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Your Ultimate Potential And Development

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , March 30th, 2010 @ 6:53 pm

“Potential” – in this sense, the ability to build muscular size and strength – can only be judged in retrospect and then only with a limited degree of certainty; after all who can say “what might have been?”

Nevertheless, the potential muscular size of the average individual is far beyond existing average muscular size; in effect, almost any healthy man can build muscle fast and strength to such a degree that most medical doctors would refuse to believe accurate “before” and “after” measurements and photographs. And at least a fair percentage of apparently average men can build literally huge muscular size.

In earlier chapters I have mentioned the relationship between muscular size and strength, and have noted that producing maximum-possible degrees of strength will also produce maximum-possible muscular size; but since this is a point of very great importance – and a point that is generally misunderstood by almost everybody in the weight-training world – I will go into a bit more detail in an effort to make this relationship perfectly clear.

Most weight-trainees are convinced that muscular size has little or no relationship to strength – and at first glance it might appear that there is quite a lot of evidence to support that belief; for example – (1) some men with 14 inch arms can curl or press more than other men with 16 inch arms – (2) almost all champion weight-lifters lack the muscular size of advanced bodybuilders, yet they are much stronger in spite of their smaller muscular mass – (3) many of the men with really outstanding degrees of muscular size are actually not very strong, certainly not as strong as they look.

Most of the above points can be answered in one short sentence, “… there is no valid basis for comparing the strength of one individual to that of another individual.”

Let us examine the points one at a time; first, assuming an equal length of the muscular structures, a 16 inch arm contains approximately twice as much muscular mass as a 14 inch arm – and if everything else is equal, then the larger arm will be capable of producing approximately twice as much power as the smaller one. But it does not follow that the larger arm will be able to “demonstrate” twice as much power – or lift twice as much weight; if the 14 inch arm is favored (it would be a favor in this case) with very short forearms – and the 16 inch arm is burdened with very long forearms – then the weight is being moved a greater distance in a curl by the larger arm, and more power (and thus more muscular size) will be required to move it the greater distance.

And the length of the forearms is not the only such “leverage factor” -additionally, such things as attachment-points and angles-of-insertion are involved; factors which have the effect of increasing or decreasing “measurable strength.”

And even if you are comparing a man’s 14 inch arm to the same man’s arm at a later date – after it has increased to 16 inches – the leverage factors will still not be exactly the same; as the size of an arm increases, the angles-of-insertion change – always unfavorable. This happens because a muscle can gain muscle mass only by becoming thicker – and because muscles produce power in a basically reciprocal fashion, exerting a pull in approximately straight lines; obviously then, as part of the mass of a muscle moves “out” due to an increase in the thickness of the muscle, the displaced portion of the muscle will no longer be pulling in the previous direction-of-pull – and as the direction-of-pull changes, the efficiency ratio is reduced, particularly in the strongest ranges of movement.

An increase in measurable strength will be produced in some cases – in some positions; but in general, displacement of the angle-of-pull resulting from an increase in muscular mass will produce a decrease in efficiency.

In effect, if a man increased his arm from 14 inches to 16 inches, then his curling ability would not increase in exact proportion to his gain in muscular size; even though the muscles were twice as large as they were previously, and could produce twice as much power, the curling strength would not be doubled as well – because some of the increased power would be wasted as a result of changed angles-of-pull.

Two, champion weight lifters may well be champions primarily because they have far better than average leverage factors helping them – and if so, they may not need much in the way of actual muscular bulk to lift heavy weights; and, of course, weight-lifting is an art requiring far more than strength – form, style, and other factors are equally important.

Also, the muscular mass itself may be very efficient in such individuals -since such efficiency is an individual thing.

Three, a bodybuilder with literally huge muscular size may also be primarily a result of his leverage factors – bad leverage factors; in such a case, an actually great mass of muscle would be required to lift only an average amount of weight.

