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10 Most Useful Lessons from Our Successful Adonis Contest Winners: Part II

November 9, 2012 by

If you haven’t read the first part go here: 10 Most Useful Lessons from Our Successful Adonis Contest Winners: Part I

In the last part we were talking about the first top five lessons from our contest winners, let’s take a look at the other five.

What defines a champion?

Here are the 5 lessons we discussed:

  1. Get Going…Learn on the Fly!
  2. What Drives You to Take Action?
  3. Don’t Change the Workout…Stick to It!
  4.  Form Comes First Before Weight
  5. Focus on Muscle Activation

Let’s move on to the second half of the 10 most useful lessons from our successful Adonis Index contest winners…

Lesson #6: Challenge Yourself

So form comes first, muscle activation come second. However, if you want to make your body strong and build some muscle mass all of your exercises must be performed against some type of resistance.

While there are many different ways to create that resistance, your best option range from barbell, dumbbell, or body weight exercises which you will find in the AI workout plans.

Pick the appropriate amount of weight and challenge yourself as you train for  muscle growth.  The challenge is to know how much weight you can lift while keeping  strict form through the entire set.   For example, eight  reps properly performed at a lighter weight far exceeds 3 reps performed at a heavier weight while sacrificing your form to finish the last 5 reps.

This will  involve a bit of trial and error, but rest assured your training skills will increase and muscular development will come.

Lesson #7: Ask Questions and Listen to Others

This is why we have the community, so use it, seriously.

Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and ask questions.

Lesson #8: Track Your Progress

Many successful contest winners have been known to track their results.   It’s almost a given, otherwise how would you know if you’re improving?  Even traditional bodybuilders keep a journal.  I don’t mean in the sense of  writing in a diary like: “Dear diary today I had a …” but rather writing down training information and having a diet log.

While the diet log is something you will probably do for only a couple months, the training log is far more important.  It will help you track the amount of weight used in certain exercises, record gains in strength over time, and even how you felt during your most challenging workout.

This is a tremendous return for the little amount of time it takes to write this information down.

Lesson #9: Give the Program and the Concepts an Honest Try

This is a huge one! It goes hand in hand with the first lesson, “Get Going…Learn on the Fly!”

If you ask any successful coach or mentor about goal setting they will almost always state that you must follow one approach until you learn the process and are able to get results.

If you read 10 different fitness sources and then try to follow all of their advice there is no way you will ever get any results. If it’s not your job as a marketer, writer, or journalist to read from several sources then YOU should read only one source of information. If you are serious about your results then you must focus and see beyond the entertainment of reading an article while drinking your morning coffee. It may sound funny when we say unsubscribe from other fitness “experts”, but that’s really what you should do. After joining our community, most people eventually choose to do the same. Keep in mind, if you want results you can’t afford to get conflicting information, so pick one source and stick to it. If it happens to be us, great!  If not, then no hard feelings, we hope you find what you’re looking for.

For me personally, this was difficult to overcome, but I now understand what was holding me back during my first year of training with Adonis Index.

Even if you don’t want to completely abandon other sources of fitness advice, then just simply put them on hold.  If what you are presently doing is not working, then you need to try something different. What’s important is that you follow the program in its entirety for at least 3 months before making any judgment calls.  Remember this is crucial, because if you don’t “try” you will never know.

Sometimes the struggle can be mental and not physical.  While training for an ideal body, you may face difficulty fasting or mentally accepting that you are now lighter in body weight, yet have a leaner and more muscular appearance.

A good rule of thumb is that if what is preventing you from trying our approach is your emotional system and not logic, fact, or proof…You’re on the right track!

Remember lesson one, “Get Going…Learn on the Fly!” Judge yourself only AFTERWARDS and not before you start – this is the biggest mistake of guys who fail to transform their physique.

You’ve got to decide how you want to get to your goals, pick one strategy and follow it through to the end. Don’t mix and match programs or philosophies otherwise you’ll never know if any of them work, or what works and what doesn’t. – John Barban

Lesson #10: Take Pictures

This is something most fitness experts rarely teach, but it’s a pretty neat technique to keep track of  you’re progress. First of all, a picture can be objective and allow you to compare your before and after pics, which is something you can’t do with a mirror. When you look in a mirror, you can often times fool yourself, because you see only what your brain wants you to see. While pictures serve as more accurate snapshots of reality you will  need some prep before capturing some quality images.  Shooting several images weeks or months apart lets you know whether your current plan is working or not.

