Vince Gironda, trainer of champions, referred to what he called the Alpha State. The Alpha State is when your body disassociates with any pre-conceived notions about what it is capable, pushing past any previous barriers with a vengeance.
Not merely passing your previous performance with a rep or 2 but completely blowing it out of the water. Your mind and your body are one and there is nothing else in the world. It is one of those training sessions where you are super-human and you can do anything.
In Vince's own words:
“You will also find that in this alpha state that the passage of time no longer exists and that your former imagined limitations no longer exist. (Train over your head.) You will discover a new reality heretofore never experiences. That of the absence of limitations formerly imagined. Your capabilities are unlimited if you can achieve this mystical state. I personally believe that from my observations of champions, and I have said this before many times in my writings, that they No.1, desire to make changes in their bodies and physiological changes take place, that logically should not and cannot take place, but lo and behold, they actually do.
So, to put it into plain English, you do not and cannot build anything without first making a mental blue print. This visualization and the faith to believe that you cannot fail, is the answer to the (illogical) miracles I have observed take place before my eyes. I have seen changes in bone structure (narrowing of hips) that physiologically were impossible to change. So if you don’t believe in miracles, you have never experienced one. My life is full of miracles. There is not a day that passes that I do not experience one. So don’t be afraid to ask, because you must, if you wish to receive. You create with your mind and don’t you ever doubt this.”
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“Productive workouts can never be experienced until you let go of all your fears, frustrations, tensions, doubts and indecisions. When this happens a blinding light of total awareness engulfs you.
Example: I first experienced this takeover when I was sitting behind my preacher bench waiting my turn to perform my next set. This particular bench I've always maintained has a life of its own. This is due to the fact that so many famous bodybuilders have literally stood behind it and “prayed” for the magic that they know it contains.
I have never failed to observe the reverence displayed by any man who uses this bench. They all know that no one has ever been able to duplicate the magic proportions that this particular bench embodies. Try to copy it as they have, no one to this day has ever succeeded.
To get on with my story, the man before me finished his set and stepped aside. I picked up my Olympic barbell, took the proper grip, placed my elbows at the top of the bench and with both feet parallel, lowered the barbell smoothly to the low position, then slowly curled the bar to my front deltoids.
I was only interested in working the muscle in good, slow, smooth form (balanced cadence). No number of reps in mind. Just a good honest set in as perfect form as I could manage.
The number of reps I usually did was 12. But due to the fact that I had achieved a total alpha state during the waiting period my body disassociated the reps factor and I performed 24 reps with no more effort or strain than if I had performed the usual 12 reps.
The example I am trying to give is simply that if you limit yourself to any number of reps that is all you will do. I had somehow rejected the fact that 12 reps was my limit.” - Vince Gironda
Several months ago I was at a park for a festival. In China all the parks have pull-up bars, monkey bars, dip bars and various exercise apparatus. I was walking around with my lovely lady friend and came upon some monkey bars. Anyone who knows me knows that anytime I am in the vicinity of any sort of bar, pull-ups will be done.
I stepped up to do my usual 10-12 pull-ups (overhand grip, palms facing away) for fun. There were a few people watching, including my lady friend and this upped the ante. 3 or 4 pull-ups in, my lady friend said something like “Let's see how many you can do!”. With no more exertion than I would use on 10 pull-ups I did a full 24 pull-ups.
Impossible to accomplish before or since, at that moment in time it was as easy as doing only a few pull-ups and, at minimum, it is 9 more pull-ups than I have ever been able to do.
Leave a comment and tell us about a time you reached the Alpha State. When was a time you didn't just surpass past performance but smashed your way through it? And how did it happen?