Once this is understood, then the implications become obvious – a bodybuilder seeking to increase his muscular size should strive to increase strength, knowing that increases in strength will produce at least proportionate increases in muscular size; and weigh-lifters should strive to gain muscle fast for their sport, realizing that their strength will be increased as a result, if perhaps not in exact proportion. Such things as the length of bones, attachment points, etc. are determined by heredity; and by and large they cannot be altered -at least not to your advantage (my left triceps worked much better before it was ripped loose from the original attachment point).

It is at least possible that such individual differences have resulted in the gradual “drifting apart” of weight-lifters and bodybuilders – since it is only natural for a man with huge muscular size to resent the fact that a much smaller man can outperform him in strength demonstrations; and equally natural for the smaller man to look upon the bodybuilder’s muscles as “useless.”

But in so doing, by drawing apart, both factions have suffered – to at least a large degree because the training styles have gradually become almost two distinct practices; while neither the bodybuilders nor the weight-lifters realized that both should be training in an almost identical fashion – apart from training for style and form.

Some people can rather easily build great muscular size – some others can build great strength – and a few can build remarkable degrees of both; but the style of training should be almost identical in all cases, regardless of individual differences in potential, and no matter what the goals may be.

You cannot change your potential – but is probably greater than you think. And it might be of some interest to a few people to learn that recent evidence indicates that the best age (on the average) for making muscular size-strength gains is thirty-two.

Perhaps it isn’t “too late” after all.

Written by Arthur Jones.

Steroids – the so-called “growth drugs”

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , March 30th, 2010 @ 3:27 am

A few years ago, bodybuilders on the west coast were beating-up hippies -today, many thousands of bodybuilders have adopted the hippie style of life, drugs and all. Steroids – the so-called “growth drugs” – have become an almost universal fact of life in the weight-training world; and stupid as such utilization of these dangerous drugs may be, it is at least understandable. But drugs are no longer restricted to the steroid category – at a recent lifting meet, one of the heavyweight lifters was so stoned he literally didn’t know where he was or what he was doing.

There is no rational excuse for the use of nay kind of drugs by healthy individuals – but since it is apparently not in the realm of possibility for me to say anything that might influence people already involved in such practices, I will limit my remarks to a simple statement of the facts as they exist.

Large numbers of young men are attracted to the field of weight training every year – and under the circumstances, it is inevitable that many of them will be influenced by common attitudes and habits that will literally destroy no small numbers of them; in the present state of affairs, the parents of young men attracted to weight training would be well advised to do everything possible to channel this interest into another direction -and if that is not possible, then extreme care should be used in selecting a training environment. If possible, training should be restricted to the home; and for the benefit of those readers who may assume that this is an attempt on my part to sell more equipment, I will add that absolutely nothing in the way of special equipment is required. Very good results can be quickly produced by the use of a barbell, a chinning bar, a pair of parallel bars, and a squat rack – none of which items are manufactured or sold by myself.

The above is not meant to imply that there are literally no decent commercial training environments – there are many; but they do not exist in proportion to the need.

To the young trainee still in doubt on the subject of drugs, I can only say that the use of drugs WILL NOT help you to build muscle fast – regardless of what you may hear or read to the contrary; during the last few months alone, we have observed several cases of very serious effects from the use of drugs by bodybuilders – and no slightest sign of any worthwhile results from their use.

Written by Arthur Jones.

The Incredible Benefits of Weight Training

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , , March 30th, 2010 @ 3:18 am

Are the benefits of weight-training worth the price? If the price is that paid by many – perhaps most – currently-active trainees, then the answer can only be negative; for a physically-normal individual, the possible benefits of weight-training are simply not worth the price of fanaticism -if a man must become a slave to his training, then it simply isn’t justified on any rational basis.

