Strength really does matter! Want to deadlift more, squat more, and become a stronger, more athletic human being? Then you gotta build some strength. Here’s how.
1. Belief, and not your training program is not the most important element in your strength building.
It doesn’t matter which program, protocol or exercise set you choose to take, it’s vital that you believe in what you are doing. That is the first and foremost thing you should have in mind when setting out to practice. All training programs can bear fruitful results if you invest your all. Only when you believe in your training method you can turn your dreams into reality. If you compare the training protocols you’ll find out that they rely on one and the same principles and exercises. So it’s really up to you and how much you believe in them and yourself.
2. Big Gains Come with Small Steps
Every once in a while, and more often than not, you’ll find an individual eying the ideal muscular physique, but never turning his fantasy into reality. The truth of the matter is that their goals don’t match their commitment. Many of us have been there. Fantasising about gaining 50 pounds of muscles in just short three months.
However, it’s crucial that you snap back into reality. Never set goals that you cannot match with your commitment and effort.
Try lessening your goal and make it achievable. OK, I know that you’ve probably hear that only by dreaming big you get big. But let me try to explain my point. Even the slightest progress in the gym is a still a progress, and can be highly motivational. It’s always better to have at least something to show for your efforts, instead of just dreaming about the perfection while looking at plain old self in the mirror.
So try to avoid thinking big, and take small, modest steps towards your real progress. When you manage to handle 300 pounds, don’t push yourself to do 350 , instead go for 305 ponds. Once you are able to do them, you can move further and further. Just remember to take small steps. With focus and determination you won’t even realise when you have started pushing 400 pounds.
3. Always Find Time for Workout
Even the average training days can bring you gains. Muscle building is a tricky process, and the progress becomes harder after a while. The once rapid gains become to stall, and it might even seem to you that you’re not making any progress at all.
It’s an unproven fact that the average fitness enthusiast last for three years before moving on to something new. This is about the time when the things start to slow down, and the lack of progress can easily result in frustration.
This is also the time when you must try to replace your frustration with enthusiasm. Stay positive and keep believing, and the advance will surly come. Remember that the unbelievable gains you’ve made in the beginning are impossible to repeat at this point of your journey. From now on, it’s the average days that will win you the big gains.
4. Expand your training repertoire
If you really want to be serious in your athletic endeavours you should always find a way how to expand your repertoire of exercises. Exposing yourself to different coaching methods, learning and applying the basic principles, ideas and approaches behind of the different sports is one of the best ways to stay versatile You don’t have to agree with them all, but it’s a great way to learn different things that will help you on your path of becoming better.
We’ve already mentioned that getting stuck with one way of working out can be devastating for your progress. Also, learning the different training method may come in handy when you find yourself in need of adapting your exercises to avoid overstraining injured or strained muscles while still working out your body.
Knowing the different principles, and having a large war chest of different exercises will also help you in creating more efficient protocol, always adding new exercises. That is one way tricking your muscles, and never letting them settle into routine.
5. Adapt Your Training
It’s in the nature of the human body to age, and we must keep pace with it.
What were once easy exercises become more and more of a strain. This is only natural. Although you may wish to always have a body of a teenager, the harsh reality is that soon or a latter you’ll have to accept that you’ve become a middle-aged man with a middle-aged body.
Lifting 230 pounds with a body of a 40 year old is slightly different then lifting 230 pounds with body half that age. It’s simple as that. That is why you have to constantly evolve, and keep pace with the changes by adapting your diet, training protocols and state of mind.
6. Take Science with a Grain of Salt
Although scientific research can be a useful tool in achieving better gains, you should not take all that is written for granted.
While there are some scientific studies that do provide useful information and proven results, most of them have been commissioned by one company or another to specifically prove the data they need to market. It’s no surprise that every day a new theory emerges offering diametrically different opinions backed up by some new and most recent study. The sea of dieting and healthy living is full of experts, always quick to quote a research that proves their theory. Don’t believe all of them. Let your body, experience and common sense be your guide.
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