There you have it!  These are the top 10 lessons learned from our contest winners.

Here’s the entire list one more time:

  1. Get Going and Learn on the Fly
  2. Figure Out What Drives You
  3. Don’t Change the Workout and Stick to It
  4. Put Your Lifting Form First and Foremost
  5. Focus on Muscle Activation
  6. Challenge Yourself
  7. Ask Questions and Listen to Others
  8. Make Notes as You Progress
  9. Give the Concept an Honest Try
  10. Take Pictures

Now, for the bonus tip! Yes, there is a bonus tip included. LOL

To make this more than just another random fitness article you will read; let’s put this information to use by taking a moment to grab a pen and paper.

Now write down the numbers one through ten.  You will use these numbers to refer to the ten lessons.  Next take a look at the list and if there is something you’re already doing place a “check mark” next to the appropriate number. If not, mark that number with an “X.”  Once you are done, go back and write out the lessons you have marked with an “X.”  The list you have just written is what you should work on in the next couple weeks before we begin the new contest. If you have several things to work one, take it slow.  Begin by focusing on one lesson a week.

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

 

PS: Do you have some questions about this list or do you feel like you could add one or two more lessons? Let me know in the community here.

PPS: If you found this article useful, please share it with your friends and like it on Facebook.

 

Filed Under: Greg's Lessons, Sage Advice Tagged With: ,

10 Most Useful Lessons from Our Successful Adonis Contest Winners: Part I

November 2, 2012 by

This article is focused on guys who are just starting to use the Adonis Index systems and are seeking clarity on how to use the workouts to their benefit. If you want to make a successful transformation and even win our contest this information is for you.

FYI make sure you read the whole article to its end!

Everyone who goes through our contests and crosses the finish line reports a huge shift in there perspective of life, accompanied with  improved confidence, and also an amazing physical and mental transformation. The question is what sets the winners apart from the guys who give up and don’t finish (not everyone finishes the contest)?

Adonis Index Winners

So what exactly makes you a winner? What defines a champion?

Well, if you’ve listened to a couple of our interviews with the winners (if not I encourage you to do so) you’ve probably noticed that certain points were emphasized by almost all contest winners.

I’ve listened to every single interview we have ever done at least once and after listening to them I’ve realized that there were 10 key points repeated almost every time.

Here they are…

Lesson #1: Get Going…Learn on the Fly!

Usually when somebody gets into the Adonis Lifestyle community, he starts asking a bunch of questions, which is a great thing, because that’s what the community is for.  However, the issue is when your couple questions turns into long term discussion over the workout’s or diet’s effectiveness even before giving it a try.

If you follow Pareto’s principle, then preferably you would want to spend 80% of your time practicing and 20% of your time reading new information or tweaking your current approach.

While the community is one of the best tools we have, you don’t want to spend 3 weeks there before actually going to the gym and trying the workout. All the information and help we provide should be viewed as a guidance and supplementation to your actions.

With that being understood, start going to the gym first and then use your down time on the weekends to listen to  some podcasts and share your challenges inside the community.

Lesson #2:  What Drives You to Take Action?

In my last article we’ve talked about figuring out your “why” – your reason why you are working out and maintaining a good diet. Which is in my opinion, your primary driver. Once you know the reason for your goals it’s easier to achieve them.

If motivation is an issue and you feel down all the time, read this:  The Key to Lasting Motivation

Lesson #3: Don’t Change the Workout…Stick to It!

One of the issues with inexperienced guys who never get the body they want is that they jump from program to program. They are simply never satisfied with the structure of the program.  They feel pumped for the first week or two and share their excitement with friends, but after about 3 weeks they become bored.  Feeling frustrated because they didn’t see any massive gains, they jump to a different program and then wonder why they look the same as they did  last year.

