As some of you may know, I’m big into online message forums.  I post and reply to threads on cars, health, fitness, photography, and finances.  Earlier this week, a topic was brought up about the progress of a guy named Patrick and his fitness goals.  Patrick puts in lots of hard work in the gym and goes at least 4 times per week, yet he was not satisfied with certain parts of his body.  Those specific parts of his body just weren’t responding to his training, and he had basically given up and said “Blame it on genetics”   His statement stood out to me, as it does anytime somebody uses it, when describing frustrations in their fitness goals.

Did he really hit his genetic potential when trying to increase his arm size?

Was he at such an elite level of training that nothing else would stimulate muscle growth?

I had to interject and offer my opinion on what the problem was.  The biggest problem in reaching his goals was staring at him in the mirror.  No, not his body and its ability to grow muscle.  It was his mindset.  With all the hard work he was investing in the gym, he was not getting the desired results.  He was at a loss, and it seemed as though nothing was working.  Patrick resigned himself to claim his body just wasn’t genetically blueprinted to have 17″ arms.  Sure he was putting in hard work, but I think he was putting in TOO MUCH work.

Another thing that gets me is when people say “My metabolism is just too high/low.”

Lots of people in performance sports hit a plateau, where their speed, size, or agility reach a point of little to no gains.   Perform bicep curls for six weeks, and your body will respond with growth and strength gains.  That is until your biceps adapt to those stresses.  Once it’s reached that point, the body doesn’t feel a need to grow.  This is where change needs to occur, be it a change in training or a change in mindset.

Self limiting beliefs can cripple your success in every facet of your life.  You may not believe that beautiful women are willing to date you.  You may not believe you can land that six figure income job.  You may not believe you can run a marathon.  If your mind sets boundaries on what you can or cannot do, then you will never push beyond those limits.  In my own personal life, I tell myself “If one man can achieve it, so can I.”  Sure I get lazy and make excuses sometimes on going to the gym.  I tell myself some reason to justify why I don’t go.  “Oh I’m too busy with stuff at home.” or “My body needs some extra rest, so I can hit it extra hard the next time I go.”  So how can one break through self limiting beliefs?

1. Recognize that self limiting beliefs are not logical.  You may logically justify the belief, but you’re only fooling yourself.
2. Realize that you’re not alone, and it’s okay that you have these thoughts.  The psychology of humans has been studied to a point where these thought patterns are identifiable in large populations of people.  Don’t think of yourself as a unique case and fall into denial about your limitations.
3. Create a plan to change your thought pattern.  What you consciously think about on a daily basis, will have a great influence on your actions.  Flip your perspective to be opportunity minded instead of obstacle minded.  Instead of “I can’t perform any pull ups, never have, never will” you can tell yourself “I currently struggle with performing pull ups, but I’m working towards overcoming that.”
4. Recognize the consequences of your self limiting belief.  If you’re unable to reach your goals, don’t let YOU be the determining factor.  You are able to change and modify yourself with a simple thought, a choice you make in your mind of the available options.  You limit yourself to not talking to women, and the consequences are living a lonely life.  You tell yourself that you’ll never be out of debt, and the consequence is a lifetime of high risk, stress, and unhappiness.
5. Identify and write down your own self limiting beliefs.  This may take a lot of effort, so it may be a good idea to ask close friends or family what they think your self limiting beliefs are.  People looking at you from the outside may be able to spot these limitations right away, just as I had in Patrick’s case.

Remember that having a high internal locus of control, will allow you to have better control of your behavior, attitude, and actions.  You will be more likely to assume that your efforts will be successful.  Let me know your thoughts on what your own self limiting beliefs are.

Workout supplements are for those guys who weight train and want a slight edge over the other guy when trying to pack on some extra muscle. The number of supplement companies and products they market is dizzying to say the least. There are hundreds if not thousands of choices out there to choose from. You can find these products everywhere from your local drug store, the supermarket, at the gym, or my favorite online retailers! Online retailers offer the best prices and even though you pay shipping, you’ll end up ahead of retail outlets with the elimination of tax paid. It’s a great way to send a gift too, just order from your own computer and enter your gift recipients address for delivery.

1. Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Protein

Come one, who doesn’t know what this stuff is “ON Whey” is known by everyone as THE standard for which most other proteins are measured against. I’ve used this stuff probably for over ten years, and it’s remained a popular choice because of its consistent formula and results. The flavors are good for a whey protein, and the value is right up there. You simply cannot go wrong w/ this product. I personally like the Chocolate Mint and Chocolate.

2. BSN Syntha-6

I’ve only tried this a few times, but what it delivers is great taste and a high quality product. Whey usually isn’t known to taste awesome to the regular person, but Syntha-6 delivers all kinds of win in the taste department. I’ve tried the Chocolate Peanut Butter and Vanilla Ice Cream, and it did not disappoint in the least. Next round I’ll probably order Mochachino.

