Let's
face it-the main reason bodybuilders train with weights-grinding reps out
workout after workout- is to add mass to our physiques. Sure it's
great to be in better shape and ripped-but there's nothing like
looking in the mirror and seeing more muscle.
But
if you don't train properly you will waste your time and effort and
have little to show for the hours of sweat you put forth.
Heavy
Weights Or Light Weights?
This
depends on your goals. If you're looking to add mainly strength-use
low reps,3-5,with very heavy weights. If looking to add both muscle
mass and strength,your sets should fall in the 6-10 range with
moderate weights. The exception to this rule are legs. Since they
tend to have more of a mixed fiber type, they will need higher rep
counts to maximize their growth.
Light
weights using rep counts of 15-30 have little use in the development
of muscle mass for bodybuilders because they stimulate slow twitch fibers and are
geared toward endurance development. Slow twitch fibers add some mass
to a muscle but no where near the amount fast twitch fibers do. To
build maximum size you need to stimulate fast twitch fibers using
moderate to heavy weights. In a future article I will give advice on
training slow-twitch fibers for some added size but for now we'll
focus on fast twitch fibers.
Level
Of Intensity
A
muscle thrives on exercise and grows when the workload is of
sufficient intensity. But what level of effort is ideal? Many people
in the gym focus more on taking selfies and talking with their
friends than they do on their training. Others just go through the
motions mindlessly,without proper focus on what they're doing.
Research
has shown that muscle growth occurs when a muscle receives the proper
degree of stimulation. Any excess training just wastes time and
precious energy and could lead to overtraining. It has been shown
that one hard,quality set of an exercise,done with proper
intensity,is as effective as 3-4 sets of less intensity in growing
new muscle.
The
goal for bodybuilders is to get as close to a 100% intensity level as possible during
a set. Unfortunately, there is no gauge or instrument to measure the
percentage of exercise intensity,but if one trains until no
additional complete reps are possible,the correct amount of intensity
level will have been reached.
There
are high intensity training variables,as outlined in my collection of
books,that allow bodybuilders to increase intensity levels even more
by ending sets beyond the level of failure. These include forced
reps,negatives and rest-pause sets. Learn how to properly perform
these and add them to your training to smash through training
plateaus and sticking points.
Proper
Exercise Sequencing
All
exercises will build muscle if proper form,intensity and progressiveoverload is pursued. But if one desires to maximize development,its
important to organize training sessions so certain exercises are done
before others. A great example would be a leg training workout using
the pre-exhaustion principle. Train the quads to failure by doing a
set of leg extensions followed immediately by a heavy set of leg
presses also to failure.
Since
leg extensions are an isolation exercise,they exhaust the quads. Leg
presses are a compound exercise that uses hip and other surrounding
muscles,which are fresh,to drive the quads past failure. If these
exercises were reversed,it would be impossible to execute this
pre-exhaust superset.
Other
scenarios are doing heavy compound exercises like bench presses
before inclined dumbbell flyes to allow heavier weights to be
used,which stimulates more overall growth and strength. Big muscle
recruitment drives extra human growth hormone through your
system,leading to even more muscle growth.
So
even though these two examples use opposite approaches to muscle
hypertrophy,they both are great muscle builders.
Use
supersets to increase intensity by doing two exercises for the same
muscle with no rest between them. Besides the pre-exhaust
approach,there are almost limitless ways to use supersets to build
new muscle. For example, barbell rows supersetted with machine or
dumbbell pullovers for back or close-grip bench presses supersetted
with cable power push-downs for triceps. Structure your workouts
based on the type of training you are doing.
Let's
give some examples using the high intensity protocol:
Chest
Pre-exhaust
Pek
dek flyes-1x12+3 forced reps
supersetted
with
Decline
dumbbell bench press-1x6-8
Chest
Compound Focus
Barbell
flat bench press-1x6+2 negatives
supersetted
with
High
cable crossovers-1x10+2 forced reps
Chest
Power and Strength
Incline dumbbell
bench press-1x3+2 negatives
1 minute rest
Barbell bench
press-1x5
1 minute rest
Seated machine
dips-1x5
Even
though I advocate two sets to failure for chest during high intensity
training,since we are increasing the rest between sets,thus lowering
the intensity level to allow more muscle recuperation to allow the
use of maximum loads, I added a third exercise.
These
three examples are just scratching the surface;there are many more
examples of great superset combinations.
Loading
And Overloading
Attempt
to add weight to the bar or machine at every workout session using
small incremental additions. In most cases a 1 1/2 lb.
increase,accomplished with micro-plates,will go unnoticed by your
muscles and allow you to build up a lot of strength over a year's
time. Look at it this way-if you train the bench press once per week
and add 1 ½ lbs. per session,you will have increased your bench by
78 lbs. In two year's time you will be able to lift 156 more lbs. and
so on!
Use
High Intensity Variables To Stimulate More Muscle
Use
forced reps,negatives,forced negatives and rest-pause training,to
name a few. Forced reps are done with the assistance of a training
partner after no more reps are possible at the end of a set. He/she
applies just enough force on the bar or machine arm to allow 1-3
additional reps.
Negatives
are a great way to subject your muscles to ultra-heavy weights. Load
the bar or machine with 140% of the weight normally used in a n
exercise. Have your partner raise the weight and transfer the bar to
you. Lower to a count of eight. Forced negatives are similar to
standard negatives except your partner applies additional pressure to
make the bar heavier during lowering.
Rest-pause
training is done using a weight that is equal to your 1RM. Lift the
weight once,rest just long enough to reduce the weight one plate,and
repeat. Continue until a total of 8 reps have been completed. More
information on HIT variables is available in my two books on HIT
Variables available at Amazon.
Rest
And Recuperation
I
would be remiss if I didn't stress to you that gains are stimulated
in the gym but realized during rest including sleep. There are two
types of recuperation,general central nervous and specific muscle.
Train each muscle only as often as is ideal to achieve maximum growth
and no more. This is usually once every 7-10 days to allow growth and
recuperation to take place. Train 2-3 times per week and no more to
allow your overall body systems to fully recover from intense
workouts.
David
Groscup has authored ten books on the subject of high intensity
training, which are available at:
http://www.amazon.com/author/davidgroscup
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