Part of the growth process for muscles is allowing them to heal properly and completely. If you become weaker or have the feeling you just are not lifting as much as you typically should be althought you might feel rested, then you need more recovery time. You can of course do back-to-back workouts as long as you are working out different muscles, say upper body one day and lower body the next. I must admit that personally I have the tendency to plan my workouts slightly differently then normal.

I have been trying to play with various methods and combinations of workouts to optimize muscle strength, tone and growth. One interesting thing I have noticed is how you can train your muscle to “make it smart” in terms of development. Try your daily upper body routine focusing say on biceps, triceps, trapezoids, deltoids and pecs. Do a typical intensive workout to the point of muscular failure for these muscle groups. Now, tomorrow instead of taking a rest focus on the muscles around the groups that you did the day before and in between do small sets of small reps of those groups on the previous day with an extremely light weight, as if just playing around. This will cause muscular movement, yet without causing damage to these muscle groups allowing for the muscles to intensify its healing process.

I know this may sound a bit like the Pythagorean theorem, but give it a shot and see what you think.

1) DEFINE YOUR GOAL

Before the start of anything you need to define your goal. You need to exactly know what you want to accomplish before you go after it. This means – be specific – sit down and write where you want to go. You need to know in your mind that “this” is what I will achieve. Not something like – “I want to lose weight” but rather “I want to lose 5KG by then end of 4 weeks.” Write it down and carry this with you or put it somewhere where you will see it multiple days during the day reminding you of your goal.

2) BELIEVE IN YOUR ABILITY

I often talk to people and although they have a goal and have created a vision for it, they do not believe that they will achieve their desired end result. This may be due to a lot of reasons; belief that they lack the skills, what others may think, etc. but you truly need to believe in yourself – you need to believe that you can run that 10KM race, that your capable of dropping 10KG, your able to get rid of your debt and so forth. If you do not believe in yourself, than you need to rethink your attitude. Get rid of those feelings of regret or guilt, instead take that energy and use it to transform your mind and redirect yourself into a positive direction.

3) STAY POSITIVE

This is a hard but true fact. If you see the bad side of the grass only wishing you were on the greener side then my friend this means you have given up and have begun making excuses. I had the great opportunity to work for Nike, and they had a very interesting commercial where a women is showing off her legs and her dreading physical trait saying “I have thunder thighs“, and begins celebrating her energy. This is what we need to do. We need to accept the fact of WHO we are and not what others want us to be. We need to celebrate ourselves by bashing our negative traits and turning them into compliments. Readjusting this leads to self creation allowing us to then create experiences in which we can believe in ourselves.

4) IMAGINE YOUR GOAL

Focus on your vision! I recently listened to a self motivational speaker and he mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1976, when Arnold visited Arizona to promote his film “Stay Hungry“, which was a box office flop, this speaker – at the time a journalist for a local newspaper, had to follow Arnold around for a whole day to interview him. He was sitting with Arnold at dinner and asked him his very last question – “Arnold, what is your next goal?” Arnold replied, “My vision which I am going to accomplish is to be the next biggest Hollywood box office star for years to come.” This caused the interviewer to giggle he noted, stating how in the world was this Austrian with this terrible accent and no acting skills whatsoever going to be a box office hit. The rest is history.

Visualization allows you to get comfortable with the idea of change. It allows you to envision the end result. If you want to buy a house, then you need to focus on what it will look like. How does it feel to walk through it. This will motivate you to achieve.

5) GET EDUCATED

What in the world does education have to do with success? I am not saying that you sit down and become a book worm. What I am saying is that many people, although they might have the brightest idea, the greatest goal or the most intense visualization, will simply not achieve their desired dream because they do not know how to do it. Take weight loss for example; most people want to lose weight yet simply do not know how to do it – and I mean do it properly, and not the “Oh I will just eat a bit less, run a bit more and lift…mmm..the 5KG weights a few times.”

Studying up on the material will in the end help you make powerful choices that effect change. This can be done by reading up on specific material subject, talking to experienced people, finding a mentor, and so forth.