If you want results you need to go to the gym regularly and stick to the workout plan as it’s designed and continue to follow that workout plan in its entirety  (yes, 3 weeks simply ain’t enough, muscle growth is very slow).       A realistic and achievable goal is to stick to the program for 12 weeks. After comparing your starting and final progress pics, it’s up to you to decide in which direction you are to continue.

Lesson #4: Form Comes First Before Weight

This should go without saying but almost every beginner (myself included back in the early days) and the vast majority of regular trainees with some experience neglect this and everyone goes for the biggest weight plates and heaviest dumbbells in the gym despite the fact they are just not strong enough to train with them.

I firmly believe that the weight you are able to lift and the weight you are able to train with ARE DIFFERENT. The word “training” is not about lifting some weights, it’s about conditioning your muscles;  it is for that  reason we focus on proper form. If your form sucks and your bicep curls look like a “Good Morning” back exercise, you’re likely to be injured long before the time you will build any muscle.

Lesson #5: Focus on Muscle Activation

This goes hand in hand with the lesson four.

Anyone who has some solid weight training in their background knows exactly what muscle activation feels like.  If you don’t have that much experience, don’t worry it’s something you will learn and master over time.

As you progress through the beginner’s stage and gain strength, you will be able to feel your muscles in a completely different way. It’s at this stage when you should feel comfortable with basic form and begin the art of  focusing on the reps in each exercise more so than just the weight. For example, what do you’re muscles feel like as they complete each rep?  If your goal isn’t to be a power lifter, but rather a “body builder” then this is what you should focus on.

I always though that building muscle is just about moving some iron around in the gym. On the contrary, guys who get the best results are usually the ones who can activate their muscles properly.

Check this out for more information: Give Yourself Permission to Lift Light

Anyway, this is the end of Part I, so stay tuned for Part II.

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

 

PS: Would like to guess the other 5 key lessons we will talk about next Friday? Let me know in the Adonis Lifestyle Community here.

PPS: If you are wondering who are the ripped gentlemen on the picture above, you can check out their stories here.

Filed Under: Greg's Lessons, Sage Advice Tagged With:

The Key to Lasting Motivation

October 12, 2012 by

Let’s talk about motivation…

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
– Zig Ziglar

What gets you going in the morning? What keeps you going during the day?

Do you wake up  every morning pumped up because you can live out your dreams, work on amazing projects and do all the things you wanted to do or are you accustomed to the   “same sh*t , different day” routine?

What do you do when you are tired and do not feel like going to the gym?

Do you dig deep within yourself in search of more strength and energy or do you simply “give up”, crash on the sofa and  watch a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother while chowing down on some pizza?

Some people know how to stay motivated and some are left relying on their luck, which person will you choose to become?

I  said “choose”  because I believe that we can choose who we want to become, what daily experience we want to have and what emotions we want to feel.

So the question is what do you do to keep yourself motivated?

If you are looking for external sources of motivation (like your coach or friends) you are approaching it from the wrong side. You have to learn how to “manufacture” motivation from within yourself whenever you need it.

The key to lasting motivation and being able to get back on track is when you are just not feeling it is in understanding one thing – your “Why” (meaning why do you want to achieve your goals).

Strangely enough, I was doing this without even realizing it until I recognized these similar traits from the winners of the Adonis Index and Venus Index contests.

Even though understanding your “why” is common sense (it’s not exactly some dark secret only a few chosen ones know about) most people still have no idea how to take advantage of this and often times feel helpless struggling to manage their daily activities.

We’ve had several contestants tell us that discovering your why is the best way to stay motivated for the  long term.

Here’s something that I’ve noticed – Emotions come in waves, so you won’t always operate at a level of  100% determination to meet your goals and you will slip, everybody does, no one will ever have a perfect 12 week transformation. We are driven by emotions which is the force that shapes our habits.

However, even when you don’t feel like working out, you can still have an emotional state where you feel driven to do something that will help you grow; in this case going to the gym. You control all your emotions (good and bad, so nobody can make you angry, only you can), the only thing is creating the positive emotions will require more effort on your part (shocking I know).

Understanding your why will help you channel the right emotions to make the right decisions to get you closer to your ideal AI, because one of the keys to building an ideal body is workout consistency. I’m sure you’ve seen it yourself, people get gym memberships, but they lack any motivation to keep up their gym attendance so they drop out and never get in shape.

