Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I constantly get email messages from guys
who are bogged down in their training.
And "bogged down" is the only term for it.
You know what a BOG is -- not a BLOG, but
a BOG.
It's a nasty, smelly, swampy sort of thing
where the ooze and slime of primordial decay
has become a sort of noxious quicksand that
grabs your by the ankles and holds you motion-
less in its fetid grasp.
That's a bog.
It also describes a slump in your training.
So here are some simple tips on how to break
through a slump.
1. Reduce your volume.
Most trainees train way too much. Too many days
per week, too many exercises, too many sets, and
too many reps. When you reduce your volume, you
make lesser inroads into your recovery ability --
and that leaves more gains in strength and muscle.
2. Change your exercises.
Switch from squats to front squats. Or from bench
presses to incline DB presses. Or from deadlifts to
clean grip high pulls. Just be sure to switch from
one basic HEAVY exercise to another basic HEAVY
exercise. Switching from squats to leg extensions
will get you nowhere fast.
3. Clean up your diet.
No more junk food. No sugar. No fast food. No highly
processed food. No soft drinks. No cheese doodles. If
you're serious about your training, get serious about
your diet, as well.
3a. I can't say this enough: lean protein and tons of
fresh veggies should make up the bulk of your diet. Jack
LaLanne used to have 3 to 6 HUGE vegetable salads every
single day. He did okay, didn't he?
4. If you're advanced enough for specialization programs,
try a 4 to 8 week specialization program. I detail 20
good ones in Chalk and Sweat. they'll get you gaining
again,and help you stay motivated and focused.
5. Fill your mind with positive thoughts about strength
training and muscle building. Go back and read Dinosaur
Training again. Or grab Legacy of Iron -- one of the
reasons I am writing the Legacy of Iron books is to
give you something to read that will help keep your
enthusiasm at the boiling point.
5a. Let me repeat -- fill your mind with positive
thoughts. Your thoughts control your training -- and
the results from your training.
6. Work on progression. Make every single workout
BETTER than the one before. That means: more weight,
or more reps with the same weight, or better form. For
advanced men, progression can mean adding a work set.
6a. I like to progress in some exercises (front squats,
for example) by doing 5 - 7 progressively heavier
warm-up sets and ONE top set of 2 reps. Each time I do
front squats, I add one more top set. So it's 1 x 2,
then 2 x 2 and so on. After I hit 5 x 2, I add 5 or 10
pounds, drop back to 1 x 2, and work back up. The
beauty of the system is that you are always
improving from workout to workout. See Gray Hair
and Black Iron for more details.
7. Train faster. Time yourself, and work to reduce
your training time by ten to twenty percent, while
still doing the same workout. If I do a heavy leg
workout in 50 minutes, and later I do the same
workout in 40 minutes, I am making progress.
7a. You don't want to work so fast you cut down
on your performance, but you'd be surprised how
much better your workouts can be when you
cut wasted time to a minimum.
So there you are. Seven ways to break out of the
training slump bog. If you're in a slump, give
them a try. They'll help.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great --
and a great weekend.
If you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. For many more ideas on how to break out of that
slump -- or how to avoid falling into one -- grab
any of the books or courses from the Dinosaur Training
store:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
