Beating the Weight

Every workout should be taken serious because every workout is another day where you should be trying to better yourself. I use to be able to tell if I am going to have a good day or a bad day but now when I go to the gym I look at it like I am only here to get better and stronger; there should be no bad days, eveyday should be a better day then the day before. Lifting with other people can be very beneficial because you have the motivation to compete with your partner or partners. If both partners are willing to push each other to do as best as they possibly can every workout session will lead to amazing results. I have experienced lifting by myself and lifting with as many as six people and I have learned that the more people that are present leads to better numbers on the weights. Always cheer your partner on because it helps, it is motivation. Recent surveys have shown that 80% of people do better in events when others are cheering them on. Do not ever believe that any amount of weight is too heavy because it is not anything is possible and there are people today that bench press over a thousand pounds. Heavy weight does not exist, only excuses for not being able to lift the weight exist.

Max Out Chart

Maxing Out

Maxing out is a very fun day and is the reason why many people lift weights for a hobby. Some people max out every other week or every other month, but I do not max out until I feel like I have really improved which is usually about two or three months. It is a very upsetting and frustrating feeling when the max out day has arrived and you do not improve at all no matter what lift it is like bench press, curl, squat, dead lift, military press, or any other lift. Maxing out takes a lot of preparation and should be focused on the week before your max out day. I usually like to lift very light the week before the max out day because I like to be fully charged and ready to break a personal record. It is important to eat a nice meal prior to maxing out; I like to eat a lot of chicken cutlets a few hours before, a protein bar later in the day, and I am will drink a lot of water throughout the day. When I get to the gym I like to warm up with a three or four light sets than put on a heavy weight. After I warm up every set is for one repetition so I do not tire myself out. After completing one set I add 10 to 20 pounds for the next set and hopefully will break my personal record. Adding too much weight every set will result in failure because you have to work your way up to the weight. Sometimes I do really well when maxing out and some days I do not do really well. A lot of people do not even bother maxing out they just use a max out chart instead as an estimation of their one rep max. The chart is an estimation chart which uses a certain amount of weight for a certain amount of repetitions and gives you an idea of what the max what be. For example it may say 225 pounds for 8 repetitions would equal a 275 pound max. People use this chart because they are not one hundred percent serious about knowing what their max would be and they would rather not risk injury by actually lifting that amount of weight when they can just use a chart that gives them an idea of where they are.

You Spend A Lot Of Time In The Gym If;

1. You can put the exact amount of weight on the bar without having to actually count.
2. You know what time your gym is opened and closes everyday.
3. You love slamming the weights on the ground as loud as possible.
4. You love rolling the dumbbells on the ground using your foot to make it less work when you actually have to lift it.
5. You hate when people talk more than lift.
6. You hate when people are using equipment for an hour.
7. You hate when someone comes over to your bench and gives you a spot when you do not need it.
8. When people talk on the cell phone it annoys you.
9. You are easily distracted by others.
10. You laugh when people make weird loud noises.
11. You are mean to people when they try to give stupid advice or interrupt your workouts.
12. You love looking in the mirror when your muscles are pumped.
13. You can easily tell which trainers are talented or useless.
14. You take a lot of trips to the water fountain.
15. You laugh out how some other people are dressed.
16. You are a little intimidated by the massive people.
17. You can’t stand the terrible music the radio plays.
18. Sometimes you bring an i-pod just to avoid conversation from others.
19. You step on the scale almost every visit to the gym.