Time to Figure Out Your Why

The truth is that working out and even having an ideal body is not actually the outcome we want.

Take money for example, we don’t want the money, we want the lifestyle, we want to feel the emotions and have the experience that are associated with being wealthy, the same applies for building more muscle and having an ideal body.

A good looking body gives us feelings of confidence, accomplishment and happiness. It also means better job or social opportunities and positive feedback from others. It simply allows us to feel happier about ourselves, just listen to our podcasts and interviews if you don’t believe this to be true.

Your desire to build an ideal body has to be stronger than your desire to sit on the sofa and do nothing, which is very tempting because it’s comfortable and requires no effort.

Most men are in denial of their emotions, I know I was, but if you are in denial, you have already begun to lose control.

If you want to have control of your actions, you need to be in control of your emotions and know how to find that motivation within you every single day.

The best thing to do for yourself is to pause whatever activity your doing, close your eyes and take the next five minutes to just focus on figuring out:

-Why you want to build an ideal body?

-Why do you go to the gym?

-Why is the outcome important for you and how will it change your life?

Not that it’s written down, take a couple minutes out of your morning routine to imagine yourself achieving your goals. If you can see the benefits of achieving your goals, it will be easier to motivate yourself to go to the gym and stick to your diet.

Some contestants reported that they wanted to be more confident taking their shirt off, some guys wanted to be more healthy for their kids and/or grandkids,  and some wanted to become actors and models, what’s your why?

FYI, I’m not a psychologist, nor an expert on emotions or the human brain, but I know that understanding your why helped me and our Adonis/Venus contestants get some pretty amazing results, so hopefully sharing this with you will lead to some new winners and some amazing transformations in our future contests.

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

 

PS: How do you keep yourself motivated every day and what is your routine for getting back up when you are feeling down? Let me know in the community here.

Filed Under: Greg's Lessons Tagged With: ,

The Naughty Guide to Getting Big and Ripped

September 21, 2012 by

This is a controversial title even for us.

However, the question is, will having an occasional  item from the “naughty list” prevent you from getting ripped?

Why couldn’t you have a beer, vodka or scotch when you are out with friends?

What exactly is wrong with having an occasional cigar when you are at a business meeting in some fancy restaurant?

What exactly is wrong with having an occasional cigar when you are at a business meeting in some fancy restaurant?

I say that there is nothing wrong with either of those.

And not only that, but I will go even further and say that you can enjoy all of these “bad things” and more and STILL get big and ripped and look better than any other guy sitting at a table with you.

There is a catch though…

Do you know what it is?

It’s the same thing you have to watch out for just like when eating the so called “junk food” like ice cream and burgers.

You just can’t do it that often or all the time.

The concept isn’t to become a heavy, addicted smoker, who goes to the bars and gets smashed everyday and is eating fast food from dawn to dusk. It’s rather about understanding that it’s okay to treat yourself once in a while and that it’s not going to do any damage if you have systems in place, which just means consistency in diet and training.

If it’s not an everyday thing and you can limit it, there is nothing wrong with that.

Personally I hate smoking, I hate that my clothes smell whenever I go out to a bar and people smoke around me. I also have zero respect for people who can’t go a week without alcohol. However, it doesn’t mean I won’t buy a good cigar when I have a birthday or get some beer when I’m out with friends.

“No Way Bodybuilding Is about Making Sacrifices and Being Better than Others”

Today when I was searching for some inspiration for this article I’ve stumbled upon one article at a pretty famous Czech bodybuilding website. It was about the conventional six meals a day, 300 grams of protein and yadada type of conventional crap. I didn’t really read through it,  but I did read the comments, that’s always interesting to me.

There was one comment from some guy who was trying to make a statement that would ultimately lead to damaging people’s social and business lives.  Personally I  would phrase the statement differently, but I agreed with some of the points he wrote there.

I continued to read a few more comments, but then I had to stop and just shake my head.

Everyone was either arguing with him about how wrong he is or just being plain arrogant and vulgar.  Mind you it’s easy to be very malicious on the internet because anyone can hide behind a computer screen.

I also observed that diet and training approaches are becoming  as sacred as religion to some individuals.

