Have You Met My Li’l Friend? Let Me Introduce You

Okay, you’ve learned the basic things you have to do to get in good shape. You know about sets and reps, and the importance of a healthy diet. Time now to move on, learn a little more. Do things a little differently. Advance a bit. Trust that you’ll cope and venture forth.

I want you to meet someone who can help you. A li’l friend of mine. He can accompany you in the gym, while you’re training. He wants to help you. And he’ll be there during every exercise, encouraging you and making sure you’re not just wasting your time. But be aware, he’s very insistent. He does things his way, and it’s not the easy way.

You probably won’t appreciate his company, at least not at first. You have to get to know him. The more you get to know him, the more you can cope with him. He’s something of an acquired taste. Like I said, chances are you won’t even like him at first. But as time goes on, you’ll look forward to meeting him again and again. His name is Pain.

Pain … an invaluable friend

Exercise without pain has its value, of course, let me be clear about that. All exercise has value. But if you want to force your body to develop beyond the most basic, you need to travel with my li’l friend alongside you.

He’ll make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck on every exercise. He’s all about results. He’s the kind of friend you really want working with you. He’s your ideal training partner, and he’s never very far away when you want to excel at what you do.

Be aware though, he will leave you more tired than ever. Your body will feel like it’s been through the wringer. When the session’s over, all you’ll want to do is lie down and relax, maybe even take a nap. And you should. Take the opportunity to rest the first chance you get. Allow your body to regenerate, and heal. Rest is really important.

The killer rep

If you want to meet your new friend, take no more than a second or two to contract, then take about four or five seconds to extend. And finish the set with a special rep, a real killer. Say it’s pull-ups, finish the set with a pull-up and hold the high position, mentally counting the pause, and see if you can hold it for ten seconds … or better still, 15, or even 20.

That’s tough. Because you’ll find your li’l friend comes along with you for the ride. The longer you hold the contracted position, the more he will insist you don’t quit. But it’s a good pain, the kind that will literally force your muscles to respond with growth. Your muscles will feel that they’re under strain (which they certainly will be), and so they’ll naturally feel the need to prepare for the next onslaught by becoming stronger. They’ll want to be ready. And the way they’ll do that is to increase the size of the muscles. By adding more muscle fibres. This requires a lot of energy.

Now you won’t want to do too many sets like this. I mean, you can make each set like this, with mental focus and holding the contracted position, that’s not a problem, that’s a good thing. But don’t do it for many sets. Just be careful not to overdo it. Not unless you want to be putting yourself through a whole lot of pain, both during the workout and later in the day, and over the next day or two. And more importantly, there’s the danger you’ll be sapping yourself of way too much energy, and without enough energy you just can’t grow.

Quality … not quantity

So keep it to just a few sets for each exercise. And you might be surprised how much you can achieve with just those few sets. It’s about the quality of the training, rather than the quantity.

Yes, you can spend an hour or more in the gym (or a lot more, if you treat the gym as a sort of social club), but if you choose to train like this, with your li’l friend Pain accompanying you all the way, you might find just 20 minutes is good, or half an hour. You’ll probably know when it’s time to call it a day, because fatigue will start to set in, and probably a lot sooner than you’re used to.

So there you have it. I’m glad I introduced my li’l friend Pain to you. If you’ve never met him before, or if your previous meetings with him we’re brief and not too cordial, it might be quite an experience to have him with you during an entire workout. But believe me, having him along for the ride will pay dividends.

As time goes on and you get used to your new li’l friend, you’ll be mentally preparing for the workout before you even reach the gym. You’ll be steeling yourself for the ordeal, and you’ll be reminding yourself that, unlike a lot of gym-goers, you’re only going there for one reason really … for the pain! Because you’ll know that without your li’l friend alongside you, you’ll only be going through the motions. And that kind of training doesn’t really bring the results you’re looking for.

That’s when your new friend becomes your best friend!