I’ve spent the past 15 years bodybuilding. I never knew what surpassing my limits were until I met what would soon become my best friend around 8 years ago. This was a guy who grew up out in Venice beach back in the 60’s and 70’s, and although in his mid 50’s now, most guys half his age could not keep up with him in the gym. This guy is old school and hardcore to the bone. I have done drop sets of curls with him to the point our last drop set was performed with a wooden broom handle, it was that brutal. I moved away but we still keep in touch on a daily basis. Whenever someone breaks a PR or does something amazing, we call each other up and tell each other about it. Although we dont train on a regular basis together, I feel like my brother in iron is always with me. 2 wks ago I took a trip to go spend some time with him. He hadn’t been in a gym in about 4 months and was just going through a lot in life. So I get him out of his house and in the gym. It’s leg night. There are about 4-5 other guys in there doing legs. Now I had just trained legs 2 days prior, but it didn’t matter this time. This was more than the proper 1 wk recovery, all the little BS formulas that people say you should go by in this sport. I knew before I stepped foot in that gym that this workout was going to be one I was going to empty my gas tank and spill everything I had. I started off with barbell squats, 135, then 225, then 315, then 405, then 500. I did 500/5 reps, still playing conservative at this point, because I knew what was about to happen next. Next up was the hack squat machine. I start off with 2/side, then 3/side, then 4/side. My buddy asks me why I’m not going to go to 5/side like the other guys. Without even thinking I reply “Because I’m about to do 40 reps” He starts chuckling and telling his other buddies the trash I just talked, this amazing feat I was going to try. So here goes the set…I’m at 25 reps, and as anybody knows a set of legs pushed past 25 reps can get rough. Now I’m in my mid 30’s on reps, the MP3 player blasting through my ears, my eyes closed, my mind shut off to everything else around me. I finally hit 40 reps, at this point I open my eyes back up to see all of these guys standing over me yelling “Come on man, MORE, MORE, MORE!!! KEEP GOING MAN!!” I get to 45 reps, my eyes feel like they are going to pop out of my head, 46….47….The crew starts yelling louder at this point, 48…..49…..50!!!! 50 reps with 4 plates/side on the hack squat machine!!! I fell out of the machine as soon as it was racked and onto the ground, layed there for about 10 minutes too. Now you have to understand something, there comes a point when if your in the gym enough years people start falling off on you. Training partners come and go, it feels like everybody around you is leaving your world and it’s just you. It’s actually pretty damn lonely sometimes when I think about it. All of those years of training by yourself, nobody to push you, no teammates around. The ones you used to have are hundreds of miles away, if they still lift at all. That night we went to dinner and had a beer together. The restaurant was closing and it was just outside in the pitch black night. My friend says to me “Never have I seen that!! Never in my 55 years on this earth have I seen a guy go that hard on a set, not out in Cali, not anywhere but in that damn gym with you tonight” I walked a little taller that night, and that shitty domestic beer tasted better than anything I ever had. Once again I was in a pack of wolves that night, it felt great. And one thing I figured out about an Alpha, is if you take him away from his pack for a long time, and then reintroduce him, the fight in that alpha wolf never leaves. That was my alpha set
great story robert. 50 reps with 8 plates is brutal! sheer insanity. i love it!
i used to hit the gym alot in my teens in highschool. just recently gotten back into it with a vengence. I’ve always been a naturally thin guy, i was desperately trying to pack on weight in those days. I had a new friend I had just met that day in the gym spot me doing some inclined bench press. I cant remember the weight, but I remember I did about 6 reps and gave up. He started amping me up, telling me to get angry and let it all out when i train. push the bar away like its your enemy. those words i’ll never forget. he was really amping me up, really nice of this guy to do, since i was about 16 and him about 28, to spend the time with me and show me. I got so motivated, so pissed, i jumped back on the bench, and without him telling me he slipped another 15 lbs on each end. I ended up doing over 12 reps…i think 14 or 15. after that he was just laughing, smile never left his face. mine either…until i saw the weight
Here is another reason -
http://io9.com/5889266/exercise-makes-you-smarter-by-giving-your-brain-extra-energy?tag=biology
I’ve learned that I can reach the alpha state at will now. It takes about 5 min of meditation, speaking to the beast inside before a workout then it’s beast mode time. It’s also starting to leak out into my studies, I can go for 2-3 hours now of intense thinking. Either way during I feel the confidence similar to that of a cocaine high naturally. Amazing what focused training can do.
There is a certain joy about proving that you are more capable than what others though possible. This particular post reminds me of a scene from Forest Gump, when he demonstrated that the only limitation we must overcome is the one inside our mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-MCPa_3rU
100% means unlocking your animal
Right before my 425lb DL I was not going to make it or so I thought. I had my then GF watching me of less than a week sitting nearby. At that moment I realized there were two options: either I can fail this rep and she’ll think of me as the guy who failed his attempt that day, walking away with his head hung down “waiting for his next life” so to say. The second option was to pull the motherfucker up as if I’d rather die thanfail; as if I’d rather break my back, knees, etc. than fail. Needless to say after seeing that, I went for the second option and pulled it up and it felt like any other attempt. But I had adrenaline running through me and I felt so alive. I had just made a 425lb DL at 190lbs.
