Nice Biceps

Question: How often should you test yourself and really push the limits and max out in the weight room?

Answer: You have to test yourself. If you don’t than why are you training and what are you training for?

How often you test can be as frequent as every 8 weeks or once a year. This is going to be dependent on your schedule and your training level. The more advanced you are the less you will test. A beginner can test every 8 weeks. A true beginner will technically test himself every time he goes to the gym as he will be getting his .weight room legs. and trying to figure out where he is at.

What people need to do is set a goal and a definitive time table for the goal. Then map out a plan to get there. People fail in this regard for three reasons:

• They have no goals.

• If they do have goals, they are completely unreasonable.

• They don’t have a plan.

For example, let’s say you have someone that benches 225lb. Invariably, this person will want to bench 275 or 315. They set this as a goal for 6 months. What this person needs to do is shoot for 245 in 10 weeks. They will definitely hit this goal with the right training and nutrition. If they shoot for 275, they will get frustrated and discouraged and quit. Then they will still be benching 225. It’s all about small goals over many, many years.

Another thing that people need to do is focus on one or two things. I always read about someone that wants to increase their squat, bench, their body fat and the size of their arms. They throw everything into a big pot of stew and start working. Because of their lack of focus on one area, they will invariably fail at all of them. Work on one of these, achieve it and then move on. This is getting off topic but something that needs to be addressed.