3. Dymatize Elite Whey Isolate

It’s really been a while since I’ve taken Dymatize products, but this stuff ranks right up there with my other choices. Dymatize doesn’t really have the huge marketing of some other companies, but I’ve never been disappointed with their products. On a taste scale of 1-10, I would rate this a 7 for the Choclate.

4. Cytosport Muscle Milk

Muscle Milk! I started taking this stuff and realized it’s super delicious taste back before it blew up in popularity…at least 6-7 years ago. It’s not strictly protein with a larger amount of fats, but fats don’t make you fat. Excess calories make you fat. More fats in the diet is very good for a mans hormone production, and it can benefit his training as well. I’ve probably tried at least 12 different flavors and most all are good. I still stick with the tried and true Chocolate Milk. Honorable mentions go to Strawberry Milkshake and Mocha Joe.

5. Myoplex Deluxe

This was probably one of the first supplements I tried out at the age of 18. I was a skinny kid at 145lbs and 6′ tall, so I thought this would help me gain some size. After I learned to mix this properly with a blender and mix in other goodies like a scoop of peanut butter and banana, this turned into a great weight gainer for me. The powder by itself mixed with milk is delicious already, and I would drink it just for the taste as a dessert treat. The convenient individual serving packets made it easy to take to-go wherever I went, so I could mix this at work or at school with just a shaker bottle.

6. Optimum Nutrition Whey Gold Meal

I just started taking this product, as I’m never disappointed with Optimum Nutrition products, and you just can’t beat the combination of taste, price, nutrition, and quality ingredients. It’s pretty filling and keeps me full when I need it to.

7. Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men

This has a ton of great ingredients in it, but I do think it has a bit too many B-vitamins. A single serving is 3 tablets, but I usually split that up throughout a day with each meal. Even splitting the serving up leaves my pee bright yellow. No worries though as long as you stay hydrated. I still drink at least a gallon of water per day. I recently ran out of my supply, and I do notice not feeling as energized as I used to. I’ve been drinking more coffee lately, and I think it’s from the lack of proper vitamin supplementation.

8. Universal Nutrition Animal Pak

You gotta love those funny Animal Pak stories the guys on the fitness forums concoct. You do have to take a lot of different pills, but it’s not that bad if you space them out throughout the day. Probably the top vitamin pack available on the market, and you won’t be disappointed in its ingredients. They do have a few different formulas depending on your specific goals, so be sure to review what you’re ordering.

9. BSN NO-Xplode

Energy and lots of it. Pump and lots of it. The first time I took this, I should have taken a half dose. Intense is the word that comes to mind. Focus is another word that comes to mind. My advice is to start off slow with this product. It does work well, but you should cycle its use. Use for 4-6 weeks and then take a few weeks off, so your body doesn’t grow immune to the effects. It’s got a fizzy kinda taste that reminds me of soda that sometimes feels funny as you drink it.

10. Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump250

One of the top nitric oxide products available. This stuff makes you feel like your skin will explode after an intense workout. It really helps you focus on the muscle contraction of each repetition. It also has a side effect of natural male enhancement with the increased blood flow…hehe.

Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts about these products or if you have suggestions on your favorite supplement. I’d love to hear from you.

So it’s been over two months since I started this new strength program.  And I must stay that I love it.  I haven’t been doing this 3x/week like the program dictates, but I have been doing it twice a week or so.  Beginners to weight training will like this program, as it’s purpose is to build a solid foundation for a lifelong commitment to weights and the gym.  You won’t be top heavy doing the frat boy workout of bench press & curls.  You won’t get pointed and laughed at with a huge upper body with skinny chicken legs.  You’ll be a proportionate, STRONG, and well conditioned person.

As far as my personal progress:

Squats #’s are going up steadily, but still not what I used to squat.  Bench #’s are steadily increasing but getting slightly difficult.  Overhead press #’s are steadily increasing. Pull ups are  still a weak point, as I’ll only be able to do about 10-11 hammer grip on my first set of 3xF.  Wide overhand grip I’ll only be able to pull off 4-5 on my first set.  I think I may change up the sequence of the exercises, so I can have more energy for pull ups.  I typically start with squats, which drain my pretty well for the rest of my workout.

Soreness has only been limited to a day to day and a half, and it feels good.  Hopefully I’ll be able to hit up the gym 3x this week, since it’s the Thanksgiving holiday.  Looking forward to continuing my increase of 5lbs per workout.

You can check out my previous posts here:

http://tunedperception.com/2009/09/fitness-stronglifts-5×5-strength-routine/

http://tunedperception.com/2009/10/stronglifts-5×5-strength-routine-week-3-sorta/

http://tunedperception.com/store/

Please help support my site and visit the store. All items in the store are hand picked items that I personally endorse. These are high value building items, which you will not be disappointed with. Transactions are handled through Amazon.com.

So I’ll forego the laundry list of excuses, but I haven’t been keeping up with the Stronglifts routine like I should have. In 3 weeks, I should have performed 9 workouts, but in actuality I’ve performed 4. I still love this routine though, and I’m going to set my daily life routine to accommodate the simple 3x/week program.