By Brandon Cook

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” - Harvey MacKay

 

“Everything you now do is something you have chosen to do. Some people don’t want to believe that. But if you’re over age twenty-one, your life is what you’re making of it. To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” -John C. Maxwell

Well, we’re two weeks into the New Year 2010. For many people the motivation has started to fade to black. Their new habits are beginning to seem like false hopes, while their old habits are beckoning them back into the shadows and comforts of their former selves.

In another week they’ll be dropping like flies from gyms around the nation…. as Metallica used to scream “Sad but true.”

However, just because the mass majority of people are lacking the strength of mind, the will, the shear determination and perserverance to make it the 21-30 days it takes to form a new habit… doesn’t mean we do. No, not me and certainly not YOU!

We’re willing, both you and I, to wade through the swamp that is seperating us from the dream life… the life they would live if only they had the stones to. Yet, for us…. failure is no longer an option. To us… failure doesn’t exist. It’s simply an illusion.

I can’t speak for you, but I’m tired of illusions. I desire the truth. And if not THE truth… then at least MY truth.

After all this a fairly subjective world we live in. Everybody is living in their own reality. They see the world filtered through their own eyes and minds, their own thoughts, feelings, and their own perceptions of the world.

Thus, how many of us are trapped living in a life and reality that is on some level an illusion? Maybe we’re not seeing clearly enough. Are we wasting our time and our lives focusing on the wrong things? Maybe “things” that may not even matter in the end?

It’s important for us to see the BIG picture, beyond the egoic fallacies of our own creation and get to the HEART of reality as quickly as possible. In other words, the Essence of our Life.

In reality  I believe fear, doubt, and failure are illusions. Tests that we must overcome to live the life of our dreams. Fear, doubt, and failure are evolutionary mechanisms designed to test the heart of our character. To see what we’re made of. To be radically honest, I know I’ve been held back by these illusions in the past and in some ways still am. Like you I’m working to overcome them.

If we give into these scary illusions and allow them to overcome us, then we’re not only giving up on ourselves, our families, and our friends, but on the dream life we REALLY wanted to live. We forsake the achievement of our desires and goals for the safety of our own cave of comfort and security. The fierce snarl of fear… the bite of doubt… the sharp pain of failure… scares us back into the cave of mediocrity. 

If we’re not careful. We’ll die in that cave. Scared and alone. Too afraid to really live. It’s as William Wallace says in the movie Braveheart ”Every man dies, not every man really lives.”

The Top Five Regrets of the Dying

The other day I stumbled upon an article written by Bronnie Ware, who is a writer, singer/songwriter and speaker from Australia.

The article was titled “Regrets of the Dying” and was based off of her experience of working in palliative care. Basically her patients were people who were dying and forced to come to terms with their own mortality.

Here is a condensed version of that article (you can read the full article by clicking the link above):

Start of Article—————–

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.  All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

End of Article—————–

I guess in the end, there’s not really much to add to this post.

As we enter the third week of the new year, freshly embarking on the journey to change and transform our lives, we are going to encounter resistance. We now realize that this resistance will come in the form of fear, doubt, and failure.

As our old patterns beckon for us to give up on these “stupid goals and resolutions” and return back to our old ways let us imagine the time of our death. Just for a moment imagine yourself dying and contemplating the life you have lived.

Did you REALLY LIVE while you were on this planet?

Did you DO all the things you desired and wanted to do in your heart?

Did you make the most of each day you were alive?

Did you build healthy, positive relationships with those in your life?

Did you ALLOW yourself to be happy and embrace life?

Or did you get caught up in the illusion of fear, doubt, and failure?

Do YOU have any regrets that you will have to take to the grave?

Consider this BEFORE you give up on your goals and resolutions this year. Decide NOW to make 2010 the best year of your life.

Live it up, while time is still on your side!

Brandon Cook

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About the Author:

Brandon Cook is author of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2010 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.

By Brandon Cook

“We all have great inner power. The power is self-faith. There’s really an attitude to winning. You have to see yourself winning before you win.”
-Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.”
-Bruce Lee

The New Year is RISING and my plan for how to gain muscle mass in 2010 is already underway…. I’ve made up my mind to DO THIS and to increase accountability I’m documenting the whole thing on my body transformation page. Stop by and leave me a few words of encouragement and support.

