Category: Mitch’s Blog

How to Bulk the Right Way (and not get fat)

You want to bulk because size is all that matters at this point, am I right?

Say goodbye to training abs, doing cardio or even looking at a salad. You want GAINS, and will do just about anything to achieve it.

I chose to write up this blog post for a couple reasons, and I think you’ll find them to be pretty clear here in a minute. Over my last 8 years of consistent training and living the fitness lifestyle overall, I can tell you with complete honesty that I’ve messed up – countless times.

I dove head first into the false advertising of mass gainers, I fell for the myth that I need a crap ton of protein to get big, and I completely ignored the most simple concepts that I now follow religiously today, and I wanted to share those with you!

Maybe this could be a “blueprint” if you will for a solid off-season bulk, so you don’t have to wonder if you’re doing it wrong. Let’s nail these main points down first and foremost shall we?

 

Myth #1 – You need protein and LOTS of it to get big.

WRONG.

CORRECTION: You need a moderate amount of protein at the right TIMES to get big.

EXPLANATION: Ever heard of the term “Positive Nitrogen Balance”? Put in simple people language, this means that when your body is actively ready to use amino acids to rebuild and repair muscle tissue, those amino acids ARE THERE to be used.

Use this as an example: Let’s say you’re working on your car. The whole front end is up on jacks and your legs are sticking out from the front bumper with nothing but dirty rags and scattered tools around you. After noticing your socket wrench isn’t the right size for the bolt you need to take off, you reach down to grab the right one – ONLY IT’S NOT THERE.

Instead of quickly being able to switch out your wrench and get the job done, you now have to get yourself out from under the car, go to your tool box and search for the right size, further delaying your progress.

The right socket wrench is protein. Your tool box is your precious stored amino acids within your muscle cells. If protein is actively available in your blood stream WHEN your body needs it, it will not have to go look for it somewhere else! Don’t sacrifice your hard-earned gains!

SOLUTION:

-Studies have shown that 1g per pound of body weight of protein per day is enough to elicit new muscle growth. More than that would be counterproductive.

– Eat frequent meals every 2-3 hours during the day to keep a steady flow of amino acids in your blood stream.

– Your largest serving of protein in a workout day should be consumed about 1-2 hours post training. Only small amounts immediately post training.

 

Myth #2 – Growth is a linear process.

WRONG.

CORRECTION: Growth is a constant PROGRESSION mixed between periods of bulking (growth) and periods of cutting (fat loss).

EXPLANATION: Picture to yourself a graph or a chart. In this chart you see the line going up from left to right. For most people, this is how they think growing occurs: “As long as I stay in a caloric surplus, those extra calories will go towards muscle growth and I’ll get bigger over time.”

While part of this is true, it’s only true in short periods. Your body is smart; SO smart even, that it’ll notice what you’re doing over time and work its hardest to keep you at a homeostatic level – meaning an even-keeled balance.

If you’re constantly shoving a ton of calories down your throat and gaining extra fat “trying to get big”, your testosterone will eventually take a hit, and your muscle gains will come to a screeching halt. Let’s not go there.

SOLUTION:

– Aim to keep your overall calories about 500-600 more than your daily energy expenditure. You can find this number or rough estimate by using a simple calculator many places online. Your specific number will have to be discovered by you.

– Do not aim to bulk for more than a 4 month period without taking a small amount of time to restrict some calories and change up your programming. Balance is always key!

– Keep your body fat under 15%, or around 10% to be safe. This will let your testosterone run full-force!

 

Myth #3 – I need to lift heavy to get big.

WRONG.

CORRECTION: You need to CONTRACT your muscles against a progressive resistance to get big.

EXPLANATION: I think this has to be my favorite myth because honestly it’s the one that 99% of people do not understand. There is a MAJOR difference between movements and contractions.

Movements can be described as exercises: Bench press, deadlift, squats etc, or even broken down by specific movements of the joints being used: elbow flexion and extension as an example.

Contractions have ALL to do with your muscles. Are you trying to work your joints OR build muscle? Yes, that’s what I thought…

SO WHY ON EARTH does it make sense for guys to grab the heaviest weight in the gym, lift it and SAY they are building their chest/legs/arms etc?!

News Flash: If you can’t feel it working, IT WON’T GROW.

For some of you this probably just blew your mind, and others, well you probably will ignore the above advice and continue bashing your joints until you have nothing left, muscles and all.

SOLUTION:

– Don’t just lift weights, contract your working and targeted muscle TO move the weight.

– Every exercise and movement should have a purpose in your workout. If you don’t know what they purpose is, then don’t do it.

– Getting big = lifting the heaviest you can while keeping CONSTANT tension on your targeted muscle, usually 40-70 seconds of tension per set. Control it, don’t let the weight control you.

 

CONCLUSION

Achieving the perfect “bulk” can be hard to come by, however with correct programming and a ton of intense effort to get to your goal, you can absolutely come close to perfection.

Remember to always reassess your efforts. Are you missing any meals? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you progressing on the scale and in the gym on a weekly basis? Knowing these things will give you variables to work with each time a plateau comes creeping up again.

 

Your Mindset Muscle Coach,

Mitch Muller

 

Did you enjoy this article? Please comment and share your thoughts below!

 

Is your Pre-workout Supplement Killing your gains? (Part 2)

Your Pre-Workout Supplement may be hurting you, but luckily there’s a solution!