For a physically-subnormal individual, the situation may be entirely different – sometimes almost any amount of training is not only justified but is an actual requirement for anything approaching a normal existence. But in normal situations – in most situations – the value of the possible results must be carefully compared to the price. And if the price really is that which it is assumed to be by most advanced bodybuilders, then the possible results are grossly overpriced. Fortunately, the opinions of advanced bodybuilders can seldom be considered gospel – personally, I have finally reached a point where I am highly suspicious of anything that such people believe; the very fact that something is being supported by advanced bodybuilders is enough, to me, to raise strong doubts on the subject -after thirty years of interest and no small amount of involvement in the field, I have yet to meet a bodybuilder that understood the basic physics involved in barbell training. Somewhat like lemmings – and with very similar final results – they all seem to be rushing blindly in the same direction, simply because everybody else is doing the same thing.

In my carefully considered opinion, most currently-active advanced bodybuilders will never accept an actually-rational method or style of training – primarily, I think, because many of them are too stupid to understand the real factors involved, and too biased to accept them even if they can understand them; which is a far more pitiful commentary on the state of affairs than it might appear to be at first glance – because the actually-important factors that must be understood for the most practical utilization of weight training ( for any purpose) are really very simple, perhaps too simple.

Sour grapes hopefully intended to explain a lack of acceptance of my ideas or my machines? Some people will think so – but opinions don’t change facts; and as a matter of fact, we have been simply swamped by orders for our machines since long before they even went into production on a commercial basis – and with very few exceptions, the people who bought the machines from us at first on a sight-unseen basis have promptly ordered more machines. So, since we have literally ad more business than we could handle up to this point, and since the flow of orders is constantly increasing, it would seem that both my ideas and my machines have achieved at least a reasonable amount of acceptance – in many cases, even if somewhat to my surprise, from advanced bodybuilders.

The simple fact of the matter is that rationally-practiced progressive weight-training is capable of producing results in the way of increases in strength and muscular size that cannot be duplicated by

ny amount of any other type of presently-existing training; strength for any purpose – for a normal life, for sports, for improved health and-or appearance.

And it is equally true that you can build muscle fast with less than four hours of weekly training – very quickly produced; and for individuals with more reasonable goals, and hour and a half of weekly training will produce results within a period of a few months that must be personally experienced to be appreciated.

Weight-training certainly is not the answer to all health problems – but it just as certainly is the answer to a long list of physical problems, many of which can be solved in no other practical manner; and where strength is a factor, it is the only rational choice.

Most people have no desire to be either as big or as strong as Casey Viator – but regardless of your personal goals, it is only common sense to use the most productive method available; and the system of employing the best method is of great importance as well – but the most likely-looking source of information on that score is in fact the poorest possible source of any meaningful information. The simple truth is that advanced bodybuilders in general have no slightest idea what they are doing – or even why they are doing it.

So far without single exception, the advanced bodybuilders that I have trained or closely associated with seem to be unable to progress beyond a certain point if left up to their own devices – and actually good results are to be produced, they must be constantly supervised in their training; if not, they quickly start backsliding. Under the circumstances, I can reach only one logical conclusion; regardless of their statements, the either do not understand or will not accept the validity of the actually important points – and when permitted to supervise their own training, they quickly fall back into habits of overtraining insofar as amount of training is concerned, and under-training in intensity of effort.

For the average person, however, no such drive or self-discipline is required; you can gain muscle fast from a very small amount of the proper type of training.

Weight Training Should Be a Part of Physical Education

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , March 27th, 2010 @ 11:13 pm

Primarily because of the psychological traits mentioned in the previous post – and as a result of commercial bias – the field of body building has finally reached a point where it is almost impossible to obtain information on the subject of actual practices, as opposed to claimed practices. If the field was without value, then present trends could be permitted to continue with no loss – but in fact, the very real value of intelligently-practiced weight-training is such that it deserves rational consideration, and efforts, directed towards salvaging the situation.

It is my personal opinion that weight-training should be a part of the physical education of every student in the country, starting about the freshman year in high school and continuing throughout the remainder of the educational experience – and I also think that something on that order might have resulted already, if it were not for the fact that the entire field has fallen into generally bad repute. If the situation is to be saved – if it can be saved – then present trends must be reversed.

