The truth about the local gym junkie is more often than not their advice has no value to you at all. It seems logical that when you walk into a gym you should find the person with the body you want and do exactly what they do. Right?
No, not really. It is all too common to hear the passing of miss information in the gym. Not only will most of this advice not help you get your results – it can actually ensure you don’t get the results you are after.
This article is not about supplements or about performance enhancing drugs. However, if you are not aware the use of both is very common and can allow the attainment of results that the average man or woman cannot attain. Quite often the “amazing results” you see are in-spite of the individuals training program not because of it.
I’ll give you an example, Scott a local gym Junkie frequents the gym twice a day and consumes a cocktail of legal and illegal substances to help his body grow and recover from regular workouts. Scott has a training history of 15 years and has the most impressive arms and six pack you have ever seen. I can guarantee if you follow Scott’s routine you will not achieve the same results and will probably end up injured or sick or more likely BOTH!
Why? As a non “elite athlete”, you are much better off doing a fraction of the same training load and you will build strong sustainable muscle. Any more than that and you will prevent your body from growing. You may not like the truth but there it is. It is called ‘over training’ and is incredibly common in self-motivated individuals.
The lesson to be learnt here is simple. If you don’t know what you are doing in a gym… Ask, but ask a professional. If I am building a multi-million dollar house and I have a tricky plumbing job, I am not going to hire an apprentice to do the work. I am sure the apprentice has been on several jobs with his supervisor, hell he may even have quite a good idea about what is required, I’m still going to hire a professional.
Trust me, it’s worth the investment to avoid wasting your time!
I have had clients, friends and loved ones come to me with the most creative programs and asking me why they are not getting the results they want. The first question I ask all of them is “Why are you performing these exercises with this number of sets,reps and rest periods?” If they can’t explain why then I tell them to stop what they are doing.
If you don’t know WHY you are doing something, don’t do it.
The most frequent problem I encounter is the confusion surrounding weight training. How to make your body bigger, stronger, leaner and the difference between those terms. This is a separate article altogether.
There is nothing more frustrating than seeing people I love flogging themselves at the gym for no result simply because of miss understanding training principles.
If there is one thing to take from this article it is this. For those of you amazing motivated people who get yourself to the gym or train on a regular basis, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME!!! Get the facts first and make sure your efforts are in the right direction so you ensure you get the results you deserve.
Keep up the great work and keep pushing the Limits!