What is hardcore?
From the translator: great article… I’m not going to start translating or unpacking what hardcore means is means is means is means is means is means is means means is means is means is means is means is means is means means. I think we all know it, and why spoil such a fitting expression with a translation. The article is spot on and 100% accurate. At the end, I’m adding a whole list of my own views on what else is hardcore. Readers could do the same in the forum.
Hardcore means being a winner, being a champion, a warrior and a beast all at once. Hardcore is being ready to sacrifice all your time, money, friends and family for the title. Hardcore is putting everything on the line to win the contest you crave. Hardcore is preparing for a contest and managing the time between eight in the morning and five in the evening, just so you can fit in your hour-long workout at six. Hardcore is a couple of cups of strong coffee before a killer leg workout.
Hardcore is…
Hardcore is walking around with a dark, leathery mark on your neck – you know, the spot on your neck where the bar has sat thousands of times when you squat. It’s a badge of honor. Hardcore is setting yourself a goal 18 months before a contest and then moving toward it “millimeter by millimeter”. Hardcore is waking up in the morning stiff and drained, yet being ready, again and again, to climb out of bed and shovel in food that long ago turned your stomach and makes you feel more sick than anything else. Hardcore is forcing down oat flakes, chicken breast, rice and boiled eggs week after week, with only minor variations.
Hardcore is that deep, inner, powerful spark that makes you train back the very next day after a hellish leg workout. You know the feeling after a leg workout like that – all you want to do is sit down. But not you, because you’re thinking about your competitor and fellow fighter in New Jersey, who is maybe doing the same thing two times a day.
Hardcore is honest self-criticism about the weak and lagging body parts of your physique. It is devotion to detail in order to reach the goal you crave.
Hardcore is finishing a leg workout with something insane, a set that seems impossible to get through and that leaves you feeling, for the whole evening and night afterward, as if you’d been hit by a car.
Hardcore is being able to look like a cheerful, happy customer service rep on the contest stage, even though inside you’re weak, nervous and feel as lousy as it’s possible to feel. Hardcore is the ability to stay focused in a hard time and keep your mind on only one… win.
Hardcore is having to pull yourself together, tired and drained, again and again during the mandatory poses in the final, in countless comparisons… you have to be ready and able to flex your whole body, to prove that you’ve put in the work and look good, and that your muscles are visibly defined. You know the feeling when you show your traps and it feels like you’re about to explode and your head will fly off.
Hardcore is finding yourself back in training on the Monday right after a contest. And all you can think about is how to surprise them even more next time, how to shock them with your body. You’re already thinking about the upcoming contests, workouts and nutrition. Even though you’re happy about your trophy, you’re already worrying about the weak points on your body that caught the judges’ eye. You’re already thinking about how to add details “here” or a bit of mass “there”. It’s insane! It’s the routine of a competing bodybuilder! It’s the life you have to choose if you want to achieve something! It’s my life!!!
Original article HERE.
Here is my own addition:
1. Insane and hardcore is when you’ve eaten 2500 kcal and then have to do a proper hour-and-a-half leg workout on top of that.
2. Inhuman is doing an hour-and-a-half strength workout, then posing for half an hour, and finally walking 5 km.
3. Hardcore is strapping on a harness, hooking a 100 kg iron sled behind you and dragging it a quarter of a kilometer without a break.
4. Hardcore is squatting 100 kg for 100 reps in a row.
5. Hardcore is oat flake porridge with no milk and no salt, just water and oat flakes, for months on end.
6. Hardcore is doing 10 x 10 in the deadlift and tearing the skin off your palms already in the first set.
7. Hardcore is weighing every mouthful, counting calories and doing it for 4 – 5 months in a row.
8. The Smolov squat program is hardcore.
9. Hardcore is doing a leg workout at 7.00 in the morning.
10. Hardcore is finishing a contest, getting to eat normally for one day and then having to go back to the regimen.
11. Hardcore is having to bring your food containers to someone’s birthday party.
12. Hardcore is preparing for a contest for 4 months in a row, training hard, dieting, and then in the last week you “manage” to get a serious injury and still have to keep grinding on.
13. Insane is putting a 10 kg sandbag on your back and doing lunges with it for a quarter of a kilometer without stopping.
14. Hardcore is squatting twenty sets to failure in a leg workout, every one of them longer than eight reps per set.
15. Hardcore is doing 20 steps of lunges, straight into 20 squats, and finishing in a half squat with your arms out in front for 30 – 60 seconds.
16. Hardcore is flexing so hard while posing on stage that you’re about to collapse, or actually do collapse.
Keep the list going with your own views…
Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)
Source:Turg.Fitness.ee
Come and train! ArtGym
