Skip La Cour - Mass Machine Bodybuilding (Training, Nutrition, Mindset, & Lifestyle)

[skiplacour]

What are you really all about? How you do things--or what you actually produce?

Results are what's most important about your journey in life. Not which "team" you're on.






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.[/QUOTE]

[skiplacour]

Would I want my son to become a champion bodybuilder like me?

My answer to this question is complex and may surprise you.

Here's a collection passages from my upcoming book, It's A Matter Of Trust: Confessions of a Recovering Bodybuilder, that I mentioned in this video:
http://skiplacour.com/series/bodybui...ss-interviews/

Here is a listing of the interviews of bodybuilding and fitness stars that I mentioned in this video:
http://itsamatteroftrust.com/book-excerpts/






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Do Other People Focus On And Criticize The Same Things As You Do?

People tend to believe that there are a lot of other people in the world who think exactly the same way as they do about events and people's actions happening around them. Is the way that you choose to look at these events and the actions of others helping you--or hurting you?






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Would I Want My Son To Grow Up To Become A Focused And Dedicated Champion Bodybuilder Just Like Me? – More Than Just Muscles Podcast #2

Of course a man who earned success at what he chose to do in life would want his son to grow up to be just like him, wouldn't he? My answer to this question is complex and may surprise you.

But this podcast isn't about my son, Jayce, or even about me. During this podcast, I give you my experience and perspective and offer you some things to think about as you set out to create the quality of life that you really want.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is specifically designed to help dedicated bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts who find themselves asking “Is this all there is?” from time to time–no matter how great they PHYSICALLY look and feel or how many people respect and admire what they’ve been able to accomplish with their bodies.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is jam-packed with simple and effective strategies that will help you BREAK OUT of your current way of thinking and taking action so you can FINALLY create a better overall quality of life. It will get you on the path toward more happiness and a new, empowering identity that’s significantly more meaningful than just having a great body.

To listen to this podcast, click here.

This podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, and BlogTalkRadio.

Train Hard. Think Big.



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Why You Must Really Think About Someone Else's "Truth" Before Accepting As Your Own Too

"You can't handle the truth!" is what they'll scream if you dare to disagree with them. With so many people people on the internet speaking their version of "truth" these days, you must develop a filter that only accepts versions of the truth that empower you.






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

The Scariest Part About Swinging On Monkey Bars As A Kid Is The Scariest Part About Life As An Adult

Are you really willing to do what you must to become the person you really want to be? You have to get honest with yourself if you are really going to make that happen.






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Tips To Build The Courage And Confidence You Need To Step Up and Become An Expert Who Helps Other People Succeed

If you have a strong desire to become an expert who loves helping others succeed someday, here are a few things you want to do--and avoid. These tips can also help you become ever better at what you're currently doing if you're already on your journey.






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM1000 Micronized Creatine 1000 grams
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

7 Easy-to-Do Tips That Will Immediately Improve the Quality of Your Workouts

The foundation of any extraordinary achievement in life is built upon specific goals and precise deadlines. We all realize that we perform significantly better and produce much better results when we are clear on the goal we are trying to achieve and possess a sense of urgency to complete it. These same qualities that will allow us to prosper in any area of our lives will make us successful with our training efforts as well. Unfortunately, many people don’t bring the same mental strategies that make them outstanding at other things with them into the gym.

Below are seven simple tips that are easy to implement and will quickly help you take your training efforts to a higher level:

1. Enter the gym with a specific plan. You should never take even one step into the gym without knowing exactly what you are going to do during that day’s workout. Resist the temptation to be guided by your feelings or emotions on a particular training day. As you may already realize, your feelings about anything can change every 10 minutes. Come into the gym with a plan-of-attack and be ready to execute that plan the best you can once it’s established.

2. Be at the gym on time and ready to train. Whether or not you have a training partner waiting for you or must squeeze your workout in before doing something else, always designate a specific time that you will start your training session. This is the time that you will actually begin your first warm-up set—not the time you show up at the gym. As you probably know, it’s sometimes easy to procrastinate the start of a particularly challenging workout or get distracted talking to friends. A precise workout always starts will precision timing. Make a deal with yourself to always arrive at the gym at a designated time and be ready to get the job done.

3. Set a time limit for your workout. You’ll move from exercise to exercise smoothly and efficiently when you establish a time frame that you are committed to work within. It will be easier to focus on the matter-at-hand when you only have so much time to do so. Conversations with friends in the gym that can easily wait until after your workout will become few and far between. Make a game out of meeting the time goal that you’ve established. This is just one more simple way to set the stage for a more productive training session.

4. Know what you want to achieve before your hands even touch “metal.” You should always know the minimum number of repetitions you want to do before your hands even touch a barbell, dumbbell, or training machine apparatus. You should also know the minimum number of calories you want to burn and the minimum distance you want to travel before your feet touch the bike pedals or machine floor mat when doing cardiovascular training. Never let your body dictate what you can do when you can use your powerful mind to bolster its performance. Unless, of course, your body wants to do a little better than the specific goals you’ve set.

5. Be sure to feel the muscle or muscle groups that you want to stimulate. It’s easy to get caught up in moving the weight from “Point A” to “Point B” with very little attention given to the targeted muscles or muscle groups being worked. You get what you focus on in the gym and everywhere else in life. By all means, move the heavy weights if you are striving for maximum muscle growth in the shortest period of time. Just make sure you don’t lose sight of the fact that you only want certain muscles to do the work. Your body will instinctively look for the path of least resistance and recruit whatever muscles it can to move the weight from “Point A” to “Point B”—unless you consciously make an effort not to let it do so.

6. Evaluate your performance immediately after your workout. Every workout can set the stage to make your next one even better. While it’s still fresh in your mind, take one or two minutes to assess your training performance. You want to reinforce what you’ve done well so you’ll repeat those things you’ve singled out—and curtail what didn’t go well before you’ve established bad habits. We all have different ideas of what makes a workout good, bad, or somewhere in between. Well? How did you do? Whatever you have identified is most important to you when training, evaluate how close you actually came to accomplishing your objectives. Make a point to make this assessment before you take even one step outside of the gym.

7. Think about your next workout before you leave the gym. There’s no need to get really involved in this particular step but do take the time to think about your next workout. You’ll set your mental “wheels” in motion with a simple preview of what’s to come during your next training session. Trust me. You’ll be astonished with how effectively your subconscious brain will prepare you for your next productive workout over the next day or so—with very little effort on your part. You’ll discover that this tip is a great investment of the last 30 to 60 seconds you spend in the gym.

Specific goals and precise deadlines are the cornerstones to all notable accomplishments. Use these seven easy-to-do mental tricks and you will undoubtedly catapult your training efforts to a new and higher level.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour


Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM90 ZMA® 90 capsules
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

What’s The “Right” Number Of Repetitions For Each Set?

The sole purpose of lifting weights is to build muscle—period! The only way you can build muscle is by overloading the muscle or, in other words, working the muscle until absolute failure. You can work the muscle until absolute failure with weight that you’d consider lighter rather than heavier.

Click here to read the rest of this article.





Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM25 100% Whey Protein Isolate 2.2 pounds
Pure 100% Whey Protein Isolate, High Bio-Availability,
Helps Rebuild and Refuel Muscle, and more. Awesome taste.
Mixes really easily.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Are You The Kind Of Person Who Would Hire An "Expert" Like The One You Hope To Become Someday?

If your "dream career" become an expert at what you do best, absolutely love what you do, help other people succeed at what you've become great at, and make a good living all at the same time--then you MUST watch this entire video.

If you can't muster up enough courage to invest in your pursuit of greatness or trust that the person who is offering you guidance will actually deliver on their promises--then you'll have a tough time believing that you're not going to experience those same challenges when YOU want to convince future clients to invest and trust in you when you finally become the expert you plan to become.

Go here to see the offer I talked about:
http://skiplacourcoaching.com/your-dream/






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM180 Physio-Machine SUPREME 180 Capsules
Support fat burning, help build muscle, support a
healthy estrogen balance, and more.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

7 Tips to Help You Survive the Downtimes and Get Your Training Back on Track

It’s easy to get into the gym and have productive workouts when things are going well. But just how do you get yourself to keep going to the gym when you aren’t motivated? That’s a real challenge.

One way or another, you need to find a way to get yourself through the difficult times. It’s your longevity, simply sticking with your program just a little longer in order to produce the results you want, that’s one of the most important factors necessary for your ultimate success.

If you do anything long enough, the chances that you’ll become very good at what you do increase significantly. It’s the continual stopping and starting of your exercise program that robs you of your progress. In order to do anything well, you need to do it consistently for a long enough period of time to see results. And, the results you will experience after your committed workouts will be a terrific source of motivation that will fuel your continued efforts. The purpose of this article is to give you the motivation to hang in there just a little longer and stick with your training program.

Here are seven tips to help you work your way through the slumps that we all experience at times:

1. Relax! First of all, you need to relax. It’s common for your level of motivation to go through cycles. The mental challenges that come your way are an inevitable part of the process. Almost everyone, even the best examples of health and fitness that you have come to respect have gone through their own ups and downs. What has made them the people who have earned your respect is that they have actually overcome those challenges. You shouldn’t believe for a moment that they haven’t endured the same ones you do. Realize that you will have occasional lapses in motivation, accept them, and then take the steps necessary to gradually increase your desire to train.