Touching on Part 1 of this article (which you can find HERE), there are a couple major issues that arise from pre-workout supplementation. More so, the KIND of supplements people are taking and HOW LONG they are taking them for.

To give a brief overview, using stimulants and/or other popular pre-workout ingredients such as arginine, or beta-alanine can only be sustained for a limited period of time. The adrenal glands and other systems have to process these ingredients and often your receptors are overloaded and overworked.

Pre-workout supplementation I believe is ABSOLUTELY ideal for maximal work capacity and focus for intense workouts, however as many of you know, doing things RIGHT is great, but doing things OPTIMAL is better!

 So I have a solution for you, are you ready?

The answer to the myths and often “unnoticed” problems of pre-workout supplementation that I mentioned in the last article can be given in one simple phrase: Cycle your ingredients for maximal absorption, usage and uptake.

Below, I am going to break down 3 major periods for cycling your pre-workout ingredients. Again, this does not have to be followed to the “T”, however my personal experience shows it to work quite well.

There are TWO MAJOR things we want from our pre-workout supplementation: Increased energy, and increased blood flow. Let’s tackle those separately.

Increased Energy

The most popular ingredient found in almost every single pre-workout mix you’ll find is caffeine. The studies and years of proof do not lie: caffeine works. Through supplementation, this ingredient has the ability to constrict your blood vessels, increase your drive, stimulate heart rate and increase your metabolic processes for higher energy levels.

Increased Blood Flow

The second biggest goal of your pre-workout cocktail is to provide insane pumps! Ingredients such as arginine stimulate the production of Nitric Oxide, expanding the blood vessels and allowing maximal blood flow to the working muscles and sustained nutrient and oxygen uptake.

[magicactionbox]

Did you catch the problem?

If you walk into any supplement store here in the U.S., over 95% of the pre-workout products you’ll find will contain BOTH of these. The major problem we have here is that caffeine or other stimulants tell the body to constrict your blood vessels to increase energy, and vaso-dialators such as arginine are giving the EXACT opposite signal!

What the heck bro…I’m being played!

As mentioned above, the answer is through cycling these ingredients so that the benefit of BOTH is felt over time and the body is allowed to regulate each independently.

Here’s your next 2 months mapped out:

pre workout supplementation

 

If you pay close attention above, you’ll notice the 3 week cycles you’ll be switching between higher stimulants and supplements intended for greater pumps and blood flow. I included also a product list of the most proven and scientifically-backed supplements on the market today.

Remember the lawsuit from Muscle Pharm I touched on in the previous article? Well, with all of these products you can have 100% assurance brought to you by a third party testing company called Informed Choice.

This company tests all of these products for over 140 different impurities and other banned substances. So long story short, the things that are listed in the ingredients of each product are ACTUALLY  in the container!

 Product Snapshot

advocare sparkAdvoCare Spark is a unique multi-nutrient system that was developed as a nutritional source of energy and enhanced mental focus.* It’s a sugar-free with more than 20 vitamins, minerals and nutrients that work synergistically to provide a healthy, balanced and effective source of energy that won’t overburden or over stimulate your body.* This amazing product serves as an all-in-one solution that gives you a quick boost of energy that lasts for hours.*

 

arginine ExtremeArginine Extreme combines a substantial amount of L-arginine with other amino acids, B-vitamins and related nutrients scientifically designed to contribute to the body’s production of nitric oxide and muscle support.* This unique combination of powerful nutrients nourishes the growth of lean muscle tissue in conjunction with an exercise program and provides targeted nutritional support for the vascular, cardiovascular, reproductive and immune systems.* For athletes and exercisers, great-tasting Arginine Extreme is a premier pre-workout supplement that can help magnify the results of strength training by providing nutrient-delivery support directly to the muscles.* With 2 1/2 grams of L-arginine per serving, plus L-leucine, another important amino acid, you can get better endurance in the weight room and improved stamina during cardio workouts.

v02 prime barVO2 Prime™ is a premier pre-workout bar with innovative ingredients that have been shown to contribute to the body’s production of nitric oxide. This convenient, 140-calorie bar gives you the fuel you need to take your workouts to the next level.

 

 

 

advocare catalystCatalyst™ Amino Acid Supplement is a blend of essential branched-chain amino acids and L-glutamine that supplies your body with muscle-building components and sustains your muscles during exercise and reduced calorie intake.* Whether you’re trying to lose weight or gain muscle, Catalyst helps repair and protect muscles.*

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting with your pre-workout supplement. But luckily there is always a solution if you’re willing to find it! The above recommendations have worked extremely well for by myself and my numerous clients who trust the Advocare name. Try them out for yourself and see what all the hype is about, you won’t be sorry I promise you…

If you enjoyed this article or even had specific questions on the products or content I’ve shared, please leave a comment below in the space provided and let’s chat!

I’m always here to lend a hand and get you started on the right foot. Take care and God bless!

 

-Mitch Muller

MindsetFitness.net

Full reference from product descriptions above are owned and located at MindsetElite.com.

Is your Pre-workout Supplement Killing your gains? (Part 1)

It’s funny, with the amount of hype the supplement industry gets these days, it’s really hard to tell what Pre-workout supplement is the best to go with.

I get asked all the time about which one I use and/or if I have my own special formula for getting an insane pump and crazy energy. While both of these have been true in some regard, I want to clear up some common mis-beliefs about what your pre-workout supplement can do for you.

