TICKING ALL THE BOXES

BODY WEIGHT:              96kg / 211.6lb

Morne just opening up a can

BENCH:                          170kg / 374.8lb

DEEP SQUAT:                200kg / 440.9lb

DEADLIFT:                      240kg / 529.1lb

Those are some impressive stats, what's even more impressive is the fact that Morne is an all natural beast - and by natural, I mean that I've seen the guy take in maybe 1 or 2 protein shakes in the entire time that I've known him. I'm pretty sure, in his presence, your testosterone jumps.

I've been working alongside Morne Smal for over the last year and I can tell you that this guy is a beast of a machine. He knows his training, he knows what he's doing and he knows how to do it.

So here goes - Something from one of our new contributors. 

TAMING THE BEAST

THE MUSCLE GUY

HAVE YOU TICKED ALL THE BOXES?

Its Thursday. Nearly the end of the week and its my rest day. I hate rest days. I always feel as if I need to do something and I become hyperactive. Its possibly my biggest weakness. I tend not to rest and cant stand the thought of being beaten by someone else somewhere in the world at something. Weird, I know. But I thought I would write about the things that most people I come across that do or don't do that stuns their progression or limits their potential of growth and athletic ability inside and outside of the gym. There are quite a few so I'll try not to dwell on a single subject.

REST

Yes, my weakness. Not getting enough rest can be very detrimental to you attaining success in the gym. Think of training as building a house and progressively trying to turn it into a mansion. You obviously need a solid foundation and that will be the base you always fall back onto. When you train, think of it as you demolishing the house down to its foundations. It hurts and you may shed a tear because now your man cave is ruined. You need time to rebuild the house and build it stronger so that when you hit the gym again at the same intensity you may be ready for it and your house wont crumble like it did the last time. Now, when you don't rest and you train while your house is half built you wont progress. Your house is half repaired and the demolition crew are knocking at your door. Its like being hit by hurricane Katrina after a 100m tsunami just came yesterday. No time for respite means no progression and probably the easiest way to get stuck in a plateau.

PROGRESSION

Now as a man of fitness and man in general I really don't understand this one. Why would you not want to be better than the guy you were yesterday? I see it all the time and I'm sure other trainers do too. People doing the same circuit or routine they did since being introduced to a gymnasium. To be better you have to beat your best constantly. Its not a hard concept to grasp. Its doesn't have to mean going heavier all the time, that's where most people get it wrong. What we mean by progression is going to the next level, make better or more difficult. Add reps, height, speed, distance and so on. Obviously in relation to the exercise you will be doing. For instance, you cant bench press for distance, lets think a bit here guys. This goes hand in hand with rest. After resting you need to progress. Remember your house will be strong now (we hope). It will be able to withstand the workout you've been doing. Up the ante and break that sucker down again.

DO THE BIG LIFTS

The big lifts are so important. Big closed chain exercises put on great mass and are good carry over exercises to most sporting codes. So for athletes and meatheads alike, these exercises are a must. The exercises that come to mind are the squat, deadlift, bench press, pull ups, rows and all their brothers, uncles and grandfathers. Be a man or woman and hit those exercises hard. They recruit more muscles than open chained exercises. Which means more overall growth and strength. I'm not saying that you should only do the big lifts. Every exercise has its place but You should always have a big lift or pull as a main exercise for every workout. More muscle recruitment = more mass.

GOING TO 100% EVERYDAY? YOU ARE NOT THE HULK

I am sorry to say this but you aren't and you wont be. Pushing at 100% of your max everyday can be great but can work to your detriment as well. In the game of building muscle, volume is key. The more time your muscles are under tension and more time you spend under the bar, the more gains you should get (I say should because you need to follow the other rules as well). I'm not saying that if you work up to your max there wont be any gains in mass. There definitely will be, but if you take a had to compare hitting bench press 3x10 as a strength routine compared to ,say, 10x10 a normal German Volume Training routine that's 70 repetitions more than the strength sets. More time under the bar, Still pushing to your maximum capacity and you will hurt a lot more the next day (a sign for growth).

ARE YOU EATING ENOUGH?

Diets. This is where progress is made, lost or kept to a standstill. I'm no expert on nutrition but I do my best to keep up with the latest trends in eating and read up a lot on diets for specific goals. When you are trying to gain weight or lose weight you need to be eating at least 5 meals a day. What those meals comprise of will be in accordance to your goal that you are trying to reach. That is the basic for any person leading an ACTIVE lifestyle. Your body needs to be fed. Far too many times I hear people saying 'I eat nothing, I cant see how I'm not losing weight. I should be anorexic by now'. That is probably why you aren't losing weight. Your body just holds onto those fat cells because you are starving yourself of the foods it really needs. Same goes for the hardgainers. Too little food. Too many shakes. Too little nourishment. There is a place for protein shakes, definitely but solid food is what's going to separate you from being big to being monstrous. 4 or 5 square meals a day and a shake to supplement the growth should set you on your way.

FLEXIBILITY

I can see all the guys looking away right now. Its often the most overseen training principle. For me too. I'm no saint when it comes to stretching. I get lazy about it but over the past year or so I've incorporated it into my training. Doing it a bit more often and I've definitely benefited. Stretching is so very important for the development and health of your muscles. Its not healthy having tight muscles full of knots that can lead to all sorts of problems. Bad posture - muscular imbalances, soft tissue injuries, poor range of motion are just a few things that poor flexibility can lead to and can be compounded over years of not stretching. Cant be fun.

STICKING IT OUT

Very few people out there can stick to a program. Even trainers themselves. This includes me. This is where getting a good coach or trainer is so important. Its hard to let someone else down by not showing or doing something half-assed and when you're paying for it as well. Money shouldn't be an object when it comes to health and fitness but in these times you got to get your moneys worth. I too have a trainer that I see every so often. Not as regularly as Id like these days but he's always up for a session. When you train on your own you set things off, personal life gets in the way at times, you don't push yourself hard enough and its not as exciting. With a partner or trainer you go in, phones off, He or she is ready to push you to your limits and you are ready to give your all. Its all about adherence.

CONCLUSION

The last point pretty much summed up what I am trying to get forward in this article. Sticking to the program. Find fault in what you are not doing and what you are doing wrong and fix it. Its not easy to just turn around and follow a new way of doing things. Do it step by step until you eventually have a completely anabolic lifestyle. growth in size and performance, not in your head and pants size. I will say that not everything works best for everyone but everything works in its own capacity. I hope this as helped you in some way.

MORNE SMAL