. Armed with the will to get the job done, and the basic knowledge of what to
do, most trainees should be able to get a good training partner or supervi-
sor.. Fine physiques and super-strong bodies have been built without training
partners or supervisors. Do not be discouraged if it is impossible for you to
get hands-on help. But the assistance of a serious and like-minded training
partner or supervisor is nearly always a tremendous advantage. But anyone
with anything less than a commitment is a negative influence, and
should not be tolerated.. Few people can consistently train at their very best without hands-on super-
vision. And even most of those who do train alone successfully may gain
even better if they had good supervision at least some of the time.. While recognizing the value of good supervision, it is pivotal that you can
train well by yourself. If you can only train well when supervised, you are
dependent on supervision and will never be able to train well over the long
haul. Even if you have a reliable training partner there will be times when
your schedules do not coincide and you have to train alone. Never become
dependent on another person to get in a good workout.Some of the advantages of being well supervised
. Effective training has to be intensive, and intensive training is very difficult
to deliver on a consistent basis without a demanding taskmaster to urge you
to deliver. Most trainees have experienced the occasional workout when,
unexpectedly and only for the one workout, someone got involved during
part or all of a training session. Someone might have spotted you on an
exercise; or someone you wanted to impress was watching you; or someone
might have worked in with you on a few exercises. As a result you found
yourself doing more reps than you normally would, or doing the same reps
with a bit more weight than you had planned. You really produced for that
workout, while previously you had been loafing. Quality supervision can get
this degree of effort out of you on a regular basis, and can speed up your
progress dramatically.. Remember that successful training is not about effort per se. It is about how
you apply the effort. A sloppy set of an exercise worked very hard is not
going to do you as much good as will a good-form set of an exercise worked