I was there once - a skinny teenager with dreams of being the next Arnold. Actually, all I wanted was twenty pounds of muscle so I could stand up to high school bullies and gain confidence to talk to girls. If I got better at sports in the process, then that would be icing on the cake.

Now, as a wise old lifter with almost twenty years of weight training experience, I’ve learned a thing or two. I’ve gained a ton of knowledge “in the trenches”, I’ve gleaned considerable insight from fellow gym rats, and I’ve learned from all the reading I’ve done.

When you’ve been in the game long enough, you are able to see the big picture as it pertains to strength and conditioning. You realize that the best lifters vary their workouts, but not by much. You discover that consistency might be the most critical component of your results. Finally, you figure out how to spend your time and energy wisely and focus your attention in the right direction.

These are the things that I wish someone had told me many years ago, when I first ventured into the weight room. Here are the five keys to getting and staying big and strong.

We don’t talk about this particular topic much in the strength and conditioning industry. Although anabolic steroid use is seen as a faux pas in the outside world, I personally don’t judge others if they choose to go down this path. However, I believe that lifters should make educated decisions on the topic, so I’m here to address some practical considerations.

If you decide to take anabolic steroids, there is no doubt that you’ll gain size and strength at a much more rapid pace than if you go the natural route. However, what many lifters fail to realize is that anabolic steroids can interfere with blood pressure, temperament, libido, and self-confidence.

The question that you need to ask yourself up front is, “For how long do I expect to take steroids?” Many people assume they’ll do a couple of cycles, gain some decent levels of size and strength, call it quits, and “fast-forward” their progress by a couple of years. I can assure you that this is rarely the case in practice.

Many individuals find that after experimenting with steroids, they just don’t feel right when they’re not on a cycle. They lose “the edge”, they aren’t as aggressive, their sexual performance drastically diminishes, they aren’t able to recover as quickly from workouts, and they struggle to hold onto their size, strength, and power. The temptation to keep using is just too hard to resist.

Here’s another important thing to consider: Do you really want to be that lifter who reaches his all-time greatest strength levels while using steroids at age 21 and then never returns to those levels? Would you rather get stronger year in and year out for a couple of decades? Would you prefer to always be at or near your best strength levels? Or would you rather be the guy who lives in the past and says, “Ten years ago I could bench press 365 and squat 500?? Many lifters simply can’t stand these feelings of past glory so they keep using or quit lifting altogether — because they never had to work hard and consistently for their gains.

My advice? Do it naturally. Although the training methods are similar between natural and drug-assisted lifters, there are also differences. Basically, you just can’t do quite as much volume, intensity, and/or frequency if you’re a natural trainee. Weigh the potential costs and benefits and make an informed decision.

The most important aspect of gaining muscular size is to make sure that your weight gains are always accompanied by strength gains in the big compound lifts.

How you look is largely dependent on your strength in:

1. Squats

2. Deadlifts

3. Bench press

4. Bent-over rows

5. Military press

6. Weighted dips

7. Weighted chin-ups

Of course it’s fine to substitute variations such as front squats, sumo deadlifts, incline presses, t-bar rows, push presses, close grip bench, and wide grip pull-ups. It’s also okay to perform other great exercises such as hip thrusts, glute-ham raises, lunges, one-arm rows, barbell shrugs, and barbell curls.

However, you need to make sure that you’re consistently getting stronger at the big lifts over time to ensure that the weight that you pack on consists of muscle and not fat. Furthermore, you need to gain weight steadily over the years. Beginner lifters can pack on 20 pounds of muscle in a year rather easily, but gains slow down after that, and you’ll need to gradually manipulate caloric intake to make sure your bodyfat levels never get out of control.

You can eat several pizzas each day, get up to 300 lbs, and squat and deadlift the house, but no one will envy your physique, and you won’t be proud to take your shirt off in public. I recommend that you keep your bodyfat levels under 15% and strive for the athletic look.

I have yet to meet a lifter who could squat 405, deadlift 495, bench press 315, bent-over row 275, military press 225, weighted dip 180, and weighted chin 115 and didn’t possess an amazing physique. These are some good goals to shoot for, and if you’re there already, then you can work on repping out with those weights!

How you look is largely dependent on your strength in the big, compound movements

A younger lifter rarely thinks about joint health when getting started with lifting. A large percentage of lifters are forced to stop performing certain exercises, work around pain, or quit training altogether because they never paid attention to joint health from the get-go. If they had the foresight to take good care of their joints, they could have trained pain-free for life and gotten much more results.

