Weight Training Blog

The new gym-goer will think this topic is just plain stupid, but those of you who have been going to the gym for a while and are somewhat serious about seeing results and getting things accomplished know exactly what this is all about: Getting yourself into the right mind set in order to get some big numbers up.

It’s about getting yourself so focused that nothing can stop you from getting under the bar and lifting the weight no matter how much heavier the bar is than your previous max. Without such a focus, the weight would seem next to impossible to lift, and there are only a few people I know who are able to harness their energy to accomplish lifts that would otherwise not be possible.

I’ve lifted along side IPA World Record holder Gene Rychlak – the first man to bench over 1000 pounds – and the level of his focus before a lift is intimidating to say the least. He has a pre-lift ritual that he does in order to get himself in the right mind set that allows him to lift over 900 pounds with what seems to be ease. If you to cross in front of Gene while walking up to the bench you would get hit by a walking freight train, for sure.

Before Scot Mendelson’s world record 715 pound raw bench, his wife literally smacked the shit out of him to get him going. Don’t believe me? Here a video for proof:

Some lifters decide to go with ammonia (aka sniffing salt) before lifting to get them focused, while others have the ability to just dip, grip, and rip without much pre-lift meditation needed. There is also a multi-million dollar product market out there devoted to producing NO-based products that are supposed to increase your “pump” drastically. I’ve used several of these products, and I’m starting to suspect that they are all the same and all allow you to build up a tolerance. The only way to deal with this is to simply cycle it so your body doesn’t get accustomed to it.

So what is it that gets you going? Do you need certain music to get you angry/focused? Do you need someone to give you a smack on the back of your shoulder on bare skin to get you pumped to lift weights you never thought was possible? If you want to put up big numbers, you have to find out what method works for you and stick with it. Though, I’ll admit, getting smacked in the face as hard as Mendelson did before his 715 raw lift is a bit… eccentric.

Here’s a video that I found on YouTube that I found to be very inspiring and motivating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAPv_DhIFkQ

I was recently contacted by a representative from Price World Publishing in regards to reading and publishing a review of their latest book titled “Pure Physique” by Michael Lipowski set to be released on March 1st, 2010. The book claims that instead of providing the reader with cookie-cutter workouts, and fad diets that one must follow in order to obtain certain results, the reader will instead walk away with a new found knowledge of how they should make a program work for them, rather than the person working around a program.

I decided to take them up on the offer to review the book because I’m constantly interested in learning and refining more and more about how to better myself both inside and outside of the gym. If I’m able to pick up even one piece of useful information from the book, then I can say that it was time well spent reading through the book.

The book, weighing in at about 213 pages of content (no pun intended), is a good resource for those who are looking to make changes in the way they look, feel, and think about themselves. It aims at providing the reader with the power to listen and understand their own body’s needs and wants rather than reading about what did and didn’t work for someone else.

Although not terribly technical (Which could be a good thing depending on how passionate you are about weight lifting!), Lipowski does a good job explaining why our bodies are the way they are – from fast twitch versus slow twitch muscle fiber types, to fat loss versus weight loss – there is enough information within the covers of the book to arm the novice weight lifter with enough information to put themselves on the right track to success. There are also a few things in the book that I am sure some veteran lifters may not have known, or simply forgot about over the years. Also, I’d like to stress that if you’re looking for a book that will provide you with workout routines and “what next” advice, this book is not what you’re looking for.

I’d like to elaborate and discuss Lipowski’s section on goal setting and motivation as I think that’s something that I haven’t really covered in great detail yet in this blog, and it’s also something that I think a lot of gym-goers don’t really think a whole lot about before going into the gym.

Certainly, people who are going to the gym have some kind of goal. But if you ask them what it is, they will most likely tell you “to lose some weight”, “to get stronger” or “to lose some fat”. Lipowski hits the nail on the head and gives those exact same examples and then some. It’s true – most people who go to the gym don’t have specific goals that can be measured in some way, shape or form; simply put, they are too broad. – so how do they know when they have accomplished them, or when they are close to accomplishing them? The truth is they don’t know.

Lipowski quotes Benjamin Franklin by saying “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” and certainly this quote makes sense when used in this context. By someone not having specific goals, they soon will lose track of where they are, and will eventually lose the drive that they once had when they set off to reach their goal.

Instead of saying “I want to become more muscular” a better goal would be to say you want to see your biceps grow from 14 inches to 15 inches, or to say that you’d like to see your body fat percentage go from 15% down to 12% in two months. Each of these two goals have specific and measurable components that will allow for black and white data that will support whether or not you are on the right track to obtaining the goal.

It’s important to have a goal because by having a goal, you will know what steps have to be taken in order to get to it. Think of it like a business goal of increasing sales by 5%. There are obviously specific actions a business owner must take in order to obtain a 5% sales growth, and with that same logic, you too have to take specific steps in order to obtain your main objective.

Pure Physique was an enjoyable read – it was almost ironic that several topics Lipowski discussed were topics, quotes and sayings that I have already heard about from being around many different gyms over the years. It just goes to show you that the same problems don’t just plague you – they plague many others as well. The book certainly is a good read for those who are starting out – but the most important thing to realize is that the reader must truly be committed to making changes in order to reach their goal regardless of how well any book is written.

If you’re interested in purchasing this book, you can pre-order it on Amazon.com here.