Pre-Workout Ramblings From A Dedicated Bodybuilder

It's exactly 5:55pm. I'm sitting in front of my computer, choking down a bowl of tuna. I have a bottle of water beside me and am preparing for my 7pm workout: back and biceps.

I don't particularly enjoy the taste of tuna; in fact, I don't like it in the least. But one can provides me with 30 grams of solid muscle-building protein, and that's why I eat it. I don't eat it for the taste; I eat it for the effect. And nothing tastes better than looking in the mirror to see massive, ripped muscles. I want a physique that demands respect, and I'll do whatever I need to get it.

As I sit here and write this, my stomach churns with butterflies. Why? It's because tonight I must put forth the best back and bicep workout I've ever performed. If I don't, I will not grow, plain and simple. The entire basis for gaining muscle size and strength is progression, and if I don't progress, I'll have to wait an entire week to get another chance. I have to be better than I've ever been in my entire life, and if I fail, my muscle growth will stagnate.

Tonight I'll be performing a total of 10 muscle-building sets. Each set will last around 30 seconds each. This means that I have a total of 5 minutes of actual lifting time tonight. 5 minutes that will make me or break me. 5 minutes that separates me from my goals. 5 minutes, that's all I'm going to get.

It's going to be a hard-fought battle. I'm not taking any shortcuts or looking for an easy way out. I want a wide, powerful back and mountains for biceps. I'm looking to carve that back into a thick slab of pure, raw muscle mass with cuts and striations like the statue of a Greek God. You won't see me rowing cables or tossing 10 pound dumbbells around like a wimpy little spandex clown. You'll see me in the corner of the gym, where most people steer clear of, where dust gathers the quickest. I'll be grinding out sets of heavy deadlifts with all of the passion and heart I can muster. The kind of sets that make your teeth grit, your gut wrench, your entire body burn and on some occasions, your lunch go flying. I'll be following that up with overhand wide-grips chin-ups, barbell rows and barbell shrugs. I purposely choose the toughest exercises because I know that they reap the greatest rewards. I'm not afraid of hard work.

You see, there's a big difference between guys who "just lift weights" and those that are serious about their training and serious about their results. If you want real, true, significant muscle and strength gains, you'd better get serious about it.

Stop making excuses for yourself. Stop skipping meals and performing workouts with half-assed intensity. Stop taking the easy way out by choosing the least uncomfortable exercises. Start training like a true gym warrior. Treat every workout as if it was your last, because one day that will be true.

People have asked me how I was able to make the drastic muscle and strength gains that I did in such a short time and without steroids of any kind. Do you want the answer? Come and watch me train. Compare my workout intensity and effort to 99% of the other lifters around me in the gym. You'll get your answer right there. Nobody said building muscle was easy. And if they did, they were lying.

Get out of your comfort zone and onto the battlefield. If every workout isn't a war, you'll never truly reach your goals. The satisfaction of victory is proportionate to the difficulty of the battle. Train like your life depends on it, and you will surely be rewarded for your efforts.

Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert, fitness author and writer of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. You can learn more by visiting his website: www.MuscleGainTruth.com/

Hot Topics In Exercise

    3 Steps To Starting a Successful Fall Exercise Program

    Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.

    Fall is the time for new beginnings. New...

    The Exercise Ball, Try it For Core Conditioning

    There is so much being said nowadays about working out with an exercise ball that you may have wondered what all the fuss is about.

    Originally created for use in physical therapy, the exercise ball,...

    Exercise Treadmill - Home-Based Fitness With Tried And Tested Fat-Burner

    An exercise treadmill, with its superior cardio workout capacity, is a training ally with a knack for keeping you trim and toned. This gym without the joint-jarring jolt of road running, has been show...

    Tips On Burning Calories Effectively Thru Increasing Physical Activity

    The calorie your body burns greatly depends on your weight, on the activities that you do and on the level of intensity of your activity or exercising.

    Metabolic Rate refers to the rate your body bu...

    How To Build A Massive Pair Of Arms

    It's no secret that every serious lifter out there desires an impressive pair of strong, muscular arms. Who wouldn't be happy with tall, peaking biceps sitting on top of rock-hard, horse-shoe-shaped t...

    The Formula for Preventing Depression

    While it is arguable that depression is not always preventable, there are many cases, when using the following ideas, will keep you in good spirits - most of the time. Unfortunately, we cannot be happ...

    3 Steps To Starting a Successful Fall Exercise Program

    Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.

    Fall is the time for new beginnings. New...

    Buying A Bowflex?

    If you are really serious about your weight training, then you will need to train consistently 5-6 days a week. A good workout routine will include a wide range of exercises, and you will rotate throu...

    Commercial Grade Treadmill Review

    An interesting phenomenon is happening in the treadmill market these days: a lot of home treadmills are being called commercial grade treadmills. This can be very confusing for the treadmill buyer. ...

    Buying Exercise Equipment - Get The Best for Less

    Copyright 2006 Howard McGarity

    Unless you are already an equipment expert, this article will help you choose wisely so that you can get the best for less.

    After making the commitment to begin ...

    Exercise Bikes, Which one Should you Choose

    Exercise bikes have been around for a long time now which may give some people the wrong impression that they are outdated & no longer of much use when it comes to your fitness routine. However there ...

    Assessing Physical Damage and Accepting the Importance of Exercise

    Do you think of your body the way you think of your car? When a few lucky individuals acquire a sports car that boasts of the best automotive engineering available today, watch them read the maintenan...

Most Recent Exercise Supplements

Newly Popular Fitness Articles

    Meditation Can Also Make Your Heart Happy

    Meditation is good for your heart. This is the message recently (in the year of 2006) conveyed by the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study reported that transcendental meditation (TM), a relaxatio...

    The History Of Tai Chi

    I've got something pretty miraculous to tell you about. I found out about this awesome way of balancing your mind and body. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. It's called Tai Chi and finding ...

    Tai Chi

    TaiChi is a complete and highly developed internal martial art (Neijia). A form of moving meditation, TaiChi promotes in the practitioner a sense of Qi (breath/life energy) circulation and health. As ...

    Is Home Exercise Equipment For You?

    We are bombarded with messages about the current obesity epidemic that seems to be under way and the need to combat it with daily exercise and a healthy, well-balanced diet. The FDA has even redesigne...

    Treadmll Ratings - What Most Buyers Don't Know About Treadmill Ratings

    If you're buying a treadmill, chances are you'll want to research before you buy. Everyone wants to get the best deal for a discount price. They also want to find the best treadmill to suit their work...

    5 Tips To A Strong, Muscular Physique!

    For over ten years now, I have been a drug-free competitive bodybuilder, and I can tell you first hand what it takes to develop a muscular physique. In this article, I want to discuss with you my top ...

    Pulsating Tinnitus - Here's How To Beat It

    Throbbing Tinnitus - What Causes It?

    When you can hear a regular pulsing noise in your ears in tune with your your heart beat that is probably pulsatile tinnitus. There may be single or many rhythmi...

    The Top 5 Yoga Positions

    Often times the right information can change a person's life. This happened with me and yoga.

    There are a lot of yoga positions and poses that is built to enhance posture.

    All things consider...

    Why Weight Train During Pregnancy?

    There was once a time that a pregnant woman was thought of as "fragile". Any form of exercise was strictly prohibited by doctors and feared by concerned fathers. We've now come to realize that a pregn...

    3 Steps To Starting a Successful Fall Exercise Program

    Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.

    Fall is the time for new beginnings. New...

Interesting Today:

Most Recent Fitness Blogs:

Releated to Fitness:

Exercise Links: