The belief factor in your training

The internet is filled with websites full of training information, routines, diet, and everything under the sun you can think of regarding how to build a bigger/smaller/leaner/stronger you. If you admire a particular IFBB pro bodybuilders chest or arms or wheels, I can just about bet you money that he has a website and on that website he probably talks about the routine he uses including exercises, sets, reps, weights, etc.

If you are a powerlifter and want to get a bigger total you'll have no problem finding plenty of websites that will tell you how you can get more out of your squat, bench, and deadlift including improving technique, cycles to peak for meets, and what assistance exercises to use.

If you want to lose weight you will be overwhelmed with the amount of information available to you on the net.

So the obvious question from me is, if we know some simple truths about weight loss, strength gain, and muscle mass building why is there so much information and why are there so many people walking around confused about what to do?

Truths -

Some basic an accepted "truths" we know from decades of lifting and eating are....

To lose weight, have a calorie deficit. This can be done by simply eating less or a combination of eating less AND doing more (cardio).

To gain weight/mass have a calorie surplus.

To focus more on building mass in training, use your heaviest working sets in the 8-20 rep range and get stronger in that repetition range.

To focus more on building maximum strength use sets in the 1-5 rep range. Especially sets of 1, 2, and 3.

(just as a note, sets of 5-7 gives you a bit of both but doesn't build single rep strength quite as well as singles, doubles, and triples, and doesn't build mass quite as well as sets of 8+ in my opinion)

Gray Areas -

Here are some gray areas that get heavily debated a lot and are really more personal decision type stuff IMO............

Carbs - I've lost fat eating carbs and lost fat on completely cutting them out. I personally like having some carbs because they are a big part of the basic workings of physiology. Glycogen is the best fuel for explosive training and strength. I have this strange theory with zero evidence to back it up, that glycogen can and is used by the body for fat burning. Different article...

Frequency - This is comprised of one camp that says you need to train 5-6 days a week, and the camp that says you can do just fine with 2-3 days a week. I think this is a personal issue. Some people WANT to train 5-6 days a week. I personally am in the latter camp. I think you can lift 2-3 times a week and cover everything just fine. If you throw in 1 day or hard conditioning and another day or two of easier conditioning you've got it all covered.

Volume - Again two camps for the most part. High volume and low volume. Some guys say do a lot of sets and some say you can get by just fine with a couple.

To failure or not - Either go to failure (meaning you can't do another rep) or to stay away from it. I personally think at some point you're going to HAVE to do some "to failure" training. I feel strongly about this. You can do a crap load of volume but you can't just keep adding volume forever and ever. At some point you're going to have to train hard and go balls out. This doesn't mean you have to train like this all the time, and I don't recommend that. But if you've been stuck for a while and you are a high volume guy then it's probably time to drop some volume and go all "Heavy Duty" for a while. This will probably get you over a hump and then you can resume your high volume stuff.

The real missing ingredient - The power of your belief

Ok so above you have the "facts" (yes I know they are not truly facts), if you will, and then the not so facts. Throw out the gray areas and stick with the facts. Now what are you left with? Some basic principles that you already know work. The rest of the stuff varies greatly from training philosophy to training philosophy.

So why do some programs work for some people and not for others?

My personal opinion is that it is related to ones belief in particular program.

Allow me to elaborate....................

Placebo is a hell of a drug -

Back in the day when supplements were mostly scams (not that they aren't now) we had all sorts of crazy ads claiming crazy results from taking their products.

"Brian gained 37 pounds in 30 days and lost 19% of his bodyfat!"

Yes I'm making a bit of a joke here but if I could dig up some old muscle rags I bet I could find an advertisement that isn't too far off from that. So then average joe bucks up the money for this product, starts taking it and indeed starts making some solid gains. Not what the advertisement promises but indeed some gains. What I have generally found is that when average joe gets his order in, is that his excitement level and motivation level is high. He trains balls out, he eats really well and does all of the other right things associated with a good training plan. Why? Because he believes in X product and wants to get the most from it. I believe that if he could have summoned up the same motivation level without product X he would have achieved the same results or very similar results.

So average joe BELIEVED in the product he paid good money for, thus he put a solid plan into action and he got stronger and bigger. He now believes in product X (until it's reformulated and becomes "new and improved") and that it works for him.

When you believe in something strongly, you can and will find evidence to support your belief all over the place. People tend to seek out others who will verify that their opinion is correct. So average joe will scour the net looking for everyone else who has used product X and gotten bigger and stronger with it as well. He will dismiss the opinions of those who say it does not work. Because it obviously worked for him, so they must be stupid and wrong.

This same scenario applies to training methods as well. If you love training plan X and used it because your buddy used it and got massive and swole, you will have a strong belief that it will work for you as well. And you will train your ass off using it. And guess what? You will make gains, and thus your belief is reinforced. People who tell you it does not work will be labeled as stupid.

This doesn't mean that training X isn't a good or great training program, but no training plan works without someone putting in the effort to make it work. So your BUY IN to a program or philosophy or template or whatever is really the most important part of making a program work FOR YOU.