Joints require mobility, stability, and motor control. In other words, joints need flexible muscles and soft-tissue to surround them, strong and stabilizing musculature to prevent wasted movement, and coordination to move properly. Joints also need balanced levels of strength in the surrounding musculature in order to track properly.

Joint health is highly correlated with good habits and good form. Perform dynamic warm-ups before you start lifting, such as foam rolling/SMR, mobility drills, and activation drills. Conduct a more specific warm-up consisting of several progressively heavier sets prior to your first compound lift of the day. Use a full range of motion when you lift weights, and make sure you use perfect form. For the upper body, perform an equal amount of horizontal pushing and pulling as well as vertical pushing and pulling. For the lower body, perform an equal amount of quad-dominant and hip-dominant exercises. Better yet, skew the ratios in favor of pulling, as you can never go wrong by doing more pulling than pushing for the upper and lower body. Stretch at the end of your workouts.

Safe and unsafe ways to perform movements do exist; therefore, you need to learn ideal exercise mechanics, which means knowing how to optimally distribute stress throughout the body’s joints while lifting.

Due to variable genetics and training status, every individual responds best to his or her own personal program. Exercise selection, volume, intensity, and frequency are some of the variables that should be tinkered with by all lifters in an attempt to fine-tune their programming.

It is wise to experiment with high frequency training, high volume training, and high intensity training. All lifters should give bodypart splits, lower/upper splits, and total body training a try. Only after 8-12 weeks of strict adherence to each of these can a lifter truly understand how his or her body responds to various types of training stimuli.

However, you should never stray too far from what works. There are tried and true programs and templates that have stood the test of time, and when you get too radical or venture too far off the beaten path, you run the risk of not seeing results and possibly injuring yourself.

A good program always focuses on the big basics, and there are many ways to do them. In a bodypart split routine, big compound lifts should be placed first in each day’s workout.

Most important, it’s critical to find a routine that you enjoy. The best routine for you is the one you love to perform and the one with which you’ll be most consistent. If you hate 20-rep squats to the point where you dread going to the gym, then they’re just not worth performing regularly.

The greatest thing about meatheads is that they always have their gym memberships and whey protein powder. They can be in debt, in danger of getting their vehicle repossessed, and in dire straits otherwise, but they will always make time to train.

The single most important factor in getting and staying big and strong is consistency…not consistency for an entire year, but consistency for a couple of decades. It takes years to form those “mind-muscle connections” and to learn how to properly coordinate the activation of your muscles. Powerlifters and Olympic lifters never stop working on their technique. Each year, you get a little bit better, a little bit stronger, and a little bit bigger. Average lifters just don’t get this. They make excuses, they take time off from the gym, and they justify and rationalize missed workouts.

Big and strong lifters see lifting as their job. It doesn’t matter if a holiday comes around, if they start dating someone new, or if they start a new job, you can count on seeing them in the gym regularly performing their scheduled workouts. Big and strong lifters prioritize training and eating, which makes it nearly impossible to fail in their goals. Success is inevitable with this kind of motivation and determination.

Big and strong lifters see lifting as their job

So there you have it: the five keys to getting and staying big and strong. I hope this article has focused your attention on what really matters.

Small lifters who sporadically attend the gym for a quick bicep- and tricep-blasting workout are a dime a dozen. It takes some serious juevos to buckle down and put a couple hundred pounds on your squats, deadlifts, and bench press over a multiyear period. You can do it!

Written by Bret Contreras

Discuss, comment or ask a question

If you have a comment, question or would like to discuss anything raised in this article, please do so in the following discussion thread on the Wannabebig Forums - Five Keys to Getting and Staying Big and Strong discussion thread.

About Bret Contreras

Bret Contreras received his Master’s degree from ASU and his CSCS certificate from the NSCA.

He trains individuals out of his badass garage gym in Scottsdale, Arizona and maintains a popular blog at www.BretContreras.com.

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I'm a strength coach. I spend much of my day making people bigger, faster, and stronger – with aheavy emphasis on the latter.

I love the effect something as simple as getting stronger has on the human body. Performance improves while imbalances fade, and with time a slow, brittle physique is replaced by something stronger, faster, more athletic, and seemingly forged from titanium alloy.

Not to mention, more muscular – which is why a small piece of my soul dies every time I hear something like, "Getting strong isn't really important to me, I'd rather just look strong."