The pressure’s on and I can already tell a BIG difference in my approach to making a transformation this year just knowing that people are watching. I’m fully commited. 

That being said I believe there are 4 Pillars you must study and master if you want to learn how to gain muscle mass:

1. Proper Mindset: You have to fully believe in yourself 100%. Drop any fear and doubt as soon as it arises and eliminate any negative self talk. Focus on your abilty to succeed and KNOW that your success is inevitable.

• Practice meditation and learn to focus your mind on the present moment. This is your only true point of power.

• Use positive self-talk and affirmations with strong positive emotions to train your mind to support your efforts.

• Visualize the achievement of your goals right before going to bed. How does it feel to be living the life of your dreams?

• Read books, listen to audio programs, watch educational programs. Continue to learn, grow and evolve. Never stop this.

• Be confident, optimistic, disciplined, persistent, grateful, and enthusiastic in your approach to achieving your goals.

• Be a real man (or woman) and take 100% responsiblity for how your life turns out. You become what YOU believe.

2. Optimal Training: If you don’t know the proper training methods to break your plateaus you MUST educate yourself by absorbing all you can from guys like Vince DelMonte, Jason Ferruggia, Sean Nalewanyj, Jeff Anderson, Nick Nilsson and other competent coaches.

• Use compound exercises like Squats, Dead Lifts, Military Press, Pull-ups, Dips, Chin-ups, Push-Ups, Rows, Planks, etc.

• Do a couple warm-up sets gradually increasing the weight and then do 1-2 working sets per exercise.

• Stay within the 5-8 rep range and work to do another rep or add weight to the bar each week.

• Keep your training short and intense. No more than 45 minutes after doing a 15-20 minute dynamic warm-up.

• Do three workouts per week while allowing a day of rest and recovery between each training session.

• Lift the weight explosively while controlling the lowering portion of the lift. Rest 60-120 seconds between sets.

• Here’s your first workout: Squats, Military Press, Pull-ups. Now get going!

3. Quality Nutrition: You are what you eat. You can’t build your best body now, unless you are eating the best foods that will nourish, strengthen and rebuild it. Just like you can’t build your dream house out of scrap materials… your body is the same way.

• Know where you food comes from and how it got to your plate. Just because it looks like food or says “All Natural” doesn’t mean that it actually is.

• Eat the highest quality food you can afford. There IS a difference! If you got the money go for organic fruits and vegetables, free range, grass fed beef and chicken, cage-free, organic, omega 3 eggs, wild caught fish like salmon.

• Eat 5-6 meals a day. Eat every three to four hours.

• Make breakfast and your post-workout meals the biggest meals of the day. Eat most of your carbohydrates around these meals. Eat mostly protein, fats and vegetables during the other meals.

• Eat like a cave man: fruits, vegetables, lean meats like beef, chicken, fish, whole eggs, nuts and seeds, some grains like brown rice, quinoia, oatmeal.

• Master your peri-workout nutrition. Consume liquid carbs + protein before, during, and after your intense weight training sessions.

• Use time-tested supplements like creatine, fish oils, multivitamin, protein powder, branch chained amino acids.

• Eat enough food to support your muscle growth. You must be in a caloric surplus by 500 calories or so.

4. Rest and Recovery: This is where the magic happens… that’s right… in the bedroom.  Sleep is when the muscles are repairing themselves and actually growing. Neglect this and you are doomed to be scrawny.

• Do everything in your power to get 7-9 hours of sleep or more each night. This is vital to your success.

• If possible take a power nap during the day or after training to speed recovery

• Buy a foam roller and tennis ball and use these tools to massage your body and improve your muscle tissue quality.

• Pay to get a massage, use a hot tub, sauna and/or soak in a hot bath.

• Use ice packs to sooth sore muscles and joints or heal from injuries. Use a heating pad on sore muscles only. No heat on injuries with swelling and inflammation. Ice is the miracle healer. Use it.

• Practice Tai Chi, Meditation, or Yoga to relax and circulate healing energy (chi.)