People will fight to the death with you over their own beliefs and not only will they not respect your beliefs, but they won’t admit that they have no proof to justify their claims.

One of the things people seem to acquire, for some twisted reason, is the “this is all I do” attitude. So training and diet suddenly becomes their identity and fitness is all about sacrifice.

Now don’t get me wrong, getting in shape definitely requires sacrifice, more for some than for others, but 100% devotion to just getting in better shape? For what? Just for the sake of being in a better shape than everyone else… So you can feel superior and “better” than them? What’s the point of that?

Get a life!

I don’t see anything wrong with having a burger or beer once in a while.

I live in Czech Republic and beer is a part of almost every social event (we have the best beer in the world in here!), so anyone who would avoid drinking beer would be disregarded quickly.

Once you realize a couple beers here and there won’t hurt your fat loss or muscle building progress  it’s possible to get in shape while having a treat once in a while and enjoying the social activities along with it.

In Czech Republic beer is part of the culture. The thing is that even if you have a few beers here and there, you can still get big and ripped. It doesn’t have to affect your fat loss and muscle building efforts if you are smart about it.

However, if  you like to drink to a point where you have a hangover so great that you don’t remember anything that happened last night and you do this on regular basis… it’s not hard to imagine your gym time suffering.  (not to mention having blown out estrogen levels)

Even if you have a scotch once a week and maybe a couple beers here and there as long as you stay within your caloric budget you can still look good and be healthy (get blood work and other tests done if you are skeptical).

This same concept applies to food; however attention to detail is key.

Food is such a big part of our lives (you just can’t live without it) the more you try to limit the food choice, the more you will crave them.

While you may think you are strong willed for not eating them, one day you will break and overindulge on those forbidden foods. You may end  up overeating for multiple days and begin to feel ashamed. Hence the never ending cycle of the “yo-yo diet.”

I believe that nothing should be forbidden (I’m talking about food, alcohol, social eating events, parties etc) as long as your regular routines (training, diet, sleep, rest of the week,…) are in check and you make this an occasion not routine and are able to limit the amount.

BTW if you are looking for some ideas on cocktails and drinks, Chad Howse has a pretty good article at his fitness blog here.

What fitness shouldn’t be about:

  • Deprivation of tasty food, fun life, crazy experience
  • 100% sacrifice in your life at an expense of your business and social life
  • Suffering for the sake of building an extreme level of fitness and feeling superior over others

What fitness should be about:

  • Having routines that set you on a path of success and building a great looking body
  • A way of improving your life, making it better, easier and more enjoyable
  • A gateway to conversation at social and business events
  • Being confident and happy with yourself
  • A tool for helping you live an enjoyable life

The AI Revelation: Just Because You Can Eat It, Doesn’t Mean You Should

Sometimes when we say that you can eat burgers all day long because fat loss is only about calories, some people interpret it in a way that that’s the only think they should eat.

Well, if that’s how you were thinking about this, you have it wrong.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

It wouldn’t be very healthy for you to eat only ice cream, burgers, and pizza 24/7.

You still need balance and variety in your diet to stay healthy and get all the nutrients. Even Prof. Haub, when he was doing his famous experiment called the Twinkie diet, still took some greens and vitamins.

The point is that those “junk foods” aren’t the only meals available for you. That’s just a very limiting way of looking at it. There are meals beyond the healthy/unhealthy way of eating that.

Have fun with cooking.

Just don’t think about the macros and the supposedly healthy or unhealthy benefits.

Personally I don’t count macros, it never occurred to me, I just keep variety and eat naturally low calorie meals (okay maybe not so low for most people, but still lower than I could).

Making good and bad lists isn’t helpful, we naturally like to rebel against things that are labeled as bad and what’s forbidden suddenly becomes desired.

Nothing should be off limits. You just gotta limit the amount.

And alcohol is no different.

There is a difference between an alcoholic and a grown up man who is able to enjoy a glass of wine on a date, or beer with friends while watching a sports game as well as there is a difference between someone who only knows chocolate and burgers and a person who visits fast food restaurants only occasionally.

