atlas full 2Frequently I am approached and asked for my training secret or to list my top tips for bodybuilding. It's not an easy task to sum up my approach to training and in fact it's proven to be somewhat of a challenge. I attribute the difficulty to the fact that we are all so different and what can work for one person, can really not work so well for another. So I have tried to think of just 5 basic principals that I think anyone who is performing resistance training with the aim of gaining lean muscle mass or getting stronger should find useful.

1. FOLLOW YOUR BLISS

By this I mean, make sure you're enjoying your training. Let's face it, if you're not enjoying it you're unlikely to do very well at it. This is true for just about everything anyway so it makes good sense to have it as your number one rule. There are so many ways to train in the gym that I think it would be hard for anyone to find nothing that they liked or could get on well with. Why spend so much time doing something you don't enjoy? As difficult or gruelling as my training can be, I always aim to enjoy it. When I'm no longer enjoying a training programme, I change it. So above all, before you even begin to think about anything else, ask yourself, "Am I enjoying this?" and tailor your training programme accordingly.

2. K.I.S.S. (AND STICK TO THE BASICS)

Keep It Simple, Stupid. I enjoy a personal challenge as much as the next person but it bothers me when I see things get too complicated when they needn't be. Whether you're addressing your diet or considering how to target a muscle group with a new exercise, the best advice is really to keep it simple. I'm sure you've heard it before but basics work- I guess that's why everyone calls them the basics! Bench Press, Deadlifts, Squats, Cleans and other power based compound exercises are all classed as the basic exercises that you need to build your physique and increase your strength. From experience I can tell you that you are far more likely to get big and/or strong from doing these exercises than not! And you can test me on this if you like. Go into any gym and find the best physique. If I were more of a gambling man, I would bet money that those individuals you find are not wasting time with far out training methods or interesting exercises. They are the individuals that have chosen the basic compound exercises to form the core of their workouts. So make sure your programme and workout are centred around the big basic lifts and keep your training quite straight forward.

3. SUCCEED BY PROGRESSING

In my opinion, success can be measured by improvement. If you're going to enjoy the results a programme can bring you, then you will need to make sure the results keep coming. Madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It's simply not enough to just keep doing something over and over again. Your programme needs to constantly be addressing the weaknesses in your physique and fitness. You may not be able to improve every workout out, week in week out. But look to be improving gradually overtime. You will need to set out clearly both long term and short term goals if you are to measure your training success. Short term achievable goals will help you stay motivated and will help you make the gradual improvement toward to the long term goal. So adjust your routine to suit your short term goals. To do this I would advise you not to wait until you plateau. Instead give something a try, learn from it and then move on to the next thing and make new goals. I know this bit seems almost contradictory to the tip above about sticking to the basics and keeping it simple but you do need to try new training methods. Just not at the expense of the basics principals.

4. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

There is so much knowledge and such wealth of experience available to us now. I urge you not to just blindly follow any one person's advice (and yes that includes mine!). Everyone has something to offer and unfortunately everyone seems to be an expert. So talk to others, listen to what they say and gain as much information on every aspect of your training that you can. Then, pick out the bits that make sense to you and that you like the sound of. Design a training programme based on those ideas and see if it works. Always look to learn or gain something from what you're doing, even if the result was not as positive as you had hoped it would be. I would still class that as improving as hopefully you won't make that same mistake again. So start boning up as its 'hip to be square'.

5. KEEP IT HEALTHY

I won't say too much about this as there is already so much literature and advice around about good diets and healthy lifestyles. I will however stress the importance of it all. Make sure you are at least making small changes to your diet and lifestyle as you go along so that your diet and lifestyle is constantly improving. You will find your goals come that much quicker for doing so.


Ok so there we have 5 basic principals that I think anyone could find useful. Even writing them has refocused me on my training to an extent. They all tie in nicely together as well I think. For example, I was doing something recently that I had read about and I just wasn't enjoying. I tried it, it didn't work for me and I won't do it again. Lesson learnt.

Good luck with your training and be inspired.