Here’s a little workout vid I made of client and friend Karen Hong. She competes in fitness model and bikini depending on the organization she’s competing in. This lower body workout focuses primary on her glutes and surrounding tie-ins. It gets pretty fun and intense, so sit back, enjoy and learn a thing or two on how we get the job done!
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You want to know the difference between bodybuilder doing a bench press, and a regular trainer doing a bench press? The bodybuilder feels it in the chest muscle (pectorals), and everyone else feels it in the arms and shoulders. To anyone watching, you can’t tell what the bodybuilder does differently; it’s text book form like everything else. But for some reason that bodybuilder will raise from the bench with a pecs ready to burst!
The thing that bodybuilders spend a lot of time doing is flexing! Flexing every muscle from head to toe, back to front. Hitting poses with a smile and making it look easy! Bodybuilders learn how to activate muscle in any position without any weight. We call this the Mind-Muscle connection, and it goes all the way down to strengthening our internal signaling pathways called the Nervous System. Naturally, this level of control allows them to get a maximum contraction in the muscles they target. This maximum contraction increases muscular damage, which leads to greater tissue repair and growth.
So the next time you see a bodybuilder flexing in the mirror, you can be wise to know its not in the sake of arrogance. It’s an art form, and a huge part of building the ultimate physique. If you’re looking to build any level of muscle, feel no shame in getting in front of your bedroom mirror and cranking out pose down session. Feel every muscle out, practice flexing the muscle involved in your upcoming workout, and maybe learn a few mandatory bodybuilding poses while you’re at it. Be the master of your physique and let it give you the results you’re looking for!
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Watch me put down a set of HOTCAKES a few moments before entering my first national competition. Listen in as I share my thoughts about the competition and how I prepared for it.
I would go on to place 3rd in this competition and knock the socks off of all who doubted I would place well this early in such a prestigious contest.
Hotcakes, Syrup….That’s right! After dieting for months eating high glycemic foods moments before a bodybuilding competition is a great way to get the muscle pumped up. This WILL NOT work before a typical gym workout because it will increase your insulin too high and then cause a sudden drop in blood sugar levels causing a loss of energy and leaving you feeling lethargic….so don’t do it!
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From time to time I see people in the gym sipping on a Sports drink like Gatorade between their sets. This is a good idea for some people, and by some people I mean those who JUST weight gain. Most people who go to the gym are trying to trim body fat from their stomachs and hips and build some lean muscle. Too bad almost everyone I’ve seen in the gym drinking this stuff fit into that most people category.
Commercials will boast about how these drinks will replenish energy levels and keep you hydrated and I’m not about to discount any of that. However, most people don’t need them. The best way to reduce body fat is to force the body to dip into all that stored energy that is its body at and burn it! This can’t happen if it’s getting fed another energy source to burn like what you get in a sports drink.
To get a little more scientific, when sugars are high in the bloodstream, a storage hormone called insulin is secreted from the pancreas. This storage hormone shuttles the sugars into muscle cells or converts them to fat…and stores them. Therefor, when insulin is high in the bloodstream it hampers fat burning. Not good for the 6 pack!
Water is your friend till the end of your workout. Let the sports drinks do what they should…Replenish. Drink them AFTER good intense workout. It would be a great idea to have them with some BCAAs and Glutamine to ramp up your recovery and get you back in the gym stronger and sooner!
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Recently a friend asked me how I have stayed motivated after all my 11 years of training. Honestly Its never a question of being motivated with me…and that’s just it. I don’t question motivation. If you have to question your motivation, then you’ll be spending more time looking for answers then you’ll be doing. It’s not a how, it’s not a where, its not a when. Motivation isn’t something to be waited on.
If you’re waiting to be motivated to go to the gym, look for a job, clean up your room, or whatever, then you’re doing just that; WAITING! Waiting for some motivation rock to come and hit you out of your laziness. Meanwhile you sit on the sofa and watch TV. Who’s in charge of your life? You or the sofa?
OK so to answer the question of motivation is not to question it. Its not to wait for the feeling and see if it comes to you. The feeling of motivation comes from choosing to being motivated and doing something no matter how you feel about it. I have plenty of days when I’d rather be sitting at home with my PS3, but going to the gym regardless is what I call being motivated. For the most part, we’re creatures of habit, and the actions we take on overtime will become more of who we are.
Next time you find yourself being lazy. Don’t turn to yourself in agreement and say “I’m being lazy.” Don’t wait for some external thing to turn you around. There’s no power in that! Choose to be motivated, and take action. Then you can enjoy the feeling you get along with a new source of your own power.
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