 

Myth #1 – Taking a pre-workout supplement will make my workout better

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this isn’t always the case. I would never say that using these supplements is a bad idea either, however the CONTEXT of supplementation, there’s a lot that can be negative.

Do you ever wonder why after using the same pre-workout supplement for weeks on end, you will tend to not FEEL it working anymore? Hmm, maybe there’s something to that, I wonder?

Your body is extremely smart. Once you saturate your muscle cells and receptors with the same thing over and over again, the end result becomes bland and almost useless. This same principle can apply to almost anything you do.

Take for instance in business; would you always use the same marketing plan to increase profit over 20 years? Absolutely not. Times change, the market changes, and we are forced to adapt to grow.

Your body is built the same way.

So with the question as to if the pre-workout supplement you use right now is actually HELPING you train harder and longer, my answer for you is, “it depends”.

  • How long have you been taking it?
  • How much of it are you taking?

If your first answer is anything over “a month”, then you might be wasting your money.

Here’s the conclusion to this myth: Taking a pre-workout supplement for too long may actually make you feel WORSE in the gym than not taking it at all. Maybe you should give your adrenal glands a break for a bit huh?

 

Myth #2 – I can trust the label on the products I take

I don’t know about you but I love simplicity. Worrying about the integrity of 20+ products on any GNC shelf seems exhausting, and to be honest, I know there’s a simple answer to this.

Before I give it to you though, I want you to see some recent news about one of the major products that have been popular amongst our fitness and bodybuilding family: Iron Mass from Muscle Pharm.

Here’s a clip from a Forbes article (also referenced at the bottom of this page):

“Similarly, a lab test of MusclePharm’s “Arnold Scharzenegger Series Iron Mass” revealed that just 19 of the promised 40 grams of protein were present, according to exhibits in the lawsuit.”

“I believe it is a pretty simple, cut and dry issue: We allege in these lawsuits that these companies use misleading language on the label regarding the amount of actual protein in the products, and the consumers are the ones that pay. That’s the bottom line,” says Nick Suciu, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs on many of the lawsuits. “I began developing the cases because customers have been misled by this practice for years.”

 

Pretty shady huh?

You can take from this article what you will, but my point is that it can be extremely hard to trust the products you put in your body, period. Most of us don’t have the time anyway to do all the research that is needed to make a logical, educated decision. It’s just easier to pick a canister off the shelf that looks shiny and “hardcore” enough to make you feel tingles in your face and the short-term ability to smell colors.

“BRO! This stuff is working!”

One MAJOR Problem…

Stick around for PART 2 of this article to find out the solution!

 

Your Mindset Muscle Coach,

-Mitch Muller

MindsetFitness.net

Reference: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexmorrell/2015/03/12/lawsuits-say-protein-powders-lack-protein-ripping-off-athletes/

How to Curl 135 pounds (You Can Do It Too!)

How to Curl 135 pounds (You Can Do It Too!)

Hey guys! It’s been awhile since I wrote up a blog, hopefully all is going well with your training and nutrition goals!

I’ve been slammed with all sorts of things the last two weeks, a lot of which included moving to a new house! But now that that’s all said and done, I can finally get back to my normal routine.

One thing that I can always count on during the times that life just overwhelms everything, is the gym. It’s always there waiting patiently for me to return and dominate.

I’m guessing that you’re the same way when it comes to not missing gym sessions. It becomes an addiction that is very hard to break. And who would want to break it anyway?!

Over the last few weeks, I found myself having a harder and harder time during my workouts. I craved being at the gym and the feeling it gives me, but for some reason I couldn’t breathe correctly, even at the lowest intensity.

It’s like I was trying desperately to get a full breath of air, but I just couldn’t. Long story short, this continued for a couple weeks until I finally found the source to my problem. With the elevated heart rate that I had during this time and lack of sleep that I was getting, the culprit to my madness was a little thing called caffeine.

Not only did my body start shutting down vital components to breathing, it was completely DONE with receiving caffeine.

[magicactionbox]

And now you’re probably thinking, what does any of this have to do with curling 135lbs??

Glad you asked. You see, after this crazy ordeal of tortured breathing for two weeks, I sought out a change to my supplementation. This wasn’t just one or two supplements that I’d be changing either. It was a complete OVERHAUL of my kitchen cabinets filled with all sorts of brands, stimulants and proteins that I had been using for years.

It was time to make something that is usually complicated, and turn it into something simple. All of my supplements would come from the same place, would be completely backed by scientific research, and would produce results that were far better than anything I had seen before.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not.how to curl 135 pounds

I’d like to introduce you to a company called Advocare. I researched this company thoroughly and to my surprise, the satisfaction by the customers who used the products was astounding. Not only were people shedding fat like crazy from these supplements, they were gaining incredible amounts of strength and mass ALL while feeling better at the same time.

I was sold. I had to try it for myself. I decided to make myself a guinea pig for this experiment and for 3 solid weeks, I would track my results through my normal lifting and nutritional routine. Nothing would change beside my supplements.

Last week I finished up the first week of my experiment. This is where you’ll want to pay attention…

Most of the time, Friday is arm day. And for most of the time, I’m exhausted from a full week of lifting when this day comes. Ya, not on this week. I felt so rejuvenated and so recovered during arms that I thought that something must be wrong.

