The First day of Rage...
Rage is the Adonis Index's Plateau busting workout.
I did it this morning with Chris and it was brutal. I'm sure I could have made it harder, but I'm not entirely sure I would have got through it.
Read an interesting item the other day by the Adonis guys. They were talking about training to failure. I haven't done it for years and I try to discourage my clients from doing it as well.
It goes back to what I was talking about last week. If you lift too much weight to be able to even finish the set, then maybe you haven't got a handle on how strong you think you are. I probably use weights that are very much within my control range but then I do little things like add tension to the bar, or lower the weight more slowly. Little twists or pauses in the right place, not so that I make my set easier.
One of the things I have experienced over the years with my clients is plateau busting them by training with them. Sometimes they have created in their own heads a glass ceiling, and can't break through it. Underneath it all they believe I am asking them to achieve something that is impossible.
So I train with them. Let's say for example they are struggling mentally to get past 10kgs. if we train together I go first and I play a little game where I look to try and use 4-5x their weight. Most guys will then just 'step up' and break through.
Everyone will have this mental sticking point, mine used to be 60kg bench press, then 80kg. In 1991, after training for 6 years naturally I decided to try steroids and trained with the biggest guy in my gym, he sat there while I got stuck under 100kgs, laughing. I blasted through the set out of anger, then straight through a set of 120kgs, then 140kgs then 160kgs. Sure the drugs were a part of it. But today 21 years later I can still bench over 120kgs when I want to, because I know I can.
Yes you read right. I did steroids back in 1991. Why you might ask? I'd just been made redundant, all my work was in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States and the Gulf War 1 had just started. The UK was still in a bad recession and the chances of getting a job were next to zero. I had a small payoff so, I decided to do some research and do a short course.
My feeling are very mixed. I had trained for 6 years naturally and I really loved training, especially because I was naturally very strong and had gone from 54kgs to 90kgs during that time.
On the training side being on gear is an experience. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said it was like cumming. As crass as that sounds it's a pretty accurate description. Within a minute of starting the workout you feel amazing. Your muscles and your body feel like they're in that state you have just before you orgasm (for a guy), and that carries on during the whole workout. On top of that you feel strong powerful and alert and extremely confident. I think it takes your natural state and just times it by 10. If you are confident you go through the roof, if you are a bully, you become nasty and so on.
I am a thinker and am pretty confident in a crowd, I am became very quiet and thoughtful, or euphoric, which the people around me took to being extreme mood swings. That's not how I experienced it.
So what's the downside? Physically I didn't have adverse side effects. During though my smaller muscle groups would pump up, so training heavy anything was out within a few weeks. On legs my lower back would pump and become too painful or my calves would feel like they were about to explode. On chest, my triceps would pump, and the same on back with my biceps. Obviously I was only as strong as my weakest links. Over a year I trained off and on small quantities of drugs; my 12 week cycle would usually involve taking less than most of the other guys would take in a week. I was lucky enough to be mentor and semi-professional and he explained that I'd get better results if I took smaller amounts and kept cycling my body off drugs. I did a show. Then stopped. My health was more important to me and being a long term user wasn't who I wanted to be.
Then came the hard part. That orgasmic feeling wasn't there anymore. I was actually stronger off drugs because the smaller muscles didn't pump, but I was demotivated beyond belief. So many times I had to catch myself. It would have been so easy to start taking again.
It took me 7 years to get back to the same feeling I had about training before drugs.
Now I love being able to train. Sure there are some days when I feel flat or down, but usually within a couple of days the energy levels rise and I am ready to got for it again.
Last Monday was like wading through thick soup, with no energy. By Thursday I was kicking ass. This morning was tough but I was on top again.
Everything comes in cycles, just be patient.
Sorry for the purists who believe in a drug free world. I did too, but got caught during a time of weakness. 21 Years yesterday was the last time I took anything. I don't disagree with people taking drugs although I would recommend that it's better not to. Unless you're competing in a organization that it's banned, then I think they should make it a lifetime ban for a first offense, they know it's cheating.
