary, planning progressions and staying in the zone for a 35 minute duration.
Persistence- That’s Too Hard!
‘Motivation get’s you started biut habit keeps you going’. Habits take time to create and results do too. The issue is most people lack the discipline to persist through plateau’s when the results begin to slowdown and haven’t found the desire to form a habit. Instead of training for just looks, think about your health, the future, the wayu you feel, the confidence you have gained and the way ypou will see yourself. These are motivators that you will fall back on when you persist in achieving the body you deserve.
Poor Training Knowledge
There is so much information out there that bodybuilders can access that unfortunately creates confusion about what training methods work. Put simple find a coach, the same way you would find a mechanic to fix your car or a doctor to fix your health. Do not mess around with here say in the gym room as trainers spend everyday with numerous clients trialling and testing training methods for different body-types and finding solutions to client needs. It’s what we do and PUSH_ Trainers undertsand this book and your body.
I love this information and emplore you to take this on board internally.
Get massive = get smarter first!
Hi Everyone
After the last 3 emails going on about muscle building, I have put together these short tips as a checklist for you to use with your own training. Send this to your friends as this vital information makes for a great program and lasting results. Simply put this is a wrap up on your strength routine!
Practical guidelines for resistance training programs for health status improvement. They are as follows:
1. Train for Life- The physical and mental health gains achieved from long term resistance training go beyond just building muscle and lasting results can be achieved from just one training session per week. Just do it!
2. Follow a program that utilize the larger muscle groups as they provide a structural basis for the preferred loading that is recommended for improvements in bone mass and mineral density. This will also contribute to higher energy expenditure during programs an therefore help facilitate weight management goals.
3. The PUSH_ System allows for motivating sessions so each workout follow our set format.
a. Warm up set- 6-8 repetitions of say 50% load to prepare the mind and body for what’s ahead
b. Potential Set- perform a set of the desired amount of repetitions but perform 2 less. If you are aiming for 100 kilo as last week you did 95 then perform a set at 95 and perform 2 less reps.
c. Failure set- Perform a set to failure and remember failure is when your techniques no longer is supporting the structure necessary to complete the exercise safely.
4. As with any effective exercise prescription, individualize the program, with a carefully planned, progressive overload. Are your doors swinging smoothly?
5. Incorporate a variety of exercises. In order to avoid the effects of over-training, muscle soreness, and injury. The PUSH_ Model allows you to progress to through phases and be stimulated by continual variety.
6. Take the time to learn the basics and correct performance techniques of the resistance exercises. It is not about how much you lift but how well you function.
7. Training demands of resistance training may be greater for beginners, and elderly individuals, due to the physiological challenges of the prescribed exercise, and the level of fitness of the individuals. Try longer rest periods between sets.
8. Multiple-joint exercises, such as push ups and squats, are more demanding than single-joint exercises, such as bicep curls and crunches. The amount of training days per week may need to be manipulated to provide adequate recovery (up to 48 hrs).
Make it happen
It contains no butter, sugar or salt – a great way for everyone to celebrate Christmas!
· 1 kg mixed dried fruit
· 1/2 cup boiling water
· 1/2 cup orange juice
· 1 cup nuts
· 2 cups wholemeal flour
· 2 tablespoons gluten flour or extra flour
· 3 teaspoons baking powder
· 3 eggs
· 1/4 cup slivered almonds
· 2 tablespoons sherry
For the mixed dried fruit use any combination of the following dried fruits: dried fruit mixture, sultanas,
raisins, prunes, currants, dried apricots, peaches, nectarines, dried apples, dried mango etc.
Chop or cut (with scissors) large pieces of fruit into pieces the size of sultanas. Put them in a tough,
heatproof plastic bag and pour the boiling water and then the orange juice over them.
Close the bag, leaving an opening of about 2cm unsealed, lie fairly flat in the microwave and cook on
High (100% power) in 1 minute bursts, until the fruit is hot. Turn the bag over after the first minute,
making sure the liquid can’t escape. When the fruit is hot, take the bag out of the microwave and lie it
on a cold surface to cool to room temperature. Leave overnight or for at least 2 hours, to cool and soak
up the liquid.
