January 12, 2001
Issue #29

Let’s Cut Through The Bull Shit!!
by Brian Nassar

I’m a little angry right now so please bear with me. This article is going to cut through the crap and get down to what’s real! I’m sick and tired of the mind/muscle link! Yeah you have to have a pretty decent degree of determination and concentration while you are lifting, but that is where it ends! I like when I read about these genetic freaks talk about how they force their biceps peak to become higher while they workout. Are you kidding me? Hey, I want to grow 2 inches in height, so according to them if I concentrate hard enough it will happen. I’m tired of being 5’10”! Sounds ridiculous right? Well it goes the same with muscle! Also the positive thinking aspect only can go so far. I’ll bring up the UFC like I did in my last article. Before the fights they usually interview the fighters. A fighter will go on and proclaim, “ I will win, I have already foreseen it and visualized it, so I have already won”. Then they go out into the Octagon and get their ass knocked out! Wow, positive thinking really worked for them! I’m not saying to think negatively, just be realistic and prepare your self through training and practice. Believing in yourself will get you through hard times and life in general, not just thinking positive thoughts.

Before the injectable, “instant oil muscle” came along, you were stuck with your genetics, period! The great Lee Haney had the best back, delts, and chest in the world, but his arms always lagged behind no matter how hard he trained them. That was what his genetics dictated. Just look at what happened with a current pro who tried to get his arms bigger by using the “magic oil”, he almost died! Some of the current pros are a big mass of bumps and lumps! I love some of the current crop of bodybuilders with 90-degree angles on their deltoids. Did they force their side delts to grow through intense concentration?  Hell NO!! Oh man not to keep ripping on some pros but I’m going to do it anyway. I just finished watching the Mr. O 2000 on ESPN. One of the competitors, we’ll call him “Marcus R.” had a navel that was bigger than a golf ball! I thought it was going to jump off of him and start posing with him! More GH please, I don’t think he uses enough. Some of the pros that I have met have a hard enough time signing their autographs let alone thinking positively! I do have a great respect for most pro and high amateur level competitive bodybuilders. Most of them bust their ass getting into shape. I’m just stating the truth of the matter. Remember many people’s biggest fear is the truth.

I wrote about getting psyched up for your workouts a while back (Neurobiology of Bodybuilding). Use what works for you. Just to put an issue to rest, your body does not distinguish between “good” or “negative” stress. For the record, there is no word “eustress”, as was written in a rip-off article of mine by someone else. That article was pseudo-science at it’s best! I lose respect for people who mislead the public with fake words. Think for your self, don’t let some “motivational” speaker spew a few fake words at you so you think success is magical! When your sympathetic nervous system kicks in, your brain does not care if it’s because you’re horny, angry, happy, or excited. Your heart rate and epinephrine levels go up either way. Have you ever become sick after a vacation? That was “good” stress right? Your body does not care that you were having fun on your vacation; it was still stress, plain and simple. Chronic stress is what causes illness, not short-term stress. Our bodies were designed for short-term stress followed by relaxation. Relax after your workout, not during it! Our bodies were designed for “fight or flight”.

“ The sympathetic division of the [autonomic nervous system] mobilizes the body’s resources in emergency, stressful, and emotional [good or bad] situations. Walter Cannon (1932) termed this configuration of responses the “fight or flight” reaction. Sympathetic activation prepares the body for intense motor activity, the sort necessary for attack, defense, or escape” (Brannon & Feist).

What is a more intense motor activity than a set of squats? You want to get excited while you workout, it helps you focus and perform better. It does this by the accomplishing the following:

 “ The reactions include an increase in the rate and strength of cardiac contraction, constriction of blood vessels in the skin, a decrease of gastrointestinal activity, [meaning, it is better to train on an empty stomach] an increase in respiration, stimulation of the sweat glands, and dilation of the pupils in the eyes” (Brannon & Feist).

Our physiology has not changed much if at all since we were cavemen, hunting and gathering for food.

 “ Emotional behaviors are accompanied by changes in heart and breathing rates and other internal activities that prepare the body for the increased demands it faces. The internal activities depend on the two branches of the autonomic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for intense, vigorous, emergency activity. The parasympathetic nervous system increases digestion and other processes associated with conservation of energy and preparation for later events. The parasympathetic system becomes especially active after removal of a stimulus that excited the sympathetic system”(Kalat).

That quote explains pretty well why eating after a workout is so important. Our digestive system is raring to go!

We were pretty laid back as cavemen until a bear or saber tooth tiger started to chase us, then our sympathetic nervous system kicked into gear and told us to get the hell out of there! After the danger was gone our parasympathetic nervous system calms us back down and reverses the sympathetic process. That is a simplified version, but that’s pretty much what happens. Intense workouts are sort of the same idea. They are not the main culprits to a negative effect on our body. Unfortunately today’s world is a bit different than our ancestors but we deal with it with the same basic physiological make-up. It is the everyday chronic stress that our immune system has a hard time dealing with. Our bodies are not designed to handle a constant bombardment of stress. I guess you could coin chronic stress as “bad stress” if you wanted to.

What causes the strain on your health and bodybuilding efforts are the things that happen to you after you leave the gym. Your occupation, relationships, driving in traffic, sleep patterns, noise, pollution, crowding, etc. are the chronic problems that our bodies have a hard time dealing with. Getting psyched up during a workout is not the problem. (Unless you train everyday, hours on end). Please don’t get me wrong. Positive thinking is very important for your personal well-being and outlook on life, and the opportunities it brings to us. Confidence and feeling good about our selves is a wonderful and important thing. Cockiness and arrogance are not. Feeling “positive thoughts” before a lift will not make you magically stronger however. Hard training and determination over a period of time will.

The mental aspect of bodybuilding is more important for discipline and staying consistent with your training and diet. Read my article on Becoming a Warrior: Strength & Honor. Many people try and make things to scientific or complicated. I like to live in the real world, not some mystic false hope realm. Leave that sort of thinking to the cults. Staying positive helps us get through the day and succeed in our goals. Train hard, kick ass, and stay true to yourself. That is the mental key to bodybuilding success!

I’ll leave you with another one of my favorite quotes:

“What we do in life, echoes in eternity”. Russell Crowe, Gladiator