Am I There Yet?

photo credit: Usodesita

So this is part three of my series on building a firm foundation. Have you figured it out yet? Here is part one and two.

You may be asking yourself “Am I There Yet?” Are you at least on the right track? My final thoughts regarding getting a solid start on the right foot are as follows.

How Will You Know If You Are No Longer A Newbie?

It is rare for a newbie to remain in newbie, newbie land for much longer than 6 months to a year granted they have been on a very solid training and diet program. It’s always very gratifying to watch a newb progress because they literally add 5-10lbs to their lifts almost every other workout. There does come a point where gains slow down though. You might find yourself having a hard time recovering between workouts and begin to notice that lots of food can no longer vouch for your limited time spent in recovery. Your workouts will slowly lengthen as you have to take longer rest periods between sets to ensure you make reps. Eventually you find yourself having to take 2 days off between the full body workouts. Great! You are getting somewhere.

To Continue Making Progress

If you want to continue making great strides towards building that killer physique, you will eventually have to change a few things. Obviously you are moving more weight, getting stronger and bigger. Once your gains begin slowing down it’s probably a good idea to change things up a bit. No, I am not talking about switching things up to shock the muscles. That is crazy talk. A solid upper/lower split will work very well when this time comes. The main reason for switching to a slightly lower frequency is that recovery in between sessions will begin to suffer the more advanced you become. The goal here is to make sure that the focus shifts towards the intensity and quality of each workout. Here is where you begin getting into periodization, light weeks, heavy weeks, volume rotation and some other training ideals that each deserve an article respectively. If your goal is to look great naked, I highly recommend moving to an upper/lower split with a bit more volume to focus solely on hypertrophy.

Build Your Foundation In A Few Simple Steps

• Educate Yourself – Seek out the best information on training, fat loss, competing or whatever it is you are interested in pursuing. The proper knowledge is essential to your success.
• Apply What You Have Learned – Don’t waste your time spinning your wheels when you know better. It’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. I know if you put the proper education behind your efforts you will succeed. The only trick is remaining objective about your goals and seeking help when you need it.
• Get Ready For Change - There will come a day when you have added 150lbs to your squat and deadlift. You will have to change your routine a bit to continually progress at a decent rate. Oh, and prepare yourself to look like a god.

Now that you have built a physique worth showing off go ahead and revel in your badassery – OK, so I made that word up but there is nothing like conquering something you set out to accomplish. There is nothing like making progress you can track and date. Nothing feels better than looking back over past successes and looking forward to even more opportunities to succeed. Happy training, heart breaking and lovemaking.

For more info on Strength Training Routines, check out these resources:

Sheiko, Eric Cressey’s Maximum Strength,  Bill Starr 5X5(intermediate), and Bill Starr/Glenn Pendlay(advanced)

For more info on Hypertrophy Routines, check out these resources:

DC Training, Lyle’s Bulking Routine and HST.