Like what you see here? Become a subscriber today and get a ton of free stuff!. Thanks for coming back!

If I had to narrow building the body you want to 5 steps, they would be:

1. Train harder than you think you can
2. Train less frequently than you think you need
3. Eat more than you think you need
4. Sleep more than you think you need
5. Train with fewer exercises than you think you need

See that pattern here? If you’re currently in a rut or aren’t making the kind of progress you want,

C-H-A-N-G-E

This quote has been attributed to a few people, but no matter who said it, it still rings true: The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, expecting a different result.

It’s true. Most of us don’t train heavy enough. We don’t push ourselves. We think we can make up these deficiencies by training more often. Training heavy and training frequently are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT things!

If we are trying to build muscle mass, we try to “eat more.” But it’s almost never enough! If you consume 2500 calories right now, and you’re not gaining weight, you probably won’t gain any mass at all without upping your calories by at least 1000. Yeah, one thousand.

Why? Because our bodies are terribly resistant to change!

We also live on too little sleep. Yes, I fall prey to this all the time! I certainly burn the candle at both ends (but I’m better today than I was at half my age – and I always wondered why I couldn’t gain muscle…), raising two very young children, working a “Joe Job,” building my internet businesses, training and consulting with people, writing books, etc. Oh, yeah, the hobbies, too! My gosh, 24 hours is not enough time!!!

Oh, another thing. Why do we have 17 different exercises for the biceps but only 7 for the pecs (count them: Bench press, inclines, declines, flyes, pec-deck, crossover, dips), when you really only need 2 (incline bench, dip – one builds the upper, the other the mid and lower)?

We stress ourselves out by making our workouts longer than they need be (anything over 45 minutes and you’re either a ‘roided out bodbuilder or professional athlete – OR you’re training for failure), more frequent than they ought to be, less strenuous than they have to be, and we eat crap (but not enough good stuff), and then, THEN, at the end of the day, we have nothing to show for it and only 5 hours of sleep time.

It’s no wonder progress is so hard to attain.

Simply. Say it out loud.

S-I-M-P-L-I-F-Y

1. Train intensely
2. Train less frequently
3. Eat more quality food
4. Sleep more (if you need an alarm clock to wake your ass up, you’re not sleeping enough)
5. Pare down the number of exercises you do

It’s really that simple. KISS still works. You gotta stimulate the muscle fibers; you cannot overtrain them. Then you gotta feed them, repair them, and make them bigger through high-quality food. Finally, you gotta rest (that really means sleep).

In future posts, I’ll cover these topics in more depth.

Now, get to the gym and train hard but simple. Eat before, during, and after your workout. And for goshsakes, get 8 hours of sound, restful sleep tonight.

(I think all the above was a pep talk for me!)

• How Lost Sleep Kills Your Fat Loss Plans How Lost Sleep Kills Your Fat Loss Plans Whether you are a college student, night shift worker or you are a parent with small children you may struggle to get regular sleep yet you want quick weight loss.  The sleep recommendation provided by the National Sleep Foundation recommends 8 hours......
• Muscle-Building for Teens Here's another answer chosen as "Best" at Yahoo Answers. The question was,  I'm a 16 yr. old male. My body type is kind of hour-glass shaped ( My body is femenish ) I weigh 140. My body has no definition what-so-ever. I want a nice, muscular body. The pecs, abs......
• Train Like a Viking When I was a kid, my favorite movie was Conan the Barbarian, starring bodybuilding legend, Arnold Schwarzenegger (multiple Mr Olympia winner, movie star, and now Governor of California). I loved how he didn't take crap from anyone and if you got in his way, he ceremoniously lopped off your head!......
• Hardgainer Bodybuilding "Everybody who's ever picked up a weight thinks he's a hardgainer." There is a nasty little term that a lot of weight trainers use - "hardgainer." What is a hardgainer and how should a hardgainer train to promote maximum muscle mass? I say "nasty" because every kid who lifts and......
• An Insanely Effective Type of Interval Training Guest Post by Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com High intensity interval training can be done in a variety of different ways. Here’s a wickedly-effective type of interval training: it requires no machines or fancy equipment, you can do it outside in the sunshine and fresh air, it develops killer conditioning, carves out......

• Too Busy To Exercise Are You? Have you heard about the new disease in our modern world called 'busyness'? Its symptoms range from fatigue, lack of quality sleep to not having enough time to exercise and eat properly. This disease is caused by too much working, doing and giving to everyone else but you. The people......
• Feeling it... I really need to start working out earlier in the day that way I can do my night session with out being so tired. It all started when I went out for that run last night. I was so pumped that I went to bed at 4 AM. That caused......
• 9 Strategies for a Fit & Healthy You Here’s a great article from Tanya Stroh, an online personal trainer, fitness professional and of our Twitter and Facebook friend’s too. Tanya sent us 9 helpful strategies we can use to help us reach our health and fitness goals.  Here it is below... Weight loss and exercise; 9 Strategies for......
• deluxe T-shirt design + spoiled This t-shirt was inspired by Thinkgeek.com First I tried to make a graffiti T-shirt. But I guess this if I put this on the T-shirt would be awesome. Model: Akiho Hideki (the previous guy on my header) Want to make people stare at you? when you're walking on the street......
• How Much Is Your Time REALLY Worth? Many of us choose to live in a world where we do as much as possible on our own.  We cook for ourselves, we do our own laundry, walk our own dogs, and maybe, just maybe, mow our own grass.  We choose to do these things partially because we want......