That’s true, one important thing to tell the newcomers is that they should not read the fitness magazines.
Yeah, how does anyone expect to make gain when they jump from program to program every week and each time they do so, they start light?
If you go from squatting 135 to squatting 115 in a year’s time, how much do you think your legs have grown?
I’m thinking about what topic I should write about next, suggestions are welcome
(Don’t worry, I’ll write more about muscle imbalances and I’ll do something for the young guys again soon enough)
But, in the meantime, I though you would enjoy another great post by DC (the language may be a bit rough from time to time)
Don’t ever doubt yourself
By Dante Trudel
I get alot of emails and hear alot of personal stories from guys that are bummed out, depressed, feeling like they wont ever be that bodybuilder they want to become. I also see some personal accounts on these boards and I want to respond to some of the guys who are 140 to 210lbs and are really trying in bodybuilding but that I see are giving up hope. DONT EVER FING DOUBT YOURSELF! DONT YOU EVER FING DOUBT YOURSELF! If you put your nose to the grindstone and be persistent, consistent, and driven my promise to you is that you will make it to a very elite bodybuilder in the not to distant future. I went 3.5 years once without missing a meal (6 a day)–if i did miss a meal i set my alarm clock at 3am and got up even when i was dead tired and cooked it and ate it. If you really want this bad, and have that “im going to get this shit done” attitude, I guarentee you that youll end up where you want. Will you be a pro? No and neither will 99.99% of everyone else out there. But if you push the limits and do what I have been trying to do with everyone for the last 4.5 years on the net (turn yourself into a fat burning, muscle building, blast furnace) you will get there.
I am noone special but I had people calling me “stickboy” and laughing how skinny I was in the beginning when I told them i was “trying to become a bodybuilder” with my ever present shopping bag with all my meals in it so I could eat every 2.5 hours. Screw those people! Guess who kisses my ass now when I go back to my old home town on the East Coast and go into my old gym. I dont want to see anyone in this forum thinking “man im never going to make something out of myself as a bodybuilder” BULLSHIT!!! Yes you will and dont let anyone tell you otherwise! Prove them wrong. Pick the bodyweight you know you need to be at and eat up to that bodyweight while doing cardio and carb cuttoffs to keep lean. Eat like a massive 300lb monster and cardio like a guy who is 8% and your going to end up at 250 jacked!
This is your life, dont listen to those people doubting you, they are going nowhere themselves and want to keep you at their level. Shore up all holes in your regimen. Training, supplementation, diet, sleep, stretching, consistency in all of those is the key. There is no doubt in my mind that I can turn anyone (and i mean anyone) into something special if they are willing to be meticulous, steadfast, and stay the course 100%. Alot of you keep jumping around and doing different things but if you really sit back in your chair and think it all out–YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TO DO! Almost every single guy reading this right now can turn themselves into one of the 5 best bodybuilders in their gym. DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! I had a pack of freinds when I was 20 years old I used to hang with. They dwarfed me. I had by far the worst genetics but I had 50 times the willpower of those guys. One was muscular and naturally shredded, one had incredible genetics and looked like a bodybuilder anyway but when he lifted he got pretty incredible looking, one was 250lbs and a big monster with very limited lifting (lazy), one had slightly better genetics than me and he was also pretty determined. I bypassed all of them in spades, every single one of them because I have a “no fucking way am I going to fail” drive to this sport. The next time you look in the mirror and doubt yourself and get bummed out because your not where you want to be, I want you to remember this post. If you want something bad enough and go at it with the best of your abilities and smarts, you might not become the best, or pro, or top of the class at it, but you will become PRETTY DAMN INCREDIBLE at it, because of your fortitude and hard work. Dont let any son of a bitch tell you otherwise–this is your life-Get in that freaking powerack, make that logbook your bitch AND GET IT DONE!
I need to stay awake for the next four hours… Usually I have been asleep for like an hour by now, Christ
So, as I want to do something with the free time on hand, here is a late-night ramble post… I’ll probably delete this post next time I check the log and notice that everything I wrote was downright stupid.
Okay, let’s begin. No training stuff this time, just a general life update. (I’m dead tired so please be merciful)
I have had next to none social interaction during this week (apart from when I’m training with someone) It really started to catch up to me yesterday/the day before, you may have noticed it by the increase of posts I made, I needed some way to interact with other people. Man, was I happy yesterday evening when I was getting notifications like never before (well maybe the squat guy generated more traffic, I’m not sure), I felt like a million bucks.
I’m not one of those guys who really enjoy being alone - well okay, from time to time I enjoy being alone, but I never enjoy feeling alone, really, does anyone?
Social interaction is something I need to keep myself happy and energetic (to a certain extent, too much is too much), and because I’ve been short of it I’m feeling a bit down now, just a bit though, don’t get worried.
