I can remember one of the first books I ever bought about strength training. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger's New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. This over 400 page manual was filled with pictures of Arnold and other bodybuilders doing every exercise you could think of. Plus it had training advice straight from Arnold. I was hooked.
Just the joy of having this huge resource in my hands made me a jack of all trades in the gym. I remember trying every exercise in the book.
I can't count the amount of times that I've read through it but one thing always sticks in my mind.
It's Arnold talking about doing pull-ups and how he got so good at them.
To paraphrase, Arnold says that when he wanted to improve his back and get better at doing pull-ups he'd set a number, say 50, of pull-ups that he must complete before his time in the gym was over that day.
Now most people think in terms of sets and reps like 3 sets of 12 reps or 4 sets of 8reps. Arnold did it when he wanted to get better at pull-ups,he'd tell himself that he was going to do 50 reps.
I did it yesterday, here was my breakdown
12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 8 reps,6 reps, 6 reps
That's 50. It only took me 6 sets but when I first started using this trick years ago it would take me around 8 to 10 sets. I still got it done though and I got really good at pull-ups to the point that they are my favorite exercise.
I did it today when I was incline barbell pressing. I picked a weight and did 50 reps of it. Get out of this mindset that you can't train too hard or you have to do what you've always been taught.
If you're not making progress like you want, stop following the rules you are following and get a new formula
Peter Tarr didn't follow the rules for 4 weeks and here's what happened....
P.S.Monday July 21st..The Physique Formula Is Here
A trick from Arnold Schwarzenegger
I can remember one of the first books I ever bought about strength training. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger's New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. This over 400 page manual was filled with pictures of Arnold and other bodybuilders doing every exercise you could think of. Plus it had training advice straight from Arnold. I was hooked.
Just the joy of having this huge resource in my hands made me a jack of all trades in the gym. I remember trying every exercise in the book.
I can't count the amount of times that I've read through it but one thing always sticks in my mind.
It's Arnold talking about doing pull-ups and how he got so good at them.
To paraphrase, Arnold says that when he wanted to improve his back and get better at doing pull-ups he'd set a number, say 50, of pull-ups that he must complete before his time in the gym was over that day.
Now most people think in terms of sets and reps like 3 sets of 12 reps or 4 sets of 8reps. Arnold did it when he wanted to get better at pull-ups,he'd tell himself that he was going to do 50 reps.
I did it yesterday, here was my breakdown
12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 8 reps,6 reps, 6 reps
That's 50. It only took me 6 sets but when I first started using this trick years ago it would take me around 8 to 10 sets. I still got it done though and I got really good at pull-ups to the point that they are my favorite exercise.
I did it today when I was incline barbell pressing. I picked a weight and did 50 reps of it. Get out of this mindset that you can't train too hard or you have to do what you've always been taught.
If you're not making progress like you want, stop following the rules you are following and get a new formula
Peter Tarr didn't follow the rules for 4 weeks and here's what happened....
P.S.Monday July 21st..The Physique Formula Is Here