WarriorFX

Serious strength athletes must consider a training journal as a standard piece of equipment in their carry-on luggage. It doesn’t matter what they call their gear – journal, record, diary, log – so long as it’s included in the gym bag during intense training periods. Reporting to the gym without one is similar to an airline pilot taking off without a navigator. Lost in the wind, no pilot can remember a destination by merely thinking about previous travels. In the same respect, great battles were never won without a plan – small victories are possible but massive offensives must be accompanied by a detailed plan of attack. Training journals provide a written log of fitness thresholds experienced during resistance-training sessions. They identify how much more effort is needed to evolve into a stronger, more muscular individual. Continue reading

People engaged in resistance training programs often seek out exercise machines that isolate individual muscles. While the intention is usually to train more effectively or safely, committed bodybuilders must resist a natural human urge to travel the easiest route. This instinctual reaction helped prehistoric populations survive during widespread periods of famine. However, procuring food is far less of a concern in modern societies and taking easy routes often leads to embracing nothing more than complete laziness. Today, we exist in a world surrounded by automation – technology set on minimizing physical exertion from daily existence. Societies have replaced hunting and gathering provisions with fast-food restaurants and quick-stop markets. Community activities are becoming exceedingly rare; exchanged for convenient Internet-hosted real-time chat rooms, topic-based forums and robust e-mail systems. In line with their genetic programming to limit energy output, modern man is accustomed to seeking out mechanical assistance at all cost. Continue reading

What keeps bodybuilders and powerlifters interested in training for years on end? Mainstream opinion is that bodybuilders are too absorbed in personal appearances, while powerlifters are too preoccupied with feats of merciless strength. Some clinicians suggest they are prone to body dysmorphia and obsessive compulsive disorders; most recently suggesting a psychiatric condition called reverse anorexia. Building the body’s muscular systems is an obsessive and habitual endeavor dependent on continuous progression. In many ways, it’s analogous to the emotional energy an entrepreneur feels when motivated by a budding business plan. Resistance training is an emotional conduit that gives participants a means to vent a lifetime of stress as motivational fuel for extreme fitness goals. Continue reading

Power is the capacity to bring about change. In society, powerful people influence populations through dynamic dialogue and confident communication. In general physics terms, powerful objects have a high capacity to transfer energy, or an average amount of work done per unit of time. Powerlifting is a sport of attempting great feats of limit and relative strength, in order to surpass previous performance records in major lifts. Bodybuilding is the application of training sciences to enhance musculature through tension and improve physical appearance. Although bodybuilders often dismiss any need to train like a powerlifter, the underlying concepts must not be ignored when attempting to maximize muscular proportions. Powerbuilding maximizes muscle size by training the human body to evolve into a more powerful entity. Continue reading

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore,” said Andre Paul Guillaume Gide (1869-1951), a French writer and critic. Many years have passed but Gide’s wisdom is timeless and applies to individuals training for greater levels of physical conditioning. Reaching new levels of performance requires a deep inner desire to exceed current fitness thresholds. Eventually plateaus in progression call for athletes to distance themselves from comfort zones; in order to become leaner, stronger or more muscular. Continue reading

Building greater musculature requires an open-minded and problem-solving attitude, one that continuously evolves with the athlete. In the beginning, changes in body composition come easily but continued success is never linear. Bodybuilders and powerlifters who repeatedly attempt a slow and steady pace ultimately hit progression plateaus; in which symptoms of overtraining and subsequent degradation of performance emerge. To continue to grow, eventually everyone must learn how to properly periodize an exercise program to inject more training variety. Using these principles, cycles of extreme intensity – bursts of hard and heavy training – can ignite new found gains. Continue reading

Nearly everyone training in a fitness facility will say they are working hard; however, maximum training intensity is not so common. To stimulate the muscle growth, training efforts must soar above previous levels of exertion. Training with the same loads, repetitions and program design is not only monotonous and boring – it’s not productive! Without sufficient effort, there can be no physiological adaptation to exercise. To build a stronger and more muscular body, training performance must be intense enough to blast past previous fitness thresholds. Continue reading

Strength training is often related to loads and repetitions as signs of progress. Fitness enthusiasts often make exaggerated claims of large loads, even maximum repetitions with a specific load. During a punishing workout, rest intervals play a major role in the training session’s ability to trigger anabolic hormone secretion, build endurance, encourage strength, as well as alter performance in succeeding sets.

In bodybuilding, a “rest interval” is the commonly applied term to the periods of rest in between sets of an exercise. During these intervals, the muscle is neither contracted nor extended – no resistance is applied. Proper rest interval length depends on training intensity, goals, fitness level and targeted energy systems. Continue reading