There is a word for this, it’s called “temperance”…

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

 

PS: Do you agree that fitness should make your life better and not a living hell where sacrifice, deprivation and suffering is your daily experience? Or do you think that fitness should be about total devotion? Let me know in the community here.

Filed Under: Greg's Lessons

Are You Overtraining with Adonis Index Workouts?

August 17, 2012 by

This article is meant for more experienced trainees, read it, but follow the advice only if you have been working out with us for a while.

You have been warned.

So you’re  following the Adonis Index workouts and they have grown to become quite fierce.

Is it possible your over-training with our systems?

Chances are you will never get even close to overtraining. How Come?

If you have been around in the community for a while you may have noticed that there are a couple of recurring questions the new guys often ask.

Here’s are a few common questions revolving around our topic of discussion:

“Won’t the Adonis Index 3.1 and Booster specializations cause me to overtrain?”

“Aren’t the supersets in the advanced workouts a little too much?”

“That’s a lot of workout days, shouldn’t I rest after each workout?”

All three questions stem from the fear of overtraining.

This concern is completely understandable, you want to progress, but at the same time, you don’t want to risk over-training, injury and/or compromising your immune system.

This re-occurring question was first noted when we did an interview with Vivek and Adam who both trained twice a day for almost the whole week for the latest 12 Week transformation contest.

Here are their interviews:

From these interviews more questions spawned… Can you over-train with Adonis Index workouts?  What is the limit that your body can handle before it starts to break down? Aren’t two workout routines a day or even training once a week, but for seven days straight for weeks on end too much?

What about rest and regeneration? Aren’t you supposed to rest for at least a day to let your muscles grow and body to recover?

These question demands a verdict.

Well, after interviewing more than a hundred people from both Adonis and Venus Index contest, the answer seems to be quite simply,  “no”.

It appears to be just another industry myth.

For example consider the olympic athletes, they are training all the time, from dusk till dawn, even the pro bodybuilders have two-a-days in their competition prep plan.

Now genetic predisposition and drugs make a big difference, but even without those your body is capable of more.

It all comes down to two things:

  1. Lifestyle circumstances
  2. Conditioning

It All Depends on Your Lifestyle

If you are working from 7 am to 6pm, then you will not be able to handle more than one workout a day without sacrificing your sleep and social life.

That’s the reality.

If on the other hand you are like Vivek, who is a successful business owner can plan his days however he wants, then you can get two workouts done pretty easily without having to go nuts.

So, if you have the option and really want to experiment with your workouts, then go for it.

It’s a Matter of Conditioning Yourself

You can have the time, but you may not have the fitness required for such an intense training load.

I always say that workout frequency is really just a matter of conditioning.

If you are not trying to lift as heavy as possible, testing your max or going to failure with each set and you actually understand the principles behind the Permission to Lift Light concept, then it’s about slightly increasing your frequency over time.

When you first got into weight training, you probably couldn’t handle more than two workouts a week, your body was in shock, trying to repair from the first workouts and build more strength.

You continued to work hard and your body responded with increased strength and mass muscle gains. Your overall condition improved and  you were ready to face greater challenges.

Well, going from 4-5 workouts to everyday training or two workouts a day is similar. You begin to increase the frequency “little by little” – baby steps.

After a couple of weeks or months, you’re suddenly able to perform two-a-day workouts with the greatest of ease.

This transformation results in tremendous muscle growth.

Vivek was experiencing muscle gains equivalent to that of someone in their teens (we call this catch up growth).

And Adam could suddenly out perform  his buddies, here’s what he told us afterwards:

Here’s what Adam told us after training twice a day:

The guys I was training with were out lifting me every week (% of increase), despite me being more focused and dedicated. 

It was not until I started lifting lots more(2x a day) that anything changed. A couple lifts I started going up faster than they were, a couple lifts we progressed equally, a couple I was just able to reduce the percentage that they out gained me.

Every person is different,

I did the 3.0 program and documented everything. Then the next three months I did it with extra workouts, as many as I could do and feel like I was safely pushing the edge. But I worked into it. It started with just a extra set or two at night… then it grew until I was sometimes doing the entire day twice. I did not even alternate days. I did the exact same exercises. I had never heard of anyone doing this so I figured I would see what happened. Athletes do the same thing day in and day out so why can I not do the same lifts twice in one day?

