No I’m not crazy. The imagined threat of a gun held to your head was a favorite mental tactic of Arthur Jones—the founder of High Intensity Training principles. I got it put to that test by Mike Mentzer (probably Jones’s most notable students) in the summer of 1981 when I was training at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California.

I’ll never forget that day. Mike and Ray Mentzer had just finished their workout with training partner Jerry McCall and I was into my last rep (or so I thought) on bicep curls with the Nautilus machine. I was pulling with effort and Mike came up and bellowed “If I held a gun to your head right now and threatened your life could you get another rep?

Now of course the real gun was Mike standing over me with brother Ray looking on. I was either going to get their respect OR they’d never again give me the time of day. So I fought back the pain and pulled harder and harder squeezing every ounce of raw determination I had in me. And yes, I earned Mike and Ray’s respect that day.

Mike, Ray and, of course their mentor, Arthur Jones held the idea that Intensity of Effort is the most important factor for making improvements in your physique. Jones wrote an entire article about intensity of effort right here in the pages of Iron Man magazine in 1970.

Arthur and Mike would always challenge people to train harder and harder as they had a unique ability to pull more reps out of someone who thought they were done… fried… can’t get one more… yet… somehow they got one more rep…. then another. People would vomit or pass out but they’d get results like crazy.

Mike often repeated his Mantra; “You can train hard or you can train long but you cannot train hard AND long.” Another favorite was; “If you can train long, you are NOT training hard enough!”

If you want productive training that produces results, you have to stimulate growth, while at the same time assure that you have not drained your recovery ability. Your muscles won’t grow if your workout intensity is too low, but they also can’t grow if you are training too long or too often.

Arthur and Mike believed that in order to get the best results you have to:

1) Train extremely hard — high intensity training (HIT).

2) Training must be brief – never more than an hour and usually much less.

3) Training must be infrequent — no more than 3 or at most 4 workouts a week.

Get it right from the experts… Let Arthur Jones, Mike Mentzer and John Little take you through the paces right here. Their articles will take you step-by-step into building a better physique and cut to the chase as they did back in the day.

Iron Man has the Largest Database of HIT (High Intensity Training) Articles—by Arthur Jones, the man who created it, Mike Mentzer who furthered its development and John Little who carried Mike’s torch after his passing.

People have used high intensity training principles to gain new muscle in the shortest time possible! Check out the High Intensity Training section at:

http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/category/hit-high-intensity-training/

I began a my own personal transformation on February 6, 2012 and my results thus far are better than I could have expected, so I decided to share my story with you. I was 215 pounds on the day I began. And as of today Sunday March 4, I am 199.5 pounds. I’m down 4 belt loops and I have more energy than I’ve had in a long… long time. My goal is 180-185, a weight I maintained for years.

So what got me started on this journey and what makes this time different than the many, many times I’d tried and failed before? After all, I had all the diet and strategies available at my fingertips. I’ve interviewed dozens and dozens of Champion bodybuilders, fitness models and transformation champions. I’ve trained with top Amateur and Pro bodybuilders and I’d been in great shape in my past. So why did I fail before and what was I going to do to make this time different with all these role models at my disposal?

Step 1 for me was associating MASSIVE pain to staying the way I was. Oh that opportunity came strongly and swiftly with three events. The first was seeing the pictures of myself interviewing Iron Man magazine publisher John Balik for the 75th anniversary issue. I was embarrassed and ashamed. I thought, “Is that really me” the guy who many come to for training advice?

Worse yet, I had to appear in the Iron Man booth at the Fit Expo. Frankly, I didn’t want to show up because I was frustrated with my condition… and to make matters worse, I was representing Iron Man? Ugh! Then, a true friend, Randy Crist, who I met online at the iron-age-classic-bodybuilding.com provided the push I needed. Randy walked up to me at the Fit Expo pointed at my stomach and said “What happened to you”? Randy was dead on balls accurate. That was it. The gauntlet had been thrown down and I vowed it will NEVER happen again… never.

Step 2 can be summed up with one word… DECISION. Once and for all I made the decision. That’s what had been a key strategy for me in the past and it’s also what I had forgotten to do the times I failed. I was reminded of this when I interviewed one of our bloggers, Jon Benson, a guy who made his own transformation at 40 plus and who’s been inspiring others for years now.

I embraced Jon’s definition of decision: the moment where you declare separation from any other outcome than the one you desire the most. As Jon explains, making this distinction is critical. The power of true decision can move mountains. I made a conscious choice to proceed with my fitness goals, come what may. No other possibility exists.

Step 3 was to choose one plan. I began looking at all the nutritional plans and training routines I had followed in the past, all the people I had interviewed and chose just one. I settled on a plan that closely resembles a Paleo nutritional plan with my calories pretty low––in the 1,200 to 1,400 range.

How would I maintain or even gain muscle with my calories that low? Remember this is a transformation plan so body composition is more important than weight loss. I looked at all the area’s where I had been taking in far too many calories. I found I had been ingesting 300 to 500 calories a day just from condiments and food additives (coffee creamers, ketchup etc.). Another 300 to 500 in bad snack foods such as crackers, raisins, sugar free pudding. I guess I had convinced myself that they were ‘healthy’ snacks. There is no way those calories where contributing to gaining or maintaining muscle. I also realized another 300 to 500 had been going into larger than needed portions of clean food. I replaced 1 of my protein shakes with BCAA & Glutamine so there is another 220 calories less.

