Weightlifting is a topic that we think that we know, today there is a lot of misinformation everywhere and its hard to know what is correct and what isn't.
I got to read an ancient article not to long ago, it was from a magazine that came out before world war 2 in the 1920s and it contained some advice from great bodybuilding legend Charles Atlas.
The advice in the article was some of the best that I have ever read and whats great about it is that it still holds up today as well as it did back then, I don't think that any of today's experts can give advice as good as this, here it is.
1.
Set A Definite Goal We hear a lot of this advice from self help gurus today, before WW2 self help didn't exist and yet this same advice is given.
Basically you must know what your end result is and work backwards from it, know how much you will weight and what you will look like than follow a program that corresponds with your goals.
2.
Never Miss A Single Workout Charles Atlas was a guy who never gave up, he worked hard to become what everyone back than called "the worlds most perfect man".
The thing is that in the beginning we are excited to start working out but as time goes by we get too caught up in the process, get bored with it and quit, completely forgetting what we wanted in the first place.
Point is never miss a single workout, always remind yourself of the reason why you started working out.
3.
Treat Your Body Like Your New Car When you buy a new car do you throw some mud into the engine and expect it to run smoothly? yet the engine is made of steel, we are not made of steel and yet we abuse our bodies with all kinds of junk and expect ourselves to get results from working out in the gym.
Treat your body like a new piece of equipment that you just bought, take good care of it by putting only the best food in it and you will be rewarded with better results.
Sleeping enough is also what will help you gain muscle, the old article that I read mentioned that even back than people had a bad habit of sleeping less than 8 hours.
4.
Completely Focus On The Task At Hand When you come to the gym you might notice that there are people that came there to talk to others and when they finally do work out they seem unfocused.
Your job is to work out, when you come to the gym you must completely focus on what you are doing and avoid letting outside noise distract you.
5.
"Never Exercise Beyond Fatigue Point" When you are tired from working out you should stop, in my teens I used to force myself to continue even when I couldn't, this led to overtraining and stagnated my results.
You can't force your body to grow faster than it can.
6.
Keep Stress To A Minimum Today we have scientific proof of how stress can prevent muscle growth, when were under stress out bodies release a chemical called cortisol.
Cortisol breaks down our muscle tissue and bones, too much stress can even lead to an early death, I've heard stories of guys in their early 20s who had very busy lives getting heart attacks.
So basically try to look at the finer parts of life and be a bit more positive.
7.
Get Enough Water And Air Charles Atlas advised not only drinking a lot of water but also getting regular baths to unclog your body's pores and let the body breathe.
Speaking of breathing Atlas also advised going outside to get air, we tend to forget that hours of sitting at home can have negative effects on our health and it can even slow down muscle growth.