Shock Me
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Before I start, I want to thank all of you for your birthday wishes. Whether you emailed or used Twitter or Facebook, I was really inspired by all of the support. I have the best fans in the world.
Now, for my birthday, I have a request. I want each of you to give your 15 minutes today for your health. Maybe you’ve been reading these articles and you’re on the fence. Let my birthday be the nudge that gets you moving. That’s all I ask. And I know a lot of you have already started using 1% of each day on your health. So for you, grab a family member or friend and convince them to do it with you.
I’m proud of all of you. I see the comments, I read the tweets, and I’m proud to see that so many of you have found your spark and committed to spend some of your time each day on your health and fitness.
To help you along the way, we’ve tried to share with you some of the most cutting edge information, whether it is a workout you can do without a gym or any equipment, tips on how to squat properly, or a 15 minute workout to terminate your chicken legs.
Last week, I hope you enjoyed Adam Bornstein's article about some of the techniques we used in bodybuilding that you can incorporate in your programs for great results today.
When I was asked for my advice, I led off by saying “Without stripping, there is no excitement…” I would guess that the outrageousness of that statement shocked quite a few of you. And that’s exactly what I meant to do.
Shocking is a great way to grab attention and keep the reader drawn in. In fact, the very same technique that works wonders for getting you to read fitness articles can also help you in your quest for health in fitness.
Today, I want to talk about how you can use shock to your advantage in your fitness journey.
As you progress in your effort to be a healthier version of yourself, there will come a time when you hear your muscles asking for a little more. Really, they’ll be begging.
“Shock me.”
Muscles weren’t designed to be bored. They hate monotony. If you evolved to watch The Bachelor marathons on the couch all day, your body wouldn’t need all of those muscle fibers. In fact, if your body was made to go from sitting at a desk all day to sitting at home, you could probably have evolved into a Jabba the Hut-style creature.
But you didn’t. You have fantastic muscles all over your body, just asking for a little excitement.
When we were training for bodybuilding competitions, shocking meant doing things like stripping – starting at the heavy end of the dumbbell rack and doing six reps of overhead press with 100 pound dumbbells, and then without resting, lift the 90 pound dumbbells, then the 80, 70, 60, 50, 40. Back then, lifting 40 pounds was a piece of cake. But with the shock of dropping from each weight with no rest, 40 pounds felt like 110. Afterward, I couldn’t even move my arms without pain. But the muscles grew, because I had given them the shock they so desperately wanted.
One of my favorite shocking methods was to go outside with 250 pounds on a barbell and a training partner. Our bodies were so used to doing 10 sets of squats that we could do it asleep. So I did 20 reps, and passed the barbell to my training partner, who lifted it into the squat position and did 20 reps. Without setting the bar down, he passed it back to me, and I did 20 reps again. Or maybe I could only do 19. We went on and on like this, never letting the bar touch the ground, until we could barely move. But again, the muscles grew, because we’d broken up the tedium of doing 10 sets of squats inside.
Those shocks are obviously major ones. For you right now, shocking might mean that when you go for a 15 minute walk, you spend a few of the minutes moving as fast as you can. Maybe you’ve worked up to jogging. When you go for a daily jog, sprint as hard as you possibly can a few times.
Switch it up. Think consciously about shocking your system with something that it hasn’t adapted to yet.
Keep moving forward toward the healthiest version of yourself, and don’t let your muscles get bored. That's an order, and my birthday wish.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Arnold's Epic Giveaway! Win a personalized voicemail message by Arnold!