2. Resist taking a prolonged break from training. As I mentioned, there will be times when your drive to train is stronger than others. However, I don’t believe that taking a few weeks off because you don’t “feel” like training is a good idea. Unless you have some sort of physical injury or health problem, I wouldn’t recommend taking unscheduled time off. Who knows? You may never feel like coming back after your layoff. I have seen this happen to many once-dedicated people over the years. Even if your motivation is lower than you would like, make the concerted effort to get into the gym and do your best to follow your training program. Put the pressure on yourself to get back on track instead of giving into your whims to take a prolonged break. Putting yourself through this discomfort now will spare you the intense pain of letting yourself down that you’ll probably suffer in the future. Trust me!

I often warn the bodybuilders who I coach not to fall victim to their feelings. Feelings are not reliable indicators for what you should and should not do in any aspect of your life. Your feelings can change a dozen times throughout the course of a week.

Instead, take a scheduled week off from training every seven or eight weeks—even if you don’t feel like taking that time out of the gym. I have found this strategy to be tremendously helpful in keeping my motivation level high and preventing me from mental burnout. At the end of my scheduled week off, I’m typically more ready than ever to get back on my program. My motivation and intensity are high and I’ve had plenty of time to let my mind and body rest.

3. Set Simple Training Goals. Creating a short list of “training disciplines” can be extremely helpful. This list can include a few simple tasks that you’ll focus on during your workouts even when you’re not as motivated as you’d like to be.

Simply getting to the gym on time, completing every one of the exercises and sets that you planned to do when you stepped into the gym, making sure you really focus on the targeted muscle group during every repetition, and completing your training session in an hour are just a few examples of what you can include on your list of simple training goals. You don’t need to be extremely detailed right off the bat, but create some structure to your workout so you feel like you are progressing. As you track to your goals, you will likely continually increase your level of focus and successfully take your efforts to the next level.

This is when discipline becomes important. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word discipline as control gained by enforcing obedience or order. In other words, you sometimes have to do things that you may not necessarily feel like doing for the greater good in the long run.

4. Appreciate what you’ve already accomplished. Look back for a moment. Haven’t you really accomplished a lot more than you may have thought? Aren’t you a lot farther along than you were a year ago today? Wouldn’t it be great to look back in another year and see the continual progress you have made?

What if you wasted an entire year simply because you lost your motivation and strayed away from your plan? Wouldn’t that wasted time feel much worse than if you simply remained committed and worked through the times when your motivation is a bit lower than you would like?

The chances are pretty good that you’ve worked through times like these before. There probably aren’t any good reasons why you won’t successfully pull through these downtimes again.

5. Get in the presence of highly motivated people. Associate with people who are like-minded and appreciate your training objectives. They should be motivated to succeed in life and understand the goals that you are striving towards. Heck! If you’re lucky enough to be invited into their groups, train with those people who are even more driven than you are to help ignite your desire.

6. Reevaluate your priorities. Whether your training is going well or not, you are probably getting what you are focusing on. If you aren’t getting what you want out of your workouts, then you may need to re-evaluate your priorities in your life and dedicate the focus needed to get you where you want to go.

7. Don’t do anything differently. Maybe you shouldn’t do anything differently during these times. Take responsibility for your success or failure. Maybe it’s not the training routine you are using that is the cause of your lack of success. Maybe you need to fortify your efforts with a little more mental muscle.

Just because you have failed in the past does not mean you will fail in the future. Sometimes you should do nothing—except work to increase your focus. Don’t make rash decisions to change your routine, start a new diet or change gyms. Put the pressure on yourself to work through your problems and setbacks in the past—rather than run from them.

Keep working toward what you ultimately want from your training during your more challenging times. I’m certain that one or more of these mental tips will be just what you need to survive the downtimes and get your training back on track.

Train Hard. Think Big

Skip La Cour


SUPREME. CLEAN. MASS MACHINE NUTRITION.
Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

You Get What You Focus On In Life (But You Don’t Get What You Don’t Focus On) – More Than Just Muscles Podcast #3

If you want to become better at what you do than the vast majority of people in the world, you're going to have to put more focus, time, and effort into what you do. That's seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? If you aren't getting what you want in life, are you really investing the focus, time, and effort that you must? If not, where is all that energy going?

You get what you focus on in life--but you don't get what you don't focus on. There's a reason why people with amazing bodies have those amazing bodies. Sometimes, they don't even realize it.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is specifically designed to help dedicated bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts who find themselves asking “Is this all there is?” from time to time–no matter how great they PHYSICALLY look and feel or how many people respect and admire what they’ve been able to accomplish with their bodies.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is jam-packed with simple and effective strategies that will help you BREAK OUT of your current way of thinking and taking action so you can FINALLY create a better overall quality of life. It will get you on the path toward more happiness and a new, empowering identity that’s significantly more meaningful than just having a great body.

To listen to this podcast, click here.

This podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, and BlogTalkRadio.

Train Hard. Think Big.



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM450 Micronized Creatine 450 grams
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.
Supports muscle strength and muscle stamina while
increasing blood flow. Supreme Quality.
Pure Creatine Monohydrate. Awesome Value.

[skiplacour]

10 Tips to Present Yourself as an Outstanding Bodybuilding and Fitness Authority

In any profession, there are effective ways for successful individuals to present themselves. Learning and modeling these traits will give you a better chance to duplicate their success.

Specifically, in the bodybuilding and fitness world, those who have become truly outstanding authorities are few and far between. Because the numbers of exceptional leaders in this industry are so few, it is oftentimes extremely challenging to follow their lead.

For this reason, I will share with you what I have discovered to be the best ways to present yourself as an outstanding bodybuilding and fitness authority.

1. Your primary objective as a bodybuilding and fitness authority is to be an extraordinary provider of information and inspiration - One who can effectively help others achieve THEIR goals.

In order to achieve this ambitious objective, you must consistently conduct yourself as an exceptional coach, teacher, role model, mentor, friend, motivator, philosopher, prodder, and even disciplinarian.

Successfully helping others meet their goals is not about you, what you look like, or what you have accomplished. Your level of success will ultimately be determined by how much value you can add to the lives of others.
Your number one priority should be to help other people meet their specific bodybuilding and fitness goals and, during the process, enhance the quality of their lives in general.

2. You must clearly define who you are and what you are all about. Be sure to always be yourself.

Charisma is defined as a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure. It can also be described as a special magnetic charm or appeal.

Charisma is undeniably an admirable quality for anyone to possess—but it becomes a tremendous attribute for a bodybuilding and fitness authority. If at all possible, you should work to develop this extraordinary characteristic.

Charisma is a result of a combination of personality traits. There are many different ways for people to carry themselves in order to set themselves apart as charismatic. You can be assertive or passive, loud or quiet, flamboyant or subdued, trendy or conservative. There is no single way to act that is the right way to act.

What matters most as you strive to present yourself as a bodybuilding and fitness authority is that you are congruent with who YOU are. It is essential for you to be comfortable with yourself. Never try to present yourself as anyone other than the person you truly are. Don't try to be something you are not.

Don't base your credibility on being a presenter of scientific facts if you haven't done the research. Don't push a fitness program that can produce amazing results with very little effort just because you think that's what people want. If you are extremely passionate about coaching others toward competitions, don't focus on helping "couch potatoes" simply because you feel there is a larger market.

People can distinguish the difference between who is sincere and who is not. They instinctively know who is living true to form and who is blowing smoke. Don't ever mistakenly believe you can fool them.

3. Your physique and personality are your very best selling points—not anything you say.

There is an old adage, "People more attention pay to what you do than what you say." Don't ruin your credibility with others by presenting yourself as something you are obviously not. Even though people may never tell you to your face that they think you are misrepresenting yourself, they will eventually know.

In other words, "Walk the Walk" and "Talk the Talk."

4. Never stop striving for a higher level in all facets of being a bodybuilding and fitness authority.

Although it's important for you to be comfortable and confident with what you teach others, you should also continually strive to build on what you know and what you've accomplished.

You can always learn more about training, nutrition, supplementation and motivation. Likewise, you can continue to improve your writing, speaking, web site maintenance, general business, and marketing skills. And your physique can always be taken to a higher level of development.

5. Always treat your profession with respect.

When you treat your chosen profession of bodybuilding and fitness with respect, others will respect what you do.

Don't be afraid to demonstrate your passion and excitement for what you do. Don't be afraid to take what you do seriously. Don't temper the fact that you are dedicated to what you do. People respect those who are passionate, excited, serious, and dedicated about what they do. It only matters that you are outstanding in your chosen field and can produce measurable results.

Always conduct yourself as a successful businessperson. Be thorough in everything you do. Follow through with what you promise. You must PLAN your days, weeks, and months. REVIEW your days, weeks, and months. Set ambitious business goals on a continual basis. Be prepared every time you meet with people to discuss bodybuilding and fitness. Regardless of whether you are getting paid for the information and inspiration you provide others, always act as if you are.

6. Carry yourself with certainty, confidence, and pride at all times—even when you don't necessarily feel certain, confident, and proud.

Always try to act the way you want to feel. The way you carry yourself always follows what you think of yourself at the time. You are always selling yourself when you are a bodybuilding and fitness authority. You are always ON. If your ultimate goal is to eventually become an outstanding bodybuilding and fitness authority, you must present yourself as an outstanding bodybuilding and fitness authority at all times.

