— brutally hard training for short spells, but then find yourself so wiped out
(mentally and physically) that you cannot subsequently train well enough
to maintain your gains, then the brutally hard method is not suited to you
either. What matters most to you as far as training goes is how you are
responding to your training, and maintaining your gains and building on
them in subsequent cycles.Focus and mental ferocity
. Weight training must be a very serious business if you want it to be suc-
cessful. When you are in the gym you cannot afford to divide your attention
between training and anything else. ere is no room for compromise. Get all
your problems and concerns out of your mind when it is time to train.. Your focus should peak for each work set. For the duration of each work
set you must “become” the set. Nothing else matters other than the safe and
intensive completion of that set. You cannot correct a bad set, so make sure
that you give your all and do not produce a bad set.. High-rep sets demand the most sustained concentration because they take
longer to perform than lower-rep sets. e concentration is needed not just
to drive you on mentally, but to ensure you use good form. For high-rep
work, having a knowledgeable person watching your form, and verbally
reminding you of technique points, can be invaluable for ensuring you do
not let your form break down. Concentration is easier to maintain for a
short-duration set than a long-duration one. Keep this in mind if you find
that your concentration powers diminish quite quickly in a set. In such a
case you would be better off avoiding high-rep work.. Do not coast through the early weeks of a cycle and expect to turn on the
mental ferocity needed for full-bore work when you need it. Practice apply-
ing focus and mental ferocity in all your workouts. If you do not do this you
will find that weights which should be relatively comfortable at the start of
a cycle, actually feel heavy. If you save your training ferocity for only the final
stretch of a cycle, when you get to that stage you may find that you do not
know how to deliver the needed ferocity.Training intensity is not the bottom line
. Training intensity is a means to an end, not the end in itself. But too many
people have got wrapped up in intensity per se, to the detriment of the real