In bodybuilding it was something that everyone did, so it was a level playing field.
I did it this morning with Chris and it was brutal. I'm sure I could have made it harder, but I'm not entirely sure I would have got through it.
Read an interesting item the other day by the Adonis guys. They were talking about training to failure. I haven't done it for years and I try to discourage my clients from doing it as well.
It goes back to what I was talking about last week. If you lift too much weight to be able to even finish the set, then maybe you haven't got a handle on how strong you think you are. I probably use weights that are very much within my control range but then I do little things like add tension to the bar, or lower the weight more slowly. Little twists or pauses in the right place, not so that I make my set easier.
One of the things I have experienced over the years with my clients is plateau busting them by training with them. Sometimes they have created in their own heads a glass ceiling, and can't break through it. Underneath it all they believe I am asking them to achieve something that is impossible.
So I train with them. Let's say for example they are struggling mentally to get past 10kgs. if we train together I go first and I play a little game where I look to try and use 4-5x their weight. Most guys will then just 'step up' and break through.
Everyone will have this mental sticking point, mine used to be 60kg bench press, then 80kg. In 1991, after training for 6 years naturally I decided to try steroids and trained with the biggest guy in my gym, he sat there while I got stuck under 100kgs, laughing. I blasted through the set out of anger, then straight through a set of 120kgs, then 140kgs then 160kgs. Sure the drugs were a part of it. But today 21 years later I can still bench over 120kgs when I want to, because I know I can.
Yes you read right. I did steroids back in 1991. Why you might ask? I'd just been made redundant, all my work was in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States and the Gulf War 1 had just started. The UK was still in a bad recession and the chances of getting a job were next to zero. I had a small payoff so, I decided to do some research and do a short course.
My feeling are very mixed. I had trained for 6 years naturally and I really loved training, especially because I was naturally very strong and had gone from 54kgs to 90kgs during that time.
On the training side being on gear is an experience. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said it was like cumming. As crass as that sounds it's a pretty accurate description. Within a minute of starting the workout you feel amazing. Your muscles and your body feel like they're in that state you have just before you orgasm (for a guy), and that carries on during the whole workout. On top of that you feel strong powerful and alert and extremely confident. I think it takes your natural state and just times it by 10. If you are confident you go through the roof, if you are a bully, you become nasty and so on.
I am a thinker and am pretty confident in a crowd, I am became very quiet and thoughtful, or euphoric, which the people around me took to being extreme mood swings. That's not how I experienced it.
So what's the downside? Physically I didn't have adverse side effects. During though my smaller muscle groups would pump up, so training heavy anything was out within a few weeks. On legs my lower back would pump and become too painful or my calves would feel like they were about to explode. On chest, my triceps would pump, and the same on back with my biceps. Obviously I was only as strong as my weakest links. Over a year I trained off and on small quantities of drugs; my 12 week cycle would usually involve taking less than most of the other guys would take in a week. I was lucky enough to be mentor and semi-professional and he explained that I'd get better results if I took smaller amounts and kept cycling my body off drugs. I did a show. Then stopped. My health was more important to me and being a long term user wasn't who I wanted to be.
Then came the hard part. That orgasmic feeling wasn't there anymore. I was actually stronger off drugs because the smaller muscles didn't pump, but I was demotivated beyond belief. So many times I had to catch myself. It would have been so easy to start taking again.
It took me 7 years to get back to the same feeling I had about training before drugs.
Now I love being able to train. Sure there are some days when I feel flat or down, but usually within a couple of days the energy levels rise and I am ready to got for it again.
Last Monday was like wading through thick soup, with no energy. By Thursday I was kicking ass. This morning was tough but I was on top again.
Everything comes in cycles, just be patient.
Sorry for the purists who believe in a drug free world. I did too, but got caught during a time of weakness. 21 Years yesterday was the last time I took anything. I don't disagree with people taking drugs although I would recommend that it's better not to. Unless you're competing in a organization that it's banned, then I think they should make it a lifetime ban for a first offense, they know it's cheating.
In bodybuilding it was something that everyone did, so it was a level playing field.
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