Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

BEYOND BRAWN
5.27 Break each five-year period into six-month slots, and make visible and measurable
improvement over each of those periods. Add up those six-month
stretches of improvement over five years and you will produce dramatic
change.
5.28 Never settle for anything other than your finest effort to be your best on
your six-month deadline days. And never settle for doing anything other
than your very best each day of the journey. You have to get the individual
days in good order if you are to achieve your long-term goals.
5.29 What you concentrate on for a given landmark year will reflect changing
values as you age. At ages up to 35 or so your training focus may be solely on
size and strength. As you approach 40 or 45 you might place more emphasis
on flexibility and a low percentage of bodyfat. Around age 40 you may be
overhauling the goals to target. Maybe getting to 8% bodyfat will be more
important than making a 300-pound bench press. Perhaps having a resting
heart rate under 55 will be more important than deadlifting 500 pounds.
Perhaps at 50 you will want to hit 250, 350 and 400 in the big three at say
175 pounds bodyweight, but simultaneously have a resting heart rate of 55.
At age 35 you may have wanted 350, 450 and 550 at 210 pounds, but paid no
attention to your resting pulse. (ough a low resting heart rate is usually an
indicator of a healthy and efficient heart, it can be a symptom of some health
problems.)
5.30 Whatever interests you for the time being, set specific goals for it—say 10%
bodyfat, not just “to get lean”; to have a resting heart rate of 60, not just “to
be fit,” etc. en nail yourself to a specific time deadline—e.g., six months
from today, not “quite soon”—and devise the strategy to reach your target.
TACTIC #6
Competition
5.31 While competitive bodybuilding and powerlifting act as terrific deadline
creators, do not enter without expecting competition from drug users. Testing
is either non-existent or such a joke that some of the most prominent
“naturals” are well-juiced.
5.32 A much more realistic and fair type of competition is to set up something
informal with a training partner, friend or pen pal. Make it bodyweight
related for maximum reps for each exercise, e.g., squat 150% bodyweight,
bench press bodyweight, and barbell curl 50% bodyweight. Set the date of
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