Turns out that it wasn’t. On the first exercise of my bicep workout AFTER triceps, I got up to my last two working sets of barbell curls. I was able to successfully curl 135 pounds for 3 reps a piece. The actual weight wasn’t the exciting part to me. The exciting part was that it was 20 POUNDS more than I had ever done! A huge jump in weight that is unheard of in my training.

Pretty exciting to say the least. Now if you’re interested in doing the same thing that I did then I have great news for you! The supplements WORK. You can find all of them through this link:

My supplement stack: Performance Elite

This will take you directly to the Performance Elite line of products. I recommend Arginine Extreme, Mass Impact, Muscle Strength and Spark!

During this 3 week phase I am also recording a video blog to capture all of my progress as it unfolds. So you can see for yourself the results that I get and the exact supplements that I use.

Hope that you’re able to get the results that you want as well! These products aren’t the same as the stuff you’ll find in GNC or Hi-Health. They dominate all of those. The quality is real and the results are real. If you have any questions just feel free to ask. I’m always here to help you.

Take care and get strong and shredded!

-Mitch Muller

CPT – MindsetFitness.net / MindsetElite.com

 

PS. – If you even need to reference back to that website, just go to –> MindsetElite.com

It’ll take you right to it 🙂

The Secret To Success In Faith, Training and Life

The Secret To Success In Faith, Training and Life

There’s not many times when I dig into areas of life that don’t apply to training and fitness, but tonight I want to do something different. The cool thing about this though is that it ACTUALLY applies to everything. The secret to success in training, nutrition, relationships, life in general.

As you may know, I was in Costa Mesa California this past weekend for the annual Fitness Business Summit hosted by PtPower.com and Mr. Bedros Keuilian; a genius in the fitness industry. Throughout this whole weekend I sat back and learned amazing things from some of the top fitness pros in the country; 12 countries to be exact.

Even though every speaker had their own success story to tell, I noticed very quickly that they all shared one thing in common, besides the fact that they all made significant amounts of money in the same industry, doing practically the same things.

This similarity puzzled me. Not because it was so complex for my brain to understand, which I expected, but because it was so simple that a 5 year old could comprehend it.

I fell into the trap that so many people do. I made the answers to my questions complex, when the true answer was so tiny that I felt kind of dumb when I realized it.

As humans, I feel like we all stray away from the simple foundations that made the people before us successful. I mean, when a problem arises, don’t we come up with a million different solutions for them? And what for? It’s not like we NEED all those answers, we just need ONE.

The brain isn’t wired that way. Maybe we can blame society or the culture that we live in for that, I don’t know. All I know is that answers should be simple, and questions should be relatively the same.

When I came to the realization, I immediately thought of you. The person who is probably just like me and complicates things to no avail.  I like to think of myself as a simple person, but truth be told I was brought back down to humble-land during the course of 3 days.

I thought of you because I wanted to help others who fell in the same trap. This is a much bigger picture than just building muscle and getting ripped. YEAH, I said it haha.

What I really mean is that the “bigger picture” gets left on the backburner. I believe 100% that we have the gifts and blessings to take our bodies to their best potential, but at the end of the day, we are all just humans looking for purpose.

Back to the story…

Before I share with you the secret that I learned this last weekend, I have to mention the WEIRD part about all of this. Believe me; my point will become clear in a minute.

A few hours ago I was relaxing with my beautiful girlfriend and she reminded me that I had missed church this weekend and that we should watch Sunday’s service online.

Just an FYI, the church we go to is HUGE. It’s called Christ’s Church of the Valley, located in Peoria, AZ.

So yeah, it’s awesome getting to hear and watch the service when business stuff comes up or I have to miss a Sunday.

About half way through the video I realized the strangest thing; CCV was teaching the exact same thing that I was learning in California, on the exact same weekend.

Pretty bizarre to say the least. Now you may not be a person of faith or go to church like I do, but to be honest, for this post it doesn’t matter. The principle I’m going to share with you can change you for the better regardless. Believing that God has control of your life just makes it all that much easier!

The lesson learned was this:

All successful people, in business, faith, fitness and life, share the amazing ability to differentiate between responsibilities and priorities.

Let me elaborate…

The people who are truly successful in all aspects of their life, PLAN FOR IT. Simply “wishing” it to become true does not work.

For example in your fitness life, isn’t it true that a prioritized plan must first be in place before your goals are completed?

I can “wish” for my biceps to be huge mountains all I want, but if I don’t plan to eat correctly, train correctly and get enough sleep, it just won’t happen. The same applies to everything else my friend!

Let’s use business as an example. This past weekend, these successful fitness business owners had to PLAN everything they did, even down to the hour of the day that they did it!

Now THAT’S prioritizing.

Do you ever wonder why some people seem to get SO MUCH done in a single day’s time? Or weeks time?

It’s because they don’t accept time as an excuse. Think about it, they’re JUST LIKE YOU. They have to sleep like you, and go to school like you, eat like you and even have time for fun, just like you.

They aren’t super humans. Successful people don’t wake up in the morning and breathe in excellence, they plan to succeed.

If you’re looking for some complex answer as to why you don’t have what you want in fitness or in life, don’t be like me! Go ahead and think outside the box; think about what else you can prioritize to move forward. Responsibilities are NOT always priorities, but they can become priorities through a matter of choice.