Turn the oven on to 160 ° C or 150 ° C fan-bake with the rack below the middle. Line the bottom and
sides of a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper. When you are ready to mix the cake, chop the nuts
finely and put them in a large container with the wholemeal flour, gluten flour (if available) and the
baking powder. Mix thoroughly. In a mixing bowl large enough to hold everything, beat the eggs until
thick and fluffy with a rotary beater. Add the cold fruit mixture and the dry mixture. Mix with a clean
hand until everything is thoroughly combined. If about a cupful of mixture seems to be too dry to drop
from your hand, add 2-3 tablespoons extra water or sherry. Put the mixture into the cake tin by hand,
pushing it evenly into the corners. Level off the top with a damp hand. Sprinkle evenly with the slivered
almonds.
Bake, start testing the cake after 1 1/4 hours. It usually takes about 1 1/2 hours until a skewer pushed
into the centre of the cake comes out clean, showing the cake is ready.
Stand the hot, cooked cake on rack. Sprinkle or brush the surface of the cake with 2 tablespoons of
sherry for extra flavour. When cold, wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and a tea towel, and store in
the fridge for a least several days before cutting or freeze strips (see below) in airtight plastic bags, up to
3 months.
To cut the cake into 1cm x 4cm slices, use a sharp serrated knife. Cut the cake into five strips of equal
width, then cut each of these crossways into about twenty 1cm slices.
Approx nutritional analysis per slice:
Energy 213kJ 51kcal
Fat 1g
Carbohydrate 8g
System for building strong walls
‘You are only as strong as your weakest link’.
I have said it time and time again that you must consistently stimulate your body for lasting results! The body does not want to maintain muscle because muscle, simply put, uses too much energy. It is our body’s survival response to protect the energy we have in case of starvation. This makes sense in the case of body building as you consistently have to work at it. Your natural size might be 80 kilograms and in order to be 90 kilograms you have to live like a 90 kilogram person, which includes sleep, nutrition and the correct stimulus, which all takes time and more time for some than others.
Understand that we are made up of different shapes and sizes. The way you are is the way you are and the way I am is the way I am. To change this over an 3 month period is not going to be effective in the long and really is only going to give you long enough time to ‘learn’ about your body. Simply put if you look at training for ‘summer’ then you don’t get it and although it is a great motivator, remember ‘motivators get you started but habit keeps you going’, so I urge you to look at this for the long term and you will be rewarded with quicker, easier, efficient and more enjoyable workouts.
Would you like to be stronger all year round? Do you feel good when your body is responding positively to the demands you are placing on it? How do you feel when you stop this and tell yourself, ‘I have to get back into it?’ Not good. Of course! It is far more positive to remain stimulated and healthy and most of all it is not that hard. Using myself as an example I would resistance train no more than 2 times per week, as an average over the year, yet I can bench well over 100, squat over 150 and chin my bodyweight 15 times, dead-lift 150, jump high, run fast, touch my toes and my size remains the same. I did however have to train 3-4 times a week, for the years before recently, to ‘earn’ this right of maintenance training!
Your tendons and ligaments are slower to adapt to weight training than muscles and this is one reason injuries occur, as when you try to add muscle fast, you can overload the other supportive structures (foundations) that are not up for it. This is like placing the roof on the walls before the walls are tied together. You then add more weight, speed or other training variables (an earthquake) and wonder why you get injured (the house falls down). Bone adaptations
“Activities that stimulate bone growth need to include progressive overload, variation of load, and specificity of loading (Conroy, Kraemer, Maresh, & Dalsky, 1992).”
Specificity of loading refers to exercises that directly place a load on a certain region of the skeleton. Interestingly, I have learned that with osteoporosis, the sites of fractures that are most devastating are in the spine and hip. This means that it would be important to slowly progressive overload, so the bone and associated connective tissue are not asked to exceed the critical level that would place them at risk. Programs to increase bone growth should be structural in nature, including exercises such as squats and lunges.
Bone growth and strengthening of cartilage can take 18-24 months. Muscle fibre adaptations
The increase in size of muscle is referred to as hypertrophy. Long term hypertrophy is an increase in muscle size and is associated with long-term resistance training. Increases in the cross-sectional area of muscle fibres range from 20% to 45% in most training studies (Staron et al., 1991). Muscle fibre hypertrophy has been shown to require more than 16 workouts to produce significant effects (Staron et al., 1994). This is why training over winter is important to get stronger for summer! Body composition adaptations to resistance training
Resistance training can increase fat-free mass and decrease the percentage of body fat. It is well known that there is a positive impact of increasing energy expenditure during the exercise session, during recovery, and on maintaining or increasing fat-free body mass while encouraging the loss of fat body weight
‘You grow outside the gym, not in it’!
