In the last 3 months I have been asked by increasing numbers of people about how I am able to get such big gains. Believe me, sometimes the gains that occur are a big surprise to me too but gains are usually made by choice, planning, and all out work. Sometimes, the gains we get are localized and due to very intense focus on the gains desired. In any case, answering this recurrent question from my perspective and experience has taken a little thought.
First Principle — Evaluation
Before anything else we have to know ourselves. We need to be able to “SEE” what we look like “RIGHT NOW” with no filters. In the beginning this takes real courage for most of us. We have to look imperfection dead in the eye and accept ourselves as we are and not how we otherwise imagine ourselves to be. Ouch! Take some pictures of yourself and date them. Put them into some sort of journal where all subsequent photos can be placed in chronological order. This line of pictures will serve as a living document of your progress for yourself and anybody who asks for proof that you were not always perfect.
Second Principle — Desire to Change (Win)
I always tell prospective bodybuilders or fitness entrepreneurs to think about what they want and where they want to go with the sport they choose. Once they have decided they have to internalize their decision. By this I mean, they have to get a “BIG BELLY FULL OF WANT TO!” The road ahead is going to be hard and frought with setbacks, frustrations, and pain. They have to determine before they even start that the outcome is already won and that pursuing it is worth it. I highly recommend that each newcomer to bodybuilding keep a journal daily about their feelings, training, improvements, and setbacks, and frustrations. Anything to do with training and their journey goes into pages of this book. It establishes a paper record of this mighty transformation that they are undertaking.
Third Principle — Planning
Nobody starts a trip without first consulting a map to check for the best route to get from home to our desired destination. Such is the case with bodybuilding. I encourage my friends and muscle head buddies to put together two items that they can hang on the refrigerator or the bathroom wall so they do not lose track of what they are doing. I still do it today. Firstly, an exercise program designated for each day of the week except Sundays. Each aday has to have a designated body part that is pushed to the limit and punished. we have to understand that real muscle gain occurs when that particular muscle is taken to it’s end point. This end point is marked by pain as the muscle is filled with blood and lactic acid. This is the muscle gain zone. Secondly, in order to fuel the muscles to make the improvements desired we have to feed them with the appropriate amounts and types of food required. As my coach, Justin Dees says, “We are driving a Nascar race car and we we have to put the highest quality fuel into it.” Such is the case as we feed our bodies. We have to eat the highest quality food required. Each person needs to meet with a nutritionist or a bodybuilding coach to determine the types and amounts of food needed for a diet that will give us the correct results.
Fourth Principle — Training
At this point it is absolutely required that each workout be performed correctly and to the max. It is important to have a Coach who can help you/me do the exercises right and then to establish the parameters for number of sets and reps per set for each exercise. This has to be a routine that is constructed and trusted to give the best results in the most efficient manner. Also, it must be understood by the bodybuilder that no gains occur when you do your training in a half-hearted manner. Forging a new body is hard work and it’s imperative that we push ourselves to the level of pain and failure with each set. THIS IS WHERE THE MUSCLE IS! If you run 5 miles per day and you weigh 150 lbs and you do this for 5 years there is a good chance that you will still weigh 150 lbs (give or take a pound or two) at the end of the 5 years. Why is that so?— you ask! Didn’t the runner move 150 lbs. over 5 miles each and every day thus performing work? Shouldn’t this have caused his musculature to grow and thus get heavier?
The answer lies in the amount of resistance over a distance and period of time. The muscles required to run the 5 miles are never challenged beyond that which is required to perform the task. Thus, they adjust to a predictable amount of work and that becomes their max and their threshold all at once. No increase in resistance equals a steady state of unchanging size, density, and performance.
For the bodybuilder he/she must continually challenge our musculature to lift more weight more times with decreasing rest between sets. Our muscles in response to this increasing demand will grow (hypertrophy) and in some cases new muscle (hyperplasia) will occur. Let me emphasize again that pushing our muscles to do more work will fill them with blood and increase the levels of lactic acid. This state will be very painful but, as noted above, this is where the new muscle is. We have to push into and through this pain barrier to get maximum growth from our muscles.
The difference between a weightlifter and bodybuilder who is a champion is defined as PAIN. We who aspire to be champions in this sport must master ourselves as we step into the crucible of pain. We have to keep telling our muscles that “we” are in charge here, not you! This is my path. I chose it. I will win.
This is “OUR TIME” and we must learn, even at this late date in our lives, that “if we want something we have never had before, then we will have to do things we have never done before.”
Until next time!
Douglas E. Graham, Lt Col, USAF, (ret), MHSM
Six Pack and Senior 