BOOK EXCERPT

Beyond Brawn
By Stuart McRobert

The Thrill of Training

The power to change one�s own physique is one of the biggest appeals of weight training, if not the biggest. Lifting weights is a solo activity over which you alone have the power of control. Once you know what to do, you need rely on no one.

No matter where you are now big or small, strong or weak, young or not so young you need only compete with yourself. It is you, against you. Progress is measurable, and concrete. It can be as little as just one more rep than last week in a given exercise, with the same poundage. Or it could be the same rep count but with an extra pound on the bar. Or it could be one of several other indicators of progress.

All of these small doses of progress are little thrills you will never tire of. They make weight training a fabulous activity. But you cannot experience this unless you implement a rational and productive interpretation of weight training.

Physique improvement and strength training are not just about getting bigger and stronger muscles, though, of course, they are hugely satisfying in themselves. Training is also about enjoying exercise, and about making yourself fitter, more flexible and healthier, and about strengthening your mind, self-esteem and confidence.

Though physically hard to do, training satisfies a basic human need for physical effort. No matter where you are now, you can take delight in realizing some new goal in the physical sphere.

But none of this can happen unless you rate exercise high in your priorities. Resolve, now, to give your exercise program and dietary discipline the priority they deserve. Get on course for realizing the physical qualities you admire. Put a spark in your life through productive training.

Not only will you look and feel great, and maintain your physical youth while others around you are getting old, but you will love the journey there and the knocking off of all the little targets; and revel in the pleasure that exercise brings.

Each of us can create a utopia of training sanity. By doing this we can keep our own houses in order, and develop ourselves so that we are outstanding in the minds of untrained people. We can then present ourselves as examples of how training works for �average� people.

Resistance training is one of man�s finest discoveries. Do not miss your chance to benefit from it.

In Praise of Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding gets some bad press because many people consider bodybuilding as the exclusive territory of excessively narcissistic, drug-using, all-appearance-and-no-function frivolous freaks. For sure, some bodybuilders do give weight training dreadful publicity because of their gym antics, drug use and dealing, and appalling ignorance of the type of training that is needed by drug-free typical people. But this has nothing to do with what I consider bodybuilding to be.

Because most commercial gym training instruction is usually called �bodybuilding,� and because it is usually so paltry, it gives bodybuilding a bad name.

I have great respect for any drug-free person who can lift huge weights. But because I have a strong bias towards appearance and aesthetics, I see appearance first and lifting performance second. If appearance is heavily compromised I have little interest in the strength achievements.

To my mind, bodybuilding is about molding your physique so that you are satisfied with its appearance and performance. It is nothing to do with drugs, excessive narcissism, obsessive concern with bodyfat percentages, conventional bodybuilding routines, or training frivolity.

Bodybuilding as I interpret it is very healthy, but a pure-strength focus can become unhealthy. The bodybuilding that I promote encourages muscular and strength balance throughout the body, mostly achieved through focusing on compound exercises.

The bodybuilding I promote never puts health second to appearance or performance. Aerobic conditioning, and maintaining a bodyfat level below 15% (for a male), are usually neglected by pure-strength devotees. Some big modern-day strength supermen seriously neglected their health and appearances and are dead as a result.

Rational bodybuilding keeps appearance at the forefront. This is good. When appearance matters, overeating is out and bodyfat is never allowed to exceed 15% (for a man). When health is the number one concern, aerobic work is not neglected and nutrition is not just about protein, protein and more protein. An excessive focus on animal products is unhealthy.

Rational bodybuilding is about selecting exercises that are best for you. While this should always mean a focus on the big basic exercises, it does not mean a rigid adherence to a fixed prescription of exercises. Even the great exercises are not equally suited to all trainees. Never lock yourself into using an exercise if it does not suit you. The number one priority for any exercise is that it does you no harm. For example, squat darn hard if you know how to squat, and if you are at least reasonably well suited to the exercise. But if you truly have knee and/or back problems, or if you have a terrible structure for squatting, then to battle on with the squat is foolish. (Note that nearly all the �you must squat� advocates are themselves blessed with very good mechanics for the squat.)

Some people are simply not designed to become very strong, though of course most people can become much stronger. But many of these people have very aesthetic body structure. So rather than try to make themselves into something they are not designed to be - powerhouses - they should focus on something they are suited to, i.e., bodybuilding, with the emphasis on appearance. Do not focus on what you will never be able to do well. Instead, focus on what you can do better.

But if you are a natural powerhouse, and that is where your interests lie, then go for it, full-bore. But make sure that you keep an eye on your appearance, and do not neglect your health in the pursuit of getting ever-stronger.

Given the choice between reducing bodyfat substantially, or increasing strength substantially, more people would prefer the former. Fat loss will do more to improve their appearance. But the best choice would be to become substantially leaner and substantially stronger. This would hugely improve appearance. It is possible to stay strong while becoming lean so long as you do it properly. The conventional overtraining route to a leaner physique can strip off more muscle than fat.

Most men who start training when over age 30 are unlikely to have a gung-ho zeal for huge size and strength. They are more likely, at least to begin with, to want to add 20-30 pounds of muscle, and get their bodyfat under 15%. To get there they will have to invest in very serious basics-first training dominated by progressive poundages.

Whether categorized as a bodybuilder, strength buff, or any other type of weight trainee, the bottom line of productive weight training is the same - a focus on basic exercises, abbreviated routines, hard work, and progressive poundages.

Properly done, bodybuilding is one of the most rewarding activities around. Changing your appearance for the better, in a substantial way, is bliss. And bodybuilding can do this better that any other activity.

Use a rep count for a given exercise that best suits you, get as strong as you can in exercises that suit you and which you can perform safely, keep your bodyfat levels to below 15% (or below 10% if you want an appearance that is stunning - assuming that you have some muscle), eat healthfully, perform aerobic work two or three times per week, stretch every other day, and then you have got the full bodybuilding package.

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Taken from pages 29-32 of Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRobert.
Copyright CS Publishing Ltd.

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