In efforts directed towards that purpose, we will sponsor the “Mr. Nautilus” physique contest – a physique contest with a difference, with many differences, important differences. Up to this point, the promoters of such contests have seldom – and never, recently – offered more than $1,000.00 in the way of a cash prize to the overall winner; we will offer the first place winner a cash prize of $25,000.00 – with a total of $50,000.00 in cash prizes.

In the past, little or nothing in the way of significant publicity has been given to such contests -while the winners of the annual Miss America contests receive at least some national publicity, the winners of major physique contests generally remain unknown outside the narrow field of weight-training; so widespread publicity will be afforded this contest -among other things, a film will be made for television on the subject of physical training in general, with the contest being the highlight of the film.

The prizes and the publicity should attract both a wide field of entrants and widespread attention – but in this case, we are seeking far more than publicity; while the contest itself will be strictly a physique contest and will be judged accordingly, one of the requirements for entry will be that the entrants must present themselves a week in advance of the contest, and must submit to a wide variety of physical tests, any reasonable tests. We are primarily seeking facts – significant test results. According to present plans, Dr. Elliott Plese of Colorado State University will be in charge of the testing procedures – and the actual tests will be conducted by a group of physiologists from a number of universities and research foundations. The exact nature of the tests will not be made known in advance – but all results will be published within a reasonable time after the contest, and the information obtained will be made available to any interested parties.

Of possible concern to entrants; it should be clearly understood that the test results will not be made known to the judges in advance of the contest – and the judging will not be influenced by the results. But after the contest, all matters of general information will be published; accurate measurements, body weights, actual strength performances, etc. Of particular importance; a number of tests to determine drug usage – and the results of such usage in terms of whether they were used to build muscle fast – will be conducted, and the results of these tests will be published.

It should be clearly understood that there is absolutely no intention or desire to “hurt anybody” – on the contrary, it is our sincere desire to help everybody we can; but this can only be accomplished in the full light of the truth. At the moment, millions of young weight-trainees are attempting to build impossible degrees of muscular size, trying to duplicate impossible strength feats – and generally training in a fashion that literally prevents much in the way of worthwhile results; and who knows the actual extent of the damage being done by the use of drugs.

As additional plans for this contest are made, the details will be published in Iron Man Magazine and probably elsewhere; the date of the contest will be approximately November or December, 1972. The probable location will be Los Angeles, California.

While half of the total cash prizes of $50,000.00 will go to the overall winner, the other half will be divided into smaller, but significant, cash awards for a number of “place winners” and the winners of several subdivisions, best arms best back, etc. Additionally, all entrants will be provided with housing during the week of testing immediately prior to the contest.

For the first time in the history of physical training, this contest will provide sincerely interested, qualified, and hopefully unbiased experts the opportunity to study a large group of outstanding muscular specimen in depth; but if bias does exist – as it always does to at least some degree – then it should be balanced out by the large number of people who will be involved in the testing.

One point that still affords some concern is the selection of judges, and we are anxious to receive all possible suggestions in this regard; it is of course of extreme importance to have a panel of judges that are qualified and unbiased.

Additionally, we are interested in communications from the physiology departments of institutions that might like to take part in the testing procedures; but the final selection of such participants will be at the discretion of Dr. Plese.

Written by Arthur Jones.

The Factors Effecting Strength And Muscular Endurance

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal, Strength Training Tagged with , March 25th, 2010 @ 10:39 pm

In the body building and competitive weight-lifting fields, the ability to perform one maximum-possible repetition is generally considered the only meaningful test of strength; but in fact, a far more accurate measurement of strength can be based on performances of a given number of repetitions, almost any reasonable number of repetitions – except one repetition.

