| Nobody can rightfully lecture me about | | | | took all of his sets to failure and beyond. |
| training intensity. In the mid-1980s, I | | | | My thoughts were 'big deal - I do this all |
| endured over thirty weeks of BUD/S Training; | | | | the time'. It seemed that without the aid of |
| the basic regimen one goes through to enter | | | | steroids and the genetic predisposition for |
| the Navy SEAL Teams. I went through that | | | | superhuman recovery, I was destined to build |
| training's Hell Week twice - start to finish. | | | | more character than muscle from high |
| At a tender age, I learned how to push my | | | | intensity practices. I wanted an |
| body well past the pain barrier of muscle | | | | attention-getting body, yet all I was |
| fatigue and bodily exhaustion that's a signal | | | | producing was attention-getting workouts. |
| to most people that it's time to quit and | | | | |
| take a rest. I could, upon internal command, | | | | It's this frustration from which I want to |
| become an endorphin-releasing, pain-ignoring | | | | save natural trainers. You will waste your |
| workout machine... unstoppable! | | | | time and effort by taking the no-pain/no-gain |
| | | | mantra to its extreme. Much like a member of |
| Our dependability under pressure was | | | | BUD/S Training, you'll build plenty of |
| augmented by such a regimen, but not our | | | | character, but not a nicer body. |
| physiques. In other words, in BUD/S Training, | | | | |
| we built more character than muscle. | | | | You might be asking how I could make such a |
| | | | claim. Yet the answer is revealed when you |
| Later on when I took up natural bodybuilding, | | | | really ask yourself how well you're doing |
| I carried my work ethic and proclivity for | | | | with your muscle building progress if you're |
| intensity over to that endeavor. This | | | | a practitioner of forced reps or any other |
| resulted in experimentation with every | | | | bodybuilding intensifying techniques. Are you |
| conceivable bodybuilding workout intensifying | | | | making steady and measureable gains? Some |
| technique in existence. I've used drop sets, | | | | words of warning: a 'pump' at the conclusion |
| pre-exhaustion, up-and-down-the-rack, and the | | | | of your workout is not a sign of gains. The |
| ever ubiquitous forced reps. Name the | | | | same is true for local muscle fatigue and |
| intensifier - I've tried it. At one time, I | | | | soreness. As I often tell people: "A |
| even used a derivation of forced reps that | | | | successful workout might be physically taxing |
| was borderline insane. Imagine taking a bench | | | | - but this doesn't mean any physically taxing |
| pressing weight with which you can eke out | | | | workout is successful." |
| ten repetitions. Now imagine your spotter | | | | |
| standing behind the bench and pushing down on | | | | In order for a muscle building workout to be |
| the weight for the first few reps as you | | | | successful, you must move a slightly higher |
| attempt to push it up. By the time you make | | | | volume of weight than you did during your |
| it to the second five reps, your spotter has | | | | previous workout. This won't happen without |
| shifted from trying to make the weight | | | | adequate inter-workout recuperation. And |
| heavier for you to trying to help you bring | | | | adequate recuperation is next to impossible |
| it up on the positive. This effectively gives | | | | after muscles have been obliterated due to |
| every rep the intensity of a forced one and | | | | the erroneous belief that this will somehow |
| will have your spotter inadvertently getting | | | | equate to more or better growth. |
| a bent over rowing workout. I don't recommend | | | | |
| that you try these. | | | | If you're a natural trainer (or even if |
| | | | you're a steroid user who wants to make |
| In fact, I'm here to dissuade you from | | | | progress between cycles), heed my advice. |
| engaging in any of this nonsense. If workout | | | | Don't waste time and effort discovering what |
| intensifying techniques were the key to | | | | took me years to figure out. Push your |
| muscle growth, I would have been freaky huge | | | | bodybuilding workouts with enough intensity |
| by the time I was twenty-nine. Instead, I was | | | | to burst through your past volume records. |
| chucking my weight belt across the room in | | | | Couple this practice with enough rest and |
| frustration as I arrived home from the gym | | | | recuperation between workouts to allow a warm |
| each day. I was mad at bodybuilding. Thoughts | | | | expansion and absence of soreness to permeate |
| of quitting plagued my mind. Nowhere was | | | | the tissue. |
| there such a mismatch between effort and | | | | |
| reward than in this wacky endeavor or sport. | | | | When you do this, you'll be well on your way |
| | | | to steady muscle growth. You can then leave |
| I remember reading an article that raved | | | | the character building to those more devoid |
| about how professional bodybuilder Tom Platz | | | | and desirous of that than a great physique. |