6) DO NOT FEAR FAILURE

This is the biggest hindrance for all of us in all of our endeavors – and that right from the start. The fear of failing causes many of us to simply not start at all. Often the fear of failure comes from our external surroundings yet we internally tend to put this upon us, trying to excuse oneself because you lack the skill or the time or the energy. If you are true to yourself the fear of failure simply comes from the fact that we do not want to look bad in front of our peers. Whether this be our spouse, friends, colleagues, etc. It is as simple as that. After all who does want to look bad? If we can learn to put this aside then our path to success cannot be stopped. Fear is an integral part of success – it is part of the process and only makes us grow wiser. Lou Brock once said; “show me a guy who is afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you someone you can beat every single time.”

7) GET FEEDBACK

Do not be afraid to receive constructive criticism. Seek out someone who earnestly understands what you are going through, or has had a similar experience. Someone whom you truly trust, who is educated in the goal your trying to achieve. Allow them to give you feedback in your endeavor. Take this and chew on it. Do not be upset or agitated, yet rather turn their feedback into a useful source. If your goal is to lose weight and they suggest that you need to be running a whole lot more then you already think you are, then think to yourself how you can intensify your endurance workouts to optimize your reach for your goal. One thing to be very careful about is positive feedback. We all enjoy hearing how good we are at something, and yes this is good, we need it – we are only human, yet do not think of yourself to highly because in most cases your going to think to yourself that your doing a pretty good job, but remember you have not reached your goal until your completely there. Then pat yourself on the back, smile and enjoy your accomplishments.

So where would you end up dining right now?

Often times I feel down and suddenly bump into someone, yet simply cannot remember their name. This happens to all of us and yes although our brain is the most complex computer often times no matter how powerful it just needs some recuperation time in order to stay fit and in shape. Our brains are like hard drives. We continuously stuff it with stuff. Just as we defrag and scan our hard drives to keep it in shape our brains need a tune up every so often as well. Below I have listed a few things you can do to keep your brain in shape and as I mentioned above SUPERCHARGE it.

HK’s tips on tuning your brain:

• Drink Apple Juice
  

The University of Massachusetts Lowell has done some research which apparently shows that apple juice causes an increase in production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in increased memory power.

• Eat Almonds and Walnuts
  

Almonds and Walnuts are believed to improve memory. Here’s a tip: combine milk and almond oil and drink a glass in the morning or before going to bed. Almond milk can be made by crushing almonds without the outer core and adding water and sugar to it.

• Sleep well

Research shows that long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying images we experience during our day. This “playback” programs our subconscious to store these images.

• Enjoy simple Pleasures

Stress drains our brainpower, period. A mind full of stress reduces our memory resources and leaves our mind feeble. Try to make a habit of engaging yourself in simple pleasures that take your mind off of what is stressing it. Listen to music, play with your kids, run or bike a few kilometers, watch some TV (yes a little tv won’t hurt anyone)

• Exercise your mind

Like physical excercise is essential for a strong body, mental excercise is essential for a sharp and agile mind. Research shows that children have far more brainpower than adults as they have a playful mind that absorbs everything. Engage in activities that require your mind to remain active and playful (don’t stress it though). Do a sudoku, play scrabble, practice a new language, read, paint or start some other hobby.

• Meditation

Meditation relieves stress. Now this has nothing to do with religion. This simply means taking some quiet time for yourself and “shutting down”. By doing so (relaxing) the stress drops off, we lower our blood pressure, we slow down respiration, slow down our metabolism and then muscle retention follows. These factors contribute to increased brainpower.

• Reduce Sugar intake

Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers a sort of energy after a burst yet causes a downhill slope once that is over. Excess sugar causes memory loss and other neurotic disorders.

• Eat whole wheat

The whole wheat germs contain lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.

• Eat a light meal at night

A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.

• Develop imagination

Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses – touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.

• Control your temper

Bleached food, excess of starch or excess of white bread can lead to nerve grating effect. This results in a violent and some time depressive behavior. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and mood swings.

• Take Vitamin B-complex

Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat food and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from the starch food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.

So give these few tips a shot and see what happens. Do youhave any other tips that keep your brain strong? Let us know by commenting below!