#GROWvember Gains by G Diesel

The Thanksgiving workout always had a special appeal. Hitting legs on that late November holiday morning seemed the perfect opportunity to double down on my training goals, in two obvious ways: 1) It was a chance to push myself and have a productive workout when most more balanced and reasonable folks were too busy relaxing. And 2) I knew the massive influx of calories coming later in the day would be in large-part wasted if not for the stimulus of the iron. In my teens, throughout college and for a few years that followed, I was the first in line to work a shift at the Brigantine Fitness Center on Thanksgiving day. Awesome times.

In the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle comes an opportunity to convert excuses into fuel and turn perceptions on their head. From Halloween extended all the way through New Year’s Eve, while the rest of the world pumps the brakes in the name of parties and presents, we pump the iron and grow. We make progress not only because of our uncommon determination or dedication, but because it is easy to make a priority out of your passion. Especially when our chosen vocation is imbued with so many of the factors that made us first fall in love with this game in the first place.

It is for this reason that we consider #GROWvember a celebration of all that makes iron culture great. When the hoods go up, right along with the weights and the calories, and we rediscover the joy of training hard. It is in this spirit, that here we present five methods to make this #GROWvember the most productive of all.

• Eat More Easy enough. The most anabolic substance on Earth, and the most powerful catalyst for muscle growth and recovery, is food. Instead of spending an inordinate amount of time counting calories and fretting over your macros, begin to eat like an active athlete, fueling your body for high performance. You have the warm months to be restrictive and rigidly structured. Instead, this is a time to feed yourself for growth and to ensure you have the necessary protein, carbs and fats to maximize your growth and gain strength. So eat a preworkout snack, grab a second plate of Ma Dukes’ dinner, order an extra burger from the drive-thru. And do so confident in the fact that you will put it all to good use in the gym. “Broscience” be damned, load up on your nutrients postworkout when your muscles are their most damaged and depleted and watch what happens. A surplus of calories for a few weeks could be exactly the trigger you needed to begin growing again.

• Be Efficient In an industry of excesses, train yourself to do more with less. Fewer total sets and reps, no marathon sessions. Channel your focus and intensity into getting the most out of each workout without decimating your central nervous system and undermining your capacity to recover. Simplify your approach. With both weights and cardio. Don’t overthink it, overanalyze it, or over-program your workouts, your meals, your supps. Find the sophistication in simplicity and watch yourself flourish.

• Bring Your Bros The lone wolf, the lone warrior… The solitude and self-accountability of this pursuit is often what appeals to us most. That said, many of us would be lying if we didn’t admit that so many of our best gym memories were workouts with our friends. Sharing in the joy of pushing ourselves, encouraging and spotting each other. Cracking jokes and telling stories, a caffeine-infused social gathering centered around self-improvement. In the warm, familial spirit of the holidays, there’s nothing better.

• Go Heavy In the name of aforementioned efficiency, add a pie to the bar, and transcend your limits the old-school way. The new stimulus of heavier iron most certainly causes a reaction and when paired with a surge of nutrient- dense calories, muscle growth will soon follow. If you typically train to positive muscle failure in the 10-15 rep range, switch it up and challenge yourself. If you find yourself seduced by the allure of obscure, esoteric, fancy TikTok exercises, instead go back to the basics. Utilize squats, benches, deadlifts, rows, military presses, shrugs, etc with heavy sets and good form to failure in the 6-8 rep range, and allow your body to naturally adapt to that new stress. Fewer overall sets, but heavier work that requires the activation and recruitment of more muscle fibers, is a sure-fire strategy to arouse dormant gains.

• Rest Up Easier said than done, I know. Most days, I’m running on fumes, my standard mode of operation as a responsible adult is in a sleep deficit. However, I know well that a critical key to health and longevity is the management of stress and getting enough sleep every night. And there is a direct correlation between the state of being that allows one to live a long and healthy life and the state of being that allows one to grow new muscle tissue. With these two primary life goals in mind, since so few of us are sleeping as much as we’d like, we need to take steps to sleep more and to ensure that the quality of that slumber is better. Getting to bed a half hour earlier each night. Utilizing vitamins, minerals and amino acids around bedtime to enhance sleep quality. Sleepy-time teas. Lowering room temperature. Meditation. Sneaking in a 10-20 minute midday nap in the name of refreshing the mind and body. These small methods individually don’t seem like much, but collectively can have dramatic implications for enhanced recovery. Combine these with eating more and training heavier, and you could dedicate the next two months to getting your human freight train barreling down the track of fresh gains.

There it is, five easy-money reminders of what we can each do to recharge our passions, redouble our efforts and remember what it was to train for the pure love of the pursuit. That’s the original, intended vibe of #GROWvember… Glorifying a time of year and a way of thinking that can’t help but translate to growth, in the gym and beyond. So add another plate. Grab another plate. Add some more to your plate. Literally and figuratively. And get your weight up.