Developing the conditioning to present yourself this way may take time and practice. Carrying yourself with certainty, confidence, and pride is an acquired skill developed over time. But just like building up your endurance when doing cardiovascular training, your ability to present yourself in this matter will improve with time. That is, of course, as long as you make it a priority to carry yourself this way and are always conscious about the way you are presenting yourself.

7. Become a strong leader.

The world is looking for leaders. People inherently want to be led. People want to be given structure. They want YOU to line out things for them. People are looking for concrete, black-and-white solutions to their challenges—and they expect you to provide those solutions for them. Step up and tell those people who are asking you for solutions exactly what to do.

Yes, I realize there are many avenues to successfully reach a person's bodybuilding and fitness goals. But, whatever you do, don't give them a list of options and choices. All they want you to do is give ONE you are certain will work!

Choices and options confuse people. They feel you are the expert and should be able to tell them the "right" way to do things. The biggest complaint about the bodybuilding and fitness websites and magazines that I hear from people striving to reach their goals is that too many conflicting opinions, strategies, and philosophies are offered. And even more confusing, is that all of these opinions, strategies, and philosophies, are presented with the same certainty and conviction. If you offer a series of choices and options, you will confuse people just like the websites and magazines often do.

8. Don't be afraid to give away your information freely—especially at the beginning of your journey.

Every time you talk to someone about bodybuilding and fitness, you are developing your skills. You are increasing your value as an authority. You are sharpening your talents. You are building your resume, so to speak.

There is an old saying, "The better you become at what you do, the more you will eventually get paid for what you do." Undoubtedly, you'll be much better at coaching others the 100th and the 1,000th time you explain something than you will be the first or tenth time.

9. You must have exceptional motivational skills to become an outstanding bodybuilding and fitness authority.

The most important and most challenging aspect of being a bodybuilding and fitness authority is motivating others to actually do what they've been instructed to do to reach their goals.

In most cases, it's not the lack of information that prevents people from creating the physiques they desire. It is their inability to follow through with what they have been told is required to reach their goals.

As a bodybuilding and fitness authority, you must help people use the tremendous power of their minds. As they work towards their goal, YOU must develop your skills to push, prod, and influence them to demonstrate mental characteristics such as patience, perspective, consistency, determination, organization, and enthusiasm, just to name a few.

10. Realize the powerful impact you can have on the lives of others.

You can have a profound affect on the lives of others as a bodybuilding and fitness authority. As an outstanding bodybuilding and fitness authority, give people your undivided attention when talking to them in person, on the telephone, or during a seminar. You should make a point to remember people's names. You should get in the habit of shaking people's hands. Better yet, look directly into their eyes when you are shaking their hand.

I can't even begin to tell you the powerful impact the special attention IFBB professional Gary Strydom had on me early in my journey. With less than a year of training under my belt, I took a trip to train at the famous Gold's Gym in Venice , California . Maybe because he saw determination in my eyes or that I was simply in his path of vision, Strydom gave me the "What's up, bro?" look and a wink. I remember it like it was yesterday. If someone as famous as Gary Strydom would take the time to even look at me, I thought, then I must be special!

As an outstanding bodybuilding and fitness authority, you have this very same special power. Realize the opportunity you have with this power and use it to positively impact the lives of others. Harness it! Nurture it! Use it to change people's lives for the better!

=====> If you'd like more strategies and tips to become a more powerful bodybuilding and fitness expert emailed directly to you, click here.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM240 Micronized Glutamine Capsules 240 capsules
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.
Reduce recovery time, repair muscle fibers, suppress
lactic acid, and more. Stay on track and keep your
momentum going with these convenient, high-quality capsules.

[skiplacour]

Worst To First: Bring Up Your Lagging Body Parts

Here's The TRUTH About Bringing Up Lagging Body Parts

By Skip La Cour

Many people who are just starting to train and who have maybe six months to a year of training behind them start to become a bit more critical of their physiques. They see progress in their arms but feel as though they are not getting anywhere with their chests, or they are really happy with their chests but not seeing the same results in their legs.

Or, they’re starting to see some results from their training and are feeling good; until they begin comparing their physiques to the guys they see around them. Unfortunately, they usually compare themselves to guys who have been training for years.

Either way, these people who are still learning the ropes of bodybuilding can get discouraged rather quickly if they don’t understand how our bodies are made, how muscle is built, and where genetics come into play.

Are Your Lagging Body Parts Really Lagging?

Very often, when guys start looking at certain body parts and thinking that those muscle groups aren’t responding to training, one of two things is going on. The first is that they are comparing large muscle groups (which respond more slowly) to small muscle groups (where you can often see results more quickly). The other is that their chest or arms (for instance) aren’t really lagging behind, the guys just want a bigger chest or arms and they want them now.

There’s nothing wrong with getting excited and wanting to see results, as long as you don’t sabotage yourself by comparing apples to oranges. In other words, don’t expect the same results in the same timeframe from your chest as you do your triceps and don’t expect to train for six months and have a chest like the guy across the gym who’s been training for five years. Not only has he been training longer, but his genetic makeup is probably totally different from yours.

Genetics, Genetics, Genetics

This is extremely important for you to understand: we all have different genetic makeups. These genetics affect not only how our different muscle groups respond to training, but also how they look in comparison to our other muscle groups. Genetics also come into play when it comes to body fat. And, the way your muscles look has a lot to do with how much fat you’re carrying.

I’ve seen hundreds of guys who don’t really look like they have huge arms, but if you measure their biceps they’re actually huge. This is because they are huge all over. But, because of their bone structure or their body fat level, their arms just don’t jump out visually. On the other hand, I’ve also seen hundreds of guys with tiny waists and slim legs whose arms look gigantic in comparison to the rest of their bodies; until you measure them.

Genetics and Muscle Insertion/Muscle Structure

Another influence of genetics that you need to understand is in the way your muscle is structured, particular when it comes to insertions.

People have certain insertions that can distort the actual size of the muscles that surround them. For instance, they might have really tiny insertions at the wrist or have small knees. The guy with the small wrists is going to look like he has much bigger forearms and the guy with the small knees is going to look like he has massive quads and calves. These guys with small insertions have that really defined look, that dramatic definition between, say, their calves and their thighs.

On the other hand, a guy with larger insertion points or more body fat may look huge, but huge all over rather than sharply defined contrasts between body parts. These are the guys that seem to have one massive arm with no transition between biceps, triceps and so on.

When you’re evaluating your own body, it’s important to take these things into consideration. It could be that your calves seem to be way ahead of the rest of you, but it’s only the illusion created by small knees. Or you might feel like you’re not seeing enough contrast and definition, but it’s because your body fat is a bit high.

Is It More Muscle or Less Body Fat?

Several years ago, when I was still pretty new to bodybuilding, I learned firsthand the difference body fat made in how much muscle I saw. I went from eating all of the time, packing as many calories as I could into my body, to a couple of weeks of eating far less. In that couple of weeks, I saw (for the first time) that “V” taper from back to waist to arms. For the first time, I could also really see my insertion points and some definition. My muscles looked much bigger and the difference in my physique was dramatic even though I hadn’t added any more muscle; I actually weighed less.

Don’t Fall for One-Size-Fits-All Hype

You can go on the internet and find all kinds of people that will tell you that a particular exercise will give you that peak on your biceps or a certain routine will give you that sweep on your quadriceps, but think for a minute. If the same exercise or the same routine could get the same results on every body, wouldn’t we all look more alike? Look at the lineup of competitors in a bodybuilding and physique contest. They’re all in incredible shape, yet their bodies and their shapes are very different.

This is even true at the Mr. Olympia contest, the very highest level of bodybuilding competition on the planet. Although their physique are without a doubt awesome, they aren’t perfect. Some can use a little more peak on their biceps or a bigger, fuller upper chest (sound familiar?). Don’t you think if you could just do this exercise or that routine to solve these challenges, the best professional who have been training for 15 years or more would have done it already?

Because of genetics, your body has a certain potential to look a certain way. Yes, you can influence your definition and proportion to a point, but you are limited to working with your own genetic makeup. That doesn’t mean you can’t look amazing. It means you’re going to look amazing within the limitations of your own body structure.

For instance, if you’re naturally small-waisted, you can get by with a smaller back and still look huge. If you’re thick-waisted, you’re going to need to build up your back more to get the same look.

What Your Options REALLY Are

So essentially, you have two likely options if you feel you’re disproportionate or that certain body parts aren’t as pronounced as you’d like. If body fat is the issue, you will need to drop some body fat to see the results of the work you are doing. If you naturally have larger wrists, elbows, knees or what have you, then you’re going to need to add more muscle to the nearby muscle groups before you’ll see the proportion you’re looking for.

In the second case, it’s likely that you just need more time. If you are doing everything you’re supposed to be doing with your training and are eating the right diet, you don’t need to change everything up; you just need to give it more time. “Keep on, keepin’ on!” is what encourage my Mass Machine to do.

Now, if you do have some fundamental flaws in your training, you may have to change things up some. Maybe you’re only training that lagging body part once every week. Maybe the weights you’re using are too light or your execution is poor. In these cases, you are not progressively overloading the muscle enough to get the results you want and you will need to focus more on working that area properly.