Sorry if I’m getting all pumped about this stuff, but it excites me!

Back to the story…

When I was watching church just a couple hours ago I couldn’t believe that the same principle was mentioned over and over again.

I mean, could it really be that simple?

What if we all just took action and structured our priorities from now on. How different would your life look?

Would you be happier, or more fulfilled? Would you feel excited about the days to come instead of dreadful? Would you see your life as an opportunity to make an impact instead of just merely getting by?

Priorities my friend. They will always draw a perfect map to where your “life-long treasure” is buried.

When Pastor Don was talking about prioritizing my life to reflect God’s Will instead of my own, he was absolutely right.

I’m not here to preach to you but I want you to understand my point. Planning for life will only get you so far, FAITH will carry you the rest of the way.

You see, without faith in something bigger than yourself, you try to battle through life all by yourself. It isn’t meant to be that way.

Knowing that God is in control will help to eliminate all doubt and fear about tomorrow.

So here’s the take away…

  • Create balance in your life in all aspects: Faith, Fitness, Relationships, Business and Fun. Make sure not to leave the “fun” part out. What’s the point of living if you aren’t enjoying the ride?
  • Take time out each night to read, pray or study. Always aim to learn more.
  • Before bed, make a list of the top 5 things that you need to get done the next day. This way, when you wake up, you’ll have a “plan of attack” to GSD! (Get Stuff Done)
  • With your training, KNOW your end goal. Be extremely specific with what you want and be a “Super Ninja” and work your way backwards to attain that result!
  • Be accountable. Find someone who will support all of your efforts, inside and outside of the gym.
  • SUBSCRIBE to MindsetFitness! You don’t want to miss out on cool posts like this one right? Plus I like to give away cool stuff every once and awhile. 🙂

I went ahead and posted the video right underneath this of Dr. Don Wilson and his sermon about being the “Eye of the Tiger.” Don’t miss it! You’ll be glad that you watched it.

If you have any questions about the best ways to get organized or anything related, feel free to shoot me an email at Mitch@mindsetfitness.net. Take care my friend.

Dedicated to your results,

Mitch Muller

CPT – MindsetFitness.net

See my other recent blog posts:

Top 4 Ways the Mind Can Influence Your Muscle Growth

Fine tuning your Fitness Lifestyle

Learn more about The Secret To Success. Stop by Mitch Muller’s site where you can find the Secret To Success in every aspect of your life.

Update from Fitness Business Summit 2013

 

 Update from Fitness Business Summit 2013

Hey guys! Mitch here.

This weekend I have the honor of attending one of the BEST fitness events held in the United States; Fitness Business Summit 2013!

Some of the best fitness experts in their fields are absolutely killing it by getting their clients results and having a blast while doing it.

The best part is that everyone is all in one place, learning and forming lasting friendships that will last a long time to come. I’ve already met a bunch of cool people since I’ve been here and the weekend isn’t even close to being over.

I wanted to take some time out though to give an official Mindset Fitness update. All of you are the reason that Mindset Fitness is here. The information is for you, the videos are for you, and the results are all based on your endless dedication towards your goals.

Each day I’m looking to push forward in this industry and take steps in helping more people like you to achieve the body you’ve always dreamed of. And of course some awesome motivation along the way!

I like to consider us a team. After all, great people always come from a great supporting foundation. The individuals of the team learn and help each other grow as a single unit.

So in order to pull my weight for the team, here are 3 AWESOME things I’ve learned today that you can apply to your training and fitness lifesytle:

1. Never Stop Moving Forward

It is always your choice to become something better than you currently are.The key to being successful in your training and in life is to roll with the punches. When life gets hard and burdensome, kick it back in the face! Push forward through all adversity and don’t be scared to keep praying that God keeps guiding you. We can’t do it all ourselves ya know…

2. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

This was probably the most eye-opening part of my day. I came to the realization that in order to take steps forward, 95% of the time will involve getting out of your comfort zone. It’s way too easy to sit back and let life pass you by thinking that comfort is good. It’s not! Well, it’s not good if you ever plan on being more than normal.

3. Don’t be Afraid to Think Outside The Box

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my box seems pretty small. I get used to training a certain way or eating the same way week in and week out. Try thinking outside the box to other options that will help you move forward faster. No matter what your goals are, progress will only become reality when smart ideas turn into actions.

 

Hope you guys were able to get some motivation out of that! Big stuff is coming soon from the Mindset Fitness family. Stay tuned!

Dedicated to your results,

-Mitch Muller

MindsetFitness.net

update from fitness business summit 13

Top 4 Ways the Mind Can Influence Your Muscle Growth!

Top 4 ways the mind can influence your muscle growth

I don’t want you to get the wrong impression here. Just thinking about something doesn’t manifest itself into a physical object, especially when building muscle. Work must be put in to build up progress in some tangible form.

From the title of this article though, you can probably tell that there will be some information that can be used for your benefit; Right here, right now, today. I want to dive deep into a subject that doesn’t really get much attention aside from watching bodybuilding motivational videos before a workout.

It may sound somewhat complicated, but believe me, it really isn’t.

I want to dissect the mind completely from a physical standpoint and an emotional standpoint that will leave you feeling more pumped and excited than you’ve ever been to step foot in the gym and annihilate the weights.

“…Even perfect nutrition and training will only get you so far. The rest is made up with the mind.”

