My philosophy is that it is impossible to go as hard as you possibly can because no matter how hard you go, you can always go harder.  That’s what progression is all about.  You continue to move down a path towards better and better things in the gym.  My son, Matty, has doubled his bench press.  When he started out and was doing just the empty bar (45 lbs.) and he squeaked out 4 repetitions, he felt like he had gone as hard as he could.  Just two days later he managed 6 repetitions and the pattern continued.  Obviously he had not gone as hard as he possibly could.  Did he go as hard as he could on that given day?  Yes!  Did he go as hard as he possibly could?  No way!

This is where mindset becomes so important.  You have to believe that you have more in you.  You have to believe that you can do more and more each time.  When you hit a plateau just remember it is like trying to break through a locked door.  Sometimes it requires you to back up and try again.  The same goes for weight training.

If you hit a plateau on your bench press and can’t seem to increase the weight, it doesn’t mean you can’t possibly go any harder, it just means it is time to drop the weight and bring it back up again. What always happens is that you break through the original plateau.  It is an important and essential technique to remember.  Don’t bash your head against the proverbial wall.  Back up, brace yourself and take another run at the barrier that was in front of you.  That’s the way to tackle the problem.

All the while, you have to believe you can do it.  You have to believe you can and will do more.  I am personally so much stronger physically than I was a year ago.  My son is so much stronger than he was 3 months ago.  It is all about working hard and believing you can do more and more.  Once I got him to believe that he could push harder, he pushed harder.  It is a mental exercise.

Matty’s Workout Log:

Today’s workout was back focused.  Matty was completely unable to do negatives on his chins, so those are an NA for today.  He is going to give it a go again on Thursday.

To me this is a character flaw.  Who you are when nobody is looking is huge.  It determines your character.  Walking out without finishing your workout is a horrible idea.  It undermines your progress.  It takes away from your discipline.  It can completely destroy your progress.  I feel this is really playing with fire.  Where will it stop?  Are you going to count 3 reps and write down 6?  I can see this as a very slippery slope.  This is not something I would do myself.

What about you?  Have you done this?  If so, take a step back and look at what it can do to your program.  Resolve that you will never do it again.  It is called working out for a reason.  It is hard work, but the benefits are huge as well.  Don’t ever give up like that.  If you are just going to give up, why bother starting in the first place?

Is there ever a time when you can say that it is enough?  I am going to tell you that I don’t think so.  The habits you are creating are for a lifetime.  You must think of it that way all the time.  Don’t ever get caught in the idea that there is an end in sight.  Even when you reach your original goals, you should pick some new ones and head towards those.  Even maintaining your body is something that is a lifetime pursuit.

It will never be enough for me. I  am going to continue to work on and perfect the muscles in my body.  I will work harder and harder to shape things the way I want them. I will not quit.  It will never be enough.  This is what I will do for the rest of my life.  I will push myself and mold my body into great shape.  I am in no real hurry, but I do know that 2009 is going to be the year where I hit some major milestones.

As you all know, my 14 year old son, Matthew (we call him Matty) has been working out with me.  He started this mission with me and has been alongside me for every single workout.  He has busted his butt.  You’ve all seen his workout logs, so no doubt you are seeing his progress as far as the weight training goes, but there has been an unexpected (for some, but I expected it) side effect.  Allow me to explain.

Matty is a goaltender on a Bantam aged ice hockey team.  I have finally seen a major side effect of his training. 

Today Matty played a game against a team that had beaten his team handily several times before.  Today the story was different.  Matty was faster, stronger and more agile than he has ever been.  He has to do something called a butterfly slide.  It involves him being down in his butterfly position (legs in the splits basically) and he has to push hard with his left leg to go right or his right leg to go left.  Today he was moving in his butterfly slide so quickly that he was in position each and every time.  The other team’s coach commented that he seemed alot stronger physically this game.  It is so true. 

The boy has upped his squat weight 20 lbs. in just 5 weeks.  That doesn’t sound like much until you realize that is a 20% gain already in such a short time.  He has almost doubled his bench press during that time period as well.  It is pretty amazing.  Not only is his body shaping up nicely (he needs to do better with nutrition), but he is now seeing results in his hockey playing.  I would say that is an awesome benefit to his training regimen.  He is now seeing that the reason for training is to improve all areas of your life, including your sports.

Yes, I am a proud father!

I know that counting to 5 isn’t that hard, but what about when you are doing 25 repetitions?  If you just straight up count to 25 you run the risk of losing count or worse, falling asleep while counting!  You need something to keep your brain engaged while counting.  Additionally, if you are using a specific cadence when lifting (like 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down), how do you keep track of that and the repetitions you are doing?  There are numerous ways to handle this and I discuss those below.

Break up the monotony

Assume you are trying to do 25 repetitions.  In order to keep your brain occupied, count to 10, then count to 10 again, then count to 5.  By breaking up the count you insure that you won’t lose count and you keep it interesting.  Your brain stays engaged.

Metronome or just your own?

If you are using a specific cadence and are trying to get to 25 repetitions you have your hands full.  You can use the “break up the monotony” strategy and incorporate it into your counting of the cadence.  A typical count would be “1-2-3-1-2-1-1-2-3-1-2-2-1-2-3-1-1-2-3-3…” and so on.  This is the “just your own” strategy.  I personally use the “metronome” strategy.  I have purchased a small electronic metronome and I use that to time my repetitions.  I have it set to a 3 second click.  This means that I need to be at the end of the “up” portion of my lift by the first click and then at the end of my “down” portion of my lift by the second click.

Straight up or every other one?

A problem unique to arm exercises where you work one arm and then the other in alternating fashion is easily solved.  I’ve tried two different ways they both work well.  One way is to just straight up count it.  If you are aiming for 10 repetitions for each arm, just count to 10 twice.  “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10”.  My favorite is the “every other one” strategy.  Assume you are doing dumbbell bicep curls.  You do the lift on the right arm and don’t count, but then you do the lift on the left arm and count “1”.  This cycle repeats until you hit your target repetitions.

Conclusion

The reality is that your brain needs some brain candy to keep it engaged during your lifts.  You will find that no one strategy for counting works everytime.  You will soon learn that combining the various strategies is what will work best.  Have fun with it and try different ideas.  You will keep your brain engaged and have a better workout as a result.

Matty’s Workout Log:

We had another great workout today.  On the advice of Matty’s goalie coach we canned the wrist curls for him.  He is working his wrists with a handle and a weight dangling from it.  He rotates his wrists to lift that single plate.