I just experimented. My theory was this… If lifting causes a slight damage to the muscle, maybe re-damaging it a couple hours later would be like ripping a scab off and getting extra damage. Sort of sounds silly saying it like that but that is what I was wondering.

The reason I love the AI way of life is simply that they give you the understanding of the concepts and theories that we are then free to play with. To use the latest information and theories to create our own experiment.

No ONE rule exists. I think that this is an important thing to accept. Then dedicate 3 months of your life as an experiment and report back.

The truth is you will have greater results if you train with lighter weights, and work the muscle more often.

However, keep in mind if following this strategy blindly, over-training is bound to occur.

Here is a quick message from John Barban on this topic:

“Eat too much food and do too much exercise, and your body will develop diseases of over consumption like type-2 diabetes, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and arthritis (just to name a few). And you’re joints muscles and tendons will start to break down from excessive exercise and your immune system istself can become compromised (classic overtraining syndrome).”

There is a sweet spot to everything.

However, the Adonis Index workouts are designed in a way that will not cause overtraining.

And if you have the time and conditioning, you can start adding more in order to get more results and find out your limits.

Start with the basic 3.1 workouts and MBF that through a couple weeks condition yourself to handle more challenging stuff. This can be adding specializations aka boosters to your current routine or progressing to ATS and IXP. (Here is a list of all Adonis Index Workouts)

It’s a step-by-step process of conditioning yourself to handle bigger challenges.

4 Ways to Challenge Yourself and Gain More Muscle

If you are a more experienced trainee you might wanna try testing your limits.

If you have been through the regular AI workouts and you want to keep your training fun, fresh and challenging here are a couple of ways to do so.

1. Try the Anabolic Again

Anabolic Again is a very advanced program designed by Brad Pilon that will take your training to a whole another level.

It’s mainly for people who no longer get any results from their regular workouts.

2. Cut the Rest Days

This means that if you have 5 workouts a week like in MBF or 6 with 3.1+boosters, you can just skip the rest days and do three weeks worth of workouts in just two.

If at any point you feel like it’s getting too much and you really need a rest, just take a day off.

It’s about trial and error, remember your goal is to test out your limits and see how much you can push.

3. Add a Second Workout

You can add an extra workout day like Vivek or Adam to increase training frequency and put on some serious muscle mass.

4. Add Some other Sport Activities

We go to the gym to work on ourselves, develop a stronger body, and improve our character. However, if you already look good, why not keep improving and enjoy your body and life a bit at the same time?

Take up swimming, challenge some friends to beach volleyball, or join a pick-up game of basketball.

These activities are great forms of cardio, you’ll be out of the gym, breathing  fresh air and may even have time to stop and smell the roses.

The bottom line is if you continue training 4-5 days a week you will still burn calories while  participating  in other recreational activities on your “non-training” days.

For example, an activity such as mountain biking  will enhance your conditioning, and contribute to some mass muscle gains in your thighs and calves.

An added bonus  if you are naturally skinny guy like me.

So what will it be? Which option will you try and experiment with? Let me know in the forum. (Not a member? Go here)

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

Filed Under: Greg's Lessons, Muscle Building Tagged With: ,

How to Find Confidence

July 13, 2012 by

Before we dive into how to find or build confidence, let’s talk about whether it’s even important, because why would you spend time on learning something that doesn’t even matter, right?

If you fake confidence, people and especially women will sense it and it will hurt your social status.

Why Is It so Important?

Well, if you are into developing yourself then you may have already heard that status means pretty much everything. It always did, but today it has  more career influence than ever before.

It doesn’t really matter whether you want to attract more women or make a deal at a business meeting, you will need to have a  confidence and good rapport with others, the more the better.  Status is partially based on presentation (clothes, body language,  grooming, level of fitness and confidence).

So,  let’s approach this process from hindsight and begin connecting all the dots, confidence is pretty damn important. As a man you need to be in control (not controlling) and confident about yourself and what you do in life.

This will quickly translate into a higher ranking of social status.

Would You Rather Lack Insecurity or Be Confident?

I don’t know how I would answer this question myself a few years back, but today after training with Adonis Index for a little over two years I believe that the foundation for confidence is actually a lack of insecurity.

