See also : The Mind of Winning

On this episode of Readiness Radio Aaron Singerman and Matt Meinrod discuss sales and generating new business. Aaron tells his two most important aspects of the sales process and Matt gives his real time perspective on the daily grind that is earning new business for Redcon1. 

On this episode of Readiness Radio, Aaron Singerman and Matt Meinrod talk about the importance of optimizing your physical and mental health for improved business success. Aaron’s mom gives a great listener question on the topic of “dressing for success” and can it improve your business? Plus a listener question on opening up a supplement retail store. Catch this episode and all of the episodes on Redcon1online.com and iTunes.

News from our Round Table. Dallas, Matt and Aaron shoot the shit and discuss muffins, body building and health in our first RedCon1 Round Table.

Aaron and Matt are back with a new episode of Readiness Radio. On this episode the guys discuss how your friends and colleagues may treat you differently based on what level of success you’ve reached. Learn some tips to manage your success and if you find yourself as one of these haters they give some advice on how to become a more encouraging person.

To complete my 3 part article that covers the balance between training volume, frequency, and intensity, I shall explain,

1 – What intensity is

2 – How we may need to adjust it

3 – The relationship between all 3 aspects to bring about maximal muscle gains.

Intensity is usually defined as the percentage of 1rm we are lifting at.

A typical hypertrophy percentage range is deemed to be 60-85percent 1rm, as here the loading is sufficient to stimulate high threshold motor units which have the greatest propensity for growth. This range also brings about the greatest levels of hormonal response, through elevated test,(1) gh and igf-1 levels.

However further research has shown us that working across a multitude of rep ranges is likely to illicit the greatest adaptations. So encompassing work in a higher percentage will help increase strength, and working in a lower percentage will increase the metabolic stress we place on a muscle.

From an optimal hypertrophy perspective , placing the largest amount of mechanical tension ( load ) is a sure way to bring about muscle growth, but increasing metabolic stress ,(essentially, getting a better pump) will also pose hypertrophy benefits. (2)

Both of these approaches will lend themselves to greater hypertrophy over a longer period of time vs not incorporating  them into our training.

The idea of sticking to just one set rep range to stimulate muscle fibers is also potentially flawed due to the fact that the body will recruit muscle fibers based on the scenario. By this I mean, if we use a lighter load, initially this will only recruit slow twitch muscle fibers. As we get closer to failure, and those slow twitch fibers cannot perform the work alone, our body will recruit more fast twitch fibers to perform the work. This is referred to as Hennemans size principle. Therefore we will still eventually tap into both fibre types by taking a lighter load to absolute failure.

With that idea in mind, that gives us  greater flexibility to the rep ranges we train in.

When training at higher frequencies, (which I strongly advocate!) it may be even more advantageous to move away from one strict rep parameter.

For example; when training legs 3 times a week, I feel it would be difficult to recover if the intensity at which we lifted was 85% of our 1rm for all sets in all 3 sessions, it would become apparent quickly that this set up would cause us to over reach and therefore fail to progress, counteracting the purpose of training more frequently.

Therefore in one of the sessions it maybe wise to dedicate work to 15-20 reps, and pick exercises that won’t crush us metabolically, so a deadlift here is usually a bad choice, but a leg press would be a great exercise here to ensure we can adequately recover.

Intensity can be looked at another way, and this is in its literal sense: how intense are you working/ how hard are you working ? So this could be measured via perceived rate of exertion. The RPE scale scores difficulty from a 1-10 level. And this is a good way to illustrate how sets in a typical high volume program may compare to that of a low volume program. If you have ever watched blood and guts , by Dorian Yates, you will know that to really make the most of a low volume program, it needs to be 9-10 on an RPE. Dorian was likely a number 11 so he would of had a new category just for him! But when it is simply one work set to get the job done, and it’s going to be an all time 8-12 rep personal best, beating your log book, you need to attack that set. This is my favored way of training as I feel it’s very easy to quantify. ‘Did I progress my lifts or not?’

However with a typical high volume program where set one may only be 7 out of 10 difficulty , and then set two gets a little harder and by set 3 it finally is hard, I believe that’s much more difficult to really know if you have placed a demand on your body that will force an adaptation.

So to summarize , when using a high frequency program, I feel we need to use weights across a wide rep range , some sessions lighter , some heavier, to ensure we recover optimally.

In a low volume high frequency program, I feel every set we do perform needs to taken all the way to failure, or at least very close. There is no room for feeder sets here, bring the intensity, every set, think ‘Dorian intense’ !

JP

Use Code: TBJP10 for 10% Off on RedCon1

Aaron Singerman and Matt Meinrod are back with a new episode of Readiness Radio. On today’s show they discuss some of the imperative steps in starting a new business. Is everyone cut out to be an entrepreneur? And how to manage your income regardless of how much you earn per year. Download the latest episode of Readiness Radio presented by Redcon1 now!

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In business I am extremely competitive. The same juices that would flow when I played college football trying to earn a starting position or knocking a defensive lineman’s head off is the same drive I have today when closing business or finding new leads. I enjoy the pressure to hit monthly quotas, not only because I enjoy the paychecks, but because it’s a measuring tool for me to assess what is working and what is not in my sales process.

There are times, however, that require me to make cold calls. The dreaded two words that most sales people break out in cold sweats over. It’s incredibly taxing on me to get the nerve up to call a stranger and pitch them on a brand that they don’t know about. And like all salesman hearing the words, “no thanks” or “maybe next week” is something that never feels good. You start to question your tactics and even ability. But even with the uncertainty that each call brings it makes me better each time I muster up the courage to make one.

Honing skills is the key to improvement. What you’re bad at today can be a strength with enough time under tension. The first time I did a power clean it looked like a monkey fucking a football. It may have taken years to perfect, but my power cleaning technique today is almost flawless. Did I beat up my joints and ego in the process? Absolutely I did, but when the light bulb finally clicked I never looked back. Even though I haven’t trained a power clean in many years I could hit the platform right now and it would be like riding a bike.

The take home message here is to take the road less traveled no matter how rough the terrain. Once you figure out how to navigate the foreign waters, then you’ll have the path to success permanently engrained in your DNA. I certainly don’t have it all figured out. I’d love to say I never cheated on my diet or had a bad workout or got anxiety over closing a big deal, but I have and still do. The goal for me is the attempt at perfection. To step out, put my beliefs on the line for a better tomorrow, because I trust the process. I’ve bought into the system I believe to be true.

Believe in yourself that what you’re doing is the right thing. You must take a chance, a risk, no matter how unsettling it might make you or murky your future might seem. If you truly believe what you’re doing is right, then blaze your own trail. Put positive energy into the world and your fears will become your successes.

Until next time everyone…