Those pesky facts again...

Now of course you have to plan appropriately. No amount of placebo can overcome poor ass planning. If you're goal is to get bigger and you're eating below maintenance level in calories you're not going to get bigger. This is a philological fact. Growth requires energy and energy is calories. If your goal is to lose weight/get leaner and you're overeating each day then it's not going to happen. You don't use Pilates to get stronger for football or powerlifting. You don't want to do heavy partial lifts if your goal is to get better at Yoga. You need to plan appropriately for your goals based on some simple anecdotal facts and then work those gray areas to your liking. When you get everything lined up in a way you believe will work, then you can pour your energy into it and results will come.

So without proper planning AND proper belief, results will not be what you expect them to be or should be. Train and eat appropriately for the goals you are trying to achieve. Then pouring your belief and energy into what you are doing will be easy and your plan will be effective. The two are a handshake mechanism. Make sure they are connecting properly. When that happens you'll know it because your belief in that program will be strong.

Now I feel like watching Star Wars for some reason.

Training - Conditioning

Steady state - 20 minutes

Hills x 8

Training - Week 1 / Phase 1 Squats and Deadlifts

05Jun10 Saturday

Weight - 237 pounds

Warm up - lunges and foam rolling

Calf Press - up to 450 x 10

Squats - 135 x 10, 225 x 5, 315 x 5, 405 x 1, 425 x 1, 455 x 1

Deadlifts - 225 x 3, 315 x 3, 405 x 1, 455 x 1, 500 x 1, 425 x 5,5

Hack Pause Squats - 315 x 8, 405 x 10

Notes - Great week to start my training. All the weights were stupid light and moved fast. That's what I want my first week. My conditioning has really paid off as I moved through this whole workout in about 45 minutes. This workout usually takes longer because of loading and unloading the squat and dead, but there was minimal rest between every set, including singles.

Training

03Jun10 - Week 1 Phase 1 - Press

Weight - 238 pounds

Incline - 135 x 15, 185 x 6, 225 x 3, 275 x 10 x 5

Close Grip Bench - 245 x 10 x 5

Notes - Wow, I'm always amazed at how weak I am on the second sets after a layoff or taking it easy for a while. The weights were all puny and felt super light in my hands but just no real strength after the first set of inclines. Fatigue set in fast. Should be good in a few weeks.

Thoughts about life, training, crap and stuff

Meet prep started this week and I'm super duper (yes I wrote super duper you ahole) motivated about training.  I took the last 6-8 weeks or so just cruising and taking it pretty easy and my elbow(s) feel the best they have in a while.  I don't know how long it will last but I am enjoying it right now.

Southern California is an awesome place.  The first night I was there I spotted a Bentley parked in front of the hotel.  I almost took a pic of it, but glad I didn't.  Everyday I would see 20-30 Bentley's a day, Ferrari's, Aston Martin, Phantoms, Lambos, and just about anything you can think of.  The average looking women are hot everywhere else, and the hot women there come from some hot alien woman planet.  If I were single I'd move there even if I could only get a job as a janitor.

The average SoCal woman


First week into my meet prep and I'm still not finished tweaking my program.  Luckily for me I don't have to bench, squat, or dead until Thursday.  I've been going back and forth on a couple of principles that I know work, however implementing them properly into each phase makes me have serious OCD about it.  I'm trying not to develop paralysis by analysis but I may be failing.

I'm a very forgiving person.  That's not a "look how great I am" statement.  If someone comes to me with a sincere apology, I always forgive them for their wrong doing.  We all F up.  I don't know if there is anything more depressing than to have wronged someone and sincerely want them to forgive you for it, and they won't.  I often wonder if these people have ever experienced real loss in their life.  Because people that I know that also forgive like I do, have experienced loss, and know how foolish it is to carry around a grudge about things that don't really matter.  As long as bones weren't broken or a bank account hacked, you should really examine what it is you're holding a grudge about.  People do stupid shit.  We're all wired with a stupid shit gene regarding something.  Show some love from time to time to someone who wronged you in a way that really is forgivable.

Forgiving someone will make BOFF of you feel better.

All year if I am not training for a meet I plan out all the various awesome splits I will use in preparation for said meet.  Then it comes time to really train and I go back to my bread and butter.  Squat and dead on one day, pull back shit on one day, and bench on one day.  It's got me by the balls and I can't get away from this split.  I guess I like it.  When I get closer to the meet sometimes I will drop the back and biceps day.

Jim how long are you going to grow that freaking beard?  I bet that thing smells like you have the butthole of a dead rhino trapped in it.  I know you're not getting any trim with that thing.

I really need to get back to playing music.  I have been missing that more lately and I'm not sure why.  I wouldn't mind taking piano lessons either.  I love to play instruments and wish I were independently wealthy just so I could take guitar/bass/piano/violin/jazz flute lessons everyday.  I always thought it would be awesome to be able to walk into any type of bar/club where a band was playing and pick up any and every instrument they had and be able to level the place with it.

