以前在大學讀書時，期許自己在畢業後能找到一份穩定的工作，好好利用自己的專業知識，靠薪水累積自己的財富成為百萬富翁，這一個目標很快的在柯斯托蘭尼《一個投機者的告白》一書中找到了答案，同時也打破我的念頭。
根據科斯托蘭尼的定義，百萬富翁是指不依賴任何人，以自己的資本，就能滿足自我需求的人。所以百萬富翁只是一個代名詞，每一個人將根據自己的慾望額度而有所不同。
仔細想想這就是我當時追求成為百萬富翁的目的。
但以我愛美的天性，家中沒有預留下任一筆稱得上財產的遺產，再加上每一年的通貨膨脹，我的實質百萬富翁，在名目上可能早已超過了千萬。
這意味著必須靠其他的管道。
今天我要買一生唯一一個愛馬仕的包包，可用月薪不吃不喝一年的時間換取，但是犧牲掉的是生活品質；或是央求我的摯友買給我，但是物質上的情感與我的性格相悖；最後我和書上一樣選擇了投機。
我非常認同錢可創造出人生的價值，它意味著可自我獨立，我不需要靠任何人的施捨與臉色，或者每天啃著麵包幻想背著柏金包，但我同樣需要犧牲時間拿來研究市場，因為只要方向正確，在這個市場當中可用少許的錢得到相當可觀的利潤。，
就如同2011/3/15當天台股暴跌285點，日本核電廠爆發可能是一場意外，但是台股的拉回本來就是我研究預料中的事，我在那天提早獲得了8個月的薪水。
科斯托蘭尼自許為投機家，但他從來不保證一定會成功，相反的他說這是一份苦差事，你要不斷吸收大量新的事件、新的知識、新的挑戰，同時去辨別哪些是對的哪些是荒謬的，這意味這你將永遠處於備戰狀態。
基本上像我這樣的人，是需要投機才能達成實質上的百萬富翁。而且我認為現階段所有的投資都是投機，也是因為如此才有機會即是當不成有錢人的子孫，有一天也會成為有錢人的祖先。
最後我要引用電影華爾街的經典名言”greed is good “（貪婪是好事）與書上強調必須瘋狂的愛錢，但是又必須冷靜的對待錢做一個註解：如果說在市場上貪婪是對的，那麼貪婪就要有方法與態度，科斯托蘭尼告訴了我們，運用投機可以將貪婪在市場上化為財富。
你是不是老羨慕別人都在發大財，別人會賺大錢是因為他們有祕訣，真的是這樣嗎?只要擺脫當窮人的思維，遵守紀律、勤做功課，相信財富就會是你的。
為了讓大家了解，賺錢是人人都可以做得到的，先來談談關於賺錢的兩大迷思。
首先來講第一個關於賺錢的迷思就是：
賺錢有那麼容易嗎？那麼容易大家都發大財了！
這裡我要跟各位讀者說，賺錢本身確實很簡單，難的是大部分人不願意相信專家跟前輩的建議，不願意照著做。
各位，我在這邊強調的是「照著做」，是照著做就行了，並不是要做得比這本書裡說得更好。只要定期的觀察市場變化，固定做紀錄，每次進場前確實的擬定好策略，進場後嚴格執行停損、停利、加碼、減碼等各種事先擬好的策略，真的就可以賺錢，而且是龐大的獲利，但是各位也知道，我們往往沒有這麼強大的意志力去徹底執行。並不是因為這些東西很難，正因為這些東西很簡單，每天按表操課，非常單調的做著各種研究，所以大家做不下去。
這些事情就像減肥一樣，減肥並不難，只要克制食慾認真運動，一定能達成目標，但往往讓我們難以成功的原因就在於無法持之以恆，無法單純的做下去。除了因為單調之外，一方面也是因為在開頭的前幾個月，甚至是前一、兩年我們很難見到顯著的效果，就失去了信心，覺得書上講的是錯的，就開始照著自己感覺來交易，結果輸得更慘，然後完全失去信心。
或者是一開始嘗到甜頭，就以為交易真的很容易，不需要再依靠那些瑣碎的每日功課，於是同樣開始照著感覺來交易，結果同樣是輸到完全失去信心。就像一開始在減肥時，天天運動、控制飲食，有一點成果後就鬆懈了，結果沒幾天又全胖回來。
