Enhancing your bodybuilding success can be approached from a negative standpoint as they can lay the foundation for positive growth. For many years, I have been employed as a medical transcriber. Time and time again, doctors advise patients to abstain from certain habits in order to be healthy. Likewise, there are social habits that you should refrain from if you want to be healthy and achieve bodybuilding success. The following "THOU SHALT NOTS" sound simple, but the truth is that many bodybuilders lack the stamina and willpower to abide by them. Are you at risk?
1. THOU SHALT NOT SMOKE
Compliance with this seems to be the hardest for many people to achieve. My favorite approach to smoking cessation is the advice I have heard many times given to patients from Joel H. Rainer, M.D., F.A.C.C. of the Heart Health Center in Florence, Alabama. He strongly urges patients to "stop smoking immediately, completely, and permanently."
Another option is prescription smoking cessation aids. One of the newer treatments is called "Chantix" which is a nicotinic Acetylcholine receptor agonist, and is marketed by Pfizer. This is in tablet form, but there are other treatments listed in the current Physician's Desk Reference Monthly Prescribing Guide in the form of patch or injection.
2. THOU SHALT NOT IMBIBE ALCOHOL TO EXCESS
The number that alcohol can do on your liver's ability to function is one thing, but it also can have a devastating effect on your brain cells and your sexual performance. On top of that, it can make you look like a real clod on the social scene...and potentially get you in trouble with the law. When I used to work at the YMCA, a fellow employee of mine was in charge of assigning tasks to people on community service release for DUI violations. They were punished with having to do yucky chores like cleaning public toilets. If you must drink, have a hemp protein shake or some Gatorade.
3. THOU SHALT NOT USE STEROIDS
The cosmetic benefits achieved are fake and will soon fade. To use these substances is a waste of time and money. It will get you de-medaled from the Olympics. It will shrink your testicles and can ruin your life. The human body was not made to use anabolic steroids. The human body was made to do natural bodybuilding.
4. THOU SHALT NOT OVER-SALT THY FOOD
This may cause fluid retention (edema), and will prevent that "ripped" and "cut" appearance.
5. THOU SHALT NOT CURSE OR SWEAR IN THE GYM
Use of profanity is a telltale sign of an illiterate who has not adequate vocabulary to express himself forcefully. A foul mouth on a chiseled physique is like bird faeces on a new tuxedo!
6. THOU SHALT NOT BELITTLE OTHERS WHO ARE DOING THEIR BEST
Blowing out another man's candle won't make yours shine any brighter. Don't use your size and strength to intimidate other people unless you are protecting someone from a bully. I once saw a big muscular guy in a tank top in an ice cream parlor leaning all over the counter to flex his triceps. While doing so, he was being needlessly indecisive about requesting a flavor of ice cream, frustrating the elderly gentleman clerk almost to the point of harassment. People like that do not deserve respect in the gym or in society.
7. THOU SHALT NOT FORGET THAT HUMILITY IS GREATNESS
If you are bigger and stronger, you should be thankful and helpful. A man blessed with a healthy body must remember that in many places people are starving for lack of nutrition, dying from disease, or unable to better themselves because of living in an impoverished place or because of persecution from a government.
8. THOU SHALT NOT FORGET THE BREVITY OF LIFE
I saw a bodybuilding movie many years ago entitled "Stay Hungry." In one scene, a man asked another guy, "What happens to bodybuilders when they get old?" The tart reply has remained with me to this day. The guy said matter-of-factly: "They die."
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If you want to join Kevin Dillon and experience some freaky growth naturally, then go to: www.freakygrowth.com - You'll learn more about bodybuilding, natural bodybuilding training, bodybuilding, cutting-edge bodybuilding diets and powerful supplement stacks.
Why Your Muscle Pumps Have Nothing To Do With Your Muscle Gains
Your back is firmly planted on the bench as you wrap your chalked hands around the cold, steel bar. Your training partner helps you un-rack the weight as you power the bar up and down, squeezing your chest and triceps on each grueling rep. You complete your 6 repetitions, re-rack the bar and stand up.
Your chest feels tight and engorged with blood. You take a look in the mirror, thrilled with how full and vascular your pecs appear. You feel strong, powerful, healthy and motivated to blast through the rest of your workout with your newly achieved “pump”.
Let’s face it, a pump feels incredible. For those of you who aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about, a pump is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside your muscle tissue as a result of resistance training. The muscles will swell up and increase in size, vascularity and tightness.
There is certainly nothing wrong with achieving a pump in the gym, and it is simply a natural result of intense weight training. However, contrary to what the majority of weightlifters may think, a pump is in no way indicative of a successful workout. Anyone who uses the intensity of their pump as a gauge for the effectiveness of their workout is making a costly error.
On countless occasions I've heard lifters raving about the massive pumps they get in the gym as they share methods for achieving the best pump possible. "Dude, this will give you a crazy pump!" If you have already been working out for a decent amount of time then you know exactly what I'm talking about. While a pump does feel extremely satisfying, just remember that it means very little in terms of muscle stimulation and growth.
A pump is simply the result of extra blood within the muscle tissue. Think of it this way: if I took a pair of 10 pound dumbbells and performed 300 reps of a bench press movement, I would achieve an incredible pump. If muscle pumps meant muscle growth, then super light weight, ultra high rep programs would be the most effective way to grow. Any serious lifter with half a brain knows that this simply is not the case.
Do you want to know how to truly gauge the success of a workout? Here it is…
Take your workout records (in terms of weight and reps) from the previous week and compare it to the current week. Did you improve? Were you able to either increase the resistance slightly on each exercise, or perform an extra rep or two?
If so, you had a successful workout, regardless of how much blood you were able to pump into your muscle tissue.
Building muscle mass and strength is all about training with 100% intensity on every given set and then striving to improve from week to week. If you are able to consistently achieve this, your muscle size and strength will increase faster than you ever thought possible, with or without a pump.
I hope this article cleared up your confusion on the issue of "muscle pumps". There's so much misleading muscle-building information circling around on the Internet these days that it can sometimes be impossible to know who to listen to. If you want to learn the truth about 14 other common, counterproductive "myths", visit my webste below for details.
About The Author
Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding author, dedicated trainer and writer of top-selling Internet Muscle-Building E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. Learn why 95% of trainees in the gym will NEVER see any significant results by visiting his website: MuscleGainTruth
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