If that’s the case, find someone you trust, someone who has more experience, to take a look at what you’re doing and point out any inconsistencies or flaws. If you can’t find someone to help you right away, pull out your phone during your next workout, record a few sets, and start studying the footage. Maybe you need to train that body part twice a week or maybe you need to start progressively adding weight. Maybe training that body part once a week is fine and you just need to get better at what you are already doing. If your execution is poor, it won’t matter how often you train that part or how much weight you are using because you’re not going to be targeting and engaging the muscle or muscle group properly, so be sure that your intensity and execution are spot on. They have a lot more to do with results than the specific exercise does. Don’t assume you are doing the exercises “good enough.” Even the best in the world never make that assumption. They always strive for a higher level no matter how much success they’ve achieved in the past.

This brings me to the most important part of any training protocol: stay completely focused on the part you are training. Do the last set with the same mental intensity that you did your first set and make proper form and execution your top priorities. If you do these things, you will get the results you’re looking for.

By understanding and paying attention to everything I have discussed in this article you will be one step closer to bringing up those lagging body parts. Remember, building muscle is a science and an art and understanding your genetics and these important steps I’ve discussed and how your individual body works will help you achieve your ultimate goal.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM120 CLA 120 Softgels
CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) is a non-stimulant
product that may support lean muscle while
helping your body use stored body fat as fuel.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

10 Golden Training Rules

By Skip La Cour

Your journey to build a physique that you can be proud of can sometimes be an overwhelming process. There is so much information floating around from so many different experts.

To make the process a little easier, you should find a mentor, expert, or coach that you can believe in. Choose someone who you have a great "connection" with for whatever reasons that make the most sense to you. Stick to his style, strategies, and way of thinking for a few months before incorporating more information from other people. You'll keep your mind clear and your actions focused by doing so. You'll have plenty of time to learn what the other experts have to contribute later.

If you've chosen to follow my advice at this point in time, I'm flattered. I'm sure that we'll build a long and productive relationship together. I will not let you down.

I like to keep things simple and extremely effective. Results are what's most important and you need to always keep that in mind with all of the information that is being thrown at you all the time.

Here are my "Top 10" organizing, fundamental principles to successful bodybuilding, training, and earning the physique that you really want. These are the basics that all of the more complex and advanced strategies that you'll learn over time are built upon.

1. The weight on the scale is NOT your number one indicator of success!

Some guys place far too much importance on the number they see on the scale. What they’re forgetting is that it’s not about gaining weight, it’s about gaining high-quality, lean muscle weight. The number on the scale changes from day to day and even from hour to hour. Yes, you should weigh in regularly, but not obsessively. The mirror is a far better yardstick for measuring success.

2. Muscle soreness is NOT your number one indicator of the effectiveness of your workout!

Muscle soreness is a direct result of small breaks in the muscle fibers during your training session, but soreness is an unreliable measurement tool. Yes, it probably means that your workout has reached a higher level, but keep in mind that if you worked out for the first time in a year, you’d be sore, no matter how effective your workout was. Also, effective and consistent training means less soreness as you progress, but that has no bearing on how effective your sessions are. It simply means that you’re getting stronger.

3. The best workout for you is the one that you’ll actually do.

No matter how good a program is, it won’t get you results if you don’t perform it confidently, enthusiastically and consistently. RESULTS are the only thing that really matters. If what you’re doing is working for you right now and you’re committed to it, then keep doing it. As you gain more experience, you can build up to whatever is the “optimal” program. Remember, it’s important to stick with the basic fundamentals and take them to a higher and higher level if you want to succeed. The videos, podcasts, and posts go much deeper into this topic.

4. Less is more. Really.

Shorter sessions with fewer exercises, sets and reps are the best way to build mass in the shortest time. I call this “Mass Machine Training.” I learned this personally in my own career. When a person is forced to up their game without using more reps, sets or exercises, they find out what they are truly capable of in the gym. It wasn’t until I made myself stick to a 4-6 rep range with heavier weight and fewer exercises in a shorter period of time that I really started to get incredible results. I break down a routine just like this for you on my website. Mass Machine Training is awesome because it builds mental and emotional strength along with physical strength and more muscle gains.

5. Supplements are important, but they’re only one part of an effective program.

My company makes outstanding and highly effective supplements. I make money selling supplements, but I’m telling you that they are not a replacement for good training, healthy eating or mental focus. Mass Machine Nutrition supplements are an important addition to all of those things. How’s that for giving it to you straight?

6. Intensity is the key to growth.

The foundation of all good training programs is their intensity, regardless of whether they’re long or short, split or whole body programs. All training should be a sprint, not a marathon. The more you “sprint”, the more effective your training will be. Training in a marathon-like manner nets you less progress in a longer period of time. Mass Machine Training forces you to step up and use your physical, mental, and emotional abilities to their fullest. You’ll be surprised by just how much your performance in the gym will improve when you are “blocked in.” Some bodybuilders require “tough love” to understand this and because I know firsthand what it takes to get results, my coaching often times involves this “tough love”, but I promise its well worth it.

7. Lack of experience is what makes you think you should train longer.

As I’ve said, I firmly believe that shorter, more intense workouts are the key to phenomenal results in a shorter period of time. I don’t think that any workout should last more than an hour and that’s being generous. A lot of people think that my 25 years of experience is what allows me to get those results from a short workout, but they’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. It's not my experience that allows me to shorten my time in the gym without sacrificing effectiveness. It's your lack of experience that makes you feel you must stay in the gym longer. This is because you lack confidence in your ability to effectively train. The key is to force you to be just as effective in less time. That’s when you hit the level of intensity you need to get results from a short workout.

8. Your mind is the most important muscle for you to engage.

Having the right mindset is the key to effective training. If you’re phoning it in, you might as well go home. Unfortunately, most guys truly believe they are “working hard” in the gym even when that’s not quite the case. That’s okay. That’s why I make myself so available to you on the message board. It’s my job as your coach to help you discover what you are truly capable of achieving. I take that role very seriously. You have to be completely focused on every rep, completely tuned in to every muscle. You also have to believe in yourself and what you’re doing. You can engage all the muscle fibers you want, but you won’t see dramatic results unless you engage your mind first. If you’re not mentally ready when you walk into the gym, then take five minutes to get ready or you’ll be wasting your time and energy

9. Shorter rest periods aren’t necessarily better.

There’s a huge focus on taking the shortest rest between sets, but you may need to make them longer. You should rest long enough to get close to 100 percent of your strength back, without losing your concentration and focus. In heavy-weight training, with the goal of absolute muscle failure, you need to get most of your strength back before moving on to the next set. This is because you have to train as heavily as you can to build real muscle in the most effective and efficient manner. You must learn to train this way to build the most amount of muscle in the shortest period of time. A lot of guys feel that shorter rest periods help them lose fat faster, but that’s what diet and cardio are for. When you’re lifting, your goal is to build muscle, not burn fat.

10. Don’t underestimate the importance of nutrition.

Good training isn’t just what you do with your body; it’s also what you feed your body. You’ve all seen guys who work out like mad but their bodies just don’t show the results you’d expect. This is because they lack the nutrients to get those results. Experts say that the way you eat accounts for as much as 80% percent of how you look. My experience bears this out, to the extent that if I had to choose between working out and good nutrition, I would take good nutrition. Learn the important basics of good nutrition and follow them consistently! This is why I talk about nutrition on this thread. It’s a huge part of the body building world.

Again, those were my "Top 10" organizing, fundamental principles to successful bodybuilding, training, and earning the physique that you really want. Those are the basics that all of the more complex and advanced strategies that you'll learn over time are built upon.

Make sure you visit my websites and social media platforms often to bolster this rock-solid base of thinking and taking action.

Train Hard. Think Big

Skip La Cour


SUPREME. CLEAN. MASS MACHINE NUTRITION.
Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Why Fix What’s Not Broken? (Or, Why Fix What's Not Broken All That Badly)? - More Than Just Muscles Podcast #4

Nobody's life is perfect, right? When you believe that you're doing "better than most people," then why in the world would put yourself through the discomfort of changing anything about your life? That's the dilemma that many bodybuilding and fitness people who have dedicated a lot of time and energy to become great at what they do.

During this More Than Just Muscles podcast, Skip La Cour explains why you want to stretch yourself and break out of your current structure. He also talks about the challenges in front of you when you do--and how to overcome them.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is specifically designed to help dedicated bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts who find themselves asking “Is this all there is?” from time to time–no matter how great they PHYSICALLY look and feel or how many people respect and admire what they’ve been able to accomplish with their bodies.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is jam-packed with simple and effective strategies that will help you BREAK OUT of your current way of thinking and taking action so you can FINALLY create a better overall quality of life. It will get you on the path toward more happiness and a new, empowering identity that’s significantly more meaningful than just having a great body.

To listen to this podcast, click here.

This podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, and BlogTalkRadio.

Train Hard. Think Big.



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM450 Micronized Creatine 450 grams
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.
Supports muscle strength and muscle stamina while
increasing blood flow. Supreme Quality.
Pure Creatine Monohydrate. Awesome Value.

[skiplacour]

Controlling Your Emotions On A Consistent Basis Is A Key To Bodybuilding Success

What are the things you must do every day to eventually earn a great physique? That’s a simple question. But, if you’ve been pursuing this ambitious goal for any length of time, then you already know the answer is quite complicated. Do you need to train with intensity? Do you need to pay meticulous attention to your eating habits? Is it important to take advantage of the latest developments in sports supplementation?