If you have noticed, the guys who are truly considered confident usually lack any insecurities at all. Or at least they naturally make it seem that way.

They respect themselves, they are smooth in conversation, cool all the time and no matter what they do (even if they are not good at a certain activity) they do everything in a confident way. I think it’s not a coincidence that these guys almost always have very high character, high social status and people love being around them.

These guys know how to present themselves and be confident, which gives them high social status.

Now by confidence I don’t mean arrogance, I think most people often confuse these two concepts.

Being confident and acting like a man with high self-esteem is not arrogance, it’s a sign of strength, both inner and outer or in other words – physical and mental strength.

By now everyone probably has at least a rough idea about what confidence is  and the important role it plays in your life.

Additionally, I’m sure you’re dying to find out the secrets of  how to obtain greater confidence.

Can You Buy Confidence?

In this age of instant gratification, everyone is looking for easy, quick fixes and most people are not interested in long term rock-solid solutions.

Confidence is one of those terms that is often times misused due to poor marketing tactics. Mostly marketers attempt to “sell” confidence by offering anxiety pills, pick up routines and so on.

Truth be told, confidence is a skill that every guy already has imprinted in his DNA, the only issue is that you have to do something very important in order to draw it out from within you.

…Wait for it…

…Here it comes…

…You have to actually endure some “pain”, go through some challenges and build or accomplish something for yourself (for example a good looking body) in order to find it in yourself .

From this milestone you will have developed the basics  to present yourself in a confident way.

Unfortunately, there is no magic pill for confidence. If there was those who already possessed “confidence” would not be as valuable or rare.

Society places value on things that are hard to obtain and this applies to tangible items like gold, as well as intangible concepts/skills that require great effort and discipline, like building a killer looking body.

If you have read the main Adonis Index manual then by now you know that building your ideal Adonis body will also translate into having more confidence.

In a nutshell what Adonis Index does for you in reality is give you the body that stands out, draws attention and gives you increased social value or ‘higher’ status.

However, there are some points to mention that  most people who are just starting out will not realize immediately.

There are common ‘growing pains’ such as: being  unhappy with the way you look or feeling INSECURE about your body if  you had to take your shirt off in a public setting.

However, there is another concept, that builds confidence like crazy.  Although, it has tremendous impact on your growth it’s understandable that you could “miss out”  because it originates from experience, more specifically the experience of challenging yourself and TRANSFORMING yourself – both your body and your whole life.

For example, consider the experience of going through a challenging workout and finishing it.

The AI workouts are tough, I mean let’s not sugarcoat it, the advanced modules like IXP or ATS are pretty difficult.

There aren’t many  more challenging things  you could do to train your body without risking injury.

Even the main modules like the main Adonis Index Workout plans 3.1 are pretty difficult too if you are a beginner.

Each workout is a challenge, each week is a challenge, each month is a challenge.

The consistent routine of working hard, building a better body, and seeing the amazing transformation you’ve made three months later give you not only  a quick boost in confidence,  it empowers you for life!

Confidence is a skill that you can learn and more importantly you can find in yourself simply by going through challenges and overcoming your fears and surpassing the  expectations of the people around you.

… what better way is there  than training with a structured plan that is designed to challenge you on regular basis?

But it’s not free.

The price is high.

It’s not a high financial price that is standing in your way though, getting in shape is pretty cheap.

And while we are strongly against the conventional living like a bodybuilder kind of lifestyle, it’s still a commitment for life.

It’s not for everyone, but the results are worth every drop of your sweat in the gym.

Now, the choice is yours to remain average or stretch out of your comfort zone.

…But before you make that decision, please realize that there is nothing worse than mediocrity, I believe that this is the biggest danger of today’s society, most people don’t aspire to improve upon  there current situation.

…Just ask yourself, wouldn’t you finally want to be confident taking pictures of yourself? How about with your shirt off?

Being average (or even if you are like I was, below average) sucks, so take control of your life, countless others have done it, you can do it.

With dedication and intelligent effort you can start moving towards your goals.

Talk to you soon,

Vaclav Gregor

Filed Under: body image, Greg's Lessons, Transformation Tagged With: , , , ,
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