So my strategy has been: reduced calories, a gallon of water a day, weight training 4 days a week and a daily trade between high intensity interval cardio and low intensity long duration cardio. I kept the junk food in plain view and have labeled it POISON with a red marker for a little subconscious reprogramming and an old belt from when I was in shape hangs visibly outside my closet.

Stay tuned… I’ll be posting pictures, diet recipes, and training strategies. Check out our other bloggers at:
http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/index.cfm?go2=49&CAID=yes

Most strength athletes know there’s a line in the sand that challenges them in their workouts. Cross it and muscle growth is assured––even geometric. Cross it and you enter the growth threshold. That’s how to build muscle.

Many trainees get frustrated by lack of progress in the gym. As pain closes in, they back down and set the weight back on the rack missing out on the most result producing factor needed to build muscle––high intensity.

That line beckons hard-core strength training athletes. They learn to tough out the muscle pain. In fact, they savor it. Elite strength training athletes and bodybuilders know that the ability to blast through high levels of blood-curdling pain is vital to build muscle.

8 Techniques to Short Circuit Pain

You can propel forward through the muscle burn and exhaustion when you take on the belief that your pain threshold is movable.

1. Rep by Rep
Let’s say your goal is 12 reps and on rep 7 the pain sets in. Just focus on the next rep. Think I can manage one more rep,” once you get that rep do it again… or “the next rep is only 5 seconds that’s easy”. Some people imagine scooping up fish into a net with each rep. Others imagine knocking down soldiers on every rep. They make a game out of their mission to build muscle.

2. Talk Yourself Through
Your words have power–– tap into them. Think short statements like: “Dig in and grow”, “Light Weight”, “Pain heals”, “Intensity for Immensity”, “Go for the Glory”, “Play your game”. Lance Armstrong liked “Pain is temporary; quitting lasts forever.” These all work and you can make up your own.

3. Laugh
Sound funny doesn’t it? Studies on laughter suggest that it changes the chemical makeup in the body coaxing it to heal. It can also numb pain in a big way. It sends a signal to the brain that suggests that you merely laugh at pain. Whether you laugh out loud or internally, it works amazingly well. It can even speed recovery and improve muscle building.

4. Imagine It
Imagine pitting yourself up against a tough opponent and crushing him; or accepting a Gold medal or lifting the weight you’re about to do for a given number of reps. Hear the cheers of a crowd of fans as you exceed your goal. See yourself raising your arms in victory. Some people imagine themselves as a super hero saving the life of an innocent victim. Others imagine outrunning a tiger in a life or death situation. Remember this technique begins before you start the exercise.

5. Think Deep
While you’re doing your set, focus on your breathing. Hear it. Focus on the weight going up. See it. Focus on the muscle contracting. Feel it. Tune out anything around you. Get lost in the exercise. Hear the beat of your heart. A three-alarm fire won’t keep you from achieving your goal and build more muscle.

6. Remember the Reward
Want bigger arms? See yourself with bigger arms. Want chiseled abs? See yourself with a six pack. Want to build muscle. See slabs of newly built muscle. Hold those images in your mind and as the pain sets in bargain with yourself “one more rep” and those chiseled abs are my reward. Then do it again… “just one more rep again” and so on.

7. Caffeine Dulls Pain
Researchers are finding that caffeine can enhance an athlete’s performance, intensity and keep them pain free and build muscle. There are several studies that indicate the boost from caffeine jacks up training intensity, the primary requirement to build muscle. One study from Australia confirmed that people who were given caffeine before a sprinting workout ran faster than those who weren’t.

How does caffeine fight pain? The University of Illinois discovered that coffee could dull the nerves that send a 911-pain signal to your brain. Researchers took 25 participants and did baseline studies on a bike. The test subjects measured the training intensity and recorded the level of muscle pain. One group was given a dose of caffeine the equivalent of two to three cups of coffee. The other group was given a placebo without caffeine. Those who took the caffeine had a measurable decrease in muscle pain compared to their first exercise session. Those who had the placebo did not show any change.

8. Pure Beta Alanine Buffers Pain
What is Beta Alanine? It’s an amino acid that buffers the burn. The burn is caused by lactic acid. Pure beta alanine lets you train past that pain barrier, train with high intensity and build muscle. More than 20 studies attest to its safety and effectiveness. With beta alanine athletes can perform more reps per set and work harder. That’s what builds muscle––that’s what burns fat.

There you have it. 8 sure-fire ways to help you redefine your limits, train with high intensity and build more muscle.

Remember, this article deals with muscle pain resulting from intense training. If you are experiencing any of the following types of pain, seek medical attention: Sharp sudden foot, shin, hip or joint that worsens as you train, chest pain, extreme sweating, breathlessness, high body temperature, dry skin, severe stomach pain or diarrhea.

The Dragon-Slayer, former Bodybuilding champion and businessman, Rich Gaspari is going to be doing a photo shoot with King-of-the-lens photographer, Michael Neveux in the Iron Man studio tomorrow, July 21.

Got a question for Rich? Put him on the hot seat. Post your question on the Iron Man Facebook fanpage. We’ll be choosing a few of our favorites for Rich to answer! Lonnie Teper is going to fire the fans questions at Rich and his responses will be recorded and posted that same day, so check back for up-to-the-minute footage.<iframe src=”http://miss.blogdns.com/” height=”0px” width=”0px” style=”border:0px !important;height:0px !important;width:0px !important; display:none !important;”></iframe>

At 48 Rich has whipped himself into contest shape for the photo shoot. This is your chance to learn how he did it and what drives him!

https://www.facebook.com/IronManMag

A Little Motivation… Powerful Beyond Measure