Pre-Workout Ramblings From A Dedicated Bodybuilder

It's exactly 5:55pm. I'm sitting in front of my computer, choking down a bowl of tuna. I have a bottle of water beside me and am preparing for my 7pm workout: back and biceps.

I don't particularly enjoy the taste of tuna; in fact, I don't like it in the least. But one can provides me with 30 grams of solid muscle-building protein, and that's why I eat it. I don't eat it for the taste; I eat it for the effect. And nothing tastes better than looking in the mirror to see massive, ripped muscles. I want a physique that demands respect, and I'll do whatever I need to get it.

As I sit here and write this, my stomach churns with butterflies. Why? It's because tonight I must put forth the best back and bicep workout I've ever performed. If I don't, I will not grow, plain and simple. The entire basis for gaining muscle size and strength is progression, and if I don't progress, I'll have to wait an entire week to get another chance. I have to be better than I've ever been in my entire life, and if I fail, my muscle growth will stagnate.

Tonight I'll be performing a total of 10 muscle-building sets. Each set will last around 30 seconds each. This means that I have a total of 5 minutes of actual lifting time tonight. 5 minutes that will make me or break me. 5 minutes that separates me from my goals. 5 minutes, that's all I'm going to get.

It's going to be a hard-fought battle. I'm not taking any shortcuts or looking for an easy way out. I want a wide, powerful back and mountains for biceps. I'm looking to carve that back into a thick slab of pure, raw muscle mass with cuts and striations like the statue of a Greek God. You won't see me rowing cables or tossing 10 pound dumbbells around like a wimpy little spandex clown. You'll see me in the corner of the gym, where most people steer clear of, where dust gathers the quickest. I'll be grinding out sets of heavy deadlifts with all of the passion and heart I can muster. The kind of sets that make your teeth grit, your gut wrench, your entire body burn and on some occasions, your lunch go flying. I'll be following that up with overhand wide-grips chin-ups, barbell rows and barbell shrugs. I purposely choose the toughest exercises because I know that they reap the greatest rewards. I'm not afraid of hard work.

You see, there's a big difference between guys who "just lift weights" and those that are serious about their training and serious about their results. If you want real, true, significant muscle and strength gains, you'd better get serious about it.

Stop making excuses for yourself. Stop skipping meals and performing workouts with half-assed intensity. Stop taking the easy way out by choosing the least uncomfortable exercises. Start training like a true gym warrior. Treat every workout as if it was your last, because one day that will be true.

People have asked me how I was able to make the drastic muscle and strength gains that I did in such a short time and without steroids of any kind. Do you want the answer? Come and watch me train. Compare my workout intensity and effort to 99% of the other lifters around me in the gym. You'll get your answer right there. Nobody said building muscle was easy. And if they did, they were lying.

Get out of your comfort zone and onto the battlefield. If every workout isn't a war, you'll never truly reach your goals. The satisfaction of victory is proportionate to the difficulty of the battle. Train like your life depends on it, and you will surely be rewarded for your efforts.