Embrace the Process: By Christian Thibaudeau
May 23, 2012 by danny · Leave a Comment
I wanted to share this for you all to see, because I think it is brilliant. Christian Thibaudeau wrote up this piece over at t-nation.com. Below is a copy and paste of Christian’s article…
“Embrace the Process
There are two kinds of people in the gym:
1. Those who are training to get results.
2. Those who are training because they love it.
Who builds the best body in the long run? Those who train because they love it!
I'm sure this guy fell in love with "the fitness game."
Don’t get me wrong, those who train merely to get results will sometimes get short-term results, usually the inevitable “newbie gains.” But they never achieve true, long term success.
Why? Because once you’re past your beginner gains, progressing in physique and strength is hard. If you’re only in it only for the results, they’ll never come fast enough. So when you’re passed that beginner stage and you have to work much harder for your gains, you simply won’t make it far if you don’t love the process.
I’ll be honest with you. If somebody gave me a pill that would stop my strength and body comp progress forever, I’d still train hard and train often because there’s nothing I’d rather do.
When it comes to long-term results, understand that:
1. Progression is never linear. I’ve had guys gain 5-6 pounds of muscle in 10 days then stabilize for six weeks. I’ve had others lose 4 pounds of fat per week for four weeks then only lose a pound per week for two months. I’ve had people increase their strength by 10% over a two-week period then struggle to gain 5 pounds more within the next six weeks. That’s how the body works!
But when that happens, people freak out. They expect the quick gains to last forever. But the truth is that you cannot maintain that rate of gain all the time. On top of that, you never know when that will happen! The only thing you can control is to keep training hard.
2. Because of the non-linear aspect of progression, people who are in it only for the results open themselves up to “solutions” that are actually counterproductive:
A) They change their program too often, thinking that it’s the program that doesn’t work. Changing your program too often only gives you an illusion of progression because of quick neural adaptations; it doesn’t give you more actual muscle gain. And it could very well limit the amount of growth you’re getting in the long run.
B) They get discouraged and turn to anabolic steroids. When I see dozens of teens without much muscle turning to drugs (and often using higher doses than some pro-bodybuilders), it makes me sick. Not so much because of the steroids themselves, but because of the underlying attitude than lead to their usage.
These guys never learn to train and eat properly. They don’t know how to make gains themselves, so they become slaves to anabolic steroids.
C) They stop training altogether because they feel it’s not worth the effort.
The real secret to getting long term progress is:
Fall in love with the process.
Let training become one of your passions. That way you’ll approach every session like it’s a privilege to be there; you’ll be excited and motivated to train hard and, as such, you’ll get more results. It will also bulletproof you to any stagnation period that might come your way. You’ll be able to blast through that and resume your gains afterwards.
If you’re in it only for the results, you won’t get them!”
And back to Danny…
Very well said Christian! No matter what it is in life, if you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to stick with it.
There are many ways to make training more enjoyable. Such as…
-Getting a training partner that you can trust (i.e. Someone that always shows up. Someone that is always there to pick you up).
-Hire a trainer to help hold you accountable and to design a program that fits your needs.
-Find a way to make it more exciting. I think everyone should incorporate weight training into their fitness routine. But if being “cooped-up” inside a gym all summer DOES NOT EXCITE YOU ONE BIT, get outside for part of your training.
Hell, you could get some TRX Straps and take them to the park (seriously) on a nice sunny day.
The main point is that it’s not JUST about results. Yes, I’d be pretty frustrated if my personal workouts led to a flabbier me, and I’m sure you would too. So, results DO matter. But remember, it’s not JUST about the results. EMBRACE THE PROCESS.
My Experience With Twice-A-Day Training
April 11, 2011 by danny · Leave a Comment
I can summarize my experience in two words… It. Sucked!
Alright, thanks for stopping by, be sure to check in next time as I go over…
Ok, ok, I’ll elaborate. There was more to it than just a bunch of suckiness.