While most weight-trainees consider performances of several consecutive repetitions tests of endurance, there is actually no apparent difference between strength and endurance – accurate measurement of either one of these factors clearly indicates the existing level of the other; at least so long as actual “muscular endurance” itself is being considered – however, if the number of repetitions is too high, then other factors are involved to an extent that meaningful test-results are no longer possible.

The significance of this relationship between strength and endurance should be obvious – but in fact, and in practice, it has been misunderstood, totally overlooked, or ignored.

It is not my intention to become bogged down in attempts to justify this relationship – all of the evidence supports it, and nothing counter indicates it; but it is at least necessary to accept the existence of the relationship – and having done so, then any reasonably intelligent trainee should be immediately aware of the implications. In shore – by properly training for strength increases, improvements in endurance are produced in direct proportion, and vice versa; for competitive lifters, an awareness of that simple fact is enough – but for bodybuilders, the implications are even greater. Because there is also a direct relationship between strength (and-or endurance) and muscular size; in effect, producing maximum-possible degrees of strength will simultaneously and unavoidably produce maximum-possible degrees of muscular mass – and again in proportion. If we consider only the actual “input” of strength – the power being generated by the muscle – then increases in muscular mass will be out of proportion to such measurable strength gains. But the “results” will be the same in either case – in order to build muscle fast, you must build maximum-possible strength.

Great confusion on these points exists for several reasons – but primarily because attempts have been made to compare the performance abilities of different individuals: which cannot be done in a meaningful manner. But if such comparisons are restricted to individuals – if a man is compared to himself at another point in time – then the validity of the above points is clearly supported by any sort of presently-available test procedure based on sound principles. However, such tests must be conducted within a reasonable time period – the normal degeneration of age will produce apparent exceptions if the tests are made several years apart; and when such tests involve immature subjects, then careful attention must be given to the maturity factor – and in such cases, reasonable accuracy of measurement depends upon average figures resulting from a rather large number of exactly-similar tests. While the performances of mature subjects will normally remain remarkably consistent, immature subjects will usually show great variation on a day-to-day basis.

Reduced to practical considerations, this means that a bodybuilder must work for maximum-possible strength – and that a competitive lifter must work to gain muscle mass, at least in those muscular structures that are involved in lifting; and in either case, the “type” of training is exactly-similar – in both cases, the training should be of maximum-possible intensity, but brief and infrequent.

Being clearly aware of this relationship between strength and “actual muscular size” (as opposed to supposed muscular size, or bulk which may have a high percentage of fatty tissue), we have long directed our efforts to attempts to increase strength; Casey Viator is a good example of a trainee with far-better-than-average potential who has trained in this manner – and as a result, he is almost unique. In the past, it was assumed that great size presupposed at least some visible fatty tissue; people spoke of “bulking up”, and then “training down” – and this practice is still widespread today. But it is always a mistake; adding fatty tissue has absolutely nothing to do with increasing actual muscular mass – and once added, much of such fatty tissue can never be entirely removed.

Casey has built his almost unbelievable muscular size by building his strength – and as a result, he remains in hard muscular condition at any size; he is not – as some people suppose – “very defined in spite of his size,” rather he is literally “very defined BECAUSE OF HIS SIZE.”

Regardless of apparent muscular definition, some degree of fatty tissue will always remain – as it must in a living organism; but there does not appear to be any definite requirement for any certain percentage of such fatty tissue – thus a very large muscular individual might remain perfectly healthy with exactly the same “amount” of fatty tissue found in a much smaller individual. And since the actual percentile of fatty tissue would be lower in the case of the larger individual, he would obviously appear more muscular – literally BECAUSE OF HIS SIZE.

Demonstrations of strength depend on many factors – many of them in no way related to actual strength; for this reason, many bodybuilders – probably most bodybuilders, today – cannot demonstrate strength in proportion to their appearance of strength. And thus they have come to believe that “strength training” is of no importance to a bodybuilder; while in fact it is really the only type of training that is even capable of giving them the results they are seeking.

