Here is a great series of articles from my friend and top IFBB Pro Ben Pakulski who shares some VALUABLE knowledge that all of us can apply IMMEDIATELY in order to double our gains. Using Ben’s advice I have been able to gain over 10-lbs of solid muscle in the last 6 months (something I thought was impossible for someone at my level). Thus, pay attention to what Ben has to say đ
Bodybuilding Mistake: Being Obsessed With Lifting Heavy!
by Ben Pakulski, IFBB Pro
Creator of the www.mi-40.com program.
Ever notice that you FEEL the muscle better on your warm up sets than you do on your “working setsâ? Isnât it so true that the lighter weights often burn way more than the heavy ones? Why do you think that is?
Well, one of the main reasons is that youâre not focusing all your attention on stabilizing a weight and barely moving it from point A to point B, likely using every muscle in the general vicinity to get it to move and the range is WAY smaller than it was with the lighter weight. The PROBLEM here is that the TENSION has SHIFTED everywhere BUT the working muscle!
âHeavy weights are useless if you canât FEEL tension on the target muscle!â
Your body adapts and starts using anything it can to keep itself safe. You can continue lifting heavy weights, all day long, but without optimal muscle tension, donât expect to see any improvement in your skinny arms and legs! If you canât “feelâ your muscles then you wonât be able to exhaust them enough to illicit the hormonal, metabolic and nervous system response for muscle growth.
Letâs go through this again.
You will NEVER build a muscle you canât FEEL.
At some point in your muscle-building journey, you have all heard the term âMind/ Muscle Connection.â But REALLY, what the heck does that mean!?
Weâve all heard someone say, âYouâve got to squeezeâ or âIf you donât squeeze it, you will never build muscleâ.
BUT how many of us REALLY know what that means? Or how to do it?
The truth is: not many!
QUESTION: If weâve all heard it, and we all know we NEED to be doing it, why arenât more people doing it?
Because ITâS NOT EASY TO DO! Or is it?
ANSWER: Itâs VERY easy to do! But in order for you to do it, you must first know HOW to do it! What an amazing concept. This brings us toâŚ
Solution #1 to Doubling Your Muscle Gains: Tension! Tension! Tension! Not Heavy Weight; Introducing Intentions
Many of you who follow my training advice have heard it before. Muscles communicate in terms of TENSION! Muscles have NO idea how much weight youâre lifting. They only recognize how much TORQUE is going through them. What does this all mean to you? THE best news you will hear ALL DAY:
YOU can build JUST AS MUCH MUSCLE USING a 20lb weight as you can using an 80lb weight!!!
âBPak, YOUâRE CRAZY!â
Nope, itâs true. IF you learn how to apply intention to as many exercises as you can, you will learn to manipulate the amount of weight youâre using, in your favor! Youâre probably thinking a few things right now, likeâŚ
âBut I heard big weights build big muscles!â
WRONG. Thatâs what I call meathead math.
Increased TENSION builds muscle. Or maybe youâre thinking, âThe guys at my gym with big muscles use big weights!â Ya, they do! Most guys that carry any muscle at all are older and have been training for years. Theyâve tried every type of training under the sun and really have NO clue WHAT built the muscle they have; they just threw enough randomness at the wall and something stuck along the way.
Wouldnât it be nice to be able to build the PHYSIQUE YOU WANT in half the time? Knowing that youâre doing the right thing each and every time you step in the gymâŚ.YUP! No-brainer. Itâs probably the COOLEST thing Iâve ever come across. No ONE thing changed my life and my physique like INTENTION has. Imagine now being able to create as MUCH tension, or as little tension, as you want, whenever you want, completely at will.
GET THIS: Increased Time Under TENSION = GROW TIME!
Imagine now going to the gym and not having to worry whether youâre going to feel great, or feel terrible, or whether youâre strong that day, or weak, or whether or not you will FEEL the muscle that day! You will never doubt your ability to create MAXIMUM tension and, therefore, have mind-blowing workouts! THIS SOUNDS AMAZING TO ME! And trust me when I tell you that once you âget itâ, you will never want to train without it. So what does Intention look like in
action?
I want you to try something sitting there at home, and the next time you go to the gym try it out. Stand in your doorway facing sideways, extend your arms out in front of you like you might do if you were about to grab a barbell out in front of you to bench press. With one arm on either side of the wall (i.e., wall is between your arms), keeping your arms straight and locking your arms out, try to âshoveâ or push into the wall with both hands.
What happened? Your chest contracted, didnât it? You didnât even think about contracting your chest; it just happened on its own. Hmmm….”How can I apply this to chest training?â you ask yourself. (If youâre not, you should!).
On a bench press, grab the bar, and apply a small amount of force inward. Without actually moving your hands, try to shove them toward each other. Try doing this on a bench press next time youâre in the gym — the feeling and
results will blow your mind. Keep in mind it takes some time for your body to override the old way you used
to do bench press. Donât worry, you wonât be needing that anymore!
WANT BETTER LEGS IN A FEW DAYS?!
One of the most common things I hear from guys is âI want to increase my âsweepââ or ladies, âI need to tighten up my saddle bagsâ. Sound familiar? Yup you all know youâve said it, or at least heard someone say it. People become
obsessed with this area because it completely dictates how we look in a pair of jeans.
Nobody wants a squishy pillow back there, flapping in the wind when you walk. We all want a tight round bum to attract the opposite sex. No doubt. Well, itâs a lot more simple than you think once you understand this simple
âintentionâ trick.
I see so many people doing glute âkickbacksâ or sidekicks or adductor/abductor machines, to try to tighten and build these areas. The truth is that BIG muscles require large amounts of tension. Little âcutesyâ movements arenât doing âsquatâ for those big muscles.
Yes, even leg extensions can build size with sufficient tension! You need to squat! But you need to squat with intention!
I want you to stand up. Take a shoulder- width stance like you would if you were going to squat. Now before you squat, I want you to just lightly shove your feet out against the ground (without moving obviously, just try to push
them out). What happened? The entire outside of your leg just contracted, didnât it? COOL! Now I can control EXACTLY
where all the tension falls during ANY exercise in the gym.
DING DING DING! We have a winner!!
Control the tension, control the size you build your legs!
Guess what? This stuff exists for basically every body part! Over the next week, Iâm going to reveal how to explode new muscle off your entire frame.
Until then, set you goals high and reach for the stars!
Go to Part 2 => Solution #2 to Doubling Your Muscle Gains: Breaking Crappy Lifting Technique, & ReTraining Movement Patterns
Ben Pakulski, IFBB Pro
Creator of the www.mi-40.com program.
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