Yes, yes, and yes!

If you really want an outstanding physique, you must train, eat properly, and take supplements. Not only will you need to do all those things, you must do them on a consistent basis. And, you must do them consistently over a significant length of time if you are truly committed to reaching your genetic potential of development. When you stack up all the major and minor daily tasks it takes to build your body, it can be terribly overwhelming.

Bodybuilding Is A Lifestyle

Bodybuilding isn’t something you do for an hour or two and then forget about for the rest of the day. The experts emphasize that successful bodybuilding is a lifestyle. Training in the gym is probably the most prominent aspect of bodybuilding. You must train with weights, add cardiovascular training, focus while you’re in the gym, and strive for more knowledge and effort. As you know, building a great body is far more complex than simply training in the gym. Eating is also a very important part of the equation.

Preparing your meals, eating those meals on time, and cleaning up the mess afterwards is all part of the process. There is also the complicated area of supplementation. You must choose the right supplements to meet your specific needs, buy them from a reliable company, take them all at various times throughout the day, and always make sure you won’t run out. However, it often seems as though training, nutrition, and supplementation are the easiest aspects of bodybuilding! Even if you structure your lifestyle in a manner that supports these areas of bodybuilding, the toughest challenges are still ahead of you.

Click here to read the rest of this article.





Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM25 100% Whey Protein Isolate 2.2 pounds
Pure 100% Whey Protein Isolate, High Bio-Availability,
Helps Rebuild and Refuel Muscle, and more. Awesome taste.
Mixes really easily.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Bust Through Any Bodybuilding and Training PLATEAU With the Power of Your MIND!



How you view those times when you aren't making the progress you want as quickly as you can have a tremendous impact on your bodybuilding and training success. In this video, Skip La Cour gives you some perspective on handle those frustrating "plateaus" we all experience from time to time.










Skip La Cour’s Mass Machine Nutrition is a premium brand that
is preferred by the most selective people who workout and is
quickly becoming the true LEADER in providing you with
straight-forward, no nonsense nutritional supplements.

Supreme. Clean. Mass Machine Nutrition.

Click here to check out the line and to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

ADVICE FOR BALDING MEN - "Help, Skip! I am in my 20s, BALDING rapidly, and emotionally devastated!"



In this video, I share some funny personal stories about my hair loss journey and give some advice to a young man who is losing his. There's also some great life advice for men--even if you aren't going bald.

Check out the book website that I mentioned in this video:
It's A Matter Of Trust - Confessions of a Recovering Bodybuilder By Skip La Cour
http://www.itsamatteroftrust.com










Skip La Cour’s Mass Machine Nutrition is a premium brand that
is preferred by the most selective people who workout and is
quickly becoming the true LEADER in providing you with
straight-forward, no nonsense nutritional supplements.

Supreme. Clean. Mass Machine Nutrition.

Click here to check out the line and to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

I’m So Overwhelmed With Emotion Just About Every Night That It’s Tough For Me To Fight Back The Tears

I don’t believe things happen in some grand, orchestrated scheme that will automatically play out in some positive way given enough time.

One of the happiest moments I’m fortunate enough to experience these days comes around just about every night.

That’s when I get to hold my daughter, Brooklyn, and son, Jayce, tightly as I rock them to sleep. I have the Pandora app on my phone playing relaxing songs from the Calm Meditation Radio station. “A song? A song?” little Brooklyn always asks. Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major is our favorite. I can’t help but notice how touched my beautiful, supportive, and extremely loving wife, Carrie, is while she observes this scene play out from the other side of the bedroom.

I can’t think of a better way to end my day. It took me a very long time to get to this peaceful place in my life. I now allow myself to feel this deep love and connection instead of pushing it away. I no longer simply hope it will eventually become a part of my life. Not only do I continue to passionately help other people improve the quality of their lives as I’ve done for years, I now make sure I give that same level of concern to myself too.

My MANfomation toward self-discovery and intense personal development has helped me finally experience what I just couldn’t seem to figure out how to do for what seemed to be my entire life.

I’m so overwhelmed with emotion just about every night that it’s tough for me to fight back the tears.

I’m happy to say that many times these are tears of joy. I finally made it here. I cracked my personal code. I finally get to experience this sense of peace, comfort, and real happiness that eluded me. I’m not going to go to my grave wondering what this would have felt like.

However, those are not the feelings and emotions that my mind chooses to focus on all the time. I have to confess that some nights I’m overcome with sadness.


[url="http://itsamatteroftrust.com/im-so-overwhelmed-with-emotion-just-about-every-night-that-its-tough-for-me-to-fight-back-the-tears/"]Click here[url] to read the rest of this book passage.







Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM180 Physio-Machine SUPREME 180 Capsules
Support fat burning, help build muscle, support a
healthy estrogen balance, and more.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

10 Benefits of Creating A Vision And Reviewing It On A Daily Basis

A vision is very similar to a personal “mission statement.” The vision that I encourage you to create is a vivid mental image of the person you are working toward becoming along your personal journey. Your vision will remind you of the way you want to act and how you should follow through on a consistent basis. Your vision includes many of the things you see yourself accomplishing during the next 12 weeks—and even beyond our time together.

Your vision should be rather short and concise. It’s a series of phrases, statements, encouraging words, and reminders that you’ll constantly review to keep you on track. You should limit your vision to about four or five paragraphs of standards, goals, day-to-day actions, and inspirational quotes that will remind you of who you really want to be and what you really want to accomplish. I encourage you to review this vision of a daily basis to keep you on track and focus on your goals.

Here are 10 benefits that creating a vision and reviewing it on a daily basis can do for you:

1. You are literally forced to create a plan-of-attack when you create a vision. One the most important benefits you’ll experience by creating a vision is that you’ll construct a roadmap toward success and a plan-of-attack to accomplish your mission.

How many people do you know who have really taken the time to decide exactly what they wish to produce from their efforts—whether those efforts are in bodybuilding or anywhere else in life?

A vision will serve as a guide to your destination. By investing the time to create a vision, you can put yourself far ahead of the average person. A vision will force you to invest the time to determine what you ultimately want to accomplish, who you want to become at the end of this journey—and the new direction of your life afterwards.

The visions I’ve created (and recreated) over the years have had a tremendous impact on where I am today. Taking the time to determine where I ultimately wanted to go has undoubtedly pulled me closer to my goals.

2. You’ll save time because you’ll be working in a more directed manner. How much time and energy have you wasted in the past heading in one direction, only to spend more time and energy heading in the opposite direction? When you review your vision everyday, you work in a more focused manner. You will spend less time zigzagging all over the place with your time and effort and work in a more directed manner. In addition to keeping you on track, your vision will also remind you of why you are so committed to achieve what’s most important to your personal journey.

3. You’ll make better day-to-day decisions. You’ll find yourself making intelligent, purpose-driven decisions without being consciously aware of their implications in the future. When you read your vision every day, you constantly “planted a seed” in the back of your mind—and it’s working without you being aware of it. A vision will oftentimes steer you clear of ineffective, time-wasting strategies and methods that will distract you and take you off course.

4. You’ll become more accountable for your actions. How long would it take for you to get yourself back on track if you were reminded of your shortcomings every morning? Creating a vision and reading it every day makes you accountable for your actions. You won’t be able to forget about the promises you made to yourself to follow through on the individual actions, steps, decisions, and tasks.

5. The challenging times your encounter will become easier to work through. Have you ever used the expression “uphill battle” while describing an endeavor you found especially difficult? Do you ever feel as though your training and eating efforts are an uphill battle? I know the feeling. I have felt that way as well—many times over the years!

My vision (and revised visions) gave me the confidence boost I needed when times were extremely difficult. It gave me a sense of optimism during those times when it seemed that the only person who believed in my abilities and my goals was me.

Your vision will have the unique ability to draw you toward your goals. Instead of an uphill battle, your journey will seem metaphorically more positive. Essentially, our vision will have the ability to pull you toward your goals just like the awesome force of a gigantic magnet draws a piece of metal.

Most people have no problem putting forth their best effort when things are going well. Unfortunately, good times will never last forever. During every journey, you will inevitably encounter challenges. Distractions, setbacks, and obstacles are all part of the game of life.

Setbacks such as an injury, feeling hopeless because you think you’ve tried virtually everything to lose weight and inches, having special people leave your life because he or she doesn’t support your passion for the gym can be devastating and can threaten your will to persevere.

Your vision can help you adjust to setbacks and disappointments. Creating a vision and reviewing it daily will you the strength to continue grinding towards your goals.

6. You’ll look for and find creative ways to meet your goals. Oftentimes, it’s the people who try “just one more time” that are the ones who eventually achieve success. When you create a vision and review it every day, you will unleash the creative genius inside of you and come up with all kinds of great ideas to reach your goals.

7. You’ll look for and find creative ways to overcome your challenges. Persistence is often what will be needed for you to reach your goals during this journey. The creative genius inside of you will also find solutions when those inevitable problems occur.

8. People will become valuable assets who can help you. Being in the company of outstanding people will help you get the most out of this journey. With a vision, you effectively use the people in your life to help you achieve your dreams. You will also instinctively know whom to remove from your life so they won’t pull you off course.