• Stretch your muscles on recovery days. You should be stretching at least as much as you are lifting to prevent tightness and injuries.

If you’re not growing or achieving your goals… the problem is within one of these four pillars. Make sure you understand and are following these tips on how to gain muscle mass. When you have the four pillars in place and they will support your progress and growth in 2010. You can dooooo it! 

Brandon

——————————————————
About the Author:

Brandon Cook is creator of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2009 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.

By Brandon Cook

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
-Henry David Thoreau

 
“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” -Bruce Lee

 

History has a strange way of repeating itself and so I find myself in a similar situation today that I’ve faced in the past. I’ve come a long way since those early days, but I’m still not living the life I imagined for myself. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m living a great life and am very grateful. It’s just that I know there is more for me to do, experience, and fulfill in this lifetime than the level at which I’m currently living. Can you relate?

I’m standing at the cross roads again. I’m not here to make a deal with the devil, but rather to choose a path.

Now, I can walk the path that so many of us follow, which I will call the path of the sleepwalker. This is an unconscious path. A path of mediocrity, of blindly following the herd, of giving in to doubt or fear, and succombing to a life that is not the one truly desired, but rather the one often settled for.

Or I can choose another path, which I will call the conscious path or the path of the awakened. This is the path of the warrior, of being your own man or woman and living consciously, of kicking fear and doubt in the face and embracing courage and confidence. This is the path of self-evolution, of following your heart, speaking your truth, and living the life you’ve imagined for yourself.

Truth be told, I’ve started down the path of the awakened several times, but I’ve often fallen asleep on the quest and in doing so, failed to fully commit to the journey.

When you lose consciousness in this manner you will typically lose your way, hopefully only temporarily. At some point, you’ll suddenly be startled awake, only to realize that you have wandered off the path and are now lost in the woods. At this point you can either give up or decide to get back on the path.

I can no longer meander aimlessly in the woods. I must choose a path and consciously follow it to where it leads. There’s really not much of a choice to be made for me, but rather the commitment and the courage to walk down this path least followed.

I’ve already chosen the path of the Awakened Warrior (or rather it chose me.) This is about living it…

However, the path of the warrior is not the easiest path. That’s for sure. It’s fraught with difficulty, rough terrain, and obstacles the average sleepwalker is too afraid to encounter. Afterall, that is why it is the path least followed.

So, before I set out upon this path I must go through training. No one becomes a warrior without first going through a training period. It would be foolish to embark upon this journey without first arming my self both physically and mentally. Honestly, the training often is the path and so this is where I must begin.

Morhei Ueshiba (the founder of Aikido) states, “The Way of a Warrior cannot be encompassed by words or in letters: Grasp the essence and move on toward realization! The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit.”

 

He then goes on to explain that “Iron is full of impurites that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion.”

In this way, my training will be structured and designed to strengthen and transform the body, awaken and enlighten the mind, and cultivate the power of the spirit. I will be documenting the entire training process here on this blog. In fact, this is what this whole post is about.

The Becoming of a Warrior: A Pathway to Transformation

Well, that’s what I’m officially calling this body transformation. If you haven’t noticed yet, I like to make things a little more dramatic. Meaning, instead of calling this “Brandon Cook’s transformation story”… BORiiiiiing! I’d rather call it: “The Becoming of a Warrior.”

Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? If you must, blame it on my creative side. However, my intention IS to become a warrior, so it seems like a fitting title.

It’s possible that my interpretation of a warrior may be slightly different from yours. To me a warrior is not just a soldier who fights in battles, but also has the potential to evolve into something more. Let’s look at some definitions from dictionary.com:

Warrior  -noun

1.One who is engaged in or experienced in battle; soldier.
2.One who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.
3.One who is engaged aggressively or energetically in an activity, cause, or conflict.

So, by these defintions a warrior could be a soldier, a politician, an athlete, or even an activist for a certain cause. More generally, any person showing great vigor, strength or courage while involved in an activity, or in the resolution of some type of conflict could be considered a warrior.

As you may know, I’ve chosen to call this blog The Awakened Warrior.  This is my ideal of the warrior. In a real sense this is synonymous with an enlightened or spiritual warrior, one whose training, battles, and life experiences has led him or her to a higher level of consciousness or understanding of the world.