I understand the aesthetic bias we have as a society, and that having a six-pack is higher on many trainee's priority list than how much weight they can deadlift.

But one of the things I take pride in as a coach is my ability to keep things simple, so for all you lifters with iPhones filled with shirtless bathroom pictures, let me state this as simply as I can:

It's imperative to build a solid base of strength in order to build mass. And if you train for strength – and don't eat like a moron – the aesthetics you crave will undoubtedly follow.

I doubt you've seen many guys who bench 405 or squat 500 that are small. On the other hand, walk into just about any commercial gym and you'll see loads of 150-pound dudes running the rack on curls and performing drop sets of triceps pushdowns.

What good is a six-pack and veiny 14-inch arms if you can't deadlift your way out of a wet paper bag and your waif-like body resembles something that would get crushed against the wall by a surging crowd of angst-filled teenaged girls at an Avril Lavigne mall appearance?

If you're a newbie (or even someone who's been training for a few years and just not happy with the end results), this article will serve as a reminder to focus on the basics, get strong, and steal a page from Ms. Lavigne and stop making things so complicated!

As stated, you can't have fitness qualities like agility, power, endurance, and strength endurance – let alone an impressive physique –- without having a solid base of strength.

It is possible to develop a very impressive physique with just moderate strength levels, but your quest for huge arms and a set of pecs that can support a pitcher of Dos Equis will be a losing venture if a spandex-clad Richard Simmons can beat you in an arm wrestling match.

Using an analogy I shamelessly stole from strength coach Mike Boyle, it's like giving your Ford Focus a sweet paint job, spoilers, racing tires, and a roll cage in the belief that it will win the Daytona 500.

Unless you do something about increasing the horsepower of the car – you can add all the bells and whistles you want and even dress like Danica Patrick – it ain't gonna happen.

The same can be said for those that are more aesthetically minded. An emphasis on strength must be a part of the program design, yet it's one that many trainees dismiss – and as a result, they never attain the physique that they aspire to have.

The Pareto Principle was inspired by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who back in the early 1900s demonstrated that 80% of the wealth in Italy was owned by only 20% of the population.

Interestingly, the rule has since been studied and applied to every facet of life, revealing that certain activities tend to give more return on investment than others. Put another way – 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

The fitness industry is no different. We all know that guy who spends 45 minutes doing every variation of biceps curls imaginable yet looks like he spends more time lifting hair gel than weights.

I'm not suggesting that curls are a complete waste of time, and yes, I do them myself (on occasion). But if you're a newbie weighing all of 150 pounds soaking wet – or even if you have a few years' experience yet can't perform ten honest bodyweight chin-ups (sternum touches the bar on every rep) – your time can be better spent elsewhere.

A high premium is placed on the big compound movements like deadlifts, squats, bench presses, chins, rows, etc.

These are the movements that are going to get you strong and add serious mass to your frame. There's no science behind that statement, it's just common sense.

I have the luxury of being the co-owner of one of the premier strength and conditioning facilities in the country, Cressey Performance. While we take great pride in the meticulous nature of our approach to assessing and writing kick-ass programs for our athletes, people are often surprised by the simplicity behind the madness.

Fact is, if you look at the bulk of our programs, many are fairly "minimalist."

Sure, we may have to get more elaborate when working with a client with a unique injury history, but for the most part, we program 3-4 movements, max.

The first movement of the day is the "money" movement. Whether it's a deadlift, a squat variation, or even an overhead press, it's the exercise that's going to get the most attention, and most likely make the person want to hate life.

There's no such thing as a "chest and back day." If I program deadlifts, it's a "deadlift day." And, assuming no special circumstances – injury, limited training frequency – everything programmed after that is to complement the main movement and/or fix any imbalance or weakness that needs to be addressed.

In his phenomenal book, The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...In Business and Life, Leo Babauta discusses how one can go about "de-cluttering" their life to make him or herself more efficient.

In short, he teaches people how to get shit done, whether it's stepping away from their email or making an effort to get up earlier in the day to get a head start on things.

We can take the same approach when it comes to training. If more trainees performed less on any given training session and just made a concerted effort to go balls to the wall on the movements that mattered, they'd see marked improvements in their strength and physique.