Many times the mind will get shoved aside by the bigger bullies of bodybuilding today. At the front of the pack you have your nutrition, which is the clear foundation of any noticeable physique. Next is your training. Everything from intensity, duration, sets, reps, rest periods, tempo and technique are used to maximally help increase your muscle size. This is like a broken record. We’ve all heard this stuff on repeat.

If you’ve been lifting consistently and have experienced the great benefits of strength and muscular adaptation, then you probably already know what works best for you. But I’m here to tell you today that even perfect nutrition and training will only get you so far. The rest is made up with the mind.

Before we dive into the pool of your muscle-building potential though, I want to emphasize that even if you think you’ve reached your limit with muscle gains and you’ve absolutely used all of your available resources, then think again! This is not the time to be held back by limiting beliefs.

If you are truly serious about your results in and out of the gym, you need to first come to terms with your physical mind. Let’s get after it shall we?

Neuromuscular Shaping

I’m guessing you haven’t heard of this term before.  Put simply, it just means that the mind and the working muscle need to develop a better relationship to perform optimally. It is your goal as a bodybuilder to “shape” your muscles into whatever you want them to look like. Traditionally, this just meant training that muscle a bit more or tweaking your diet to increase growth.

Now, that’s only part of the equation. You’re missing a huge piece of the muscle-building pie my friend! You’ve done more exercises, you’ve increased the resistance, you’ve changed your routine, but when was the last time you mentally recruited more muscle fibers?

This isn’t a simple question to answer, so I’ll have you figure it out for yourself. Here’s an analogy I like to use a lot when referring to neuromuscular shaping:

Suppose your goal is to climb a mountain that you’ve never climbed before. In fact, neither has anyone else. There are no trails or easy ways to the top. Your only option is to forge your own path until you reach the peak. The first trip is the hardest, and takes a long time to finally reach your destination, but somehow you get there. It’s a long walk back down but you try to follow the same path that you took.

So now that you’ve climbed it once, do you think it would be easier to climb it a second time? After all, you made your own trail in the first round. All you have to do is trace your steps back up the mountain again, right?

Let’s suppose that you did this same routine every day for a year, or 5 years, or even 10 years? How do you think your trail would look after all that? I’d say it would be pretty easy to get to the top with a clear trail to navigate, wouldn’t you?

You see, we are trying to shape and direct the neuromuscular pathways to your muscles. In order for a muscle to contract, it must first receive a signal from the brain to do so. When this same signal is repeatedly sent back and forth between the mind and muscle over time (climbing the mountain), MORE neuromuscular pathways are created to enhance the strength of the contraction. It’s safe to say that this is an exciting piece of information to have, especially when your main goal is to add some serious mass to your frame!

I want you to practice some of this “mind-muscle” connection on yourself…

From a sitting position on your chair or bench that you’re on right now, try to mindfully contract your hamstring on the right side WITHOUT contracting the quadriceps. Be sure to place one of your hands on top of the quad to make sure it doesn’t move.

How did it go? Did it work?

More often than not, if the hamstrings aren’t developed correctly, the signal from your brain will make its way down your leg but will not have a CLEAR path to dictate what muscle should contract; therefore the signal is sent to the stronger muscle of the two, the quadriceps!

Now try repeating this signal over and over again to the same right hamstring, and see what happens…

Are you able to contract it without the quadriceps moving? It’s funny how this system works and it really makes all the difference with how much muscle is stimulated during exercise. This same concept can be applied to every major muscle of the body.

Once a thorough neuromuscular connection has been established to your major muscles, it’s time to put them to the test.

 Imagery

This concept can be extremely profound and powerful when done correctly. The best part is that research even backs it up; mentally performing an exercise in your mind will directly enhance how much power output your body produces once performed in real life.

When I learned this concept for the first time, it was like I struck pure gold. I was doing what no one else was doing and I was getting better results because of it. Here’s some research from a blog of the muscle-building master himself, Charles Poliquin:

“For example, one study had novice weightlifters imagine that they were performing a bicep curl exercise three times a week for eight weeks. The participants did not actually do any bicep curls or any other elbow flexion training during that time. However, they still gained strength in both the elbow flexors and extensors (44 and 32 percent increase in strength, respectively). A second study found that college athletes who performed visualization before strength training had more confidence and lifted more weight in a leg press exercise than they had done before without imagery.”

I’d say this is a pretty significant piece to your muscle-building puzzle. From an application standpoint during your training and even before your training, try these techniques:

  1. Use internal imagery to practice your main core lifts in your mind before you even set foot in the gym. Using a bench press as an example, this would involve you thinking about loading up the bar with new weight, sitting down on the bench, getting your back position down into the pad, getting a perfect grip on the bar, lifting it, and performing every single rep in your mind as clear as you possibly can – feeling your chest contract and release each time.
  2. Use external imagery to imagine watching yourself perform this same movement but from a spotters position or a coaches position. Having a birds-eye-view can give extra motivation and willpower to complete the set from a different point of view.

Having a Compelling Purpose

Here’s a question for you:

What is your reason to build muscle? More specifically, what is your purpose for working so hard in and out of the gym? Someone with a weak mental capacity would answer this question by saying, “I want to build more muscle and get ripped.”

Dig deeper guys!

You want to build muscle because…?

