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Perhaps it’s been a bad day at work – you didn’t sleep well, or maybe it’s just one of those days when the prospect of grinding out rep after rep of heavy squats, bench presses and bent-over rows is a bit overwhelming. On days like those, in the past you might have tried an over-the-counter stimulant such as ephedrine. Although such a stimulant is quite effective for short-term use, it is now illegal to purchase and is banned by the International Olympic Committee.

Of course, there are some people who train who could care less about passing a drug test sanctioned by the Olympic Committee – and judging by the number of people who walk around with buttons imprinted with such slogans as “Poke Smot,” there are a lot of people who are not discrete about their use of other illegal substances. Still, I’m sure many of you could stand to expand your repertoire of methods to get psyched because the ones you’ve been using either are too expensive or cause undesirable side effects such as irritability, insomnia, migraine headaches and adrenal exhaustion.

For those readers who want alternative methods of getting intense, I’d like to share with you some options for a totally drug-free approach. First, let’s look at some natural supplements to help you get psyched: those that work and those that won’t.

Bogus Energizers
When I first moved to the United States many years ago, I was shocked at the difference between Canada and the U.S. regarding product claims on labels – I’d estimated that only two percent of the claims on the U.S. labels would be allowed on a Canadian label.

As strongly as I believe in freedom of speech (although I may have to rethink this opinion after seeing Richard Simmons speak to a Senate subcommittee about how his dance program is going to solve the childhood obesity crisis), I’m also a strong advocate of consumer rights. With U.S. label claims so preposterous, it’s no wonder I get so many e-mails asking what I think of supplement “XYZ” – I can just imagine the volume of letters Dr. Jonny Bowden gets.

Despite the increased regulations regarding food labeling, most supplement companies are not being completely honest about the benefits of their products. Take, for example, bee pollen.

Bee pollen could also be aptly called “The Worthless Supplement That Just Won’t Go Away,” as it seems to resurface every few years with additional claims. The supplement was first popularized by a middle-distance Olympic gold medalist from Finland who claimed it boosted his recovery ability. His testimonial encouraged thousands of athletes to use it to boost energy levels and promote anabolism (not that this distance runner was anywhere close to being buffed). Too bad it didn’t work. In fact, it turns out that a few years after this endorsement, this athlete admitted that before the Games, he was also experimenting with testosterone enanthate.

While it’s true that almost all nutrients known to man are found in bee pollen, it can also cause severe allergic reactions in some individuals. I’m also aware of athletes who needed to be hospitalized and given a powerful antihistamine after taking it. In fact, in one of the early studies on this substance, the head researcher reported that one of his subjects almost died from taking bee pollen!

I have many effective supplements that work, including the following: Acetyl-L Carnitine Propionate, Fast Brain 2.0, Java Stim, and Yang R-ALA. In our e-store you’ll find the optimal dosages for each of these supplements, along with my short video presentation about the benefits of these products. In addition to these effective supplements, let me share with you some other ways to get psyched to pump some heavy iron.

The Eyes Have It!
While the intelligent use of nutritional supplements is a simple and direct approach to increasing your energy and improving your focus, there are several mental motivators that work equally well, perhaps even better. I say this because motivation should ultimately come from your mind, not a bottle. Every elite athlete has mastered the ability to stay mentally on top of his or her training – this is often the deciding factor between athletes who excel and those who just compete.

Physique training is unique in that it is a highly visual activity. Many sports use videos for motivation, but in the case of bodybuilding, you have a plethora of stimuli at every newsstand. Use this fact to your advantage by actually studying the photos of your bodybuilding idols. You’ll find that devoting a part of your training week to visually memorizing your physical ideal will translate into more focus and energy during your workouts. In this regard, there are essentially two sources of visual stimuli for a workout: photography and videos.

Photography. That’s p-h-o-t-o-g-r-a-p-h-y, not pornography – you’re not looking for that type of stimulation before you train. Put together a collection of your favorite physique photos using realistic physique roles models – the current Mr. and Ms. Olympia probably don’t belong in this category. Of course, you also can use photos of top weightlifters, powerlifters, strongmen or whatever type of athlete inspires you. Set up a three-ring notebook with the photos in plastic protectors and flip through them several times a week.

