Reflections on Man Power
By Rob Drucker
Think courage, fearlessness, confidence, will power, determination, faith, speed, endurance, and a well-proportioned body. These are the trademarks that George Jowett said one must possess to have man power. In Man Power, Jowett told the story of how Pagel used man power to knock an escaped tiger senseless and drag him back into his cage while dozens of his coworkers stood motionless paralyzed by fear. Polydamas, Jowett explained, used man power to kill a full-grown male lion with his bare hands. The Allied forces, Jowett reflects, used man power manifested in numbers at the Meuse-Argonne offensive to successfully push back the German front. Now, these are some extreme examples of man power in action. It is not likely that you will ever need to kill a raging lion with your bare hands. And, let's hope that you will never need to lead military forces through the ugliness of war. Nonetheless, much can be learned and applied to your training by studying illustrations of man power from bygone eras.
If you are to develop your body to its full potential, you will have to establish a mental toughness that very few people possess. You will need to view each workout as a continuing battle for bigger muscles, greater strength, and greater stamina. During your quest for physical perfection, you will face many avenues of potential discouragement, and you must overcome them by using your man power. If you are to succeed, you must not be swayed by negative comments from friends or family, ridicule from an adversary, or an inner voice telling you to lay down your arms and give up. When such avenues of discouragement appear, you must fight them off as Polydamas fought for his life against the King of the jungle.
How much training success you will ultimately reap will depend upon how much determination you have to succeed. Are you willing to give up some niceties of life in order to accomplish your training goals? If not, then you can forget about realizing your physical potential. Man power and training success require discipline, focus, and the ability to stay on target. To realize your physical potential, you must get adequate sleep, not stay up all night at some wild party. You must train heavy and hard after a long day at the office, not come home and collapse in front of a television. You must study physical culture books and courses, not spend hours reading the latest gossip magazines. You must prepare mentally for your training, not venture into a gym without a battle plan. You must prepare and eat nutritious meals, not swing by McDonald's for a Big Mac, an order of fries, and a giant-sized sugar drink. You must reflect upon your training goals and progress, not complain about the hardships of life. And of utmost importance, you must keep marching toward the achievement of your goals, no matter how tough the going gets. Courage must prevail over any thought of retreat.
Do you see where man power comes in? Do you see why, if you want to make meaningful bodybuilding progress, you must have the same drive, the same focus, the same confidence, and the same tenacity that Pagel was famous for? You must fight with all your might if you are to achieve your training goals. And your fight must be a long-term war. There are no short cuts in the world of strength.
Man power isn't something that just comes to you one day. You must plant the seeds of man power, keep these seeds nourished, and continually provide the energy needed for these seeds to sprout and grow. Planting the seeds of man power involves making a conscious decision that you will do whatever it takes to build a powerful and balanced body. Failure cannot be an option.
Nourishing the seeds of man power is accomplished by setting realistic training goals, both short-term and long-term, and by developing a plan of action that outlines in detail how you will transmute your training goals into physical reality. Men who possess man power know what they want and how to get it. A failure to understand this truth will inevitably lead to disaster.
Hard and persistent work directed toward achieving your training goals will provide the energy needed for your man-power seeds to sprout and grow. However, hard work alone will not suffice. You must work smart, as well as hard. You must use your intelligence to guide your efforts systematically, or you will float about like a ship captain lost at sea.
A bodybuilder with man power trains brutally hard, with a well structured workout plan, and with a great mental force. He learns from trial and error, and he makes necessary adjustments to keep his progress on course. Using man power, a lifter generates a strong mind-to-muscle link during his workout. He uses focused concentration during every repetition of every exercise, and he never lets his mind wonder from his objective. A lifter with man power uses rational thought and logic to determine what direction to go. As such, he uses sound training principles, and he trains for both functional strength and a balanced physique. The athlete with man power is patient, and he is willing to persevere to achieve his goals. Most importantly, one with man power possesses an impenetrable faith that he will achieve the results that he is seeking.
A bodybuilder who lacks man power may sweat and grunt in the gym. He may wear the latest training attire. He may use the most popular training routine. He may even spend more time in the gym than anybody else. No matter, the lifter without man power is destined for failure. Missing is the mental energy and focus needed to sprout the seeds of growth. The lifter without man power turns his workouts into a social ritual rather than a muscle-building battlefield. He spends more mental effort on girl watching than on hard and focused training. As such, the bodybuilder without man power merely goes through the mechanical motions of a barbell workout, only pretending to be a serious lifter.
It is a sad fact that the majority of gym "lifters" lack man power. Just go inside practically any commercial gym and you will see this for yourself. How many bodybuilders do you see who look the same year after year, who use the same pathetic weights year after year, and who stick with the same unproductive workout strategy year after year? My guess is 90 to 95% of the crowd! This is good reason enough not to be a member of the majority.
To develop man power you must use a method of training best suited for you. One style of training may be well suited for one man, but be poison for another. It is imperative that you find a method of training which is conducive to your own psyche and body. It is amazing how often people waste time arguing over which training routine or style of training is best. I have witnessed many heated debates on this topic. Most arguments center around how many sets one should do, how many reps one should do, which exercises one should do, how many days a week one should train, or how intense one should train.
If you think upon how the mind influences the development of man power, you will understand that such arguments reflect the ignorance of the participants. While some routines or training styles may have more inherent merit than others do, the worth of a routine or training method is greatly determined by the mind that implements it. The key to training success is to find a sound workout program which you enjoy, which you have strong faith in, and which positively stimulates your mind and body. Only with such a training program will you be able to establish a strong mind-to-body link during your workouts and build man power.
Finding a training program best suited for you cannot be determined by anybody except for yourself. This is a man-power principle. Contrary to what some money-hungry "experts" will try to tell you, every lifter has unique desires, abilities, and requirements. Some lifters may fare best on a program based on heavy singles, doubles, and triples; others might fare better on a program based on lighter weights and higher repetitions. Additionally, a training program which works well for you today may not work well for you tomorrow. As you become older, your body and goals will likely change, and you must adapt to keep your success going. This is another man-power principle.
Do you have established training goals and a written plan to reach them? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to attain your goals? Are you training with a passion of fire? Do you train to develop a balanced and functional body? Do you enjoy your workouts? Do you have faith that your training program is well suited for you? Do you have the desire, perseverance, and mental toughness to keep up the fight? Can you adapt to change? Are you willing to be a member of the fitness minority?
If you can honestly answer "yes" to each of the nine questions above, you are likely traveling on man-power Avenue. If your answer is "no" to any one of these questions, you could be traveling on the road to weakness, and some changes might be needed to get yourself on the right track.