When you want to be successful, discipline and consistency are mandatory.
If you are willing to work hard week in and week out, even when you’d rather stay at home, lie on the couch and relax, you can make things happen.
For almost everything, I agree with the old adage “80% of success is showing up.”.
Trying to pack on muscle mass requires the same level of commitment.
Sticking to your workout schedule is very important, even when it’s the last thing on your mind. You never want to miss a workout if you want to pack on muscle mass and strength quickly….
Is it really true?
Here’s a tip….
Consistency is paramount. Yes, if you want to pack on muscle mass you will need to commit to your workout schedule the vast majority of the time. Bailing on the gym because you’re lazy is not an acceptable approach.
However, there is an interesting quote from the late Mike Mentzer that goes “Rituals have nothing to do with science.”.
Bear in mind that the human body is a complex biological mechanism, and that all workouts and recovery periods are not identical to each other.
In other words, your schedule to pack on muscle mass isn’t going to always reflect what your body needs.
When you wake up feeling exhausted with achy muscles, and you’re missing that typical excitement on a training day…. don’t you think you should listen to what you’re body’s telling you?
Obviously, you need more time to heal, so forcing yourself to pack on muscle mass is not the best plan as your efforts will be subpar. If your mind, body, and muscles are still recovering from the previous workout, you should not force yourself into the gym in an attempt to pack on muscle mass.
In truth, your recovery phase is when your muscle tissue works to heal itself and that’s when muscles are being formed, so it doesn’t make sense to add more intense weight training which is extremely demanding on the body as a whole….
What’s the benefit of short-circuiting the very process that allows you to pack on muscle mass in the first place? Why not take an extra day to rest and go to the gym once you feel physically and mentally up for it?
What’s wrong with that?
If you are inactive for two weeks or more you have to worry about losing size or strength, but not before. Instead, you stand to gain positively in terms of recovering from your previous workout and maximizing your performance in your next workout.
All you have to do is listen to your body.
How you pack on muscle mass has nothing to do with rituals, so if you need to rest, rest.
Maybe your body just doesn’t want to face the weights yet—so don’t force it. And hey, just because some dude said you should “never skip a workout,” doesn’t mean it’s true.
Don’t get tricked, though...
Don’t get so cozy with this mindset that you only train to pack on muscle mass if you want to, because you could very easily delay your workouts out of laziness, not because your body isn’t ready.
You can’t stop your training to pack on muscle mass just because you don’t feel like it mentally—that’s not the advice I’m giving you.
It’s only when you physically need the rest that it counts.
Remember this… there’s no harm if you take one day extra to rest, but training your body to pack on muscle mass when it’s not ready to do so could be detrimental. there is no long-term harm in taking an extra day of rest, but there IS the very real and immediate harm of training your body to pack on muscle mass without being fully recovered first.
Rule of the thumb: If in doubt, take the day off!
Want more no B.S muscle-building strategies just like this one? Go here!
No comments:
Post a Comment