After a wonderful training session of 'winging it' (which consisted of a few sets of light snatches, fast cleans and heavy deadlifts) I came home to shower up and take in some new articles on T-NATION. I came across an article titled "Muscle Dysmorphia and Male Body Image" written by Dr. James Heathers.
I have never heard of Mr. Heathers. Nor had I heard of Muscle Dysmorphia.
I highly suggest you read the article, and when time allows dive into the load of interesting blog articles on Dr. James' blog: http://thepsychophysiologist.blogspot.com/
One article in particular caught my attention - "Principles of Lifting Heavy Thingz". It wasn't his spelling that caught my eye, either. To my understanding, James is not a trainer nor does he have any desire to do so. He enjoys training enough to write about it.
He gets it.
In his article, James lays out an excellent foundation for consistent, focused progress. It's simple. It's to the point. I love it. I have found that the fitness industry is chalk-full of a ton of crap. This is not crap. And he's Australian, which means he is probably good at rugby, or at least enjoys rugby, which makes him cool in my book. Here is a brief summary.
The general principle of progress is the intelligent and systematic application of hard work over time.
Nicely said, Dr. J.
Simple. Plain. Easy. To the point. In a world where most fitness enthusiasts are looking for a quick fix - the next magic pill, powder or injection - this statement could not hold more true.
Who do you think the supplement marketers are thinking of when they are sitting in the 'situation room', planning their next big product launch: The 'bro' that is 30 lbs overweight and believes everything he reads or the professional bodybuilder that is featured in their latest muscle-mag advertisement?
There is no magic pill. There is no magic powder. The one's who have achieved great success with their physiques understand that it takes an intelligent, systematic application of hard work over time.
Basically, it means to stick to a fucking program and don't have training ADD.
It means follow your eating plan for more than two weeks.
It means understand WHY you do the big lifts, WHY you stretch, WHY you foam-roll and WHY you include some form of conditioning in your routine.
Anyways, I hope this motivates you to train today. Stick to the plan.
