Have you ever considered why you go to the gym?

Pretty straightforward question, but really there could be several reasons why you might go to the gym, although for the sake of this article I’m going to assume you want to build muscle and get in great shape. But you mightn’t be too bothered about building muscle, maybe you just want to get slimmer or get toned up. Maybe your main concern is that you want to get stronger. It could be you’re desperate to regain the fitness you knew when you were younger. Maybe you just want to become more agile and athletic. Then again, it could be that you’re recovering from an illness or an injury and you’re just trying to recuperate as best you can.

If you train primarily to increase your muscle mass, chances are that you can achieve most of the other things I just mentioned while doing so. Train properly (which means, essentially, train hard) and you’ll almost certainly be well on your way to trimming down and getting yourself in great shape overall. That’s assuming, of course, that you pay attention to your diet. Diet play a very big part, both in building up and slimming down. Ignore it at your peril!

So we come, pretty quickly as it happens, to the heart of this article … I guess we’ve identified why you’re going to the gym, and now we just need to address the way you train. Most people, you see, train pretty hard. They realise that it’s necessary to put some real effort in if they’re to be in with a chance of seeing real results. But training pretty hard isn’t really enough. And what does training properly (i.e. training hard, not just pretty hard) really mean?

Here’s a few clues …

• It doesn’t mean training long. When you’re young you have so much energy it’s tempting to stay in the gym for hours and hours, but that kind of training doesn’t necessarily bring the results you’re after. If fact, it can be unproductive since you’re burning up so much energy you might not have enough left in the tank to recover and build new muscle tissue.

• It definitely doesn’t mean training ‘pretty’ hard. You can fool yourself that your training is effective because you’re training pretty hard, but in reality that’s just not going to cut it. In fact, it falls sadly short of requirements. It leaves you feeling that you’ve trained hard, no doubt about that, but the truth is you haven’t really trained hard enough to make that much difference.

• It doesn’t mean training sporadically. You can train hard for a few weeks and then relax and take a few weeks break. You feel you’ve earned it! Don’t kid yourself! All your hard work in the previous weeks can be undone by a few weeks’ slacking. If you’re going to do it, stick to it! Take a short break once in a while, of course, but don’t let it become an excuse to take it easy. If you want to take it easy, take up something more sedate, like knitting!

• It doesn’t mean socialising while you’re training. Be polite, of course. Have a chat once in a while, if you want to. But remember why you’re there, and what you’re there for. And remind yourself it’s not so you can chat and socialise with your friends. That’s for another time and place.

The bottom line is you’re there for one thing, and one thing only – to put your muscles through the mill. They need to feel that you’re going to run them into the ground if you carry on. You have to be ruthless! And now we come to the very heart of the matter … you’re there to experience pain!

Pain … no sane person wants to indulge in it, but …

You’re there to perform your exercises in such a way that your muscles ache and scream insistently at you to stop. And when they’re doing that, it’s your job to do your best to studiously ignore them! You have to try to withstand the pain and just carry on, at least for a few more seconds, hopefully longer.

Those extra few seconds are what you’ve been working up to. What happens in those few painful seconds is the very reason you’re in the gym in the first place. Muscle growth will be triggered during those excruciating seconds, and since you’re there to promote muscle growth it’s a pretty good idea to grit your teeth and keep fighting your way through the pain as far as you possibly can.

Robby Robinson knew about pain

Robby in his heyday, concentrating, and looking focused 

I remember reading an article in a muscle mag a long time ago, about a bodybuilder by the name of Robby Robinson. He had a majestic physique, but by all accounts he didn’t suffer fools gladly in the gym. Many a misguided individual would sidle up to him for a casual chat while he was training hard, sometimes even interrupting his concentration during a particularly hard set. And he was known to be less than polite to such individuals.

The interviewer mentioned this to him, and enquired how come he was so touchy when people just wanted to gauge his opinion on certain exercises, or express genuine appreciation for his excellent physique.

Robby explained, patiently. He had served in Vietnam (I told you this was a long time ago!) and he had experienced pain there, such as most people would never experience. It put it all into perspective for him. Now, when he was training, he was most careful to focus on the exercise and fight his way through the pain, knowing it could be conquered and that what he wanted lay just on the other side of it.

Still no slouch at about 70 years of age!

He recounted one particular experience. His platoon had been ambushed by Viet Cong and nearly everyone had been shot up. He found himself lying on the jungle floor, probably wounded (I don’t recall if he’d actually been shot), and holding his breath. The ambushers were thrilled to have got the upper hand and were going round stabbing, making sure everyone was dead. When it came to Robby’s turn, a soldier rammed his bayonet into his leg, satisfying himself that Robby was dead. He wasn’t, of course, but it certainly looked like he was. He lay there, barely breathing, not moving a muscle, and not making a sound.

When you’ve been through something like that, Robby explained, you know what pain is. And that was what he recalled every time his muscles screamed at him to quit. He would decide when to quit … and the pain wouldn’t stop him, or stand in his way. And the last thing he needed when he was going through that pain was a well-meaning bodybuilding afficionado interruping him or asking him questions. So pardon me, he finished off by saying, if I’m not always the very epitome of politeness and good manners when I’m interrupted at my training.

Remind yourself why you’re there

If you need motivation to get through the pain (and we all do), just remind yourself why you even bothered to go to the gym. It wasn’t to socialise (at least I hope not) … and it wasn’t to train half-heartedly (that would be pointless, right?) … and it wasn’t to impress other people in the gym (unless you’re so misguided you shouldn’t even be wasting your time going to the gym). No, there’s only one reason you went to the gym today … and that was to battle your way through that searing muscle pain, the pain that most people will shy well away from, most of the time, and that almost always presents you with a massive challenge, tempting you oh so deceptively to quit almost the moment it rears its ugly head.

Remind yourself that you came here with but one thing in mind – to face that pain, and to conquer it. Just repeat to yourself … “I came … for the pain”.

Make it your mantra: “I came … for the pain … I came … for the pain …”

Scared of pain?

If you’re scared of pain, stay away from the gym. Seriously. Find something else to do. Choose something less challenging. Resign yourself to not changing your physique, at least not noticeably. There’s no shame in that. But if you’re going to go to the gym, make it worth the trip. Train hard!

You could do a lot worse than study Ben Pakulski’s MI40-X training course. Ben is a world-class bodybuilder, but he doesn’t talk vaguely about his training, or hold anything back. He has studied bodybuilding and stripped it to its essentials. He is the guinea pig for his own experiments. And you could say his experiments have proved to be quite successful!

He is monstrously muscled, cut to the bone, and he trains hard! Don’t make the mistake of thinking he started out genetically gifted, or with an unusually muscular frame – in fact, he was overweight, as most of his family have always been. But he studied bodybuilding in detail and created a system that has put him right up there in the top echelon of world-class bodybuilders.

At the heart of his system is learning to put intense strain on the muscles, and keeping them in that state for quite a while. Don’t worry though, it doesn’t add up to long, painful sessions … just short, painful ones! But they do deliver results.

Get Ben Pakulski’s MI40-X course … and see some real results!

Get Ben’s course and stick with it. Give it all you’ve got. Accept the pain as your newly-discovered friend! You’ll see some remarkable muscular development, just as long as you pay attention to the other essential parts of the jigsaw … diet, rest, and mental attitude. But the main thing is to be willing to venture deep into the pain zone. If you’re up for that challenge (and you’re not a raw beginner), maybe Ben’s course is just right for you.