There is ALWAYS an underlying reason that you do the things that you do. For me, my reasons are a few things: I lift to release aggression (my form of therapy), I lift to feel more dominant when around other males, and more importantly, I lift because it is my passion – the feeling, the sacrifice and all the rewards that come with it.

From my example you should be able to figure out what your own “purpose” is for wanting to build muscle. If you don’t’ have a clear purpose then you are only walking blindly towards your cherished finish line.

“Purpose has a direct correlation with motivation. A lack of motivation will always point back to an unclear or unsatisfied purpose.”

Once your reasons are made clear for building up some serious mass, it’s time to tap into the best part of the mental picture…unleashing your inner BEAST!

I Am Powerful Beyond Measure

I want you to adopt this mindset right now. You’ve already proven yourself by making it this far, you’ve shown that you truly want more muscle, so go get it!

It is during this mindset “phase” that the true “you” comes out. There’s no time to mess around anymore.

When you reach inside and are able to harness the most powerful part of yourself, your potential to build real muscle becomes unlimited. To get to this mental state, it requires complete concentration on the task at hand. Whatever it takes to block out the distractions of the gym atmosphere, then I advise you to do it.

I haven’t known many guys that have the ability to reach this “monk-like” state when working out. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t do it yourself.

And the best part?

This process is entirely up to you. If praying or meditation works to block out the world then do that. If you need loud music in your ears then listen to that to get you amped up.

The only way that I can truly describe this “state” is being in a completely different world once the headphones go in. My mind tells me I am powerful beyond measure before I even pick up a weight.

Don’t make the mistake of being inconsistent. The more you practice this principle day-in and day-out, the easier it will be to control the amount of generated power produced.

Conclusion

The mind has always been at the core of building muscle. Most often than not though, the importance of having a strong mind is overshadowed by being strong physically. Sure, there is a genetic potential about how much muscle you can build naturally, but I doubt that you’ve hit that point yet. If you’ve truly accepted that you’ve tried everything in order to build new mass then that’s your opinion. But for those of you who are willing to strengthen up your mind today, you will undoubtedly see the amazing muscle-building potential that you can reach for tomorrow.

 

-Mitch Muller

(Your Mindset and Muscle Coach)

CPT/CEO – MindsetFitness.net

 

Sources: Poliquin, Charles (Oct 2012) “Tip 459: Use Mental Imagery Before Workouts To Improve Performance.”http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/1623/Tip-459-Use-Mental-Imagery-Before-Workouts-To-Improve-Performance.aspx

Car Session Video Series (Blog #5)

Car Session Video Series (Blog #5)

What’s up Mindset Fitness followers!

Mitch here again. I’ve decided to go a different route with a video series that I’ve been working on. Often times I do most of my thinking and soul searching when I’m in the car for some reason…

Some people think in the shower, others while they’re training and sometimes laziness gets the best of us and we completely stop thinking altogether!

But since I tend to find myself in deeper thought when I’m driving around town, I wanted to put my thoughts into video to help answer a bunch of questions that I get asked about getting big and ripped and everything in between.

But don’t worry…I’m the safest driver you’ll find around. 🙂

I want to keep this series as real and down to earth as possible so don’t mind me, I’ll just be myself.

Hope you gain a lot of new information from this series! If you have any specific questions, I’d be glad to answer them in some upcoming vids! So shoot me a line…

Here’s an intro explaining everything! Catch you guys later

-Mitch Muller

MindsetFitness.net

Fine-Tuning Your Lifestyle – Mitch’s Blog #4

Hey guys,

Mitch here. It’s been awhile since my last blog post but things are finally mellowing down and allowing me to get back into my normal schedule!

I’ve learned quite a few new things over the last couple weeks. It’s safe to say that I did not expect some of them, and others I was accepting with open arms.

My car accident shocked me. For some reason I had the belief that it would never happen to me. That idea was quickly blown to smithereens in a split second of loud, smashing metal. Long story short, my car was totaled and I was stuck without transportation to work and school and even the gym.

OH NO! Not the gym!

Yeah, that’s one of the first things that came to mind. “How will I get to the gym to train?!” This might sound crazy to some of you guys but because of the high priority that I give my training, it doesn’t take long to come up with a solution.

Most of you may already know how important my training goals are to me, as I tend to talk about them a lot. What I don’t usually talk about though is how I go about planning my life to remain in a positive balance.

This isn’t an easy task to say the least. For some of you who are just starting out with your muscle-building lifestyle, just GETTING STARTED on the right foot is enough to make the mind go crazy, let alone take care of all the other important aspects of your life like school, relationships or your faith and spiritual life.

Maintaining balance in your lifestyle is extremely important.

Without balance, you start reaching for the things instead of letting them come to you. You start giving into your emotions instead of letting your faith and knowledge lead the way.

With that being said I wanted to provide you with some awesome tips that have helped  to create that homeostatic balance within my life. This will help in fine-tuning your lifestyle:

#1 Relentlessly Manage Your Time

Your time is extremely valuable. If you think it isn’t, then this website probably isn’t for you! I’ll most likely mention this over and over because of how important it is. When your time is left up in the air, things will not get done. Correction, THINGS WILL HAVE A HARD TIME GETTING DONE.

I suggest setting aside some “DO WORK” time in your day. This may be an hour first thing in the morning or a few hours after work in the evening. Whenever you have that specific time each day to crank stuff out. AKA- Get. Stuff. Done!