This quote states clearly, recovery that has the biggest affect on growing muscle. Your metabolism remains elevated for 12-24 hours, depending on the intensity and volume of the session (volume has the largest affect), so it is necessary to replenish energy lost and allow adequate protein to help repair muscle damage. Sleep, protein and carbohydrates are essential and reducing stress is also a good idea so that hormone reactions are focussed on building muscle and not stressing the system which will have an adverse affect.
To summarise, your walls are the next step from foundation training and the point here is to be ‘consistent’. Keep chipping away at it, week in and week out, even if it is only 1 session. (It has been well documented that one strenuous strength session per week will increase muscle mass due to overcompensation- the body’s reaction to a stimulus which has it compensating in order to handle it with better ease in future- and this can last up to 14 days depending again on intensity and volume.
Earn the right for this intensity and volume!
Foundations
Laying the foundations is essential in building your house and building your body. Where most people go wrong is starting at ‘the end result’. Just like building a house you have to be methodical in your approach and have to start right at the beginning.
Training the foundations, in this case relates to working ‘tonic muscle fibres’, which are also known as ‘slow twitch fibres’. These are deeper muscles that lie beneath those’ sexy’ muscles, but play a crucial role in muscle synergy and exercise patterning. These are often neglected by inexperienced resistance trainers, as most people are in a rush to have the body they desire fast.This is fine but, “do you rush your foundations to get your walls up when building a house?” If you did what sort of house will you build? You get the picture. It is important to remember that developing your foundations is critical in preventing injury, moving better and functioning, in order to progress to more advanced exercise like squatting and lunging to tone up your bottom.
The ‘Inner Unit’ (your core) can be thought of as the musculature stabilizing and protecting your internal architecture, but also is the bridge to controlling breathing and as a result your autonomic nervous system. This is a great place to start with developing your foundation as the correct firing of the Inner Unit and its effective recruitment, impacts not only your spinal stabilization, so that your prime movers can get the job done, but they impact your ability to breathe and coordinate smooth movement.
Exercises vary on the individual but a well rounded program will have exercises to prime you for the following events and warm up the entire body, through activating the right musculature and recognizing correct movement behaviours. Next time you warm up, skip the exercise bike and try an interval circuit with the following. Try to perform each exercise slowly and controlled for one minute and repeat two times.
Scapula musculature activation. Such as ‘lying arm retraction and depression’, also known as a prone w.
Hip extension sequencing- ‘prone glut. activation’
Core control- marching, side clams, bridging and hovers.
Add in a side hover, side plank or side lying hip lift to activate musculature through the lateral sling. (obligues and hip adductors)
knee musculature activation- Try a standing ‘ 2 inch lunge’. The idea is to turn on the Vastus Medialis Oblique andensure the knee is tracking correctly. You should feel the muscle on inside of the knee turn on first.
To summarize the ‘foundation process’
Like building a house!
Solid Earth
Solid Foundations
Solid Walls
Smooth Swinging Door
Guys, are you starting to get the idea? Muscle building takes time and there is no quick fix. You don’t want muscle that you cannot use because you have lost function (perhaps injury) do you? These methods will have you training correctly, moving well, decrease the likelihood of injury and allow you to work with the weight needed in the months to come, to grow REAL muscle! This is 2011 and this is what we have learned over the past 30 years, so train with the education of today!
Watch Video
The secret to growing muscle: what you need to know!
It is August and each year we see the influx of motivated people flock to gyms to get ‘in shape for summer’…. And each year we see people drop out soon after from not getting the results they wanted. “Well, who told them in the first time that they were going to make remarkable change in just three months?”
These people are extrinsically motivated and this means there is something external driving their effort, and although this may get us into the gym, it is the intrinsic motivation that keeps us here. I.e When you start to train you feel good and when you hit your goal you tell yourself “I like this and I am not going backwards”! If this is you, then great, you are making a positive health and lifestyle change for the right reasons. You don’t want to be here in 12 months saying ” I want to get back into it”, or “Why didn’t I stick with it all year”? Do you? Change your motivations and voice them out loud so you can hear them and you will have a much better chance of making exercise a habit…. But anyways;
“For long-lasting change, there needs to be a systematic administration of a sufficient stimulus, followed by an adaptation of the individual, and then the introduction of a new, progressively greater stimulus” (LKravitz)
So do you want to know what the secret is to building muscle…..Time! Time and more time!
It doesn;t hapopen ov erbnight but it will happen! This is so true but it can take 3-6 years to develop a good enough foundation to build serious muscle. I will take you through an annalogy over the next few weeks based on building muscle is like building a house!
It’s more than just building muscle!
