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In the movie Rocky III (admittedly a POT boiler, hehe) you see Mr. T training in his basement gym doing all the right things while Stallone (Rocky) does the exact opposite, and goes crazy with spandex, chrome, fern and mirrors replete.

Brooks Kubik often spoke of the chrome and fern warriors back in the day when he used to be sending daily emails out (not sure if he is still doing it).

And he’s right. The chrome and fern MENACE that has plagued our gyms these days is the worst ever thing that could happen to gyms, which BACK in the days were REAL gyms.

People did bodyweight exercises. People hoisted IRON – heavy iron the right way – and did NOT stop to “pose” in front of a mirror in between sets.

They certainly didn’t have personal trainers rubbing their shoulders between sets of lifting 10 pound pink dumbbells while comfortably seated!

And as I saw a picture of a dude today on my Twitter account posting a “puff and buff” picture of himself in front of the mirror (bathroom I believe it was) – – with a shiny gym floor in the background and Swiss balls, sit up benches etc … I was reminded of just how people MISUSE the mirror instead of using it productively.

To me, the mirror is not there so you can preen and pose like a lady applying makeup, for instance (and ladies, the mirror techniques applies equally to YOU TOO!) – and certainly not to “show off your beachball biceps” (admittedly my six year old loves this, hehe).

First off, do I recommend a mirror at all while training?

My answer would be … YES if used correctly, and NO if used wrongly.

In Rocky III, you see a shot of Mr. T furiously doing shadow boxing in front of …you guessed it, a mirror.

The old timers highly recommended this, and why?

Well, first the obvious. NOT to preen and pose, but to improve form, and in a sport as technical as boxing form is paramount on everything.

Which holds true for 0 Excuses Fitness and all the exercises I teach as well, of course. Pull-ups being one prime example. FORM is paramount, and often times you don’t have people around to spot you or train you correctly, so you have to do the best you can, and a mirror can aid in this.

But that is NOT the real power of the mirror.

The real power is, you LOOK at yourself while DOING the thing, and if you’re shadow boxing, for instance, you look into very eyes – more so than you would “normally” if you’re not working out!

You literally FEEL THE HEAT.

You FEEL The passion.

Deep down inside something clicks, and externally, you “see” the flab flying off at record speeds to be replaced by solid, functional MUSCLE.

And as you get more and more enthused, you KEEP going. Until you collapse, with a new found sense of CONFIDENCE that you never thought you possessed, and again, those that have done this will know what I BE talking about, my friend.

You rinse. Repeat. Ad infinitum. Day in, day out. You DO the thing until you GET the power – and the RESULTS!

And lo, after a few weeks, something strange happens – those same results materialize.

One fine day, you find you can do 5 pull-ups in a set – easy peasy – and you think back and wonder WHY exactly it took you so long to get there, and what the struggle was all about. Its so easy, isn’t it??

And it is, my friend. So is weight loss, and everything else, if you just know how to get your subconscious activated … and that, my friend, is the topic for today’s post – which you’ve guessed by now, hehe.

And that’s that for now. Back soon!

Best,

Rahul Mookerjee

P.S. – I felt much the same way in terms of “feeling” and literally “seeing” the flab come off by doing the workouts mentioned in Eat More – Weigh Less, and so will YOU my friend. Grab this little ditty today – you wont regret it!