9. You’ll realize what you’ve accomplished and appreciate how far you’ve come. My vision(s) has been the catalyst that helped me celebrate during the good times. Reviewing my vision allowed me to see that I was steadily making progress toward my goals. Realizing what I’ve actually accomplished by reading my vision has pumped me up when I’ve failed to recognize just how much I’ve been able to get done.

One of the biggest tragedies in life occurs when we fail to appreciate and take notice of the victories we experience. By creating a vision, you will greatly reduce the chances of failing to appreciate what you’ve achieved.

10. You’ll enjoy the process of striving for your goals. When you create a vision, review it daily, save time, work in a more directed manner, make better decisions, find creative solutions to problems, stay optimistic, enlist the help of others, and appreciate your progress, there is little doubt you’ll enjoy your journey this year at a great level. That’s what creating a vision and reviewing it often will do for you.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour





Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM240 Micronized Glutamine Capsules 240 capsules
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.
Reduce recovery time, repair muscle fibers, suppress
lactic acid, and more. Stay on track and keep your
momentum going with these convenient, high-quality capsules.

[skiplacour]

Interview with the Current Youngest IFBB Professional Bodybuilder and Mr. USA CODY MONTGOMERY - Bodybuilding and Fitness Podcast #341

In his very first national contest as an adult, Cody Montgomery won the overall title at the prestigious and extremely competitive NPC USA. Winning this show makes him the current youngest IFBB professional bodybuilder at just 20 years old.

Extreme levels of bodybuilding success at such a young age is nothing new for him. Montgomery was a three-time NPC national champion as a teen and collegiate.

Cody's goals are far more ambitious that just presenting his best physique on a professional bodybuilding stage. He's determined to maximize all of the opportunities he has been given to travel the world and represent the sport of bodybuilding in a positive manner.

The 20-year old IFBB Pro credits a lot of his success to the team of people he is associated with during this journey. And, what a "Dream Team" that is! Montgomery gives them all high praise during this podcast. Chris 'The Technician" Aceto is his contest prep coach, his mentor is 4x Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, Chris "The Real Deal" Cormier pushes his training to the next level, and he has earned the support of a couple of the most ambitious and creative men in the business, Aaron Singerman and PJ Braun (who also run a couple of the hottest supplement companies in the industry, Prime Nutrition and Blackstone Labs).

Montgomery comes from a very close, supportive, and successful family. Well, maybe they weren't so supportive of his bodybuilding goals at first. His parents are well-educated engineers who really stress the importance of education to all of their children. Cody is in college at the University of Texas and is majoring in business to make sure he honors his parents' wishes.

The NPC USA Overall Winner gets raw and transparent with the personal challenges that he's faced during this podcast. He openly talks about his bout with depression and how bodybuilding and the people who surrounded him brought him out of it.

Cody discusses how the fear of failure drives him. He's determined to be the best he can be and is excited about his bright future. The 3x teen and collegiate national champ reveals those plans and talks about how he wants to be remembered when his career is over many years from now.

Cody explains why he believes that the biggest challenge that stands in the way of him reaching all of his lofty goals is his ability to properly balance everything he has going on. Balance, as he defines it, means that his training, diet, competition, career, family, education, and personal life are all in sync.

Cody Montgomery has established extremely high standards that he demands himself to live up and you'll learn all about this young man during this podcast.

To listen to this podcast, click here.

This podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, and BlogTalkRadio.

Train Hard. Think Big.






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM180 Physio-Machine SUPREME 180 Capsules
Support fat burning, help build muscle, support a
healthy estrogen balance, and more.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Getting Other People To Understand Your Passion For Fitness (And You Understanding Their Point-Of-View Too) – More Than Just Muscles Podcast #5

"Regular people just don't understand my love and dedication for bodybuilding and fitness!" That's a complaint that's often expressed by people who work out on a consistent basis. If you go to websites, social media platforms, or message boards specifically designed to attract other fitness enthusiasts, the person with this challenge is often given advice like "Dump them! You don't need negative people like that in your life."

During this podcast "Getting Other People To Understand Your Passion For Fitness (And You Understanding Their Point-of-View Too)," I'll offer a different perspective that may make attracting people who will enthusiastically support your lifestyle a whole lot easier. At the same time, you may discover easy ways to meet their needs that you may have never considered.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is specifically designed to help dedicated bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts who find themselves asking “Is this all there is?” from time to time–no matter how great they PHYSICALLY look and feel or how many people respect and admire what they’ve been able to accomplish with their bodies.

This MORE THAN JUST MUSCLES podcast is jam-packed with simple and effective strategies that will help you BREAK OUT of your current way of thinking and taking action so you can FINALLY create a better overall quality of life. It will get you on the path toward more happiness and a new, empowering identity that’s significantly more meaningful than just having a great body.

To listen to this podcast, click here.

This podcast is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, and BlogTalkRadio.

Train Hard. Think Big.





Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM25 100% Whey Protein Isolate 2.2 pounds
Pure 100% Whey Protein Isolate, High Bio-Availability,
Helps Rebuild and Refuel Muscle, and more. Awesome taste.
Mixes really easily.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

6 Next Level Training Principles

By Skip La Cour

In this post, I don’t want to give you training tips that you can pick up in any muscle magazine or on any website. You’re not going to read things like, “Do this move for 6-8 reps or that move with this weight for 8-10 reps. This article is not about the basics, but about taking your workout program and your body to an entirely new level. That’s going to take an entirely new way of thinking for even the most committed individuals. A lot of what that involves has more to do with your attitude and approach than it does your splits or your max weights.

A lot of the guys who visit my social media platforms want these kinds of advanced or expert level tips. They’ve been working out for a while and are ready to reach for something more intense and more involved. You don’t usually hear this kind of information because it really only applies to about top 5% of the people working out on a consistent basis. The other 95% just need to stick to the basics; what to do, how to do it, and how many reps. for this group it’s really all they need because they are satisfied at that level.

But for those people that do want to ramp up their training and who do want to see how far they can take their bodies; a different type of advice is needed. The kind of information they need is what I want to share with you now, in these next level training tips.

You can certainly use these next level tips right now even if you rather new to training. In fact, you shouldn’t wait until you have more time and experience. Getting you to that elite level sooner rather than later is the exact reason why I’ve written this article.

1. Enter the gym with a set of standards in your head.

These could be very simple. You don’t need a lot. In fact, a short list will suffice. It will be helpful to write them down because you need to spend about 30 seconds before you start working out to review those standards.

Like I said, these can be very simple, such as “I’m going to be in and out of the gym in 45 minutes, one hour” or however long your workout takes. One of them might be, “I’m not going to look at email, answer my phone or chat with anybody until I’ve completed my workout.” Another might be, “I had something left in me the last time I worked out; today I’m going to push harder.”

The point of these standards is that they set the tone for your workout and they get your mind focused on that tone. At the next level, you don’t walk into the gym, start working out, and hope your focus or motivation kicks in once you get going. You lift your first weight already in that state.

What makes this a next level strategy is that you will go as high as the standards you set for yourself. You must continually ask more from yourself each and every workout. Your accomplishments in the gym will be dictated by how high your set your standards—and how high continually raise them in the coming weeks, months, and years. It’s a never ending process. Good is never good enough for those people who achieve outstanding results. The majority of people in the gym just make sure they do certain things and achieve a certain levels during their workouts and never really think about those standards again.

2. Review your workout before you get started.

At this level, you don’t just walk into the gym and do what feels right. Those who get to the elite level know that your feelings and emotions aren’t always reliable indicators for what you really can and can’t do on that training day. You walk in the gym knowing exactly what body parts you’re training, exactly what exercises you’re doing, exactly which order you’ll do those exercises in, and how many reps/sets of each will you perform.

You know what your overall goal for this workout is. You know what your individual goals for each exercises are in terms of execution, feel, weight, and reps. Again, this process should only take about 30 seconds once you get used to it. Write your program down if you need to, but review it for 30 seconds or so before you even get started—even if you think you already know it.

3. Set a time limit for your workout.

It’s important to focus on the number of exercises, sets and reps you need to do, but once you’ve reviewed that, you need to set a time limit. This will keep you from fiddling around during your workout, letting your rest periods drag on or get erratic and wasting time and momentum on other things. The most successful people in life create deadlines for everything they do. We all do better when we have a time limit. You’ll be surprised just how much more effective and efficient you become with your time, energy, and effort. And, trust me, that improvement will never stop as long as you keep focusing on it. What that time limit is doesn’t matter; what matters is that you have one.

4. Do 5 minutes of hard cardio before you start your workout.

The point of this step is to get your body warmed up, get your mind off of work or any other distraction you may have and get you focused on your workout. Really go for it. Let it all hang out. You want to get yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically ready to get the very most out of your workout from the very moment you begin your first set. The vast majority people finally get up to full speed 20 minutes into their workout if they are lucky. That’s not nearly good enough from striving for the elite level.

I know many people say they don’t want to waste their energy reserves on cardio because they want to save them for their workout, but I’m talking about five minutes. Granted, I’m talking about five hard minutes, not just strolling on the treadmill. This is not only a warm-up, but a transition from everything else in your life to focusing on training.

