"Yeah, but he's on STEROIDS!"

Walk into any commercial gym and you'll spot at least one of "Those guys". The Bro with the rainbow tank top, fake diamond earrings, backwards ball cap that is 2 sizes too big, the basketball shorts that go down to his ankles, and his brand new J's. He has absolutely no idea what he is doing in the gym as he bounces from machine to machine and never once touches a barbell. As much as you hate this kid you can't help but watch him everyday. Coming in day in and day out and accomplishing absolutely nothing. But one day you notice something, all of a sudden that kid got pretty big! His douche bag status is still through the roof but you can't deny that he looks like he put on about 40 pounds of muscle in about 2 weeks. In this situation, it's safe to say "Yeah, but he's on steroids."

However, in the case of elite strength athletes and Body Builders, it is not okay to say "Yeah, but he's on steroids." When looking at the world's strongest man, Brian Shaw, world record holding powerlifter, Dan Green, Russian Olympic weightlifter, Dmitry Klokov, or 2013 Mr. Olympia winner, Phil Heath, to assume that their accomplishments should be fully credited to steroid use proves that you have no understanding of what it takes to be great. Not much frustrates me more than when I share a story/video/accomplishment of one of these greats and someone asks me, "Is he on steroids?" When I respond, "Yes, I'm sure he is", they will automatically discredit the feat of strength with "Oh, well that's cheating."

Do steroids work? I'm sure they do. Do steroids make you stronger? I'm sure they do. Do steroids help you recover faster and train harder? I'm sure they do. You know what else works? Proper training. You know what else makes you stronger? Eating 10,000 calories a day and not missing one day of training in preparation for your contest. Being 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 440 pounds makes you strong. Saying that steroid use is the only reason these people have broken records or won titles is just your excuse for not pursuing anything great.

If you walked into any 24 hour fitness and gave everyone in the gym a full dosage of steroids for 1 year, I would be willing to bet that none of them will ever squat 1,000 pounds, clean and jerk 400 pounds, or even qualify for Mr. Olympia. The level of determination, the discipline of dieting, and the countless repetitions needed to be an elite athlete is way more than any typical gym goer can comprehend. Steroids will make you hit a baseball harder but many people forget that getting the bat to hit the baseball is the hardest part.

Am I promoting steroid use? Absolutely not. Many people fail to realize their genetic potential and automatically use steroids or Pro hormones as a shortcut rather than a tool. Dave Tate has said that Steroids are your "Ace card." It will propel you to the next level but you will probably not move past that. If you need steroids to start on the high school football team, you'll probably start but you won't make it to college ball. If you need steroids to start college ball, you will start college ball but you will probably not make it to the pros. If you need steroids to start in the Pros, you might get drafted but you won't last very long. And so on and so on.    

So, rather than using steroids; eat every meal as if it were your last, drink milk like water, sleep like a king, train with a violent mentality, learn from the best, and always, always, Train Untamed!

Do THIS and get Stronger

Willie "the Hammer" Bell before his 832 pound deadlift

With my Powerlifting competition coming up this weekend I figured my first post would be about something that I have been perfecting in preparation for the meet. Something that many people lack, something that many people overlook, something that could be the missing slice in your Strength Pie. Something so powerful it could help you lift weights you've never lifted before. So powerful it could help you look and feel like you've never looked and felt before. So powerful it could help you achieve things you never thought possible; until now. I'm talking about the power of the MIND!

Too often we are controlled by our minds. Not many people use their minds to their advantage. Rather, our minds are often what is holding us back from what our heart really wants (sorry to sound so poetic). When we are faced with a challenge; lifting more weight than we have in the past, dropping down to a certain body fat percentage in a short amount of time, losing weight, gaining weight, job interview, football game, team tryouts, opening your own business, quitting your job and telling your boss to Suck it; we become controlled by our fears, doubts, circumstances, other people's experiences and opinions, and our past. All of this is activity in our minds and it's all NEGATIVE! 9 times out of 10 we succumb to these negative thoughts because that is usually the easy thing to do. It's easy to listen to these negative thoughts and decide to play it safe. Sure, you might not lose anything by doing this and you don't run the risk of failure. However, you will also never achieve anything great.What it all boils down to is you becoming a SLAVE to your mind. Wouldn't it be nice if we could control our mind and have it work in favor of us rather than against us?

I'm currently reading a book called "Thinking for a Change" and in this book the author talks about manipulating your feelings and emotions. It's much easier said than done to completely ignore the fear or anxiety building up inside of you. I can't just tell you to ignore that feeling inside of your gut. It's there for a reason. However, we can agree that our feelings and emotions (attitude) are directly influenced by our thoughts. If we constantly fill our minds with thoughts of failure, doubt, fear of injury, fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment, we will always be too afraid to do anything that involves risk and reward. If we start filling our minds with POSITIVE thoughts of success, accomplishment, and satisfaction, we will automatically gain the courage to face the challenge head on.

Okay, I thought Untamed Strength was a badass gym, not a Life Coach. You're absolutely right. I can relate everything I just typed directly to training. Too often we get caught up in the monotony of training. We go to the gym Monday through Friday every week at the same time everyday. It becomes so routine that we turn into robots and what happens to a lot of people is they get burned out. Why? Because they never positively engage their minds! "I'm too tired", "I'm too busy", "I'm not seeing the results that I want", "I'll just go tomorrow". Take 5 minutes every morning or 5 minutes before every training session and think about why you do what you do. Think about your goals, envision yourself stronger/leaner/more muscular/etc. Put some positive fuel in your tank and that will stir up some desire to get better.

When it comes to maximum effort training; 1 rep max deadlift, timed 40 yard dash, 20 reps squats, etc., the mind plays a HUGE role. When I max out on a lift I block out any negative thinking; "I'm not feeling it today", "I don't know if I can do this", "What if I hurt myself". Instead, I envision every detail of the lift; the bar in my hands, the bar on my back, the path of the bar, my technique, my breathing, my explosiveness. Most importantly I envision myself completing the lift. I use the joy and excitement that I have when completing the lift to fuel my emotions before I even touch the bar. There have been times when I have got so overwhelmed with emotion before I started the lift that my eyes have watered. I will envision myself successfully completing the lift and sometimes I will yell "YES!" because in my head I have already completed the lift. If you don't think you can, you don't deserve to.

Okay, Alan, why don't you just use this logic to deadlift 1,000 pounds? I'm am not saying that you can think yourself invincible (although you may feel like it). What I am saying is that if you fully engage your mind and still fail you will have no regrets of not giving it your very best. You can leave with the satisfaction of laying it all on the line. You now know what you have to improve on.

"The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you?"
-Henry Ford

Suggested Books: "IronMind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies." by Randall J. Strossen
                            "Thinking for a Change" by John C. Maxwell
                            "The Purposeful Primitive" by Marty Gallagher