Thus, as the warrior awakens to a heightened perception and understanding of himself and his ultimate reality he transcends the state of mere warrior and becomes the warrior-sage.

According to Carl Jung, an archetype is an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic image that is derived from the past collective experience of humanity and is present in the unconscious of the individual.

The warrior is just one of many common archetypes. Others are the teacher, the clown, the bully, the redeemer, the sage, the lover, the hero, the villian, the goddess, or one of many others.

The Awakened Warrior is the blending of two archetypes.  The warrior and the sage (an extremely wise person.) This individual has the heart, strength, courage, and power of the warrior, alongside the wisdom, discernment, and experience of the sage.

So, this is what I mean when I refer to a warrior or an awakened warrior. Both Bruce Lee and Morihei Ueshiba serve as great examples of awakened warriors.

Morihei Ueshiba was the founder of the popular Japanese Martial Art Aikido. After mastering the classical styles of Judo, Kendo, and Jujitsu he created Aikido in correlation with his spiritual philosophy.  Aikido is the art of non-resistance and utilizes this principle to turn the attackers own force and momentum against him.  Using throws, joint locks, and pins to subdue an attacker in a nonviolent way. Morihei developed Aikido as a way to cultivate peace and harmony in the world. He is reknowned as one of the greatest martial artists of all time.

Bruce Lee… okay, well I’m sure you know who Bruce Lee is!!!  Yet, you may not realize that Bruce Lee was much more than an actor, he was a martial artist, a philosopher, film director, screen writer, student of Wing Chun and founder of Jeet Kune Do. He is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and a cultural icon.  Bruce Lee was also an ectomorph who weighed only 135-145 lbs. So he also serves as a great example for many hardgainers.

 

The more I study and learn about them, the more I admire these warriors and how they lived their lives.  

With this ideal of the warrior in mind, my training will naturally follow this path. I will be focusing on strength and conditioning training while blending it with martial arts, meditation and a mind/body techniques. Here’s a few examples where my training philosophy differs from your typical bodybuilder, athlete or strength coach:

• • I have added daily Zen meditation, affirmations, journaling, and visualization to tap into the subconscious mind and overcome any limiting beliefs.
• • I have blended elements and ideas from Aikido, Tai Chi, and other martial arts to develop the inner and outer warrior.
• • For the mind I include science, philosophy and spirituality, as well as, other topics through a process of continual reading, learning and growth.
• • To build, strengthen, and transform the body I incorporate various forms of calisthenics (bodyweight training), and strength training (weight lifting).
• • In addition, I will use various conditioning and cardiovascular training to further develop the heart, lungs, and musculoskeletal system.

As you can see, this is more than just a regular work out. This is a total training program designed to unleash the power of your body, mind, and spirit.

It is my intention to integrate these  various methods into a unified system that one can use to transform their body and their life. I believe that engaging in this rigorous type of training, while adopting a healthy, nutritious diet will allow one to forge the body into steel, as Morihei described above. In addition, the softer mental and spiritual disciplines encourage mindfulness amd focus, as well as, foster wisdom, enlightenment and the ability to cultivate Chi (also known as Qi, Ki, Prana, or Life Force.)

Now, I haven’t perfected this training sytem as of yet. It is only in it’s early stages and merely an idea and personal training philosophy that I’ve been working with over the years. As I’ve studied and practiced some of these various methods, teachings, and systems mentioned, I’ve incorporated their ideas into my life and training.

I aim to put it altogether and test the idea out on myself over the next six months. I will document the results in real time on the website for you to follow along or participate. That’s right, participate!

I invite and encourage you to apply the training methods I outline over the next six months. This of course is a personal choice, but it would be awesome to have you traveling alongside me on this journey. I will be revealing everything that I’m doing and explaining it here. So it will be easy to follow along, see what I’m eating, how I’m training, progressing, and how you too can participate in the Becoming of a Warrior Transformation.

Plus, after you make a successful transformation we’d love to feature you on the website, with your permission of course.

