Introduction
The gym is an interesting place. A place where people go for two weeks, retire early, only to return for the same two weeks the following year. These people comprise a large group of gym attendees. But what about the others? Whether it’s the Dads looking to lose fat or the inspo milf wannabes, there are certainly successful group of people in the gym. In fact there is one group which is the target for our analysis. The big boys.
The guys in there seemingly all the time, significantly larger than any other person in existence. What do these guys do differently? How can you become one? What should you do to have the physique of a god? All these questions will be answered, let’s get into it.
There are several key areas that need to be looked at before becoming a beast in the gym. These are mindset, nutrition and exercises. Master these, and in a few years you will be looking like Zeus.
Mindset
Having the correct mindset, not only inside, but also outside the gym is crucial to your success. The amount of people that quit the gym soon after starting is remarkable, so making sure you can push through hard times is a skill you will need to develop.
The mindset you need for the gym is the following, “The only reason I will miss a gym session is if I am dead”. This may seem wayyy over the top, but trust me, it is necessary. When you encounter hard times in the gym, you will try to think of excuses as to why you can’t go. This is where you need to realise that the gym is a huge priority in your life, and there is no way that you are going to miss a session.
Once you miss one session, it is extremely easy to miss another, and then another, until you quit. You cannot let yourself fall into this trap.
The gym must be your highest priority. When it is gym time, you go to the gym, no questions asked.
Nutrition
Nutrition is very important to get the physique you want, even more so in the later stages of lifting.
There are two main modes of eating, cutting and bulking.
Cutting:
Cutting involves eating in a slight calorie deficit, in order to lower your body fat %. This is commonly done in the more intermediate to advanced stages of lifting, when you want to get your muscles to show more. There is no point cutting early in your lifting life, as you will have little muscle to show once your fat goes away.
Bulking:
Bulking involves eating in a slight calorie surplus in order to gain more muscle. When done correctly, it’s possible to reduce your body fat percentage while putting on more fat. This is the ultimate goal for a lifter.
See the following (unrealistic) example:
Person A before
Weight: 50
Fat: 10
Body Fat % = 25%
Person A After
Weight = 100
Fat = 15
Body Fat % = 15%
As you can see, the persons body fat went from 10 to 15, yet because they put on a lot of muscle, their body fat percentage went down.
In order to eat in a caloric surplus or deficit, you first need to know how many calories you consume in one day. Most calories you consume will not be from exercise, but just from your body doing its daily functions. This rate of calorie burn is called your BRM, and can be calculate here:
Next you need to track your calories throughout the day. To do this, I’d recommend using the phone app ‘myfitnesspal’. This will let you see how many calories you have eaten each day, so you know if you need to eat more or less to hit your target.
Protein is perhaps the most important that you need in your diet if you attend the gym. As a younger person looking to put on muscle, you ideally need around 150g of protein per day. In order to achieve this, protein supplements such as a post workout shake are highly recommended. These are easy to take, and contain around 30g of protein per serve. These shakes in combination with tracking your calories on myfitnesspal, will guarantee that you hit the 150g per day target.
Nutrition is extremely important in gym work. Without good nutrition, you will see little or no progress. If you find your BMR and track your calories, you will greatly increase your lifting success.
Exercises
Finally, now to discuss what you will actually do in the gym.
There are two kinds of exercises in the gym, compound movements and isolation movements. Compound movements work multiple muscle groups, while isolation movements target specific muscles.
Compound movements are the most important exercises in the gym. It doesn’t matter what stage you are at, compound movements will provide the most benefit. Particularly if you are a beginner, compound movements will let you see insane results.
Compound movements include,
- Bench Press
- Squat
- Deadlift
- Overhead Press
- Pullup
- Weighted Row
Doing these exercises will get you the gains you want, significantly faster.
In order to make your life easier, you need a program to stick to. This will mean you won’t need to decide what exercises you are doing each time you arrive at the gym, saving your energy for pumping the iron.
Common splits to get started include,
Starting Strength
And
Stronglifts 5×5
Both of these programs combine large amounts of compound lifts, allowing for massive progress.
Best of all, these can be done only going to the gym 3 times per week, so the myth that you need to go in 7 days to get jacked is clearly busted.
Summary
This has been my quick tips for getting jacked in the gym as fast as possible. I touched on a wide variety of subjects, perhaps with not as much detail as I would’ve liked. If you’d like to see more please leave a comment, and subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss any more updates.
