Arnold wasn't built in a day.
Many people are such in a rush to build Arnold in a day, which they eventually get hurt through injury, get burnt out fast from all the intense heavy training and eventually tap out. You gotta realize that what we do and love is marathon and not a sprint. Have you ever seen an endurance runner give it all he has as far as speed wise goes throughout the race? No, they literally would die from it and promised injury. It is the same for us. If you give it all you got all the time you’re only asking for trouble and by trouble I mean an injury that can and could leave you injured for the rest of your life!
Many times when we see our beloved BB lifting crazy fast with minimum rest or no rest at all they are in their last period of preparation for a show. “Lee Labrada, a top professional, used to train much more quickly when he was preparing for a competition. The increased pace helped create the hard and finished look we was renowned for.” (Hansen, 2005). Hansen goes onto say “Although training intensity goes up when the speed of the workout increases, the amount of weight you can lift at this fast pace mostly likely goes down. If you want to lift heavy weights, you must take a considerable amount of rest between sets to allow the muscles to fully recuperate.” Hopefully this gives you a baseline on how you need to create your workout plans and intensity. Simple put if you are going to lift heavy then you are going to need more time between sets, if you are going to for the definition achievement then you limit your rest time before going into the next set. Some may argue their own personal view but from those I have been mentored by that are competing or have competing when going heavy most take up to five minutes if not more of rest between sets to get it done right so to speak. If you’re lifting heavy, taking minimum rest in between you’re asking for trouble through self-inflicted wound. Take your time on when you go heavy, remember marathon not a sprint. There are times for the sprint no doubt, however it at the end when you’re trying to define those muscles you spent time on getting. If you don’t have time that day to get in those heavy lifts, DON’T DO THEM. It’s best to live to fight another day then fight day and be out of the fought forever.
I see it and read it time and time again, guys even gals have pains and aches or injuries that could have well been prevented if they would have just worked out right. Now I am not being ignorant to the fact that even with proper rest periods you won’t obtain injury. No the heavier you go to grow the more at risk you are for tears, joint deterioration etc... Sometimes it’s a catch 22 cliché, however sometimes we can avoid injuries by working out properly with timed rest then we would by going more intense.
There is a time and place for everything, as already been said. However we must remind ourselves Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was destroyed in one. I find for myself the will power to rest is my biggest enemy. We are all very busy with our jobs, life, family etc…, that we just can’t get those rest in and try to skim a bit off the rest period depending upon how we feel to go into the next heavy lift. I will also say that I have paid the consequences for doing so. Even though I may feel ready for that next set, is it more psychologically prepped or truly physically prepped? I would say the mental, and there again we have to slow down our sprint mentality to get to the finish line as a winner. If you are going to do it then do it right. I don’t have the time for all that rest between sets I got to go, go, gooooo. Fine I get it, neither do I have most of the time, however if I don’t have the time, wherever I am at in that particular workout or routine I simply stop right where I am at and then try and complete the rest of them somewhere later on in the week in my lighter workout days or days where I finisher early. Trust me you won’t regret it.
What if I can’t find the time to lift heavy, then you have to put away your pride and realize that right now in your life you don’t have time for a marathon or ultra-marathon regime so to speak and you will have to train for shorter distance in essence. Is it frustrating, YES IT IS, however we only have one body, and what we do today will affect us surely for the rest of our lives. I am 31yrs old, and have so many injuries due to training and even more so due to my profession. When I was younger I was unbreakable, had wolverine blood, so I thought. Now through much mentorship through forum RESEARCH, and many good BB friends I have made myself slow down so I can finish the marathon. It took me I would say a good year to come to the realization, if time permits, then commit, if time doesn’t commit then split.
We look at our beloved BB, finessed competitors and sports athletes and say “I want to be like them, NOW”. It doesn’t happen like that. It doesn’t matter how many “supplements” or as my good friend EX would say “placebo’s” you use, it will not make you Arnold in a day, a year, or maybe five years. It’s going to take your body time to realize what is being ask if it, begin to respond from the request and then time to meet the request. Those we love also too if you get them one on one would have a bleeding heart with you and advise of much of the above. We see or hear it all the time one of our Pro BB or sports athletes retire early due to injury i.e Bo Jackson and Milos Sarchev. These legends were our idles during their time however they were sprinting all the time and forced them into having to give up what they loved early. Some from training and some from the amount of stuff the put into their bodies to fast.
Hopefully this time in reading has put perspective not only on your training but your life and how precious one day of breathing really is, and to keep enjoying what you love is even more beautiful. Slow down your pace, find where you can maintain to get to the finish a winner and go train!
References:
Hansen, J. (2005). Natural bodybuilding. (1st ed.). Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics Publishers. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=WSb...A63&dq=lifting heavy all the time bodybuilding&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vMuYUc3NGInw8ASuvoGoAg& ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA
Re: Arnold wasn't built in a day.
Quiet often I find myself trying to get to much stuff done. Both in the gym and out of it. I sat down one day and figured out how many hours I needed to get everything completed that day, I needed 30 hours. : ( There are only 24 hours in a day so I tried to cut corners where I could but there still wasnt enough time. Lifting in the gym is the same way. I finally decided to set a time limit and try and stop there. My time limit is one hour. My last work out was one hour and fifteen minutes so you can see I still didnt make it. Where do I cut the corners to get everything completed? I got 4 hours of sleep that day, thats not good. A normal day looks like this 12 hours work, 8 hours sleep, 30 minutes to and from the gym, one hour and a half to and from work, two showers one hour, cooking my food one hour, some time with my wife, winding down from work and work out 30 minutes each (sorry honey) Thats already more than 24 hours and I havent included the unscheduled stuff that happens every day. I bet most of you have days like that and I also bet that 30 hours would just about get it all done. I will build that big brick house of a body I want but I will have to do it one brick at a time.
The bottom line is this do what you can, try and get plenty of rest and remember to try and manage your time wisely you only have 24 hours today.
Re: Arnold wasn't built in a day.
If you don't have a well laid out plan of attack (training program) than you're setting yourself up for failure and worse.... injury.
Re: Arnold wasn't built in a day.
You have to give any program you try time to work. I always tell people give it months not weeks.