It is important to understand that muscle hypertrophy is only one adaptation to resistance exercise. I.e. Take this into consideration. When you build a house you start with the planning before laying the foundations, and then the walls and finally the roof, before you start all your second fix (this is your plumbing, tiling, electrical etc). Let me put this into perspective for you to understand resistance training and building your body.
Planning
Strength adaptations to resistance training
In the beginning you see results and over time they plateau and this is because the majority of strength training benefits, in first 3 months of strength work, relate predominantly to neural adaptations. What this means is that the body finds more efficient ways to deal with the task (resistance exercise) and because of this the motor unit (this is the nerve and the muscle fibres it innervates) is adapting to these stresses and more efficiently innervating the muscle fibres it is responsible for, resulting in a better, more organised muscle stimulation process.
Your body starts a process of recognizing exercises so that next time when faced with the same stimulus it can say “ok motor unit 1 and 2 you guys are required.” As the load grows the brain then asks more motor units to fire up and innervate the muscle fibres for work. Similiarly like the supervisor asks more tradespeople to get involved in a building project.
This week find your intrinsic motivation byu asking yourself what you don’t want.
Hello and welcome to winter!
It’s official, winter is here and that could mean less activity, more inside time and you know what that means….. More time for you and your kitchen to get reacquainted (after all the summer outings are over and naturally you may feel the need to show your cupboards some TLC 🙂
Now this may be the case, but it’s pretty simple to maintain good health and your waistline over winter by following these 18 tips. Last week our training team looked at the common causes to weight gain over winter and thought you would appreciate a point in the right direction.
Time your meals. Meal timing is important and allows you to be prepared and clear your mind from thinking of food once you are satisfied.
Sleep more. Get good amounts of rest to be able to regulate helpful hormone leptin which helps regulate metabolism.
Stock up on veggies- Soups and stocks as well as meat and 3 winter veg are all cold weather meals and a great way to get more veg into you.
Eat water- If you are craving more eat water. Foods that contain water are soups, salads, and fruit, as they will fill you up and act to shrink your stomach.
Eyeball your skinny clothes- A powerful motivator is to still dress in your skinny summer clothes and have regular fortnightly try outs to keep you on track.
Whole grains- Contain essential vitamins and minerals for good health so think nutrient rich and not sugar rich!
Skip the bacon- keep to low fat options and keep conscious of what you are eating.
Sip smart- Juices and other sugary drinks add up to large amounts of unneeded calories. Did you know you can eat 10 oranges and obtain necessary fibre compared to having one glass of OJ!
Make appointments with Viva and keep them…. Come on the way home from work and stick to your regular plan. For strength clients this is the peak season and for fat loss clients this is a great time to shape up for summer, by using the club and many services we offer. Make the most of winter programs and seminars that are run to maintain your motivation and enjoy the social aspect of the club.
Find out why Viva Fitness is “the best in the West!”
1 whole sweet potato
200 grams of fat stripped, short back bacon.
1 whole onion
½ punnet of cherry tomatoes
¾ tablespoon of sweet paprika
Dash of chicken salt
Peel, cube and boil potatoes for no longer than 5 minutes. While boiling brown he onion and cook the
bacon. Strain potatoes and add the paprika, chicken salt, pepper and 2 teaspoons of EVO! Mix through and add to onion and bacon fry‐pan. Cook for 5minutes and then add cherry tomatoes,reduce heat and
you are ready in 2‐3minutes!
Get a good size 3‐400gram T‐Bone or Rib Eye from Baa Moo Oink
For every 500grams of steak you need the following to make your salsa.
1 teaspoon fresh garlic
1 teaspoon Chili ( mild to hot your call)
1 teaspoon of continental fresh parsley
½ teaspoon sea salt and cracked black pepper each.
50‐50 lemon and extra virgin olive oil
To cook a good steak always use charcoal, you can’t beat it!
To cook your steak medium rare of this size. Cook for about 4 minutes with salt and pepper only. If you
like to make it look special turn the steak from horizontal to vertical after 2 minutes to give a criss cross
effect. When it is ready you simply press the point of your finger into the meat, firm but gentle, and the
pit made should fill with meat juice.
While this has been going on you would have chopped the salsa ingredients very fine and added the
fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Take the steak off the BBQ cover with ‘enough’ salsa (don’t drown it!)
and keep the steak in a covered dish for 3‐5 minutes to rest.
Serve together with your favorite BBQ salad. I love my Greek salad with home‐made Olive oil and
Beautiful, you will be a hit with the family instantly!