Secondly, many bodybuilders – and probably all successful bodybuilders -actually practice strength training without being aware that they are doing so. Failing to realize that the actual number of repetitions is of no real importance – so long as the set is carried to a point of proper intensity-of-effort, and so long as the number of repetitions is at least reasonable – many bodybuilders are actually training properly without realizing it; training properly for strength, that is. Which, of course, means properly in every sense of the word in this instance.

17 Rules to Help You Gain Muscle

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , March 24th, 2010 @ 10:30 pm

For the average trainee, actually-proper use of a barbell is NOT complicated; in fact, if anything, it may actually be far too simple. In later chapters I will at least attempt explanations of the following and many other related points, but if the points listed below are clearly understood and practiced then any trainee will build muscle fast and be moving in the direction of producing best-possible results.

1. – Limit your weekly workouts to three training sessions for the entire body – including the legs.

2. – Limit the length of your workouts to a total of not more than two hours each – a weekly total training time of six hours; and in almost all cases, even better results will be produced by a total weekly training time of less than four hours – or even as little as two hours.

3. – Seldom perform more that two sets of any one exercise – and NEVER perform more than three sets of any one exercise.

4. – Make unceasing efforts to progress – always attempt to produce at least some sign of progress in every set of every exercise.

5. – Pay particular attention to the “form” of your exercises – do not permit the style of performance to degenerate into a mere “going through the motions.”

6. – In general, select the “hardest” exercises – and perform them in the hardest manner possible; if a particular style of performance makes an exercise easier, then it almost always makes it less productive.

7. – NEVER terminate a particular set simply because you have completed a certain number of repetitions; a set is properly finished only when additional movement is utterly impossible – curl until you can’t even begin to bend your arms, squat until you can’t start up from the low position, press until you cannot move the bar away from your shoulders or your chest.

8. – If you can perform your “guide number” of repetitions – or MORE -then that is your signal to increase the resistance in that particular exercise at the time of your next workout.

9. – Judge your progress by measurable strength increases; when you can perform the same number of repetitions with twice as much resistance, then your muscles will be at least twice as big as they were at the start – and probably more than twice as big.

10.- An advanced trainee does NOT need “more” exercise than a beginner; he simply needs “harder” exercise, in direct proportion to the differential in strength. An advanced man may be able to “stand” more exercise – but it is not a requirement, and will almost always quickly lead to a situation where additional progress comes to a halt, or slows to a snail’s pace.

11.- An intelligently selected, reasonably balanced diet is all that is required – and you MUST have both carbohydrates and fats; the amount of food is of more importance than any other factor of diet – if the diet is well rounded. If you are adding fat, then you are eating too much – too many calories; if you are losing weight, then you are not eating enough. It is really just that simple. Any number of freely available government publications contain all of the required information on the subject of diet. And while you may or may not agree with the government’s policy on Vietnam, you should at least realize that the government has no axes to grind on the subject of diet; if and when the government starts selling health foods, then look out – but in the meantime, you can take their word on this subject at least.

12.- Do not make any attempt to compare yourself with any other individual – unless you happen to have an identical twin, and there are some physical differences even then; far too many factors are involved to make it possible to compare individuals on a rational basis.

13.- Building maximum-possible degrees of strength in al of the major muscular structures of the body will also unavoidably produce maximum-possible degrees of muscular size; so work to increase your strength, gain muscle mass – and control your degree of existing muscularity by regulating the amount of your diet.

14.- “Spot reductions” of fatty tissue is an outright myth – a physical impossibility. Build the muscles of your abdominal area by training them in exactly; the same way your exercise your other muscles, two or three sets of from six to twenty repetitions, repeated three times weekly; get rid of any fat in that area by simply reducing your intake of food – or by increasing the “amount” of overall exercises.