所以各位，賺錢的方法確實不難，很容易學，但是持之以恆的執行卻很困難。往往越是簡單的事，人們越不想天天去做。但是做期貨能賺錢的人都是如此執行的，每天固定蒐集同樣的資料，認真的解讀、擬定計畫，不時的閱讀各種有關交易的書來精進自己的交易策略。每天7點半起床，仔細思考今天該如何交易，確認各種大小細節。
各位想想，這些事很難嗎？不難，這些事本身不難，只是很難天天做，看到這裡，各位讀者應該能懂為何賺錢很容易，但是卻又不是人人都能，而你想做哪一種人呢？再來，第二個迷思就是：
賺大錢的人一定是懂別人不懂的秘訣，有貴人相助、恩師傳授絕學，於是他們能人所不能，才能賺到大把鈔票，但我什麼都不懂，而且也沒有貴人跟老師，所以我不可能變有錢人。
這個狀況跟上一個也很類似，我老實的跟大家說，所有做期貨的人，無論新手還是老手，看的書、學的東西，基本上都是大同小異。各位只要去看幾本期貨、股票高手的書就知道了，他們都會強調他們用的，也不過就是一般大家都在用的方法，只是他們用得更久、更熟悉罷了，但是他們的祕訣跟經驗，卻也沒甚麼秘密，基本上買本書，3、400元就能全部學到了。
各位讀者，能賺錢的人確實有秘訣，但是沒有秘密，他們的絕招只要上網搜尋或是買書就都能學到，問題是在如何去蕪存菁，找出適合自己的，持續的使用，並且同樣徹底的執行。他們或許真的有貴人、有恩師，但他們的貴人與恩師所教的也都不是秘密，差別只在於他們聽進去了，照著做了，所以他們得到了別人的幫助，學到了別人的絕學。
除此之外，就是在於他們有個科學的腦袋，為何這麼說呢？我想各位讀者一定聽過以前許多人做股票時總是聽信明牌、相信許多很神祕的方法。就算不是這樣的狀況，大體上我們都有一種迷思，就是不認為金融市場是有規律的，是可以被研究的，總是認為那些能了解金融市場規律的人一定是天賦異稟，能看到別人看不到的東西。
金融市場是經濟的一環，是一種社會行為，是人的集體行為，既然如此，它本身自然就會有規律，如果沒有規律，那為何有這麼多基金公司集資，幫大家代操股票跟期貨。如果市場沒有規律，一直都很隨機，無法控制風險，這個產業又如何形成？
基本上，只要一件事情能夠被組織成為一個產業，能有一群人固定的去上班，以此維生，那這件事就有規律性存在，而且越多人參與，規律性越強，否則這行業的每個人都無法生存了。只要有規律，就代表可以被研究，而且操作股票、期貨、外匯等金融商品交易的人又如此多，可見得規律有多麼強了！再者，這麼多的人都曾經研究過，也出了不少書，又怎會有什麼秘密呢？
雖然大家可能還是會質疑自己不一定能學會這些東西，或是與自己所學不同無法學會。但請各位仔細想想，許多股票、期貨專家與高手並非一開始就是學習跟金融相關的學科，甚至有許多高手連大學都沒念過。重要的是在於，你在學習時，是否能真的相信、執行，並且用科學而非迷信明牌的態度去思考。
要成功，你得先學會「時間」這個資產的明智投資術才行
在我們公司前陣子推動上市的【瞬間啟動財富力】一書中，羅傑．漢彌頓提到29個能幫助你在事業/財富領域成就大幅提昇的關鍵思維。
而當中，至少就有4條關鍵思維跟「時間」相關，包括：
"第6條：更多投資你的時間，並把浪費掉的時間減到最低"
"第20條：時間是你最寶貴的資產"
"第22條：時間有四季更替"
"第23條：什麼時候做，跟做什麼一樣重要"
所有成功人士都會告訴你，你在工作上的成就高低，絕大部分取決於你如何運用你的時間；而直效行銷教父Dan Kennedy也曾說：「時間是你最寶貴的資產，因為一旦耗費掉了，就永遠沒有任何方式可以補充得回來。」
也就是說，你的時間價值其實比你手上的金錢還要來得更寶貴。
你目前是如何投資自己的時間的？你一天當中有多少%的時間是投資在有助於你達成未來1年、3年、乃至於10年的理想狀態的事物上？
如果你的答案是：「不清楚耶～我就是想到什麼做什麼」「不知道耶～我反正就是別人叫我做什麼我就做什麼」...
