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Train Harder than anyone else in the gym


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Lately I've tried to make it a goal to leave no doubt in my own mind that I am training harder than anyone else in the gym. I can endure quite a bit of pain and have a thirst for intensity. I've been finding more meaning in each workout as of late and I want to know (for myself) at the end of the day, I worked harder than anyone else.

 

Today, I know that for a fact, regardless of what others were going through because today I pushed it to a new level of pain and suffering and was left in a pile of torn muscle fibers on the floor. My style of training is by nature more intense than most (4 seconds up, 4 seconds down, often with a rest at the peak of contraction as well).

 

Sometimes I go until I don't know if I'll be able to get the weight back up and I just trust myself that I will, grit my teeth, close my eyes and attempt to still breathe while finishing up.

 

At the end of leg workouts I usually can't walk like a normal person and I physically can't walk down the stairs on my own, I need assistance.

 

It's an awesome feeling to push myself further than my normal limits allow me to. Anyone can do it, and I don't do it for every muscle group for the same reason others don't do it....fear and pain. Those are the only two reasons....fear covers nearly everything, including the fear of pain.

 

But it is when you can go past this that an incredible feeling comes over your body and it's something special, and most people never get to experience it in their lives through sport.

 

So anyway, that is a goal as of late...to train harder than anyone in the gym. I make a point to do it on leg day and I've been known to do it for back as well.

 

I wrote about my experience today training legs for my journal:

 

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You better be scared. Today it was on! I took about 3 pre-workout supplements and went to the gym and shattered my legs to the point where I almost needed medical attention.

 

Today was the day to ignore pain, to turn up intensity and take it to the next level. In fact, that is how my normal leg workouts are, but today was especially fun, for whatever reason.

 

I nearly crapped my pants, nearly passed out, stumbled after a set and almost fell to the ground and was unable to walk down the stairs on my own without the assistance of the handrail, but I had a great time, despite the grimace on my face the the seizure-like squirms I would do while laying supine on the floor after a completed set that nearly made my eyes and heart pop out of my body.

 

In fact, I had to stop in the middle of one set because my heart was racing too fast....too many pre-workout drinks, or too much intensity or a combination of the two.

 

I can achieve these results without pre-workout drinks too, and it wasn't the hardest workout of my life or anything like that, just business as usual for leg day.

 

I'm feeling OK at the moment and in fact was just doing some quad and hamstring flexing for my roommates, so I'm doing alright.

 

I was 190.5 on the scale today and my goal is to add 5 pounds to each leg over the next many months and take myself over 200. I only train legs once per week and understand that it is only 90 minutes of suffering that leads to a good week of growth and recovery.

 

Good times today.

 

Leg Press with drop sets

 

Squats (my style)

 

Hamstring Curls

 

That was it today.

 

I do my 4 seconds up and 4 seconds down reps and I challenge anyone to give it a try and push beyond failure. The best feeling is when you get to your last rep and legs are wobbling, eyes are shut and wimpering because of the pain sets in and then doing a few more reps not knowing if I'll even be able to get the weight back up.

 

Those are the good times.

 

Now, time to relax a bit, tomorrow will be a long day, 12 hours out of town traveling.

 

Yeah Buddy!

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I had a leg workout just like this on tuesday, still suffering from it. I was trying to keep up with some guys that I train with that are much stronger than I am. I kept up for many of the exercises people we watching me cause I was making so much noise.

 

 

Where the challenges at baby....where they at?!

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Nice!

 

I'm bringing it for sure these days! I'm getting stronger too. I was up to 10 plates on each side doing regular leg press (900+ pounds) and then when I switched to slow reps (4 seconds eccentric and concentric, plus a rest, total of 10 seconds per rep) I was only doing 4 plates each side and it was killing me. Today I got up to 7 plates each side for SLOW reps!!!

 

Soon, I'll be at 10 plates a side for SLOW reps, which is pretty incredible. No more swinging weights around with speed for me...it's all about the contractions and that is where the pain is, that is where the growth is, that is where my gains have been coming from.

 

It breeds intensity and it demands something greater than just our normal selves to be able to pull it off. It takes a special mentality, a special person, and a special ability to challenge our own mind, our muscles and challenge our own perceived limits.

 

It's on now.

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It's an awesome feeling to push myself further than my normal limits allow me to. Anyone can do it, and I don't do it for every muscle group for the same reason others don't do it....fear and pain. Those are the only two reasons....fear covers nearly everything, including the fear of pain.