But NOT by increasing the amount of abdominal exercise. In effect – and IN FACT – you can reduce fatty tissue in the area of your waist by working your legs (or your arms, or your shoulders, or any other muscle group in your body), it is NOT necessary to work the midsection in order to reduce fat in the midsection; and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the way of an artificial aid will do anything in the way of helping the situation – all that matters is overall consumption of calories, energy; output-foot input.

15.- Do NOT make the mistake of trying to add muscular size by “bulking up” – adding fatty tissue; such fatty tissue is not muscle and cannot become muscle – and newly-added fat cells, once added, can be completely removed only by surgery. You can reduce the size of fat cells, but you cannot entirely remove the cell itself – and unlike muscle fibers, fat cells CAN BE INCREASED IN NUMBER.

16.- Avoid so-called “growth drugs” like the plague.

17.- Have confidence in your training; if you are too sick to make muscular gains you should be in the hospital – ANY healthy individual can do so.

The rest is explanation – or justification; or explanation of required form.

Written by Arthur Jones.

How To Use Future Pacing To Build Strength And Focus!

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , August 12th, 2009 @ 5:43 pm

If you have fully understood the principles behind a goal setting program, you will be working towards building up the poundages you use while lifting weights.

To perform an exercise properly, you will quickly realize that you need to be able to concentrate on what you are doing to the exclusion of everything else. You’ve got to be able to concentrate on the squats to the point where you can’t see or hear anything else. You’ve got to concentrate with such focus, that you are almost in a state of hypnosis.

So, unless you were blessed with incredible powers of concentration at birth, there’s really only one way to develop this ability. That’s by learning  some form of “autosuggestion” or “future pacing.”

The following exercise is a form of “future pacing,” and will help you to visualize fast muscle gains and dramatically enhance your ability to concentrate. Follow the steps exactly.  Don’t rush.  It’s critical that you perform this exercise slowly, and that you completely relax.

You should  be free from all distractions.  Make sure that you will not be disturbed at all during the exercise. You are going to achieve a state where you can completely let go of all your limitations, and can see yourself enjoying all the benefits that your new body will provide.  Get ready to build some serious concentration muscles.

  1. Lie down or sit down in a comfortable place.
  2. Take a deep breath, and close your eyes.
  3. Place your attention to your left foot.
  4. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left foot.
  5. Place your attention to the right foot.
  6. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right foot.
  7. Place your attention on the left leg from the knee down.
  8. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left leg.
  9. Place your attention on your right leg from the knee down.
  10. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right leg.
  11. Place your attention on the left thigh.
  12. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left thigh.
  13. Place your attention on the right thigh.
  14. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right thigh.
  15. Place your attention your buttocks.
  16. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your buttocks and groin  area.
  17. Place your attention on your stomach.
  18. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your stomach.
  19. Place your attention on your lower back.
  20. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your lower back.
  21. Place your attention on your chest.
  22. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your chest.
  23. Place your attention on your upper back.
  24. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your upper back.
  25. Place your attention on your left shoulder.
  26. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left shoulder.
  27. Place your attention to the right shoulder.
  28. Breath in, and then breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right shoulder.
  29. Place your attention to your left arm down to the elbow.
  30. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left arm.
  31. Place your attention to your right arm down to the elbow.
  32. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right  arm.
  33. Place your attention to the left forearm down to your wrist.
  34. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left  forearm.
  35. Place your attention to your right forearm down to your wrist.
  36. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right  forearm.
  37. Place your attention to your left hand and fingers.
  38. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your left hand and fingers.
  39. Place your attention to your right hand and fingers.
  40. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your right  hand and fingers.
  41. Place your attention to those powerful muscles in the back of the neck.
  42. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of those  muscles.
  43. Place your attention to the rest of your neck.
  44. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your neck.
  45. Place your attention to your jaw and mouth.
  46. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your jaw and  mouth.
  47. Place your attention to your nose and ears.
  48. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your nose  and ears.
  49. Place your attention to your forehead.
  50. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your  forehead.
  51. Place your attention to the small muscles of the eyelids.
  52. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of those  muscles.
  53. Place your attention your entire face and head.
  54. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your face  and head.
  55. Now place your attention on your ENTIRE body.
  56. Slowly breath in, and then slowly breathe out as you let all the tension out of your entire  body as you find yourself now in a state of mind and body that will help you see yourself with the muscle gains you deserve.
  57. Think of how your new results look, and feel to you. The new size and strength in your legs, and the added inches to your arms and chest. Visualize yourself doing all the things you normally do in your day, but with a  stronger, more muscular physique. See yourself in the morning in front of the mirror, and picture your new look of power and strength…the incredible muscle gains you have achieved. Picture seeing yourself from above, like a director filming you from above. Now pan the camera down and around your body until you have seen your new muscle size all the way round. Now see yourself working out with high levels of intensity. Visualize yourself performing your squats with focus, and your strength increasing each and every workout. See the new you…know that it will be so. And then let this image go. Watch it as it slowly floats up into the blue sky like a red balloon. Relax and breathe. Go ahead and mentally state, “Now I am going to count from one to five… and as I count  from one to five, I will awaken, alive, refreshed, and feeling much better than before…1…  2… 3… 4… 5.”