那你麻煩大了！
想想看，如果你在跟朋友聊自己的投資策略時，你朋友說：「不清楚耶～我就是想到要投資什麼就投資什麼」「不知道耶～我反正就是別人叫我投資什麼我就投資什麼」，你覺得如何？你認為這位朋友未來能達成他理想投資績效的機率有多高？
所以，如果你目前對於上面問題的答案真的是「不清楚」「不知道」之類，那麼建議你一定要先做一下我在
【瞬間啟動財富力】書中第140頁建議的練習。
跟書中故事主角理查一樣，拿紙筆畫出你目前時間運用方式的餅狀圖，然後看看自己目前一天平均有多少時間是浪費掉、有多少時間是拿去投資在有助於達成你目標的人、事、物上？
有很多人在做完這個練習之後的反應都是：「難怪我現在的狀態會是這樣...」；如果你願意投資時間去做這個練習相信你也一樣會從這個練習裡，對於自己過去與現在在工作/事業/財富領域獲得的成績，獲得很多新的發現。
而在明白你如何投資「時間」與你獲得的成就之間的關係之後，如果你希望未來能獲得不一樣的成果，而不是每一年都在重複前一年的人生，那麼接下來，你就得要開始調整自己投資時間的方式。
我常說我自己是個永遠都在找更快、更有效率方式的終極懶人。在【財富原動力】系統中屬於「技師」型的我，腦子裡永遠都會想著「有沒有可能用更快、更省力的方式做到這件事？」
所以，如果只是單純地管理好自己的時間，把它投資在對的事情上，那我的興致就不會太大；我有興趣的，是去研究用怎樣的方式，才可以讓人在相對短時間內，就做到會讓別人對你說「你怎麼有辦法在這麼短時間內完成這麼多事情！？」的那種成果。
在【瞬間啟動財富力】書中第二部分，我就這29條關鍵思維提供的補充解說中，我提到在羅傑．漢彌頓的哲學裡，「循環」是一個很核心的觀念：
當你了解、認識並且順著宇宙之流的循環去做的時候，就會很容易進入「順流」的狀態，在那種狀態下，時間/空間彷彿消失，你往往能在很短的時間之內就完成平常可能要花兩、三倍時間才能完成的工作；在很短的時間之內，就達致許多人要五年十年才能達到的成績。
Workout Summary
Main Goal:
Build Muscle
Workout Type:
Split
Training Level:
Beginner
Days Per Week:
4
Equipment Required:
Barbell, Cables, Dumbbells, EZ Bar, Machines
Target Gender:
Male & Female
Author:
Workout Description
Gordon LaVelle's Short and Intense Bodybuilding Training System, Part 1: You're Only as Good as Your Best Set
Gordon LaVelle is the author of Training for Mass, Second Edition, as well as Bodybuilding: Tracing the Evolution of the Ultimate Physique and other titles.
This article is about a highly effective and efficient system for building muscle. It’s a method that has been used by people who won national bodybuilding championships, world bodybuilding championships, and even Mr. Olympia titles. I personally used it to win NPC national-qualifying contests, and I continue to use it to this day.
Dozens of books have been written about this system of training. Countless articles have described it. Yet despite all this, the odds are good that you’ve never even heard of it. The odds are overwhelming that you’ve never used it, or even tried it. And unfortunately, even after reading this article, some of you never will.
Some of you will try this system however, and you may thank me later. I certainly thanked the person who told me about it.
There’s nothing terribly unusual about the method. It calls for no exotic equipment or unusual exercises; nor does it require a special setting. To make effective use of the system, all you need is access to basic weight-training equipment, a strong desire to build muscle, and an open mind. Almost everyone reading this article will satisfy the first two requirements, no problem. The third one is the big stumbling block.
If you’re a close-minded person, read no further. If you’re certain you already know the absolute best way to build muscle, stop reading now. This article is not for you. So go. Now. Yes, you.
If you’re still reading, this means that you’re interested in building muscle, and you have an open mind. You’re willing to look objectively at your existing notions about bodybuilding training, and you’re willing to consider new ideas. So let’s begin.