The programs we write have very little "fluff" involved and every exercise serves a purpose. Without giving away too many trade secrets:

We coach the hell out of our athletes and clients. Walk into our facility on any given day and I'll tell you what you'll never find: someone deadlifting with a rounded back, someone cutting their squats high, someone benching with their feet in the air, etc.Rarely will you see us use straight sets. People waste enough time in the gym as it is. I've witnessed on numerous occasions, when training at commercial gyms, someone perform a set and then spend the next ten minutes texting on their phone or playing a round of Angry Birds.To that end, every session begins with basic, tried and true compound movements. As noted, the first movement is the main focus for that particular training session, and I prefer to pair these with some low-grade activation or mobility drills (fillers), rather than another strength exercise, so as not to alter or take away from the desired training effect. Split-stance adductor mobilization* and wall hip flexor mobilization*both to be performed after each set of deadlifts * video follows
** per leg

This way I can address any postural deficits or weaknesses that may exist with the filler exercises while better controlling accumulated fatigue and keeping the trainee as fresh as possible for every set of deadlifts.

All accessory work, for the most part, will serve just to "accessorize" or complement the main movement for that day (along with bringing up weaknesses). Another thing to consider when determining accessory work is where a trainee may "fail" in any given lift.

For example, if someone is really slow off the ground when deadlifting, I may structure a session like this:

Conventional deadlifts from deficitSplit-stance adductor mobilization and wall hip flexor mobilizationboth to be performed after each set of deadlifts Squat down as deep as you can, come up half way, go back down as low as you can, then come back up to the starting position. That's one rep. Many fail to realize that the quadriceps come into play significantly on the initial pull of a deadlift. That said, some dedicated work to hammer the quads wouldn't be a bad idea. Eat copious amounts of dead animal flesh* per leg
** per side

Using the bench press as an example, let's assume that someone has a hard time at lockout.

Close-grip barbell floor pressChest-supported row (pronated grip)One-arm half kneeling cable row**One-arm strict DB military press* per side
** see following video
† per arm

Now let's use an example where someone sucks at squatting. In this case, they have a hard time getting to depth without their butt tucking.

Box squat (to a height where their spine doesn't tuck)Ass to grass squatting is cool, but not everyone can (or should) squat that deep if it's going to break their spine in half. I'd much rather someone squat to a depth that's safe, yet still grooves a nice squat pattern. As they grow more proficient, we can lower the squat depth. See video below. And, because lack of ankle dorsiflexion plays into limited squat depth, we might as well make ample use of our rest time. Glute ham raise or barbell supine bridges* per leg
** per side
† because why the hell not?

As you can see, we're only talking about 3-5 movements per session, which is a far cry from the standard 6-8 most trainees feel they need to squeeze in.

When you think about it, many have a bad habit of adding in more exercises, at the expense of mastering none – and that's a huge monkey wrench when it comes to making progress and building a physique you can be proud of.

The key, then, is to perform the basic movements well, and to focus on the things that will strengthen your weaknesses.

All progressive overload means is continually increasing the demands on the body to make consistent gains in muscular strength, size, and sometimes endurance.

Put another way, to get stronger and subsequently bigger, you must subject the body to a progressive stimulus to force it to adapt. It's surprising to me how many people fail to recognize this.

There are a million and one different variables to consider in terms of progressive overload – more reps, more sets, increased training frequency, increased intensity (as a % of 1RM), manipulating rest time, etc. – but I'm going to share only one option, which takes an admittedly Captain Obvious approach.

When I prescribe a certain rep scheme – say, five repetitions – what I really mean is 3-5 repetitions, sort of like a rep window.

This way, if someone is performing an exercise and their technique starts to falter, I'd rather see them stop the set short (within the allotted window) than run the risk of injury.

So, for example, if I have someone performing a bench press for three sets of five, it may look something like this:

Set 1: 200 x 5 (reps looked good and they were all pretty fast. Chest bump!)
Set 2: 200 x 4 (technique started to fail, bar speed too slow, no point in grinding out a fifth rep and run the risk of missing it.)
Set 3: 200 x 3 (still within the two rep window)

The objective for the following week(s), then, would be to try to hit those "missed" repetitions until all are successfully completed. When they are, increase the weight and repeat the process.

Now, if they were able to easily perform every repetition the first time through, then they know the weight was too low and they can go ahead and increase it.

Conversely, if at any point they drop out of the "two-rep window" (in this case, anything under three reps), the weight is too challenging and they should lower it.

Either way, using this approach ensures that there's a concerted effort to increase the weight on a consistent basis, and that's the name of the game.

As I mentioned, there are numerous ways to implement progressive overload, but you don't necessarily have to approach it like long division and make it more complicated than it has to be – especially the less advanced you are.