5. Learn how to warm up properly.

You must get your body and mind fully prepared for an intense and effective workout but you need to perverse as much of your physical and mental strength for the actual workout as humanly possible. Here I’m talking about the muscles you are targeting for this particular training session, not your body overall. You need to do the least amount of sets and reps using the least amount of weight to get your muscles ready for the work they’re about to do. You need to get this effective and efficient warm-up process done in the least amount of time. This is going to take work on your part to focus on, understand, and perfect this process if you want to eventually get to the elite level.

Those numbers are going to be found through trial and error and they will vary from one person to the next. Those numbers will also vary for you from one seasonal temperature to the next or between morning and evening. Spend some time finding out how many reps and sets and with what weight works for you and go right to it as a warm up. Don’t build up to it. That’s just wasting your time and energy. Find the magic numbers and start with them. You’ll see your workout performance improve dramatically and your results will too. The majority of people training in the gym never think about how much more effective the actual core workout, the part of the workout that yields the most gains, might have been if they would have warmed up just a little more or just a little less. They never really even think about it much.

6. Your mind is incredibly powerful; focus it.

Guys who know me or follow what I write on my website have heard me talk about the mind-muscle connection many times. This is because that connection is so incredibly powerful. If you have any hopes whatsoever about making it to next level training you need to appreciate and harness the power that your mind has over your muscles.

If you are truly focused on a muscle, your form improves, the neural stimulation of the exact muscle fibers you are targeting improves, and you start really working and defining that muscle.

We’ve known for years that we can learn to control pain, exert strength and several other things by simply focusing our mind on a particular body part. This same principle is true in bodybuilding. When you are completely focused on a certain muscle or muscle group, that’s when you really start training that body part.

The vast majority of people training in the gym have no appreciation for the tremendous power of their mind and how it can actually pinpoint a specific part of their body when executing an exercise. They are really just satisfied with moving the weight from “Point A” to “Point B” with a certain amount of weight for a certain number of reps no matter how many additional body parts they use to accomplish this incomplete goal.
All of this elite insight and I haven’t even begun to discuss the actual core workout yet. These are just six of the best, most effective tips I can give you for taking your training and your body to the next level. There’s a lot more that I will be sharing with you in the rest of this series. In the next installment, I’ll be focusing on next-level tips for specific exercises.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour






Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM1000 Micronized Creatine 1000 grams
Supports muscle strength and muscle stamina while
increasing blood flow. Supreme Quality.
Pure Creatine Monohydrate. Awesome Value.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

In this video, I explain why it's so important for me to tell you my story in my upcoming book, It's A Matter Of Trust: Confessions of a Recovering Bodybuilder.

CAN YOU RELATE?

My dedication and apparent "success" was NOT suppose to take me to THIS place. Can you relate to this passage from my upcoming book, It's A Matter Of Trust: Confessions of a Recovering Bodybuilder"?

I'm wondering if you've ever felt the same way while you've gone after your ambitious goals?



My Time On The “Big Black Couch” Trying To Figure Out How My Hard Work Got Me Here

I sat on my couch alone the entire time chanting to myself “Feel the pain–once and for all. Feel the pain–once and for all.” over and over again.

I remember one holiday season as a “Six-time National Champion Drug-Free Bodybuilder” when I basically sat on my couch ALL ALONE from Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day. I could have surrounded myself with people from the disconnected, arm’s length relationships that I created.

When I think back, I spent A LOT of time on that couch all alone trying to figure out why a guy like me with so many awesome accomplishments behind him and so many promising opportunities in front of him just couldn’t seem to figure things out. I even had a name for this painful time I spent reflecting. I use to say to myself “It looks like it’s ‘big black couch time’!” Yes. I had one of the black leather couches it seems EVERY bachelor has to have.

It’s important for you to note that I wrote I CREATED MY DISCONNECTED, ARM’S LENGTH RELATIONSHIPS. It wasn’t because people don’t have your back. It wasn’t because you just can’t trust other people and they’ll always let you down. It had nothing to do with other people. It wasn’t any of that BULL**** that I might have been convincing myself was going on in other people. It was my own doing–although I didn’t realize this until much later.

But I had enough of the empty “is this all there is” feeling inside of me. I knew I had to make some changes even though I didn’t understand exactly what I needed to do.

I knew I couldn’t just put a “band aid” on my challenges. Resorting to quick fixes and burying myself in my training and eating disciplines and being a workaholic were no longer going to be options for me. So, I sat on my couch alone the entire time chanting to myself “Feel the pain–once and for all. Feel the pain–once and for all.” over and over again.

To read more passages from my upcoming book, click here.







SUPREME. CLEAN. MASS MACHINE NUTRITION.
Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

5 Keys For Teen Bodybuilders

By Skip La Cour

If you’re a teen bodybuilder and you’re passionate about training your body and building muscle and maybe even doing some competing, you are extremely fortunate. Some people don’t find their passion until they’re much older and some people never find it at all. Having something that you’re passionate about gives you drive that motivates you and gives you a focus that can really enrich your life.

Your passion doesn’t have to be something that makes you money or makes you famous. It just has to be something that makes you happy and gives you a sense of satisfaction. Bodybuilding is a great passion to have because it’s all about being healthy and living a clean lifestyle.

The very best piece of advice that I give teen bodybuilders is to surround themselves with positive people and information that will support their passion for bodybuilding.

Find a Great Mentor

The most important thing you can do for yourself and for your training is to find a great mentor. It doesn’t have to be a professional or someone who competes on a national level, although it can be.

Your mentor should be someone who shares your passion, who is enthusiastic and inspiring, and who will help spur you on to the next level and the next. They don’t necessarily have to be someone who can coach you, help design your program or map out your nutrition for you. They might be older or they might be around your age. A great mentor can be a pro or an amateur, as long as they have your best interests at heart and their personality suits your needs as far as the way they motivate and support you.

Until you find that mentor, or even after you find a mentor, you can sign up for your own BodySpace account and start reading through The Skip La Cour - Mass Machine Bodybuilding thread to hook up with plenty of guys who are your age or older and maybe a little bit further along in their training. The guys who participate in the thread are incredibly supportive of each other and there are always plenty of people there to help you celebrate your successes and to give you that push we all need to keep moving forward. That kind of community can be really important when you’re training and pursuing your passion, especially for a teen bodybuilder.

Teens tend to want that social interaction and involvement.

That brings me to my next piece of advice.

Surround Yourself with the Right People

When you’re getting into bodybuilding and you’re trying to learn and grow and reach your goals, the last thing you need is to be surrounded by people who think that what you’re doing is pointless or unimportant. Even being around people who just don’t understand why you feel the way you do can bring you down and kill your motivation.

Get to know other bodybuilders in your community and at your gym. Have a social circle that understands what you’re doing and why and who can give you that camaraderie that’s so important sometimes. This will also give you a resource for sharing experiences and information that can really help you out.

On my ******** page, guys come together to root each other on, congratulate each other on their successes and just support each other. Even that can be an important part of your environment if you don’t know guys in your area to provide that for you.

Get Your Information from the Right Sources

There’s so much information on the internet about anything you could possibly want to know, including bodybuilding. That can be both good and bad. Some of that information is just wrong and can not only slow your progress but get you hurt or damage your health.

This is especially true in social media and on forums. Everybody under the sun has an opinion, and you have no way of knowing if they know what they’re talking about. One of the worst things you can do is go to some random forum or ******** and post your nutrition plan or your workout routine and ask people for their input. Half the people will tell you it’s awesome and the other half will tell you it’s wrong. That just leaves you confused and running from program to program because you’re listening to people who may not have any idea what you should be eating or how you should be training.

Seek out respected and responsible sources of bodybuilding information. On my website and sites like Bodybuilding.com, you can get information that is well-researched and based on solid science and years of experience. Steer clear of bro-science and opinions from people you don’t even know on Instagram, ********, Twitter or random forums.

Do Your Homework and Get Answers from the Right People

This piece of advice is along those same lines. Get your information and your answers from people you trust and if something doesn’t sound right, go to knowledgeable sources to find out the facts.

When I was just starting out, I lived in a town where I didn’t know anyone in bodybuilding. I was really passionate about the sport and I decided I wanted to enter my first competition, a small local event. I trained my heart out for months and I was so pumped up and excited about seeing what I could do.

About two weeks before the event, a friend of mine took me aside and told me I had no chance of winning. Now, he wasn’t a bodybuilder but he was a local and he swore that I had no chance of winning because I was new on the scene and the judging was too political.

By the time he told me this, I was already totally committed. I’d been working so hard for so long and the event was right around the corner, so his advice didn’t change anything. I actually went on to win that event, but what if he had given me his “insider knowledge” when I first started training for the competition? I probably would have believed him. I probably would have quit and I certainly wouldn’t have won that event.

Listen to the advice of people who really know what they’re talking about and if it doesn’t sound right, research the facts yourself.

It’s All about Your Mindset

This last piece of advice is also one of the most important things I can say to you. Your mindset is everything. It means more than your shape, your metabolism, and your genetics, whether you have a coach and even what kind of gym you have access to.

If your attitude is determined, if you believe in yourself and if you continue to push yourself forward despite any obstacles, you can achieve your goals and make the most out of your passion for this sport.

