Want Huge Muscle Gains? Train Your Mind Shocking Growth With Mental Preparation
Want Huge Muscle Gains? Train Your Mind
Shocking Growth With Mental Preparation
By Ron Harris
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” –Napoleon Hill
The Power of Positive Thinking
Why do you suppose it is that some people achieve great success in life, while so many others merely dream about it? Hopefully, you don’t think luck is the overriding factor that determines what course a life takes. If so, you may very well spend the rest of your days waiting for a billion dollars to fall out of the sky into your lap. 2007 USA Champion Ben White put it most simply when he declared that the world is made up of “dreamers” and “doers.” The dreamers want the same things the doers do: love, wealth, fame, and happiness. But they don’t actually do anything about it. The way they see it, things happen to them, and their fortunes are out of their control. Doers don’t sit back and wait for good fortune to rain down on them. They go out and make things happen. They know that if they set goals, come up with plans to achieve them, and are willing to work hard and do what it takes, they can do or be anything they want to. If you are wondering what on earth all this has to do with bodybuilding, I’ll tell you – everything! Gifted genetics are wonderful, but far more important is having a strong mind and the will to succeed. Exceptional physiques are built one great workout at a time, and having great workouts on a consistent basis does not happen by accident. It takes preparation, and I’m not talking about carbing-up or calling your training partner to make sure he’ll be on time. The types of workouts that build exceptional muscle mass get started long before you first lay your hands on the iron.
Setting the Stage for Awesome Workouts
Arnold once said, “Always remember that the body does what the mind tells it to do.” Bodybuilding is just as much of a mind game as it is a physical pursuit. Before you can perform at peak capacity with the weights, you have to be in the proper mental state. During his six-year Mr. Olympia reign, Dorian Yates had a pre-workout ritual that he followed without fail. He would retreat into his home office 90 minutes prior to the workout to review his training journal. Yates then devised and visualized the entire session in his head. In his book with the late Peter McGough, A Portrait of Dorian Yates, Yates explains: “What I’m doing is sorting out the workout in my mind, so that by the time I enter the gym, it’s like I just have to insert a pre-recorded tape.” Two-time Arnold Classic winner Branch Warren has a ritual that’s slightly different, but equally effective. “I drink a double espresso on the drive to the gym, blasting hard rock music in my Hummer,” he told me. “In my head I am seeing what I will be doing in the workout in every detail. I see the weights I’ll use, I feel the strain and the pump, I hear the sounds of my own effort and the rattle of the plates – by the time I walk through the front door of the gym, I’m ready to attack my workout with no mercy.” Personally, I have found that writing down the workout ahead of time, along with setting exact goals with regards to the weights and reps, goes a long way toward ensuring a productive workout. Otherwise, most of us tend to do whatever we feel like doing, which is rarely the best course of action. There are a few other methods to ensure the proper frame of mind. Both Yates and the legendary Tom Platz were known to wear specific items of clothing to train certain body parts. Platz was fond of tight red sweatpants when he was squatting, for example. Whether or not you consider such eccentricity to be nothing more than superstition, the point is that it gave these men a mental edge to have better workouts. The same can be done with a certain song or type of music on your iPod. Even if it’s watching a training or contest video or flipping through the pages of MD before you head off to the gym, anything that flips that “go time” switch in your head is worth doing.
Focusing on the Task at Hand
Arnold also said, “Probably the biggest difference between the champions I’ve known over the years and the guys who always stay at a beginner’s level is their ability to concentrate, to push themselves hard for each set, and to train without fear.” The amazing thing about Arnold and some more recent champions is that between sets, they could joke around and laugh with their gym mates. But once they started a set, they were all business, devoting total concentration to the movement and to the feeling in their muscles. In contrast, Dorian Yates would intentionally stare at the floor between sets, as he felt even accidentally making eye contact with others could break his intense focus on the task at hand. Either style may suit you, but the bottom line is that you have to learn to be “in the moment” during your sets. Nothing else can matter or intrude on your thoughts at these critical times – not your job, your wife or girlfriend, or your thrilling weekend plans. “Intensity” is a word that gets tossed around quite a bit and seems to mean different things depending on whom you talk to, but I think a good definition is the percentage of focus and effort you can channel into your sets. To a bodybuilder, this must transcend the mere act of moving the weight from point A to point B. You must consciously feel and see (internally, if not also externally) the muscle contract and stretch, and envision how you want that muscle to look. We all know how Arnold visualized his biceps as jagged mountain peaks when he did his curls. As corny as it might sound to us, he did go on to develop what some still consider the best biceps of all time.
Doing What Can’t Be Done
A final component of mental preparation for great workouts is to eliminate doubt and fear. You’ve already accomplished this to a point simply be being a bodybuilder. The average gym member has already given up on the idea of ever owning a superb physique. They make up a laundry list of excuses such as not having unlimited time to spend in the gym, not wanting to use steroids, and not wanting to make eating and taking supplements a full-time job. The reality is that they aren’t willing to put out the effort and endure the pain required, so they settle for an average body with a little bit of chest and arms that still makes them look better than the fat slobs who don’t work out at all. You have decided to achieve something more rare that will truly set you apart from the pack. Yet so many bodybuilders never reach their true potential because they don’t believe they can ever have the physique they dream of, or they don’t train as hard as they should with the most effective exercises out of fear of injury. For every bodybuilder that performs the classics like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, military presses, barbell rows, chins, and dips, you can easily find 10 more who don’t. They are all tough exercises and require very good form to be done safely. But that’s no reason to neglect them or attempt to replace them all with inferior machine versions. It’s important to force yourself to do the toughest exercises, and work them as hard as possible. Just when your muscles are burning and your brain is screaming for you to stop, it’s most important to keep pushing. It’s been said that the average bodybuilder stops at this point, while the champion presses on. According to Schwarzenegger, “The mind always fails first, not the body. The secret is to make your mind work for you, not against you.” Do not fear pain. Embrace it as the sign that you are crossing over into the growth zone, and leaving behind the rest of the guys that aren’t willing to keep pushing.
Summary
It is often said that the mind is the most important muscle in bodybuilding. I tend to agree with that. Before the weights are hefted, before the muscle gets pumped, and before an exceptional physique is created, the mind must prepare the path. Remember this, develop your powers of visualization and focus, and the body you want is within your reach.
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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