First of all, the main reason that I went to two-a-days was because I figured this may be my last chance to do some time-consuming, crazy training plan for the next 18 years. Any day now my wife is going to be popping out twins. Whenever I tell people that I can’t wait, they tell me how excited they are for me and that being a parent is such a great experience that can’t be described in words. Next I tell them that I am sooo ready for this. Then they laugh at me. Hey, thanks a lot my people! Verrrry encouraging! 
Ha, I know what they mean – no matter how ready we think we are, we’re never truly ready… especially with 2 babies at once. Ok, back to the training.
How To Best Set-Up Twice-A-Day Training
Strength Coach Charles Poliquin has made the following recommendations:
-Increase your training volume gradually. He suggests starting with two 20 minute workouts. Longer training sessions would be counterproductive, as you will not be able to put as much energy into your workouts and could overtax your recovery ability.
-You need to take plenty of time between workouts to achieve an optimal training effect – he suggests about 4-6 hours between sessions. According to Charles, this time spread is critical. If you use a shorter one, you will be too fatigued; and in a longer one you will negate the nervous system activation effect of the morning workout (this is known as a super compensation effect).
-This next piece of advice is what I have read from Strength Coach Christian Thibaudeau (although I *think* Poliquin believes in the same set-up): make the morning session your high intensity session (high weights closer to your 1 rep-max) and the afternoon session higher reps and/or use high intensity techniques (i.e. drop sets, post-fatigue method, etc).
The Program
Day 1: Chest and Back - A.M. Heavy (basically I never went over 8 reps and the majority of my sets were 6 reps and under)
P.M. Higher Reps and High Intensity techniques. The majority of my sets were 10 reps and up and I used the “post-fatigue method” one time for each body part. Chest example: Band Push-ups X 10 reps immediately followed up with standing cable flyes X 12 reps. Back Example: Neutral grip (palms facing one another) pull-ups X AMRAP (as many reps as possible) immediately followed up with stiff-arm pushdowns X 12 reps.
Day 2: Legs – A.M. Heavy. All I did here was two exercises – back squats for 4 sets of 5-7 reps and glute-ham raises for 4 sets of 5-7 reps.
P.M. Higher reps but I didn’t use any high intensity techniques on leg day. This day was hard enough as is!!!
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Shoulders and Arms – A.M. Heavy
P.M. Higher reps and high intensity techniques. An example here is the superset I did where I went from doing rope pushdowns immediately into v-bar pushdowns. You can use more weight with the v-bar so I did that second, but used approximately the same weight as the weight I used with the rope. This concept is similar to a “mechanical drop set.”
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Repeat program starting with day 1 again (although, I gave myself the option of taking this day off as well and repeating day 1 on day 7, depending on how I was feeling).
My Thoughts
It definitely was not easy. Like Coach Poliquin noted, “Twice-A-Day training is not raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” However, I did like the fact that the workouts were shorter. I’d say that each sessions took me about 20-25 minutes to complete, not counting warm-up (foam rolling, mobility work, etc) and cool down. My schedule is conducive to two brief sessions in one day separated by 4-6 hours as I usually have a couple breaks in my day between training clients. For most people with “regular” jobs however, this would be pretty tough to pull off.
The hardest thing for me was leg day. You know when you rack the bar on your last set of squats, right? What, you don’t know that feeling Mr. Hugearmsandchestbutlegsasskinnyasachicken? Well then, time for you to man-up and work your like every now and then. What was I saying? Oh yeah, that great feeling when you rack the bar and you know you don’t have to do another squat, deadlift, or lunge again for at least a few more day! That’s the best!!! Well, imagine racking the bar and thinking; “Damn, I have to come back and do this again in about 4 hours?!? ” Those were some loooong days!
Overall, I’m glad it is over but I am glad I tried it. Next, I’m onto a bunch of “random” workouts, which is rare for me. But I don’t want to get into too much planning, as the twins are about to take over my life! Wish me luck! 
