I wanted to write this one for the men and women out there who feel like they’re smaller than they want to be, and who want to gain some muscle and strength.
I heard a guy named Matt Reynolds say that the best training plans (and, in my opinion, most things in life), are simple, and they are hard. They’re not complicated. They’re not easy. They’re simple, hard, and effective.
Gaining muscle and strength is no different. I’m ALL about simplicity and boiling things down to their basics. Here are the three ingredients that you need in order to accomplish this, and the acronym “KCI” just so happens to correlate with my local airport, which is a strange coincidence.
This is the system I use behind the scenes to lay out coaching plans for all my clients.
Knowledge: You need to understand the basics of what it takes to gain muscle. You can get into a lot of unnecessary details with this, but don’t. You need to focus on compound movements that work large groups of muscles and throw in a few isolation movements that target areas you care about. You need to move up on your weight each day you do each exercise until you can’t do that anymore. You need to eat enough calories and protein to support growth and recovery. You need to rest enough at night, between sets, and between sessions that work the same muscle group.
Consistency: The knowledge piece is great to have, but without consistency, it’s about as useful as planning a trip to Alderaan. You’ve got to do whatever it takes to make these things your new normal. Get a workout partner. Hire a coach. Join an online group. Get cheap equipment from Craigslist or FB Marketplace and set up a little gym in your garage, basement, or bedroom. Put your workout times on your calendar and let the people who will compete for that time know it’s a priority. Actually make it a priority. You’ve got to be relentless in your pursuit of this. Make a plan that you know you can stick to based on how many days you can get to the gym and how long you have there each time, and do whatever it takes to stick to it.
Intensity: Gyms all over the world are full of people who have some kind of knowledge and who have developed the consistency to show up at the gym. But walk by them tomorrow and again on November 23, 2020, and they’ll be doing the same exercise for the same weight for the same number of reps. They aren’t pushing themselves. They don’t have the intensity to reach for what’s next. And that’s fine, if maintenance is what they want. But I’ve found that most people want better, they just either don’t know how to progress, or they simply don’t have the motivation to reach for more. There’s always a next step. Pick what you want yours to be and pursue it until you step on it. Then, choose another.
If you take these three things, make them your own, and do them, you WILL reach your goals.
The end goal won’t happen quickly, but progress will.
And if you need help, comment or message me and let’s chat!
Hope this helps. At the very least I got somebody to google Alderaan.
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