Supplements

I do not like many supplements because I feel like they are useless and only help certain people on other drugs that use various supplements to enhance their drug effects. The only supplements I currently take are whey protein and muscle milk. I usually switch every two months; January, February, May, June, September, and October I would use whey protein and March, April, July, August, October, and December I would use muscle milk. I have tried other supplements in the past like Cee-Pro, No-Explode, and Sizeon. I never really wanted to take these supplements because they were so expensive and I did not fully understand how they worked. My friend always wanted to take them so we would usually pay half and half for each supplement try them out and see if they worked. Cee-Pro was the biggest waste ever. My friend and I took Cee-Pro for about a month and it did absolutely nothing except make us thirstier throughout the day. I was unhappy about this supplement because it cost both of us like $23 each. I never really bought No-Explode but sometimes my friend would make drink a glass about 20 minutes before we started our workouts. My friend said No-Explode gave him a lot of energy and increased his pumps but I never really felt more energetic or better pumps probably because I only tried it two or three times. I was frustrated about buying Sizeon because my friend convinced me to buy it and we didn’t split this one so it cost me like $45. The first time I tried I almost threw up because I could not take the test. I tried it a few times after that and I literally struggled to get it all down. After trying Sizeon like four or five times I just threw it away and realized supplements are not for me. I wish I did not waste all that money on the supplements but at least now I know I will never try them again. I have tried a sample of creatine once but it really dried my mouth out and made me extremely thirsty so I did not try that again. One of my friends takes creatine all the time and he says that it made him gain a massive amount of weight, but I think the creatine just retains water in his body and makes him look more fat and not muscular.

5x5 workouts

5x5 workouts are a great way to improve strength and endurance. I like do to 5x5 workouts during the summer months like June, July, and August. Doing 5x5 workouts during the summer months gives me just enough time in the gym to get better and stronger but I don’t have to spend time in the gym like it’s my full time job. 5x5 workouts is a method that involves working out a muscle for five sets for five repetitions for every exercise. So if I am doing chest and the exercises I choose for that day are bench press, incline bench press, and dumbbell flies I will do five sets of five repetitions for those exercises. The same method is employed for all the other muscles as well. These workouts are easy to record and keep track of because everything is five sets and five reps, the only things that change are the muscles worked out and the types of exercises chosen. When I do these workouts I usually increase the weight on every set by five pounds to get stronger. These workouts can get tiring because you are doing five sets for every exercise and by the end of the workout you could have done 15 to 25 sets which adds up to 75 to 105 repetitions. When doing 5x5 workouts I think it is better to only workout one muscle a day because doing more than one muscle will cause extreme fatigue and soreness. Also doing one muscle will weaken you for the next muscle to workout so it is best to just do one muscle a day.

Abs and Forearms

Forearms and abs are the most frustrating muscles to workout. A lot of people see very little results even after continuous hard work. I believe that forearms and abs are more genetic than anything else. Some people do not even bother wasting their time working out their abs and forearms. There are plenty of exercises that can be done to help people develop their abdominal muscles. When I am in the gym sometimes I see people doing hundreds of sit ups as fast as they can without taking any break at all. I don’t think doing hundreds of sit ups and couple of days is going to get great results. Developing abs does not just involve working out but a healthy diet is essential. Studies have shown that more consumption of fruits and vegetables cuts fat from the stomach region. When I was younger I use to do 100 sit ups every night before I went to bed. Hundreds of fast sit ups is not the best way to cut up your abs. The best method is to do 15-30 repetitions but squeeze your abs for two or three seconds every repetition. Holding your abs flexed after each repetition will give much better results. Some exercises for abdominal workouts are crunches, reverse crunches, cherry pickers, medicine ball abs, abs roller, cable crunches, leg raises, heel touches, side bends, and other variations using weight or other equipment. For some reason my forearms are very small compared to my other muscles. I have worked out my forearms no days a week, one day a week, two days a week, three days a week, and five days a week and still can not get any results. I have tried everything which leads me to believe that forearms are a muscle that develops at a later time in life maybe like twenties or thirties. I have done wrist curls using a bar, dumbbells, and individual weight plates. I think the best exercise for forearms is the wrist curling with the rope where you have to keep curling the weight up from the ground to your shoulders and come back down and up again only using your forearms. When I do this exercise it is hard to lift my arms after so I know it works. I also use a hand flexor where you can do hundreds of repetitions a day because you can bring it anywhere. A lot of people do not even bother working out their forearms because they believe that you use your forearms in every exercise you do.