Practice this exercise as often as you can. Twice a day is best. Once first thing in the morning, and then again just before you go to sleep. You can easily build muscle fast if you focus on making the most of this simple visualization technique.

Zen and The Art Of Strength Training

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with , July 23rd, 2009 @ 6:21 pm

If you misspell a word over and over again, it doesn’t make it any closer to being spelt correctly.  Likewise, you have a snowflakes chance in hell of getting bigger muscles, simply by using an ineffective program over and over again. I don’t care if you drop to your knees and your strides split open.  If you think that you can, maybe you should give somebody else a call.

Believe it or not, most guys you will ever meet, work out too often and too long.  Such  training only exhausts your recovery ability, and as a result, renders muscle growth next to impossible. It will take most of them years to achieve significant muscle gains. And, that’s if they see any at all. You on the other hand, can produce huge muscle gains in only a matter of months, with a proven method like the program you have here.

These simple keys can provide you with all the muscle you will ever want, or ever need.  Why ignore them?  Once you accept and respect the key methods involved, you will no longer fall victim to myths and lies.  Prey or predator, I know which one I’d rather be.  Your hard earned money is being wasted big time, by chopping and changing your training program.  You’re being preyed upon by these fluffy fads,  you’re just far too blind to see it.  I  know because, the same thing happened to me.

In general however, it doesn’t matter why your workouts must be intense to produce increases in muscle mass.  It doesn’t even matter what all the factors are which make such gains possible.  You don’t need to totally understand all the processes of the internal systems which control your own recovery ability.  Who cares why it is only available in a limited supply, it just is.  You’re on a “need to know” basis remember.

Essentially, what you need to know and accept is that intense work is what will build muscle fast, and despite your greatest fantasy, your recovery ability is limited.  The failure to understand these two simple factors is the number one reason why most guys do not produce the result they desire.

While it is true that the time required to recover from a given workout differs slightly from person to person.  This degree of difference is not even worth considering.  In fact, working out will actually increase your recovery ability, but only slightly.  This will only happen, however, if your present recovery ability has not already been totally “screwed” from far too frequent workouts.

Welcome to the Bushido History Blog!

0 comments By admin Filed in Personal Tagged with July 17th, 2009 @ 6:42 pm

Hello, and thanks for stopping by. This is my first official blog post on the Bushido History Blog.

Over the coming months I will be posting about specific topics, and they will all cover different aspects of “how to be a samurai.” While I am not a samurai myself, I believe that we can all benefit from following the path of the samurai a little more in our everyday lives.

The Samurai where known for honor, disipline, strength and integrity. These characteristics are needed more than ever as we navigate life and pursue our dreams and goals. So please come back often and read these posts so that you too can become more in tune with the samurai way.

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