If you have googled for tips and tricks to gain muscles, I am pretty sure you know Vince DelMonte. You know, the skinny guy who got big and is now trying to sell his book on training. I read the book. It’s decent. Not something I would recommend spending your money on, but this excerpt is what I think worth half the money:

“You do not know anything UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE IT.” People confuse ‘knowing’ with ‘doing.’ You DO NOT LEARN ANYTHING BY TALKING ABOUT IT. You don’t know anything about ‘BULKING UP’ until you have actually ‘bulked up.’ You do not know anything about lifting heavy weights until you have actually lifted heavy and seen the benefits. I think you get the point.”

I know a lot. In the past few years, I have learnt a lot about how to achieve anything both through life experience and through reading. Since I am only 21, I don’t have much to show for it yet. Not that I have not achieved anything though, but I don’t want to talk about myself. Let me give you this analogy to help make my point (it’s a map analogy, but it is NOT that normal map analogy that you know, so bear with me):

I want to go from A to B. Let’s say it’s a long journey, with many twists and turns. The weather is erratic, sometimes nice, sometimes horrible. And all I have is my bare feet… and a map. From reading the map, I know exactly where to go. But take away the map, and I will not be able to get to B, because I haven’t remembered the route yet.

Now let’s say I learn everything by heart, so that even without the map, I know exactly where to turn along the journey. Still this does not guaranteer I will make it to B. Map and real life is not the same. There are not always clear street signs to look for direction. There are always distractions on the way, people constantly calling for you to stay back with them, you know, to chill (life is short, why wasting time going to B, why not just stay and enjoy life?). There are hot girls every once in a while going in different direction (should I follow her and totally forget about B)? The weather sucks too, snow storm then rain storm then sand storm… and all I have is my bare feet.

I have read maps. I have travelled from A to B before, successfully. My journeys vary, from length to levels of difficulty. I know what it takes to go from A to B, no matter how far B is from A. I have the right mind set. I want to help you to know the map, to know what it takes to go from A to B, to determine where your B is.

Like Vince DelMonte said, “You do not know anything about lifting heavy weights until you have actually lifted heavy and seen the benefits.” I can show you the map because it is easy. The journey is where the battle really begins.

RECAP: You don’t know anything about ‘BULKING UP’ until you have actually ‘bulked up.’