Archives for November 2012

If you haven’t read the first part go here: 10 Most Useful Lessons from Our Successful Adonis Contest Winners: Part I

In the last part we were talking about the first top five lessons from our contest winners, let’s take a look at the other five.

What defines a champion?

Here are the 5 lessons we discussed:

1. Get Going…Learn on the Fly!
2. What Drives You to Take Action?
3. Don’t Change the Workout…Stick to It!
4.  Form Comes First Before Weight
5. Focus on Muscle Activation

Let’s move on to the second half of the 10 most useful lessons from our successful Adonis Index contest winners…

Lesson #6: Challenge Yourself

So form comes first, muscle activation come second. However, if you want to make your body strong and build some muscle mass all of your exercises must be performed against some type of resistance.

While there are many different ways to create that resistance, your best option range from barbell, dumbbell, or body weight exercises which you will find in the AI workout plans.

Pick the appropriate amount of weight and challenge yourself as you train for  muscle growth.  The challenge is to know how much weight you can lift while keeping  strict form through the entire set.   For example, eight  reps properly performed at a lighter weight far exceeds 3 reps performed at a heavier weight while sacrificing your form to finish the last 5 reps.

This will  involve a bit of trial and error, but rest assured your training skills will increase and muscular development will come.

Lesson #7: Ask Questions and Listen to Others

This is why we have the community, so use it, seriously.

Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and ask questions.

Lesson #8: Track Your Progress

Many successful contest winners have been known to track their results.   It’s almost a given, otherwise how would you know if you’re improving?  Even traditional bodybuilders keep a journal.  I don’t mean in the sense of  writing in a diary like: “Dear diary today I had a …” but rather writing down training information and having a diet log.

While the diet log is something you will probably do for only a couple months, the training log is far more important.  It will help you track the amount of weight used in certain exercises, record gains in strength over time, and even how you felt during your most challenging workout.

This is a tremendous return for the little amount of time it takes to write this information down.

Lesson #9: Give the Program and the Concepts an Honest Try

This is a huge one! It goes hand in hand with the first lesson, “Get Going…Learn on the Fly!”

If you ask any successful coach or mentor about goal setting they will almost always state that you must follow one approach until you learn the process and are able to get results.

If you read 10 different fitness sources and then try to follow all of their advice there is no way you will ever get any results. If it’s not your job as a marketer, writer, or journalist to read from several sources then YOU should read only one source of information. If you are serious about your results then you must focus and see beyond the entertainment of reading an article while drinking your morning coffee. It may sound funny when we say unsubscribe from other fitness “experts”, but that’s really what you should do. After joining our community, most people eventually choose to do the same. Keep in mind, if you want results you can’t afford to get conflicting information, so pick one source and stick to it. If it happens to be us, great!  If not, then no hard feelings, we hope you find what you’re looking for.

For me personally, this was difficult to overcome, but I now understand what was holding me back during my first year of training with Adonis Index.

Even if you don’t want to completely abandon other sources of fitness advice, then just simply put them on hold.  If what you are presently doing is not working, then you need to try something different. What’s important is that you follow the program in its entirety for at least 3 months before making any judgment calls.  Remember this is crucial, because if you don’t “try” you will never know.

Sometimes the struggle can be mental and not physical.  While training for an ideal body, you may face difficulty fasting or mentally accepting that you are now lighter in body weight, yet have a leaner and more muscular appearance.

A good rule of thumb is that if what is preventing you from trying our approach is your emotional system and not logic, fact, or proof…You’re on the right track!

Remember lesson one, “Get Going…Learn on the Fly!” Judge yourself only AFTERWARDS and not before you start – this is the biggest mistake of guys who fail to transform their physique.

You’ve got to decide how you want to get to your goals, pick one strategy and follow it through to the end. Don’t mix and match programs or philosophies otherwise you’ll never know if any of them work, or what works and what doesn’t. – John Barban

Lesson #10: Take Pictures

This is something most fitness experts rarely teach, but it’s a pretty neat technique to keep track of  you’re progress. First of all, a picture can be objective and allow you to compare your before and after pics, which is something you can’t do with a mirror. When you look in a mirror, you can often times fool yourself, because you see only what your brain wants you to see. While pictures serve as more accurate snapshots of reality you will  need some prep before capturing some quality images.  Shooting several images weeks or months apart lets you know whether your current plan is working or not.

There you have it!  These are the top 10 lessons learned from our contest winners.

Here’s the entire list one more time:

1. Get Going and Learn on the Fly
2. Figure Out What Drives You
3. Don’t Change the Workout and Stick to It
4. Put Your Lifting Form First and Foremost
5. Focus on Muscle Activation
6. Challenge Yourself
7. Ask Questions and Listen to Others
8. Make Notes as You Progress
9. Give the Concept an Honest Try
10. Take Pictures

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

PS: Do you have some questions about this list or do you feel like you could add one or two more lessons? Let me know in the community here.

PPS: If you found this article useful, please share it with your friends and like it on Facebook.