You may only stick with bodybuilding for a few years, until work and kids and real life in general start taking over or you may still be training hard when you’re 30, 40 or even 60. Teen bodybuilders are the champions of tomorrow and if you get good advice, do your research, surround yourself with good people and keep your mindset straight, you can take your passion as far as you want.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour





Skip La Cour’s Mass Machine Nutrition is a premium brand that
is preferred by the most selective people who workout and is
quickly becoming the true LEADER in providing you with
straight-forward, no nonsense nutritional supplements.

Supreme. Clean. Mass Machine Nutrition.

Click here to check out the line and to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

Just How Much Importance Should You Put On Your Weight On The Scale?

In this video, I talk about the importance of knowing the difference between quality muscle mass and your weight on the scale.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM25 100% Whey Protein Isolate 2.2 pounds
Pure 100% Whey Protein Isolate, High Bio-Availability,
Helps Rebuild and Refuel Muscle, and more. Awesome taste.
Mixes really easily.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[skiplacour]

6 Hard Truths For Advanced Lifters

By Skip La Cour

In Part One of this "Next Level Training" series, I outlined next level strategies that have a tremendous impact on your training effectiveness and efficiency before you even started your workout. These were things that most people in the gym never even thought about before. In Part Two, I shared with you some tips on form and execution for several of the most common and most effective bodybuilding movements. In you have read those tips, you want to make sure you do. In this last part of the series, I want to leave you with some thoughts on your mindset.

Without the right mindset, you will not be able to reach as high as you are capable of reaching. I’ve said many times, on both my website and my ******** page, that your mind is the most important muscle you can work. Focus it correctly and consistently and you’ll get results and achieve goals that you never thought possible.

1. Control the Negative Movement

It’s very easy to become so mentally focused on lifting a weight that we neglect one of the most powerful parts of the exercise; the negative movement. It’s so much easier to control a weight on the positive movement. Maintaining precise control of the negative movement stimulates your muscles so dramatically that it’s essential for next level results.

When you put forth that burst of power on the positive side of the move, you are shortening the muscle. When you go back to reset, you are elongating it. Don’t let the weight control this movement.
There is a lot of different training styles and a lot of opinions on how best to control the negative movement of an exercise. Some are extreme and call for controlling the negative movement for four whole seconds. Others just say to complete it in two seconds.

With my Mass Machine Training Program, I suggest a one-count on the concentric or positive part of the movement and a two-count on the eccentric or negative. The basic idea is to do it half as fast as the positive movement.

Whatever your training style, really concentrate on controlling the weight during that part of the moment. In order to do this, you’re going to need to be focused on the rhythm, otherwise you will be liable to lapse into letting control of the negative and it will get away from you as you get tired.

Why do I continually include this in my training tips and even add it to the mindset series? Because it is one of those aspects of training that many people mistakenly think they do and need to put emphasis on it. You can’t ever get to the next level without doing this.

2. Track your Progress

Tracking your progress is absolutely essential to next level training. There’s no room at this level for just winging it.

By tracking your progress, I’m not talking about just writing down that you benched 225 during your last. Who really cares about that? That’s in the past. That’s just mere record keeping. How do you use that information to propel you to the higher and higher levels in the future?

I’m talking about having a journal or a spreadsheet where you can record what you did the last time you worked out, how you felt and other information that will help you to predict trends and set your ambitious goals properly for your future efforts.

How many times have you benched 225 and thought, “Wow, I did pretty well today.” But then you remember that you benched 235 and for more reps last time. Essentially, you just wasted a set, because if you had remembered that you benched 235 for more reps last time, you would have been aiming for beating that. Heck! Although that’s certainly not the next level way to go about your efforts, if you were to even do that you’d be far ahead of the vast majority of the people working out in the gym. They’re just happy to get the workout over with.

Tracking your progress allows you to set goals for each workout that are based on what you know you have done, not based on how you feel at that moment or what you think you can do today. Your feeling are unreliable indicators of what you are truly capable of achieving. Numbers give you a more accurate understanding of who you really are and what you are truly capable of achieving now and in the future.

A lot of times, just knowing you have to write it down after your set makes you work that much harder. You become more accountable to yourself. In life, accountability plays a huge role in even the hardest working people’s performance. If you know that you will have to write down that you benched twenty pounds less or did fewer reps, that’s often enough to make you push through to a better workout. This is where you start making some real progress because you’re always setting your own bar a little higher.

3. Focus on Execution, not Just Form

The difference between form and execution is that when people focus on form they often become preoccupied with how a exercise looks, rather than how well they are doing it. Even worse, they worry about what other people may think of how they are performing the exercise. That’s a huge mistake that people at the next level don’t even worry about! Focusing on execution means making sure that the right muscle group is targeted and stimulated properly.

When you’re too focused on form and how a move looks (especially to the people around you in the gym), you risk doing the exercise in a way that doesn’t benefit you. Maybe for you, your back shouldn’t be quite so rigid. Maybe the angle of your elbows needs to be a little more pronounced in order for you to stimulate your shoulders.

I’d rather have you think about execution than form because that’s how you target and stimulate the right muscles. That’s how you maintain the proper focus and how you move on to the next level and the next.

4. Be Results-Driven, Not Process-Driven

A lot of people become too satisfied when they find a workout program and a diet that everyone at the gym or on the internet approves of. It might be a great program and it might be a fine diet, but there’s so much more that goes into getting results. Results, like your mental and emotional focus and your execution and understanding of your body and your program.

If you become satisfied just because you think you have the right plan, you are too worried about the process. You need to be focused on your results. Don't be satisfied just because you have this acceptable training program with the right diet. You’ll become complacent and think that’s all you need to get results.

Instead of letting the process drive you, be results-driven. When you’re focused on the results, you make sure you are doing the exercises properly, that you understand your program and your body, and you are giving them both your all. You use all of your physical, mental, emotional, and psychological powers to find way to make the program work even better. And, trust me, there is a way to continually take whatever program you are using to higher and higher levels. But you aren’t going to find those next level strategies if you are satisfied because you think the plan is just going to take your there. It’s not the program that will take you there. It will be YOU.

I’ve also seen people become overwhelmed because they don’t think their program is good enough. They are getting results and they look fantastic, but they’re so focused on the process and how good it is or isn’t that they don’t see how well they are doing. These people need to become results-driven quickly or they won’t enjoy the journey enough to stick with it.

5. Be Careful of Getting The Wrong Advice/Too Much Advice

When something is really important to us we typically want to get feedback on our goals and how we’re going about achieving them. We want assurance that we’re doing things right and we also want some advice on how to reach higher.

There’s nothing wrong with seeking that out as long as you seek it from the right sources and as long as you know when to go with your own ideas.

Only ask for advice from someone you really respect, who has your same goals, passion and desire, and not some watered-down version of it. If you want to be a champion bodybuilder (for example), you don’t go to an auto mechanic who causally trains three days a week to get his advice on gearing up for your next contest. Believe, there will be people with absolutely no experience or even passion who get a real sense of power tell you the “right” way you need to be doing things. You go to someone who has your best interests at heart, who understands what you’re doing and why, and who can give you some real insight.

One of the worst things you can do in this area is post your diet or training routine on the internet somewhere and ask everyone what they think. I already know what they will think: half will love it and half will hate it. But does either half actually know what they’re talking about? And if so, which half? Bottom line: You are more confused than before you posted it.

6. Always Review Your Workouts

One of the most important ways you can train your mindset is by reviewing your workouts religiously. This doesn’t have to be a long process, but it does have to be a consistent one.

We talked earlier about tracking your progress, but tracking is half the process. You also need to review what you’re tracking. In order to constantly be striving for more and pushing to the next level, you have to assess where you are now and what you did today. You want to stop bad practices before they become unconscious, bad habits and reinforce the things you do well so they become unconscious, good habits.

This doesn’t have to take up a lot of time; I recommend taking thirty seconds after your workout to review how you did. Did you fall short of your goals or expectations? What can you do better next time? What new strategy or technique really worked for you today?

In Part One of the series, we talked about reviewing before your workout and when you couple that with reviewing after your workout and concentrating on what you’re doing and what you need to do, you focus all of your mental energy on your workouts instead of being distracted by things going on around or in your life. You also lower the risk of working out based on how you feel as opposed to working out based on your goals and on what you know you can do.

These tips don’t take a whole lot of thought or planning. They just need to take root in your head so that you can follow through on them and make them a part of your mindset and your training. Constantly evolving and constantly learning; that’s where the next level comes into view.

Thanks for taking the imitative to read this series of next level training tips. I am impressed by your determination to get to higher and higher levels! I take my role as your coach and mentor very seriously. I am flattered that, with so much information out there, you finished reading my articles. As you can tell, I am extremely passionate about that I do.

If there are any questions that you have about any facet of the bodybuilding and training process, send me an email at skip@skiplacour.com.

Train Hard. Think Big.

Skip La Cour



Click here to order
Skip La Cour's Mass Machine Nutrition
MM180 Physio-Machine SUPREME 180 Capsules
Support fat burning, help build muscle, support a
healthy estrogen balance, and more.
right here on Bodybuilding.com today.

[gymrat992]

Awesome article skip! I love reading your articles, Always great info that helps to keep me focused on my training and my life too! Look forward to more articles.
Thanks!

[skiplacour]

Awesome article skip! I love reading your articles, Always great info that helps to keep me focused on my training and my life too! Look forward to more articles.
Thanks!

Awesome, gymrat992! I appreciate the feedback.