The School of Fitness - Lesson 3: Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, nobody wanna lift heavy weights
Mr Delia Steele
There a very few ways around doing the things that need to be done. We don't know any of them.
"Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, nobody wanna lift heavy weights" - Ronnie Coleman
The above is a famous quote by champion Bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman (8 time Mr Olympia) - It's simple, but it says it all. In fitness, no matter what your goal, you get out what you put in. You can't have the look without doing the work.
Appearance is a consequence of fitness.
ARE YOU WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES?
It's pretty good being alive today. Unlike our prehistoric predecessors, on the whole our food supply is plentiful and most of us are not threatened with death on a day to day basis.
As a result, we tend to do less activity and eat more tasty stuff. Clearly, if you want a body that stands out in looks or performance than the average, you need to be willing to do what it takes in the gym day in day out, and you need to be willing to plan your food intake so you eat only the best foods and at the right times. This takes, reading, learning planning, dedication and self experimentation.
YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT?
"Everybody wanna 6 pack, nobody wanna eat only meat, fish, green veg and a select amount of the right carbs at the right time" - Mr Delia Steel.
For some, fat loss comes easy. For others, it's hard.
Are you willing to do what it takes? Anyone truly dedicated to fat loss would strive to do the following:
Train hard, five or six days per week - mainly with resistance training, but there is a vital place for mobility work, Interval training and slower cardiovascular style stuff too.
Add additional light gym sessions as well - The truly dedicated bodybuilder, figure athlete or fat loss athlete will often pump iron once per day and return later on for a low intensity cardiovascular style session. Others may debate the usefulness here, but we can discuss in later lessons.
Cook and prepare or at least organise your own food - If you want to shift fat, you need to ensure you are not taking in too many calories (you're welcome), if you buy random food on the go, you don't know what's in it and if you don't know what's in it, your not in charge of your physique & you're not entitled to whine if you don't get the results you want.
Drink plenty of water - you need water. You don't need to drink anything else. Drop cigarettes, alcohol, sugar and excess caffeine - we don't do drugs in this school. (Ok maybe a little coffee at breakfast.)
Consider taking supplements - might help. Discussion for another day.
Do it consistently - I have a phrase I made up: "Rome wasn't built in a day". I like to apply it to fitness. Most human folk can lose a pound or two of fat per week if they do everything right. Do it quicker and it's not fat your losing -It's precious tissue. If you want to lose a lot of fat, you need to act consistently. Do the right things most of the time, week in, week out.
Seek expert guidance, if your doing everything right and it's somehow not working you need to find out why. Seek an experts opinion & get health checks at the doctors - if your not healthy, your results may stall.
YOU WANT TO MUSCLE UP?
Combined wisdom of many experts would suggest you need to:
Train for 4-6 intense sessions per week...muscles won't grow unless you force them to.
Strive to "lift heavy weights" - you need to do a lot of work and get a lot stronger than you are now.
Eat big! At least 4 big meals and conventionally 6-7 per day in order to take in enough calories for growth.
Consider supplements - fish oil, creatine, glutamine & protein supplements may improve your chances of looking like Mr Delia Steel. Ok, Mr Ronnie Coleman more like.
Lift progressively, get stronger on the big compound lifts. Want to look like someone who can squat double their bodyweight, pump out a few chin ups with 50k of additional weight hanging off them, or bench press 130kilos? There's only one way.
Work on technique, do corrective work if need be - heavy lifting 4-6 times per week...that's a lot of tonnage to put through your joints. Better make sure you "do smart work".
Get enough sleep - zzzzz
Be Consistent! - see above you skinny mofo....right actions week in week out.
Take Home: If you want success, you gotta do the work. You can't fake fitness. You gotta lift heavy stuff and you gotta use your brain. Got it? Move on to the next lesson.
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