I recently had an experience with this during a conversation with Carlos DeJesus.  Carlos and I were going over my M6 plan and he mentioned a few things that got me thinking.  He made one statement about how quickly I would see results if I did a certain thing (not to be revealed right now).  I found myself thinking “Why wait until M6?  Why not just get on this now?”  I was extremely tempted to jump on this new idea, but something came over me.  I realized that I had been carefully tracking my results during M5 and that I am more than satisfied with what has been happening, so why jump ship and change plans now?  I have 12 days left in M5 and I am going to stick with the original M5 plan until it is completed.

Yes, there are probably good reasons for changing your plans at times.  However, I strongly believe that if you take the time to carefully plan things out there is no reason to make drastic changes to a plan.  I do believe that minor adjustments are necessary as you never know how your body is going to react to the changes you make.  These minor adjustments are just that—minor. They involve things like a slight modification (up or down) in total caloric intake or an increase in the number of cardio days you have, but the plan should still be completely recognizable. 

Why do people think that working hard is wrong?

Why do people want to experience change, but are not willing to do the hard work required to get there?

Why do most people find it so hard to be consistent?

Why do so many people let life get in the way of their important endeavors?

Why is our society slowly changing its values?

Why can’t people learn to take it to the next level?

Why would anyone want to take their muscles to complete and total failure?

Why do people who are doing strictly body weight exercises expect major muscle growth?

Why do people think you can’t build muscle and burn fat at the same time?

Why do people claim they don’t have the time to work out?

Matty’s Workout Log:

Competition is my favorite motivational approach.  I use it in every single workout.  What I do is write down my workout in my log before going to the gym.  I also note the weights I want to use for each lift prior to hitting the gym.  With these notes in place I use them to compete against my plan every single workout.  I find that I push alot harder with this methodology.  The approach is alot of fun because it immediately gets you competing with yourself.

I hate losing, so I find that I beat my numbers 99.9% of the time.  It is a great feeling of accomplishment when I am competing with myself.  If is a great way to make giant gains. 

You can turn the competition into a game.  You can see how many times you are able to beat the numbers.  You can post “stretch” numbers on your log and then attempt to hit them.  You can turn things around in your workout by making a strong effort to beat your previous workout.  As training should be progressive, this type of approach is extremely natural. 

When you hit the gym and are feeling angry about something you can use that to push yourself even harder.   I have hit some of my biggest lifts during times of anger.  I transfer my feelings of anger into my workout.  I use those feelings to dig down deeper.  It is an amazing motivational tool to use anger to get bigger and bigger lifts.  I am extremely focused when I am angry.  This goes in my favor at at the gym.  In the end the use of anger to motivate myself actually puts me in a better mood.  The endorphins in my blood help me to feel better and this is all from the exercising.

Matty’s Workout Log: