In alot of liting bibles, you get conflicting thoughts and ideas. As if dropsets, pyramids, supersets, trips, etc are variatons of muscle-building. To each his own I say.
They haven't worked for me. Never did. I spent far too much energy doing multiple exercises for multiples bodyparts, when the real growth motivator is the 1 set that pushes failure.
Whether lifters and guru's got this from Jim Rohn or not, it's genius...in 1 of his seminars he talks about marginal improvement, about health, and taking care of oneself.
He mentions starting with 1 push up and shooting for 20, then 30, and 100. But initially, you can't do 20. Instead, you do 1, then stop, then 1 more, and go until you do 20. You don't have to do 20, just get to 20 somehow. Eventually, you can do 20 straight, without stopping, and you raise your goal. Who knows what the limit is on how many you can do. I once heard of a guy doing near 1000. And some can do 9000. Sounds crazy but if you're always pushing yourself, whether it's stopping or starting you'll improve.
On workouts, many times we want to do 3x8, or 4x10. But what does that accomplish but Stamina, Endurance, and Muscle Glycogen depletion?? Really. All those sets don't induce growth, they do induce volume stamina.
If we know that dead lifts, squats, benches, leg presses, or hack squats cause growth and as a compound exercise great growth and hypertrophy, then why do pithy exercises that just sap our energy until we get to them?? Warm up, THEN DO THEM full out.
You'll notice legs need many reps (not sets) because you use them regularly. You use them daily. You walk on them, pull lift, run etc. It's use to the stress it gets. 5-10 reps on legs can normally be a very good weight, yet won't really hit much growth. There aren't many PLer's that can do 800 for 20 or 30 reps, but they can do 500+ for 20+. Lots of guys in gyms do 300+ lbs on squat or leg presses, with only small legs. But if they did them for 20-30, they'd be huge, because now were are doing something outside of what the legs normally get. Think about, our frame sits on our legs all day, bouncing, climbing stairs, etc. 300lbs + by 5 reps isn't much really.
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I've read alot about the positives and negatives of slow reps. I've read about forced reps (never did them, don't have a lifting partner).
Something must be understood about the functionability of muscle though in it's basic state.
If you were playing football, or lifting anything, say a box, how would you do it?
FAST!
You'd want to throw that Lineman down and get to the quarterback. Of if you were lifting a heavy object, or heaving it, you'd want to do it as quickly as possible. Slow movement up isn't how a muscle in its concentratic phase works most efficiently. Instead, it's a quick thrust movement, like a sprinter has, which is why his quads and calves get so big.
Time under stress isn't that much, which is why if you only focus on that part of the lift you can probably lift more than you normally can. Lots of guys throw around heavy dumbbells curling more than they can. Alot of young bucks do that.
On the otherside, if you were DEFENDING the quarterback, you have to protect the pocket. Or if you were catching a heavy falling object, you'd be enduring LOTS of stress and need lots of negative strength to counter the force being pushed on you. This is the eccentric phase of lifting.
You know a force is coming at you, and your job is to hold it back. You might not be able to PUSH it back yet, because first you must COUNTER that force, and THEN you must REVERSE it. This is what lineman do. They brace the force of a DLineman coming, THEN with the concentric strength, PUSH back. BUT, if you're downward, or negative strength is not equal or better, you won't counter and you'll get trampled. Right?
How many times have you moved friends around, from apartment to apartment, and you were told to hold a table or dresser for an extended period of time??
Many right? This even applies to moving into dorms. It wasn't the concentric strength you used, it was the eccentric strength, and you may have found that you were burning afterwards. However, if you were strong enough to balance this force, you wouldn't be burning or tired. Right? You lift for the type of stressor.
Not so...
Many do fast reps up, which is good, but not slow enough reps down. I've done even the Pete Sisco program of Static Training or slow reps, but slow in 1 direction isn't how it works. It's fast up, slow down, because muscle operates that way in real life, and if you want to see the benefits of muscle daily, training this way is what gives you the best benefit for your time, aside from ladies watching.
Muscle only knows 1 thing: more stress. That's it. It doesn't know volume, or confusion, or drop sets. Sure, the mind of the operator requires new workouts to keep moving, and if you plateau, it sometimes help to change gears, but changing style isn't always best. I can't account for guys on gear, only natural trainers.
I did PL for awhile, and while I got stronger, sort of, it was b/c I was lifting low sets, but no negatives, and not eating enough of anything, whether it was protein, fats, or carbs. That's first. You can grow with dumbbells if you eat enough, and are pushing yourself everywork to do a little more. Say 1 more rep or 2.5 more lbs. PLing never really grew, and the gym of guys I was with stagnated BIG time, as big as they were, because most guys were doing TONS of big exercises in one day.