What you can expect over the next six months

My official start date will be December 1st 2009 and will cover the next six months through the end of May 2010.  Why not just wait to New Years? My answer to that is… why wait?

These first six months will be the portion in which I am building a foundation and focusing on size and strength. After that and as summer approaches, I will adopt a conditioning phase to burn off any unwanted bodyfat and take it to the next level.

That’s my plan anyway. Things may change slightly along the way, but we will take it as it comes.

If you wish to follow the program you can start at that time, wait until the new year, or anytime you wish for that matter. The choice is up to you. If you plan on participating, I’d love to hear from you.

As I go through the process I will tell you what I’m doing and lay out the program. I plan on posting daily (or as often as I can), as well as, providing weekly status updates.

In my daily posts I will be covering what I’m doing each day, my nutrition, training, and recovery methods.

My weekly posts will be progress updates tracking my weight, lean muscle gains, bodyfat, and measurements and will include a progress picture.

In addition I’ll be posting informative topics like I have been doing in the past. These will include more information on the four pillars of rapid body transformation as previously discussed. Topics like proper mindset, optimal training, nutrition, and recovery methods.

We will continue to add articles to the website and I will be referencing certain articles in my posts so that you may further your understanding and training knowledge.

I would also like to start shooting some videos and plan on filming the training routines so you can see them in action.

My ultimate physique goal is to look like Frank Zane, in the picture at the beginning of this post.

That’s a tough goal considering Frank Zane is bad ass, and two-time Mr. Olympia. Yet, as the Bruce Lee quote stated… a goal is not always meant to be reached.  Frank definitely had beautiful symetry, proportion, and an overall awesome physique. He was one of only three men to ever beat Arnold. The good news is that Frank has a smaller framed body and is an Ecto-mesomorph. He had smaller wrists (6.5 inches) and ankles (8 inches.) Frank stands at 5.9″ tall and weighed in between 185-195lbs at contest time.  

Now, my wrists and ankles are about his size, maybe slightly bigger. I’m also 5′11″ and only weigh 155lbs. So, my goal for this transformation is to gain between 30-50 pounds of muscle and get up my weight up to around 185-205lbs. It’s hard to accurately predict outcome goals of what I will actually gain, so I’m focusing more on performance goals, which are actually under my control.

Gain 30 pounds or lose 20 pounds, or earn a million dollars are examples of outcome goals. These are things we may desire, but in reality it’s hard to predict exactly what you will accomplish with any degree of certainty.

However, when one focuses their efforts more on performance goals or the steps and actions one must take at any given time, you create a greater possiblity of realizing your outcome goals as a mere byproduct

With this reasoning, I will be placing more emphasis on goals like eating six times a day, progressing in my training, getting eight hours of sleep, meditating for at least fifteen minutes a day, etc. By concentrating on these goals I establish an increased likelihood of accomplishing my outcome goals of gaining 30-50lbs.

Keep that in mind when planning out your own goals!

One of the reasons I’m documenting this transformation publicly is also to help hold myself accountable. That’s also one of the reasons this website was created… to increase accountability, in addition to sharing what I have learned.

This way I know people are looking at this, they’re reading it and expecting a transformation. I’ve made it more difficult for my self to back out. If I do, I will not only let myself down, I will let you down and I’m not willing to do that.

You see, I’ve just made failing or giving up more painful for myself. This is a good strategy for you to employ as well. When you make the decision to transform your body and life, announce it to the world. Let the world know you’re serious. Now, it’s all about following through!

I think that about covers it. I’ll be back soon to kick things off. Let the transformation…. BEGIN!

Brandon

——————————————————
About the Author:

Brandon Cook is creator of The Awakened Warrior Blog, and co-creator of HardgainerMuscleBuilding.com, a website specifically designed to teach hardgainers how to build muscle fast using the laws and scientific principles of body transformation.

HargainerMuscleBuilding.com features a free email class covering the basic principles of training naturally, eating a nutritious, muscle-building diet, and understanding the truth about supplements. The website is filled with free articles, videos, and the programs you need to create your ideal body.
Please visit us at http://hardgainermusclebuilding.com

© 2009 Hardgainer Muscle Building. All rights in all media reserved.