This style of training mainly resembles a normal bodybuilding workout. It makes use of the same types of exercises, and it’s broken down into sets and reps. But here’s what makes it different from your current routine: this system is based on the age-old adage that quality is more important than quantity. More specifically, it’s based on the notion that for muscle growth, the quality of your best set is far more important than the quantity of all your sets combined. Scientific research has shown that your body will, in fact, determine how much muscle it will add based only on whichever set you perform best.
Your body doesn’t grow when you’re working out. Your body grows afterward. It’s during the workout that your muscles send the message that your body needs to add muscle. In order to send this message however, your muscles had to be put to hard work.
But this message was not sent because you did a lot of sets. That’s not the type of hard work I’m talking about. The message was sent because one of your sets was very intense—more specifically, because the muscles you were training experienced very intense contractions. This is all that is needed to stimulate growth. All the other sets you did amount to little more than calorie-burning exercise. They will not factor into your growth.
You can do 20 sets for each bodypart without adding an ounce of muscle. Your muscles can also grow significantly larger if you perform a bare minimum of sets, as long as those sets are done properly. Unfortunately, a huge number of bodybuilders do the former. They make the mistake of performing lots and lots of mediocre sets. They think that merely banging out x number of sets is the key to muscle growth. They should instead be concentrating their efforts on performing a small number of productive ones.
The people who have used this system most effectively based their training entirely on performing a very small number of highly productive, all-out sets. In fact, to the get the best possible results, after warming-up, they perform only a single set per exercise. Yes, you read that right. Only one set.
This is a sample training routine, using this method:
- Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
- Day 2 - Back, Biceps and Abs
- Day 3 - Quads and Calves
- Day 4 - Shoulders and Hamstrings
- Day 5 - OFF
| Day 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chest and Triceps | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Incline Bench Press | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Decline or Flat Barbell Bench Press | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Close Grip Bench Press | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Lying Tricep Extension | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Day 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Back, Biceps and Abs | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Wide Grip Lat Pull Down | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Barbell Row | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Seated Cable Row | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Barbell Curl | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Hanging Leg Raise | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Day 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quads and Calves | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Squat or Leg Press | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Leg Extension | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Thigh Adductor | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Donkey Calf Raise | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Day 4 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Shoulders and Hamstrings | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Military Press | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Side Lateral | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Rear Delt Lateral Raise | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Barbell or Dumbbell Shrug | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
| Leg Curl | 1 | 5-8 or 8-15 |
Repetition Ranges - Heavy And Light Days
The repetition ranges are about the same as with traditional training:
- 5-8 reps on heavy days
- 8-15 reps on light days.
However, since you’re only doing one set, you’ve got make sure every single rep makes the muscle really work. This is especially true with your last rep. Control the weight. Put as much effort into lowering it as you did raising it.
If you’re like most people, by now you’re thinking that this is all bullsh*t. How the hell can only doing one set make your muscles grow as much as doing five sets? Well, those are your preconceived notions talking. If you really do have an open mind, you won’t base your opinions on pre-existing ideas. If you have an open mind, then you have to accept that the following statement is, at the very least, a logical possibility: the degree of your muscular growth is dependent upon the intensity level of your one best set, not the total number of sets you do. You’ll also consider that two important pieces of evidence support the idea:
- The scientific research mentioned above showed that intensity is the only important exercise factor for muscular growth.
- A number of people became extremely muscular and won top bodybuilding titles by doing only a single, all-out, highly intense set for each exercise. If the system was BS, then this would not have been possible.
The people mentioned in the second point include former Mr. Olympia winners Dorian Yates and Sergio Oliva; and former amateur world champions Mike Mentzer and Aaron Baker. I promote this type of training because it has also worked extremely well for me. I used it to win NPC national-qualifying contests at a height of 6 feet even and an average bodyweight of 237 pounds. I’m therefore not a smoke-blowing professional writer, or a guy with an average build who says that this training should work, in theory. It does work, in practice. Although I never became professional, I did beat a few future professionals. I started doing single-set training because normal workouts were leaving me worn down, burned out, flat and tired.
You might also now be thinking: if this type of training really does work, then why does almost everyone use a lot of sets? The primary reason is tradition. As the thinking goes, everyone else is doing it; so I should too. No logical foundation is asked for, none is given, and apparently that’s good enough. The second reason is that so few people know about the one-set system, or know enough about it to consider giving it a shot.
