Getting Jacked - Part 8 - Summarizing

So let's put this whole thing/series into perspective shall we?

Chemically -

Raise your test levels - Do this by making social changes or chemical changes.  Both are conscious choices and decisions you have to make.  If you want to stay natural, then you need to decide what it is you need to cut out of your life.

Lower Cortisone - Partying, external stress, and bullshit have to go.  The longer you stay single the better.  And I mean single as in no girlfriends either.  Sleep and quality food have to make up your life for a while.

If you decide to go the "better living through chemistry" route, then be smart about it.  Always make less mean more, and don't do shit haphazardly.

Conditioning -

Get in shape.  Do steady state for 30-45 in the morning, and do some intervals a few times a week.  There is no reason why you can't make this happen.  If you're a fat, out of shape slob just do the steady state until you feel/see the adipose dropping off.  Then SLOWLY add in some hills/sprints/whatever.

Diet -

Low glycemic carbs for the most part only.  Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, brown rice, Ezekiel bread, etc should make up the bulk of your carb consumption.

Low fat early in the day with higher carbs, then higher far in the evenings with low/no carbs.  This means lots of meat and veggies and that's about it.  Post-workout a shake in milk is just fine.

Training -

Get stronger on the big lifts in the 1-5 rep range and focus on a progression plan.

Get your hypertrophy work from assistance stuff on the heavy days where the reps are a medium but still going heavy.

Use the light days to get a ton of reps in for injury prevention and recovery.

Look at assistance work as a way to get bigger muscularly and for injury prevention.  "Weak point training" is bullshit.  You're always going to have "weak points".  The time you spend shoring one up, another one would just take its place anyway.  Stop chasing your tail after weak points and just concentrate on getting big, strong, and as injury proof as possible.

This covers every god damn thing you need in training as far as I am concerned.  If you are going into a meet, see my strong-15 plan.  But training in the above manner will keep you healthy going into meet prep and should keep you healthy.

Deloads -

Fuck a deload.  You are in the gym to get better, not warm up and leave.  If you are burnt, take time off until you feel "hungry" again.  Then get right back on it.

Intangibles -

Set goals.  Short term and long term.  Conquer them.  Don't let anything stand in your way.  But be realistic as well.  Don't say "I'm going to deadlift 500x20 in 6 months" when you just did "400x15".  You are being an idiot.  Write down 400x20 for 6 weeks.  If you get there before 6 weeks, do 425x15 or what the fuck ever.  Making your goals attainable will keep you focused.  Especially when you have a set back.  And you WILL have a setback at some point.

Be specific about your goals.  Looking "jacked" is really not specific.  The whole point of this series to focus on the functions that create your form.  You don't train to look a certain way, your training produces that look.  So the point is, if you focus on getting strong and being in shape you will LOOK like you want to look.  But you need to be specific about what numbers you think you need to hit, and you need to have conditioning goals to meet as well.  Don't set sail on a ship with no destination or plan on how to get there.

Don't fret every god damn detail.  If I say 5 sets of 20 but you feel like shit and do 4 sets of 10 because you are dog assed tired, that's fine.  The template isn't that specific.  One of the things the template does is allow for variation for what you need.  Not just for a specific time period but for that day.  What if I want to use that glute machine in the corner?  Shit, I'll go use it instead of doing leg curls.  This keeps training fun, and the fact is training should be challenging AND fun.  No two ways about it.

Be patient.

Kick ass.

Death is winning.

Do something.