You know, growing up I was the kid with little to no friends, and that is one reason I got into bodybuilding and strength training. I just needed some therapy. But, as you know, there is this social stigma that only losers go to therapy(at least where I live), so I just went to the gym and trained myself until I almost fainted. Yeah, it may sound stupid. But guess what?
Through gym I found out what I can really achieve if I push myself. Before that I was an underachiever and I never really got anything done. As I pushed myself to the limit each and every workout I slowly realized that hard work gets you results. Also, the old guys took notice of the way I trained (aka. hard as hell, but maybe not so smart) and they took me under their guidance. I befriended a lot of them as I started to hang out with them more. When my lifts went up and I gained more muscle mass my self-esteem rose too. I got more confident, and a bit over a year from starting to train I got a lovely girlfriend (with whom I’m still to this date).
I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say, no amount of “real therapy” would have gotten me to this point. Really. I would still be the shy guy without friends who sits in the front of the class just to get out quicker. I wouldn’t have the confidence I have today, I would still be an underachiever who never really accomplishes anything.
Moral of the story?
Intense lifting will change your life.
What if your naturally flexible? Well i dont know but i can stand and touch the ground legs are straight with my knuckles .
Iv never had problems with flexibility and i did gymnastics when i was younger.
This Motivates me.
In that case I would still do some mobility work, but you can definitely get away with less than other people
That’s great, it’s always nice to see someone who is young and really has that burning motivation going on!
Regulate your exercises
I’ll give you a bit if an insight of why you are not really progressing even though your loads are: you are not regulating your exercises.
Now what does that mean?
It means that your execution of a certain lift changes from training session to training session; you are subconsciously making the exercises easier by using a bit more momentum/body english or cutting the range of motion.
Now you are thinking: I’ll just always use good form. Yeah, it’ll work, if you don’t let your ego get in the way.
If you have not worked with really good form up to this point, the drop in weights may be hard to accept, and you’ll slowly slide back into training with your ego.
This is why we want to think about regulation as early as when we are creating the program.
By choosing exercises where it is easy to use identical form and it is easy to say whether the rep was complete or not. (Say, seal row: if the bar does not come in contact with the bench, you did not get the rep)
In training, we should always pay attention to form, and use full range of motion. If, for example, you can’t flex your tricep at the end of the negative portion of a hammer curl, or you don’t rest the bar on the ground between reps in the deadlift, you are just cheating yourself out of results.
Some lifts are a bit harder to evaluate yourself, and this is where training with a good partner comes in. He/She should tell you how your form looked in addition to spotting you and pushing you to the limit.
If you don’t have a training partner, filming yourself is a good option. (Even though the camera can’t really spot you)
Training tempo is another factor when we talk about good form. Usually, if someone uses full range of motion he/she is also using a solid tempo. It is easier and safer to bring the weight to the stretched position when you are not letting it freefall. Now, I’m not big on counting numbers, so I just go by the rule: you should always be able to reverse the direction where the weight is going any time you want. You just can’t do that if you are not controlling the negative.
Now the more advanced trainees can benefit from letting their form slide just a bit after they have gone to failure with good form, but I’m not going to discuss it here.
In addition to giving you an easy way to say whether you are really progressing or not, regulating your training also makes it so much safer. When you are using good, identical form with every repetition you perform in every session you go in, you are really making the risk of muscle tears a lot smaller.
So, in short:
Lift intensively, but stay safe.
Another well written instalment Dante.
A way I have found that work well for regulating difficult to regulate movements is by pausing in the loaded position at the end of the ROM. I usually only use this if I feel I have exaggerated the weight I can use via stretch reflex or momentum.
Eg. Squats. This is an easy exercise to get loose with and continue to put weight on due to using so many large muscle groups. If I feel I have reached a certain higher weight by using stretch reflex or not hitting depth, it is easy to reduce the weight and pause in the hole. Not only does it make the weakest (potentially) portion of the lift more stable but it can develop muscles that would otherwise be neglected to a certain degree.
Bench press, DB rows and barbell curls are other examples.
This goes back to one of your early posts about why you prefer OH Press, fronts squats and deads as your big 3. Can’t say I disagree!
How do you feel about using the stretch reflex and/or a bit of cheat to get that one last rep that you know you would fail on without it?
Thanks!
I’ve used that myself too and it works greatly. I hope people read your reply and try it out
Oh, you noticed! And you are right, those three are easy to regulate and that’s why I use them as my big 3.
It depends. Usually I would go for it, but if I’m feeling like something is off I’ll just play it safe.
Either way, I’m not counting the rep. (So if I did 15 pull ups but the last groupone was done with a bit of cheat I’ll write down 14 pull ups, or 14(+1))
Hey danteism can we have a pic of your currenr physique aha im just interested to see your gains #No homo
I’ll post pictures when I feel like I have something to show, so let’s just say that not now, but if I ever get to the point where I start that competition prep, I’ll post pictures of my progress in a steady basis. (I hope I get there, I’m not too big on losing challenges)
Apart from that, at this point of time I’m quite big on my privacy.