Ron could play the hell out of some jazz flute.


My diet has been atrocious for weeks, and I'm leaner and feel better than ever.  I have no explanation for this at all.

I am positive I will be moving in the next couple of years.  I hate the midwest now.  The weather sucks, traffic sucks, there is no ocean, no real place to party, full of uptight and snotty people (in Johnson County anyways).  Nothing worse than living in the land of the thousand dollar millionaire, as we call the snobs of Johnson County.  I'm thinking Arizona but I'm keeping my options open.

I'm finally finding some new music.  Melodic death metal is apparently my flavor right now and I'm digging some Disarmonia Mundi at the moment.  The term melodic and death metal always make me chuckle.  Jumbo shrimp, that kind of thing.

I still haven't seen Avatar.  :::Shrugs:::

I can't wait on that new Karate Kid.  I hope Jet Li shows up and kills Jackie Chan and Will Smith's kid via Patrick Swayze Roadhouse throat rip in the script, but I bet that doesn't happen.  A man can dream though.

What is it with Sex and the City and women?  I've never seen a single episode but something about a 52 year old slut running around banging everything makes me cringe.  I wish I had more women followers that way this would get a rise out of them.  Women, for the most part, have the most awful taste in movies.  I want to get rich and write and direct a chic flick.  Here is how it goes.............(chic flicks only have a few plots)

Set in 1984 in New York, Dude and Chic work in the same office
Dude is secretly in love with chic but he's not top shelf material and she is, so she doesn't notice him
Dude saves Chic from getting ran over because she's chasing some papers that fell from her briefcase and were blowing across the busy street.
Chic finally notices Dude.
Chic dates "mindless morons" who are good looking and have millions but that doesn't do it for her
Chic and Dude end up having coffee together and she realizes he's really super cool
However Chic keeps dating "mindless morons" but finds herself thinking about Dude the whole time
Dude sees she keeps dating mindless morons and now decides he won't bother with her and is all PMS'd up
Dude gets a promotion and the company moves him across the country to L.A.
Chic realizes she's in love with him and boards a plane to L.A.
Chic tracks down Dude where she tells him she's in love with him
Dude and Chic decide to get married on the spot and find a Chapel.
Dude and Chic say their vows and kiss.
Dude and Chic exit the Chapel to find an overly muscular guy waiting near their car in the parking lot.
Overly muscular guy asks Chic if her name is Sarah Connor.
Chic says yes and Overly muscular guy pulls out a scoped .45 and drills em both in the parking lot.
The End

Please God let the terminator start showing up at the end of chic flicks

This weekend my wife of 14 years turns 34.  I just wanted that to be public since she acts like I'm Moses because I'm 35.

Rampage clearly had ring rust and wasn't at his best.  I look forward to Shogun destroying Rashad and next month Shane Carwin pummeling Lesnar.  I'm stoked about that.

I am thinking about not doing my back off sets with the actual back squat and using hack squats for it.  This would keep me doing singles only for the squats then using the hacks as my squat assistance movement.  I've never done hacks because all of those hack machines kill my knees.  However I am at a new gym and the one they have does not hurt, so I'm anxious to give em a shot.

Training - Week 1 / Phase 1 - Preparatory Phase

01Jun10 - Back - Biceps


Weight - 242

Seated Ab Pulldowns - up to 190 x 10
Lying Neck Plate Raises - 90 x 15 x 15

Chest Supported T-Bars - 1 plate x 15, 2 plates x 12, 3 plates x 10

Strive Pulldown (middle tension) - 150 x 10, 210 x 8, stack x 8 (used straps)

Incline Db Curls - 50% set 40's x 12 x 6

Stead State - 15 minutes @ 4.4 mph

Notes - Great session. The time off did me good. My joints feel awesome and I did a good job of not going crazy tonight and picking good weights.

Diet today - higher carb day -

7:30 - breakfast - breakfast burrito with 4 egg whites, 3 slices of turkey bacon, in a high fiber wrap

9:30 - Myofusion 2 scoops

12:00 - subway flat bread with two chicken breasts, pickles, lettuce, tomato, black olives, and honey mustard. 1 bag of baked lays.

4:00 - 4 ounces of oatmeal and 1 scoop of myofusion

7:00 - post training - 2 scoops of Myofusion

8:30 - grilled chicken salad

Training - Conditioning

Steady state - 20 minutes

Hill sprints x 5

This was done yesterday. Nothing too crazy. Because of traveling I haven't been able to get a lot of conditioning in so I just did the 5 and called it a day. These felt just fine and I could have easily done the usual 10+ but generally when you rush back into sprint work, you'll end up with some overuse injuries. So I played it smart and stopped at 5.

Tonight starts the first week of three weeks of preparatory training. I won't be hitting anything heavy for these three weeks. The fastest way to make sure you stall in training is to start out too hard and too heavy early on. So don't expect to see any heavy weights moved (well, heavy for me) for at least a month.