Mr. Aries’s BodyBlog

How many times have you heard the following statement?

 What you hate doing is usually what will help you the most…

I’m guessing a lot. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Now think about how many times this went in one ear and out the other.. More times than you care to remember, right? This is why I believe most people know exactly what will help their progress and blast past their plateaus… It’s evident that "knowing" and "doing" are two different things, because some of the best so-called "experts" obviously forget to follow their own advice.

If you hate running, do it tomorrow. If you hate squats, make it your next workout. If you dread the stair-climber, let it be your next cardio workout. Learn to love the things you hate doing the most. Chances are, avoiding the obvious is exactly what’s holding you back. You’ve exhausted all your likeable options, now deal with reality!

No one likes to get out of their comfort zone. Why would you, it’s safe, it’s secure.. You are good at it, you know exactly what to expect. That 500lb bench press, no matter how impressive, has long become routine. That 10 mile run , no matter how effortless, has long become mundane. We are creatures of habit, and excellence in one area often prevents us from exploring further. Know this today, and venture past that tomorrow.

You will hate it, you will suck at it, you will dread the moment you fail. Maybe you’ll be outlapped by men twice your age, or maybe you’ll be out-lifted by a girl half your experience, but so what? Who are you really competing against, them or the person you were yesterday?

I get the same questions all the time, and it’s time to clarify. Bodybuilding is not difficult, you don’t have to be smart. What you have to be, however, is smart enough to think for yourself. When you do not take the time to experiment, experience, and explore, you are merely attempting to be a clone of someone else’s experiments, experiences, and explorations. If that sounds like fun to you, good luck, keep tearing out those FLEX Magazine articles and plowing away. If you truly want to be a master of your own domain, listen to me right now and lay the ground work out for yourself using your own blueprints. Don’t be a sheep, it takes the fun out of life copying other people’s plans.

Choice is your best friend, don’t treat it like your worst enemy. I swear people are always dumbfounded when they are faced with options. Incline bench or incline barbell bench? Cable crossovers or dumbbell flies? Leg press or hack squats? Which is better? Does it matter? No, not at all. My answer to all these questions is simple: do both. Try one, when you tire of it, try the other. Rotate and revisit, it’s just that simple. No exercise is ABSOLUTE, because every exercise, when done right, serves it’s purpose. Be smart enough to know that everything can be incorporated at different phases of your training.

Eggs or beef? Fish or chicken? Turkey or pork? Who cares? Eat what you want, just make sure it fits in the overall schem of your diet! Everything can be eaten in moderation, and you don’t have to eat "clean" to lose fat.

"John, what’s your routine? What’s your diet?" … What?! Do you think I do exercises that you guys don’t know about? Sorry, I have no such knowledge. My chest is built on presses and flies just like yours, and my legs came from one squat at a time, one lunge at a time, one press at a time, just like yours.. I don’t have any magical exercises, and I don’t use any magical routines.. One rep at a time, one inch at a time, one day at a time.. You want to know the secret? Intensity with consistency plus longevity. That means if you do something intensely enough, with enough consistency, and with enough time passing by without you giving up on said goal, you will succede.

Btw, I don’t have any magical diets either.. I don’t count calories, I don’t avoid food groups, and I don’t avoid fats/carbs/protein/whatever else might exist in food.. I eat fruits in bunches, and I don’t care about fructose. I don’t micromanage, I macromanage with insight gained from years of experience. Trial and error taught me everything I need to know about my body. No scale, no science, no expert can ever hope to be of equal value to my experiences.. Results speak for themselves, and I will take my body’s ACTUAL FEEDBACK over expert opinions any day of the week..

I’m talking in circles, because everything comes down to one thing: learn YOUR body. Stop jumping on this diet and that diet, stop using this exercise routine and that exercise routine.. People ask me what I think of HST, ripptoe, doggcrap, and etc, etc… Guess what, I look at my monitor and go "wtf?"… I don’t know what they are, I trust they are excellent programs.. I have no gripe against any of these camps… I’d just rather live my own life, and be my own guiding star..