The third reason is association. Magazine articles about champions often describe very long workouts that employ a large number of sets. But if you’ve been getting your training advice from magazines, keep this in mind: the articles in muscle magazines are often written by professional writers—people who have never seriously trained with weights, much less competed at a high level in bodybuilding. They don’t care whether the routines they write about have a logical foundation, whether they’ll burn you out, or if they’re even real. Some of the routines are flat-out made up by the magazines. I’ve seen this happen with my own eyes. On top of that, if you think the article written by the reigning Mr. Whoever was actually written by him, think again. A lot of top bodybuilders can barely put a coherent sentence together. A good deal of the time, the articles are written for them by somebody else.
So maybe by now you’ve at least considered trying the method. But you also might be thinking: if you need to perform very intense sets for each exercise, and one works well, why not just do a few more similar sets? Wouldn’t you grow even more? Unfortunately the answer is no. When you train with intensity, you stimulate growth. This stimulation is not cumulative. Two sets are not twice as effective as one. Your body will simply respond to whichever set was more intense.
But what about all the gigantic bodybuilders that perform three, four, five, and sometimes many more sets for each and every exercise they do? It’s true that most massive bodybuilders train like this. However, doing a lot of sets is not why they are so big. They are so big for following reasons—and pay attention, because this is the truest thing you’ll ever read about bodybuilding training: these guys have a combination of great genetics, powerful drugs, hard work, determination, consistency and adequate nutrition. If you have all these things, eventually you’ll get huge too. If you have all these things, the specifics of your workout routine won’t even really matter. Just about any type of training will work—as long as you fulfill all the above criteria.
This is why 1988 USA overall champion John Defendis got huge doing up to 100 sets per body part (no kidding), and why Dorian Yates got huge doing between two and five. It’s why Albert Beckles could do 45 sets for his back—and why Mike Mentzer could get nearly identical results from four or five. It’s also why a lot of huge bodybuilders get away with using sloppy form. If you have the combination of attributes listed above, go ahead and toss the weight around. You’ll get huge anyway. If you don’t believe it, watch some videos of Bertil Fox training.
So if almost anything will work for the right people, why shouldn’t I just stick with what I’ve been doing? The biggest reason is wear-and-tear. Talk to old bodybuilders. Notice how many of them have trashed shouldersand knees, sore elbows, bad backs, and even torn muscles. I recently talked to Ed Corney. He loved frequent, high-volume training, just like Arnold Schwarzenegger taught him back when Arnold competed. Ed told me that back in the 1970s he did two things: he trained, and he trained. He now has two artificial shoulder joints, because he so thoroughly destroyed his originals. He also has visible partial muscle tears. That’s a steep price to pay for having the pleasure of spending long, taxing hours in the gym.
The second reason to consider switching is mental and physical burnout. Overdoing it—also known as overtraining—is the biggest pitfall in bodybuilding. If you overtrain, all your progress will stop and yourmotivation will slip away. Maybe you’ve experienced this before. The easiest way to overtrain is by doing lots and lots of sets, every workout.
The third reason is time. Typical bodybuilding workouts last two hours, and the most dedicated bodybuilders will train anywhere from five to twelve times each and every week. Obviously this can be a huge investment of time. It can also be tremendously wasteful when you consider that at least equal results can be gotten from a much shorter program.
Huge bodybuilders might tell you that it’s “essential” to use a lot of sets, but since very few of them have a used a low-set approach, many simply don’t know if this is true. They just know that using a lot of sets worked for them. At the same time, if a Mr. Olympia claimed that taking mud baths every night was essential for getting huge, I guarantee that a lot of people would copy him. Mr. Olympia might actually be convinced that the baths are responsible for his growth. He might write articles describing how essential they are. However, this doesn’t make it so.
A lot of people who are against the low-set approach have never even tried it. They simply declare it to be impossible and refuse to consider otherwise. The only way to really know is to try it for yourself. However, if you’re too afraid to stray from the workout you’re current using, do this instead: cut your sets in half. That’s all. If you’re doing four sets per exercise, try doing two good ones instead. I’ve been recommending this initial approach for years, and I’ve never known anyone whose results got worse from doing it. Cut your sets in half and you’ll get results that are at least equal to those of your current routine. The biggest difference might be that you’ll have more energy and greater enthusiasm the next time you step foot in the gym.
Reduce your sets further and you’ll be closer to a level that’s ideal for muscular growth. Cut your sets down to one—one hard, concentrated, highly-intense, all-out set for each exercise—and you’ll be surprised by the results.