 

 

Right on!! Pain is only an illusion, and the only thing fear does is make a person miss out on great opportunities. The only thing you should be afraid of is feeling like a pansy because you didn't push yourself as hard as you could have. I'll be thinking about both of your stories when I do my squats tonight. Keep it intense

 

Mike

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That's my favorite part of the set, at the end when it hurts the most, you can simply FEEL IT! That is when you know ... all the reps prior were working up to that very moment. Brings a smile to my face every time.

 

I DC it, so .... a bit diff then your style. Back on full comp mode today.... Philly in 4 weeks! woohoo!

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SeaSiren, are you talking about the DoggCrapp method? If so, I've heard great things about it (particularly from veggies for some reason). Where can I get more info?

 

Mike

 

Yes, it's all about training smarter not harder. This does not mean you get to "slack off" or lift any less amount of weight. You just are in the gym a shorter time and not every day. The exercises and the method is the "smarter" part of it. My gains since my last comp came totally from this program (remember #1, I have to stay low BF and can't bulk since I model and #2 am female and don't have the advantage of higher testosterone levels.) Keeping both those in mind, that's pretty impressive gains.

 

I am doing DC training under the supervision of Robbie Hazeley (Robbie as Screen Name), on this board. You can google it, and there is a lot of info about it on I believe Intense Muscle, Muscular Development, and Bodybuilding.com ..... however, having it "customized" to my particular needs was a god send!

 

TIP: I would do research and not just jump in on these boards. If the question has been asked before, the regulars will tear you a new one! Those boards aren't for people who get their feelings hurt easy So best to know it hasn't been asked and the dynamics of "who is who" before ever jumping in..... it can be a harsh environment.

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You know, that's one thing I give my gym credit for. While it isn't a hard core gym (like the 24/7 fitness one in NYC that closed down), the majority of people train their ass off. A couple of things though...

 

Steroid use is completely rampid where I work out, more so than most gyms around me. So they have an unfair advantage. Not that it stops us natural ones from hard work or overshadows us.

 

There is a big difference between Intensity and just plain over training. I find that alot of people just go to the gym for hours on end. They are there before I am and when I am leaving they are still there. I don't feel that is working harder than others, it's actually hampering progress.

 

But for those who are hitting the weights hard and intense, I salute you!

 

I try to train as intense as possible as well

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I don't think I train harder than "everyone" at my gym, but I do train hard every time I go. I don't slack off, and when I'm done a workout I know I've done everything I could. Some days I do better than others, usually because I haven't had adequate nutrition. Anyway I always press myself as hard as I can, and sometimes its to the point of barely being able to move.

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I'd like to say I train harder than everyone but I'd never say that. You can never know who's training the hardest. You don't know what people do at home...what they do at/for work or what they have sacrificed to train. For me I work as hard as I can...once I say I work the hardest I'll stop working harder...and chances are someone was working harder even when I thought I was working the hardest. But like Lean and Green says..the person thats working the hardest is most likely over training. I don't know if I work the hardest but I know I'm guilty of over training(like a lot of people)...they say its better to be 10% under trained than 5% over trained so really all my hard work will never really show the way I'd like but over training is part of what I love about sports in general.

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It's a good mentality to have, even though it can't be measured, it's something to push you and get you to work harder. That's so long as the gym isn't filled with slackers and posers, in which case working harder than them isn't rocket surgery

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Training hard is the easy part, training smart is where it gets tough.

 

I agree with all of Potter's post.

Be careful of overtraining. Most people who train successfully for more than a few years don't train high intensity (term used in the way bodybuilders use it, not strength coaches) all the time.

However, everyone should know what it means to train really hard and to and beyond their limits. I think the mental readiness to do that if necessary is vital for a good athlete. Especially beginners should go "crazy" in the gym (after a couple of months learning the correct form of the exercises) imho.

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Scheduled craziness is very important...but scheduled laziness in the gym is even more important. All good athletes...and people that are yet to be good athletes "can" work just as hard as everyone else(hell...1 push up for one person may be harder than a 150mile bike ride for me). But its takes a different kind of mindset to not always try proving something to yourself(for all the years I've been a high level athlete I still haven't been able to do this consistently). Being the hardest worker normally only gets you hurt.

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A lot of women at the gym are afraid of weights. I use as much weight as I possibly can. Hopefully the other girls will see that lifting weights doesn't make you look like a hulking monster. I certainly don't.

I train as hard as the men do! If I don't walk out of the gym feeling like Gumby then I know I didn't work out hard enough

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