Boom! Excellent work.
I had a very similar experience. It was my dead-lift day, I setup the weight heavy, for 5 reps, the new GF comes in, she wants a demonstration …. I do a short 1 minute meditation with deep breathing, I wanted to impress her …. Then lets go, perfect form, full throttle, give my 110%, felt like I was in another world … well I did 20 reps! I was frecking stunt! The previous week,I barely make 5 reps on that weight!
It was so weird, I kind of realized that I was at 20 rep and then I stooped because I could not believe it … but thinking about it again, if I didn’t realized it, I could have done more!
Great post, 2 years late lol, I going to try to reproduce this right now !
The alpha state is an amazing state of mind to be in. A few months back I took a Rapid Assaults Training course and there were a few instances where I entered the alpha state.
The first instance was when we were doing a breath control exercise where our instructor wanted us to hold our breath for as long as we could.
First try, I held for 45 seconds.
Second try, I held my breath for a solid 2 minutes and could have held on for a few more seconds if the instructor didn’t say something that cracked me up.
Second time was 2 days later into the workshop where we were doing the final wrap-up. It was constant movement with drills, sparring empty-handed, fighting with weapons, and grappling. The instructors stopped us after we did all this for over 25 minutes straight. It only felt like 5 minutes to me and I was pumped and could easily keep going.
From personal experience I can say the passage of time in the alpha state truly doesn’t exist.
for me I was stuck at 405 lbs dl for a while and one day I said fuck it I’ll do more right now, I put 430 lbs on the bar and did it, bam.
I experienced this ”alpha state” while training the handstand. Nothing has increased my confidence like it. it shattered all doubt I’ve previously had.
One time at a gym I got on a treadmill and I ran for 16 miles straight ,I just went on and on beyond the pain in my legs, beyond the stomach cramps, I remember thinking of the a shore in a distant place just the calm waves and a calm sensation altogether When I got off I felt the best I’ve ever humanely felt I believe that was a “runners high” Walking off the treadmill was like walking on cotton I felt amazingly light.
Another odd experience where I went past any know limitations was when I walked 27 miles home from work, I had procrastinated on refilling my minutes (cell phone) so it had gotten cutoff that day, I hadn’t brought any money with me and I wasn’t going to beg for any, I was wearing double socks, double pants, double shirts, a big thick work coat and to top it off steel toe boots. Having exited the warehouse I got stuck in my head and feared going back in and all the way to the back of the warehouse to ask to borrow a phone (soc.anxiety) So I spent a good 40+ min outside in self-pity then I Started walking south, I made a mental blueprint and I thought to myself “as long as I keep going I will make it there eventually” and that’s what I did, I only had less than half a pack of Saltines and a bottle of water I made them last almost the entire trip non stop and FAST walking. I made it home in just under 6 hours. This was after a 9 hour shift.
* I worked in a refrigerated warehouse 34 degrees Fahrenheit.
Today I decided to go to the gym after an ankle sprain injury. I did the usual 3×5 squats, BP, etc. workout.
Well I added planks to this, too. And I usually only do 15 seconds increments. Well, my record was 90 seconds before I GAVE UP and waited till the next workout for a 15 second increment.
But today I didn’t want to be a pussy. I decided to play this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYYle0hTUc (Death crawl scene from “Facing The Giants” I played the video from when he starts the death crawl until when he reaches the end of the field. I made it to 3 minutes, a 90 second increase instead of the usual 15. I was crying.
Someone did some research on the effects of males when females are watching them perform something. I think it was skateboarders, they tested their testosterone levels while they were competing in skate events, then they got a bunch of hot girls to watch them skate and they tested their levels again, and when the hot girls were watching them their levels went through the roof. In essence, women make us more manly.
The Alpha state should be on “on” all the time if you guys want results.
If it were during the days when hot girls or attractive women came working out to the gym, I literally would not feel any blocks or limitations and I would get super hyped to workout as if I were to claim her afterwards and fuck her.
Viktor,
This is powerful living. It reminds me of a time when I was asked to go to the United Kingdom to participate in a music industry writing camp.
Before this, I struggled to write one song, but knew there was potential there. In there months, I wrote three songs, each of which were signed to record labels.
I did get some help from experts, and I did use performance enhancing drugs, but it must still a massive leap forward.
I’d like to get back there some day soon.