To me, the first key to growth is intensity.  Intensity is not just about how hard you work.  Intensity is about doing every repetition you have in you.  Intensity is about taking the set to failure.  Intensity is about overcoming the mental block that prevents most people from truly going to failure.  That’s right, most people quit before they hit failure because their mind tells them they are done.

Intensity means you have to overcome your natural tendency to quit too soon.  You have to make the muscle work extremely hard to get the results you want.  I personally believe that doing many, many sets of an exercise is counter-productive.  Why?  The answer is simple.

When you do many, many sets of an exercise you cannot possibly give everything you have to each set.  When you do every repetition you have in you on the first set, that’s all you can do.  The higher volume can easily lead to over training, something we all must avoid if we are going to grow. 

Instead of increasing the volume by adding a ton of sets, simply increase the intensity with which you workout.  Go to failure on every set.  Pay attention to the High Intensity Training principles because they are deceptive.  At first glance it appears that you are not working each muscle group very hard, but you are working each muscle group many times during a workout.  You are mimicking the higher volume workout, but you are avoiding over training by simply pushing the muscle to failure and not beyond.

You will stick with your program as long as you are enjoying yourself.  But how can you have fun while sweating and working so hard?  Read on!

One approach is to create a competition.  What I do sometimes with Matty is see who increases their total volume the most.  Obviously I lift heavier weights than him, but we calculate the total volume from the previous workout and the total volume of the current workout and determine our percentage of increase.  The competition makes us work harder and we laugh alot and give each other a hard time during the gym time.

Another approach is to make a bet as to who will lift the most repetitions on whatever exercise you choose.  Again, the competition will make it fun and you will want to go to the gym to see what happens.

You may be smart and log your food, but do you go over the results and make changes? Do you react to the data your body gives you?  People often talk about needing feedback, but they are getting constant feedback from their body.  It may not be the type of feedback they want, but it is feedback nonetheless.

Matty’s Workout Log:

 

When should you get up and exercise?

When should you start worrying about your fat percentage?

When should you begin getting serious about your results?

When should you start logging down what you eat?

When should you push yourself harder than yesterday?

Take this concept and apply it to your training.  Don’t settle for “good enough.”  Push yourself to the bitter end.  Don’t leave the station until you’ve done every rep possible.  If someone asks you “How many reps should I do?” answer them by saying “All of them!”