Many of you probably think that the solution to your lack of gains lies in some secret exercise, training split, or set-and-rep scheme, and that you can't fathom not hitting (insert your favorite muscle group) from every angle imaginable.

Trust me on this: you'd see better results if you stopped focusing on the fluff and started focusing on getting stronger at the big basics.

And if you're not getting stronger, if you're like most people, it's because your routine sucks and you're spinning your wheels performing every movement in Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.

If this is the case, it's time to go back to the basics and give your body a chance to grow stronger.

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I was there once - a skinny teenager with dreams of being the next Arnold. Actually, all I wanted was twenty pounds of muscle so I could stand up to high school bullies and gain confidence to talk to girls. If I got better at sports in the process, then that would be icing on the cake.

Now, as a wise old lifter with almost twenty years of weight training experience, I’ve learned a thing or two. I’ve gained a ton of knowledge “in the trenches”, I’ve gleaned considerable insight from fellow gym rats, and I’ve learned from all the reading I’ve done.

When you’ve been in the game long enough, you are able to see the big picture as it pertains to strength and conditioning. You realize that the best lifters vary their workouts, but not by much. You discover that consistency might be the most critical component of your results. Finally, you figure out how to spend your time and energy wisely and focus your attention in the right direction.

These are the things that I wish someone had told me many years ago, when I first ventured into the weight room. Here are the five keys to getting and staying big and strong.

We don’t talk about this particular topic much in the strength and conditioning industry. Although anabolic steroid use is seen as a faux pas in the outside world, I personally don’t judge others if they choose to go down this path. However, I believe that lifters should make educated decisions on the topic, so I’m here to address some practical considerations.

If you decide to take anabolic steroids, there is no doubt that you’ll gain size and strength at a much more rapid pace than if you go the natural route. However, what many lifters fail to realize is that anabolic steroids can interfere with blood pressure, temperament, libido, and self-confidence.

The question that you need to ask yourself up front is, “For how long do I expect to take steroids?” Many people assume they’ll do a couple of cycles, gain some decent levels of size and strength, call it quits, and “fast-forward” their progress by a couple of years. I can assure you that this is rarely the case in practice.

Many individuals find that after experimenting with steroids, they just don’t feel right when they’re not on a cycle. They lose “the edge”, they aren’t as aggressive, their sexual performance drastically diminishes, they aren’t able to recover as quickly from workouts, and they struggle to hold onto their size, strength, and power. The temptation to keep using is just too hard to resist.

Here’s another important thing to consider: Do you really want to be that lifter who reaches his all-time greatest strength levels while using steroids at age 21 and then never returns to those levels? Would you rather get stronger year in and year out for a couple of decades? Would you prefer to always be at or near your best strength levels? Or would you rather be the guy who lives in the past and says, “Ten years ago I could bench press 365 and squat 500?? Many lifters simply can’t stand these feelings of past glory so they keep using or quit lifting altogether — because they never had to work hard and consistently for their gains.

My advice? Do it naturally. Although the training methods are similar between natural and drug-assisted lifters, there are also differences. Basically, you just can’t do quite as much volume, intensity, and/or frequency if you’re a natural trainee. Weigh the potential costs and benefits and make an informed decision.

The most important aspect of gaining muscular size is to make sure that your weight gains are always accompanied by strength gains in the big compound lifts.

How you look is largely dependent on your strength in:

1. Squats

2. Deadlifts

3. Bench press

4. Bent-over rows

5. Military press

6. Weighted dips

7. Weighted chin-ups

Of course it’s fine to substitute variations such as front squats, sumo deadlifts, incline presses, t-bar rows, push presses, close grip bench, and wide grip pull-ups. It’s also okay to perform other great exercises such as hip thrusts, glute-ham raises, lunges, one-arm rows, barbell shrugs, and barbell curls.

However, you need to make sure that you’re consistently getting stronger at the big lifts over time to ensure that the weight that you pack on consists of muscle and not fat. Furthermore, you need to gain weight steadily over the years. Beginner lifters can pack on 20 pounds of muscle in a year rather easily, but gains slow down after that, and you’ll need to gradually manipulate caloric intake to make sure your bodyfat levels never get out of control.

You can eat several pizzas each day, get up to 300 lbs, and squat and deadlift the house, but no one will envy your physique, and you won’t be proud to take your shirt off in public. I recommend that you keep your bodyfat levels under 15% and strive for the athletic look.