Videos: I’m probably dating myself using the term “video,” but you get the point (just as most people think of Blockbuster as Blockbuster Video, not Blockbuster DVD). With the advent of the technological age – made possible by your tax dollars and supposedly the space program – we now have access to a prime source of pre-workout stimuli: videos. Watching videos on a handheld media device is a great way to inspire you to new levels of intensity before a workout.

As the demand for bodybuilding videos has grown, there are considerably more professionally produced competition videos than there were a decade ago. I remember seeing one Mr. Olympia tape where the cameraman had no clue how to operate his equipment – either that, or it was filmed by one of the creative types from MTV who doesn’t believe in properly framing or focusing subjects. To save yourself some bucks, ask your gym mates or the experts (yeah, right) at your local bodybuilding pro shop about recommended viewing, or borrow a friend’s video.

Workout Videos: Unless you think Hercules in New York should have won an Academy Award for cinematography, you’re probably going to be disappointed when you purchase bodybuilding workout videos. Almost all workout videos have horrendous audio and production quality that look as though they were shot by Middle Eastern terrorists during the Gulf War. There are exceptions. Although dated, I enjoyed the Positions of Flexion series by Ironman, and Milos Sarcev has a professionally-produced DVD called Secrets of the Pros.

Violence Medleys: There is another source of video inspiration that I describe as “violence medleys.” The rationale for the effectiveness of these videos is that they arouse the basic hormonal response associated with the fight-or-flight response.

Using violence medleys is not a new concept. Hockey fiends have had access to the popular “rock ’em, sock ’em” videos that feature the best hits and brawls put to music. The same goes with MMA fights. Likewise, in the locker room before a game, coaches for some college football programs often play a highlight video from previous games put to music to stimulate the adrenal glands of their players. Some NHL goons have even produced their own “underground tapes” that they use when negotiating contracts with owners.

I know one bodybuilder who, after watching one of those goon-a-rama flicks at a local sports bar, made a violence medley of his favorite fight scenes taped from TV. His video contains scenes of Arnold, Steven Segal, Bruce Lee, and Van Damme. The scenes are very short and change every four to eight seconds. The tape I saw switched from a seven-second segment of Van Damme smashing (for the good of society) a punk rocker’s head with hook kicks, to a five-second scene of barbarians decapitating each other (for the fun of it – hey, they are, after all, barbarians). This bodybuilder believes his medleys, which he updates regularly, give him an adrenaline rush like no other. And hey, I don’t know of any place to buy such tapes – most guys make their own.

CDs. CDs provide another source of motivation. There are a variety of tapes available that have been useful “training partners” for some individuals, but you’ll have to do your own research to determine which are best for you. Most bodybuilders, however, prefer to listen to music when they train.

As with the late Joe Gold, I can’t stand music when I train, but I realize there are some bodybuilders who thrive on music to pump them up for a workout. In fact, studies have shown that these individuals may have difficulty activating their adrenal glands by themselves and are dependent on external stimuli to access them. In accordance with gym etiquette (and to avoid having me kick the crap out of them), these music-dependent individuals should invest in portable cassette or CD players with headphones.

Most individuals who weight train don’t realize that their favorite type of music might negatively affect their training. Some very popular types of music, especially hard rock, may actually decrease muscle strength; other types of music, such as baroque, may increase it. To see what the Eastern Bloc countries believed when it came to training with music, during a visit to Colorado Springs, Bulgarian weightlifting coach Angel Spassov was played numerous samples of various artists. Coach Spassov made the following conclusions about this subject:

1.    Madonna should be played only in discos.
2.    Amy Grant is good for post-workout recovery.
3.    Unquestionably, the best music for training is anything by Kenny Rogers.

So, anyone for country dancing?

It’s important to address the need for mental motivation in any training routine. Whether you choose nutritional stimulants or visual stimulation, apply the same principles to mastering your motivation as those you use to guide you in your training. What this means is that you must recognize that motivation techniques grow stale. Try different approaches, and when you feel your workouts are lacking the mental intensity they require, pick up a video or a new magazine, or try a different supplement formula. The point is, you must take action to keep your mental focus powerful. The tools are out there, so use them.