You’ll be surprised just how much you can accomplish over time. Use this precious time to do the things you want to improve- Build your business, play with the dogs, enjoy time with your family, play an instrument, be happy!

Last thing, PROTECT this time of your day. If you go without it for too long, the system will get thrown off course and your progress will come to a hault.

#2 Be Fearless

An old friend from high school told me something one time and it’s stuck with me ever since:

“If I only fear God, what else do I have to fear?”

With what I believe, fear is just another excuse not to try. People are so afraid of failing or disappointing themselves or someone else, that they remain at a complete stand still.

You don’t want to be that person right?

Life isn’t some crazy maze that we have to find our way through, it’s so simple yet somehow we make it complicated!

Although life my SEEM like a maze from time to time, the solution to get to the cheese at the end is becoming FEARLESS.

Don’t let fear drive you down the wrong path. I like to think of it is “failing forward.” SO WHAT if you mess up. AT LEAST you’re putting forth the effort and taking steps forward.

“Don’t wait around for the grass to magically become greener. Water the freaking thing!”

 

#3 Create Deadlines

I like the old saying: “Goals without deadlines are just dreams.”

Maybe it’s a new saying, but whatever you get my point.

It’s funny how these deadlines work out. Ever since I started setting deadlines for my goals in life, business, fun or the gym, they ALWAYS get done. And why is that so?

Because I’ll feel like crap if they don’t! A little trick that I use when I set a new goal for myself is to tell everyone about it. This way, when my deadline comes up, most people will tend to wonder and ask how your goal went. Do you want to look like the idiot who didn’t follow through with your promise???

Didn’t think so.

An important piece of the puzzle is to realize that you have to be REALISTIC.

Gaining 20 pounds of muscle in 2 months is not realistic. Keep dreaming on that one buddy. Wouldn’t we all like that! Minus the stretchmarks…

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this! Try putting these things on a post it note and put it somewhere you’ll see it from time to time. In life, you’ll only get out what you put in!

Take care,

 

-Mitch Muller

MindsetFitness.net

 

 

 

 

Top 5 New Year Resolution Mistakes

Top 5 New Year Resolution Mistakes

As another year wraps up and comes to a close, I always tend to see more and more people “looking” to better themselves in some way or another.

Most of the time this is great to see! Nothing quite like a list of solid goals to shoot for, starting NOW.

 

A HUGE trap that I’ve seen many others fall into though, is the lack of correct preparation. Just because you want something big to change in the future doesn’t mean that it will. You must take ACTION on it.

Watch out for these 5 New Years resolution mistakes!

1.   Having unrealistic expectations

From your point of view, the word “unrealistic” can mean something completely different than it means to me. I’m talking about something completely abnormal or unhealthy. A great example would be:

“I’m going to lose 50lbs in the next month because I saw the people
on The Biggest Loser do it.” No no no…

BE REALISTIC.

Those programs do not transfer completely into everyday life, nor do
they fit a “one size fits all” approach. Try making your goal
obtainable based on healthy guidelines like: Lose 10 pounds in the
next 3 weeks.

2.   Not Giving Yourself a Deadline.

This can be an extreme help to push you in the right direction if
you plan it right. Remember this old saying…

“Goals without deadlines are just dreams.”

Having a precise deadline to shoot for will keep your priorities in order. You’ll set aside the designated time to workout, cook or do whatever it takes to reach your goal. This leads me into mistake #3…

3.   Not Making Yourself Accountable

One of the best ways to keep yourself accountable EVEN if you aren’t physically working out with a partner is to tell EVERYONE what your goal is. Tell your closest friends, family members, broadcast it on Facebook, tell your dog, I don’t care! People will remember that you set the bar high for yourself. Just knowing this little tidbit of information can keep you motivated to reach the end result.

4.   Not Having Action Steps

You see, if a big goal is to be accomplished, most likely it will consist of a bunch of “small” goals that lead to the “big” one. It can often be overwhelming once the novelty wears off and you realize that this New Year’s resolution is no walk-in-the-park after all. The first couple weeks may be amazing, but just like life; it will have its ups and downs. You can count on it.

The trick is to take a step at a time, literally. Don’t get caught up and distracted by the “big picture.”

Try writing everything down, too. It will save you from overworking your brain!

Draw a diagram with the big goal at the top. Make it branch out into 3-5 smaller goals that will be needed to accomplish it. Take it one step further and branch out from those into 3 daily goals for each. By now you should have a full “tree” on your paper.

This is a great way to get a mental “picture” of what the process will look like, and you’ll have a better understanding of exactly where to start.

5.   Not Rewarding Yourself!

This is the simplest step of all:

When you reach one of your goals, big or small – reward yourself! You don’t have to pretend to be superman and go a million miles an hour 24/7. That’s just not realistic!

So many times in life I feel like we get caught up in “trying to be happy” with our current situations; but what about being happy with what you have right now? Why wait?!

Life is short my friends. Enjoy every single day to its fullest and reward your hard-earned accomplishments!

Just don’t go crazy with the pizza and chocolate 😉

Just a friendly reminder: 2013 can be the BEST year of your life if you allow it to be! Don’t settle for anything less. If you need some help keeping motivated, send me an email and I’ll be happy to tell you about some AMAZING books that have literally transformed my life and thoughts.

Take care guys, train hard!

 

-Mitch Muller

CPT – MindsetFitness.net

 

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