I have yet to meet a lifter who could squat 405, deadlift 495, bench press 315, bent-over row 275, military press 225, weighted dip 180, and weighted chin 115 and didn’t possess an amazing physique. These are some good goals to shoot for, and if you’re there already, then you can work on repping out with those weights!

 

How you look is largely dependent on your strength in the big, compound movements

A younger lifter rarely thinks about joint health when getting started with lifting. A large percentage of lifters are forced to stop performing certain exercises, work around pain, or quit training altogether because they never paid attention to joint health from the get-go. If they had the foresight to take good care of their joints, they could have trained pain-free for life and gotten much more results.

Joints require mobility, stability, and motor control. In other words, joints need flexible muscles and soft-tissue to surround them, strong and stabilizing musculature to prevent wasted movement, and coordination to move properly. Joints also need balanced levels of strength in the surrounding musculature in order to track properly.

Joint health is highly correlated with good habits and good form. Perform dynamic warm-ups before you start lifting, such as foam rolling/SMR, mobility drills, and activation drills. Conduct a more specific warm-up consisting of several progressively heavier sets prior to your first compound lift of the day. Use a full range of motion when you lift weights, and make sure you use perfect form. For the upper body, perform an equal amount of horizontal pushing and pulling as well as vertical pushing and pulling. For the lower body, perform an equal amount of quad-dominant and hip-dominant exercises. Better yet, skew the ratios in favor of pulling, as you can never go wrong by doing more pulling than pushing for the upper and lower body. Stretch at the end of your workouts.

Safe and unsafe ways to perform movements do exist; therefore, you need to learn ideal exercise mechanics, which means knowing how to optimally distribute stress throughout the body’s joints while lifting.

Due to variable genetics and training status, every individual responds best to his or her own personal program. Exercise selection, volume, intensity, and frequency are some of the variables that should be tinkered with by all lifters in an attempt to fine-tune their programming.

It is wise to experiment with high frequency training, high volume training, and high intensity training. All lifters should give bodypart splits, lower/upper splits, and total body training a try. Only after 8-12 weeks of strict adherence to each of these can a lifter truly understand how his or her body responds to various types of training stimuli.

However, you should never stray too far from what works. There are tried and true programs and templates that have stood the test of time, and when you get too radical or venture too far off the beaten path, you run the risk of not seeing results and possibly injuring yourself.

A good program always focuses on the big basics, and there are many ways to do them. In a bodypart split routine, big compound lifts should be placed first in each day’s workout.

Most important, it’s critical to find a routine that you enjoy. The best routine for you is the one you love to perform and the one with which you’ll be most consistent. If you hate 20-rep squats to the point where you dread going to the gym, then they’re just not worth performing regularly.

The greatest thing about meatheads is that they always have their gym memberships and whey protein powder. They can be in debt, in danger of getting their vehicle repossessed, and in dire straits otherwise, but they will always make time to train.

The single most important factor in getting and staying big and strong is consistency…not consistency for an entire year, but consistency for a couple of decades. It takes years to form those “mind-muscle connections” and to learn how to properly coordinate the activation of your muscles. Powerlifters and Olympic lifters never stop working on their technique. Each year, you get a little bit better, a little bit stronger, and a little bit bigger. Average lifters just don’t get this. They make excuses, they take time off from the gym, and they justify and rationalize missed workouts.

Big and strong lifters see lifting as their job. It doesn’t matter if a holiday comes around, if they start dating someone new, or if they start a new job, you can count on seeing them in the gym regularly performing their scheduled workouts. Big and strong lifters prioritize training and eating, which makes it nearly impossible to fail in their goals. Success is inevitable with this kind of motivation and determination.

 

Big and strong lifters see lifting as their job

So there you have it: the five keys to getting and staying big and strong. I hope this article has focused your attention on what really matters.

Small lifters who sporadically attend the gym for a quick bicep- and tricep-blasting workout are a dime a dozen. It takes some serious juevos to buckle down and put a couple hundred pounds on your squats, deadlifts, and bench press over a multiyear period. You can do it!

Written by Bret Contreras

Discuss, comment or ask a question

If you have a comment, question or would like to discuss anything raised in this article, please do so in the following discussion thread on the Wannabebig Forums - Five Keys to Getting and Staying Big and Strong discussion thread.

 

About Bret Contreras

Bret Contreras received his Master’s degree from ASU and his CSCS certificate from the NSCA.

He trains individuals out of his badass garage gym in Scottsdale, Arizona and maintains a popular blog at www.BretContreras.com.

View the original article here

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Tags: Getting, Staying, Strong