Mental Stamina
At first glance this seems like a simple enough topic, its been given the once over in many magazines, but its never been given the degree of consideration I feel it needs. This one topic is everything to your bodybuilding progress. You must have the mental stamina to eat correctly and pass up those tempting Friday night drinking sessions, as well as watching your kids chow down on sugar-loaded sweets that you can have no part of except on certain "special" days.
You must be consistent with your workout, eating, and sleeping schedule to the point you can set the clock by it. This for the average person with low mental stamina seems impossible, but if they looked deep within themselves they would find that there are many things in their lives with which they keep this sort of routine. Excuses only serve to short-circuit your progress, if you want something bad enough, and you have the stamina to achieve it anything is possible.
Now that I've given you an overview let's get down to how mental stamina applies to training. You see guys every day who are dying to get "big" and because they can't do it easily and quickly they want to write it off as drugs.
There are many factors that apply to gaining massive amounts of muscle and truthfully drugs are just the icing on the cake. Imp about 250 with 20in arms and over a 52in chest and I've never taken any type of steroids so I know its possible, only because I wanted it bad enough. That type of mass doesn't come overnight.
Vie logged in 10 progressively harder training, drug free years to get where I got. Most of these guys that take steroids haven't put in that type of time or effort. They don't have the mental stamina to get there on their own, so they look for shortcuts i.e. steroids. But then with the drugs they encounter dependency, health problems, and a myriad of other problems that don't balance with the benefits.
Everyone's pain threshold is different but its a rare individual who can go to true failure every set of every workout. 99% of the time what you reach is mental failure not physical failure. This is not totally a bad thing because your bodies self defense mechanism is making sure you don't tear a muscle or tendon with a true 100% effort. The thing is to achieve appreciable muscle mass you must continuously strive to get closer and closer to that 100% effort.
Ever notice how when a beginner first starts training they can only move a weight that is well within their limits and at that only for a few repetitions. They can train for weeks without taking a break, without getting sore, why? Because they haven't built any mental stamina to come even close to that 100% effort, their bodies are telling them that this 50% is 100% and for now they accept it.
But as the years progress they find there muscles get extremely sore and they need more and more rest days for each muscle and there central nervous system to recuperate. By applying the principle of mental stamina to push up there intensity level they are getting closer to that 100% effort.
Now lets suppose you've built some decent mass maybe not quite where I'm at but on your way. That is where most people stop. Why? Because they don't have the requisite mental stamina to continue their progress.
You can't do the same thing over and over with heavier weights and expect mass to just accumulate, it'd be nice if it were that simple. To get to the next level you have to be an inventor of sorts, a highly creative person who pushes past their previous boundaries every time they step foot in the gym. This is the only attitude that will push you to that next level to the point where you feel competitive with anyone regardless of their stature. To continually improve you must always increase your intensity.
Increasing your intensity is a function of work. Work by its physical definition is effort or force * time (W=F*T). So to increase your intensity you must lift more weight in a specific time period. If you do that the gains in muscle mass must come as the muscle adapts to the workload.
This is where straight sets and moderate rest start to lose there validity. Once you've been lifting for a few years it becomes harder to increase the weight you can use on each exercise, so you fall into the trap of doing the same workout with the same weights in the same time for months and expect to actually see gains from it! Foolish is what that is. Want some quick progress? Do the same workout and cut your rest time in half within a month you'll see impressive results. This is why intensity techniques were formulated, and once you reach the advance training stage after 5 years or so they should be the bread and butter of your workouts.
As I said in the beginning mental stamina or the ability to push yourself harder than what anyone else can even imagine is what will take you to your goals. To paraphrase Lee Haney, you must know that you train harder than anyone else and the gains will come. I've taken it to the point now where I don't believe anyone can train even a 1/3 as hard a I do, the workout challenges most people back down from I surpass with ease, that may sound like ego, and it probably is a little, but its backed by unparallel mental stamina, intensity, and thirst for improvement.
Now if you really want that goal I suggest you adopt my attitude and get down to business. Below are some intensity techniques and there definitions as well as some suggestions on when and how to apply them.
Intensity Techniques
Forced Reps - At the end of a set once you have reached concentric failure, have a training partner assist you to perform 1 or more repetitions by helping move the weight.
* These should be used at the end of a straight set workout on the last working set of each exercise
Cheating Reps - Once you have performed all the reps you can with strict form, loosen your form up and "cheat" out a few more reps.
* These should also be used at the end of an extremely heavy set to get an extra rep or two
Descending or Drop Set - Once you have reached failure, quickly without resting select a lighter weight and perform more reps. This can be done 1 or more times during each set thus dropping the weight for each part of the set i.e.. "drop sets".
* A whole workout can be constructed using these, but if you just want to supplement use this on the last exercise of each workout for that body part
Partial Reps - Once you have reached failure perform more reps through a partial range of motion (usually strongest range).
* Since these can be done without a spotter you should throw these in anytime you feel you didn't get enough out of a set
Negative Reps - Have a partner lift the weight during the concentric phase of the lift and then resist the weight during the eccentric phase.
* These should be used sparingly and once again only at the end of a workout
Giant Set - Upon completion of a set, immediately do a set of a different exercise for the same muscle group doing four or more such exercises in this manner with no rest in between is a giant set.
* This is a time saver it compresses your whole workout and should be used whenever your feeling your regular workout dragging.
Supersets - Upon completion of a set for one muscle group immediately perform a set of a different exercise for another muscle group. Continue this without rest for the desired number of sets. This works especially good for opposing muscle groups such as triceps & biceps, chest & back, etc.
* These can also be used to shorten your workout and are quite handy in trading muscles to respond. They can be used on a regular basis
Rest Pause - Once you have reached failure put the weight down for 15 seconds or so then pick it up and perform 1 or more repetitions. This can be repeated until no more repetitions can be done even after resting 15 seconds.
* Another extreme form of intensity I would only use these if you don't have a spotter handy with heavy weight to get the most out of it
Non-stop Giant Sets - Pick six exercises for a body part and do one right after the other round robin with no rest until your whole workout is completed.
* I believe these should be used for every body part once a month once you get to the advance trading stage nothing works better
Reduced rest times - Instead of sting 2-4 minutes take that down to between 30-45 seconds.
* Most of the lactic acid is out of the muscle within 15 seconds so I suggest that the more advanced you get the more you shorten your rest times, unless your power lifting long rest periods are not necessary
An advanced trainer should be using all these techniques on a regular basis, constantly changing things up to surprise and challenge their body. I've given you the tools now GET TO IT!
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This article was provided by Boea fitness workout routines