I may or may not be the exepcetion to that general question. I wouldn’t call myself a misanthropist, because humans fascinate me, and I enjoy studying everyone’s behavior including my own (psych major), but ever since I turned 20, I’ll meet people or they will strike conversation with me, and I immediately begin to analyze them as if I’m writing down a report on a patient, and I instantly get distant. Either it’s the way they talk, what they talk about about, how dumb I find them to be, how mundane they don’t realize their lives are just like mine and everyone else’s to on extent or another, etc. I have yet to stumble across what it is that goes on with me when I do that, but me usually being alone doesn’t scare me or make me feel bad whatsoever. I’d much rather be around a giant group of animals or out in the woods somewhere. My husband, and my mother are about the only two people I tolerate on a daily basis. And I don’t mean tolerate in a bad definitionin any way. It’s more of a patient type of tolerance. But I noticed you said “real therapy”, and i would just like to say, don’t let corporate America make you think real therapy entails shoving prescription pills down your throats in an attempt to feel better. I’m honestly nervous when I graduate because I want to flip the notion of “therapy” on its head. I want to buy out a huge slab of land, and build facilities all dedicated to something. A research lab, horseback riding, music studio, giant gyms, pools, therapy rooms, massage rooms, game rooms, family picnic areas, car shops, kitchens, cultural places to learn about different places, smoke shops, etc. I will still have a place for medication but for those who honestly seem to need it. I’ve noticed that most people would recover from such mental illnesses if they would find something that sparks a fire within them, instead of further sickening themselves with pills that have side effects that will straight up kill them.
But I also think that since I operate the right side of my brain dominantly (left handed), I don’t care for the typical logical, number crunching, mathematical, part of the world. Granted I can spit out numbers all day, and flip formulas in my sleep because I realize that’s the society I live in, but I realize you’ve got folks who make 8 figures annually, are scientists, have money, houses, cars, beautiful wives, friends (or so they think), they look good on the outside, etc. But are on the verge of committing suicide because their heart and souls are alarmingly just empty. Void. And I’m glad I found my calling to major in psychology and psychotherapy, but it’s alarming how many people I interact with daily who are just walking shells who have no idea how to fill themselves with ethereal meaningfulness. Granted I believe God, but I don’t force my belief on others, but a looooooot of people just seem so empty these days. So in my opinion, I think it’s okay to be alone. In the end you kind of are, on the aspect of being in your own head, and being alone when you die, etc. I don’t mean for that last part to sound so…condescending or doom and gloom, but I think it’s perfectly okay and rather normal to be…alone. Sorry if that makes no sense.
That’s interesting, I wonder what my report looks like
I think I know what you mean by tolerating. I see it in myself too: usually after two or three days spent with the same people I need to get out for a while, just to clear my head. The time I need alone ranges from 15 minutes to a day or so.
By real therapy I meant what people think when you say the word therapy. Here the word therapy often means that you go and open up to a therapist, so no pills here.
What I meant is in my opinion, I could’ve talked until my jaw dislocated and it wouldn’t have done anything near as much as training did. Because the root of my problems was low self-esteem, I don’t think that talking about anything would have made it better, it would’ve buried the problems deeper, maybe, but they would still be there.
That sounds like a place I would like to go to. And that sounds like therapy that could work.
Exactly, as you may see, for me it was training, for someone else it might be writing or acting, but I’m quite sure nobody has passion of taking antidepressants.
Of course, if the pills make you feel better for a while you may go out and find something you enjoy doing while you are at it.
And by no means am I putting down anyone for taking pills. Mental health is not to be taken lightly.
It has been said that money can’t buy happiness. When you make 8 figures annually you are not expected to have fun, you are expected to go to work, go home, eat, sleep and do it again. You can maybe go golfing on Sundays but that’s about it. (Now this is a stereotype, don’t take it literally)
I’m just saying, living like that for years can’t be good for your mental health.
Do you think that the young people whose lives have been taken by social media fall into this group?
Social media addicts are probably the reason I like to hang out with older people instead of teens.
Thank you for not forcing it. Yes, I think that it’s okay to be alone, did my post make it seem like it wasn’t? (I’m not a native English speaker, so I make mistakes and the message may come out wrong)
It makes sense to me
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I’ve been pressed for time lately.
Now I’ve got to go, I have a training session to coach
I wish everything good to you
Yes, Finnish actually
Out of curiosity, why would you guess I’m Dutch?
Mostly number 4 haha
I like Dutch people. Haven’t met anyone from Finland but you seem decent 
Oh thank you
Usually when I’m abroad people think I’m German/Dutch so I guess you are not the only one having those vibes 
I got to be careful not to mess your view of Finland up then
I was going to ask you where you are from, but I then realized your username kinda gives it away