We'd lift @ 6am, just before work, guys of various ages, about 7 of us, and slowly but surely, every guy switched their program over time and left. Not because PLing didn't work, but because the sheer number of exercises we did each morning was far too many.
Goodmorning, Deadlifts, BentOver Rows, Rack Deads, and Pulldowns for Back. It was volume + heavy weight. But you couldn't max out on any 1 set or exercise because you were already spent. Not to mention, most guys didn't stress diet.
Ever heard the phrase, "you gotta believe it to see it." Well, it applies to eating too. You got EAT like it, TO BE LIKE IT. If you're eat minimal, your body doesn't have enough to grow, and no reason to grow. Sure it sucks to be soft, somewhat, but it's winter in the northeast, and most girls prefer marginally thick guys with some meat, to scrawny Metros' (those are just the girls I know and date).
-----------------------
I mentioned all this because I hadn't found it anywhere but it's worked. Getting back to basics will help everybody grow more.
A-Unit
They haven't worked for me. Never did. I spent far too much energy doing multiple exercises for multiples bodyparts, when the real growth motivator is the 1 set that pushes failure.
Whether lifters and guru's got this from Jim Rohn or not, it's genius...in 1 of his seminars he talks about marginal improvement, about health, and taking care of oneself.
He mentions starting with 1 push up and shooting for 20, then 30, and 100. But initially, you can't do 20. Instead, you do 1, then stop, then 1 more, and go until you do 20. You don't have to do 20, just get to 20 somehow. Eventually, you can do 20 straight, without stopping, and you raise your goal. Who knows what the limit is on how many you can do. I once heard of a guy doing near 1000. And some can do 9000. Sounds crazy but if you're always pushing yourself, whether it's stopping or starting you'll improve.
On workouts, many times we want to do 3x8, or 4x10. But what does that accomplish but Stamina, Endurance, and Muscle Glycogen depletion?? Really. All those sets don't induce growth, they do induce volume stamina.
If we know that dead lifts, squats, benches, leg presses, or hack squats cause growth and as a compound exercise great growth and hypertrophy, then why do pithy exercises that just sap our energy until we get to them?? Warm up, THEN DO THEM full out.
You'll notice legs need many reps (not sets) because you use them regularly. You use them daily. You walk on them, pull lift, run etc. It's use to the stress it gets. 5-10 reps on legs can normally be a very good weight, yet won't really hit much growth. There aren't many PLer's that can do 800 for 20 or 30 reps, but they can do 500+ for 20+. Lots of guys in gyms do 300+ lbs on squat or leg presses, with only small legs. But if they did them for 20-30, they'd be huge, because now were are doing something outside of what the legs normally get. Think about, our frame sits on our legs all day, bouncing, climbing stairs, etc. 300lbs + by 5 reps isn't much really.
----------------------
I've read alot about the positives and negatives of slow reps. I've read about forced reps (never did them, don't have a lifting partner).
Something must be understood about the functionability of muscle though in it's basic state.
If you were playing football, or lifting anything, say a box, how would you do it?
FAST!
You'd want to throw that Lineman down and get to the quarterback. Of if you were lifting a heavy object, or heaving it, you'd want to do it as quickly as possible. Slow movement up isn't how a muscle in its concentratic phase works most efficiently. Instead, it's a quick thrust movement, like a sprinter has, which is why his quads and calves get so big.
Time under stress isn't that much, which is why if you only focus on that part of the lift you can probably lift more than you normally can. Lots of guys throw around heavy dumbbells curling more than they can. Alot of young bucks do that.
On the otherside, if you were DEFENDING the quarterback, you have to protect the pocket. Or if you were catching a heavy falling object, you'd be enduring LOTS of stress and need lots of negative strength to counter the force being pushed on you. This is the eccentric phase of lifting.
You know a force is coming at you, and your job is to hold it back. You might not be able to PUSH it back yet, because first you must COUNTER that force, and THEN you must REVERSE it. This is what lineman do. They brace the force of a DLineman coming, THEN with the concentric strength, PUSH back. BUT, if you're downward, or negative strength is not equal or better, you won't counter and you'll get trampled. Right?
How many times have you moved friends around, from apartment to apartment, and you were told to hold a table or dresser for an extended period of time??
Many right? This even applies to moving into dorms. It wasn't the concentric strength you used, it was the eccentric strength, and you may have found that you were burning afterwards. However, if you were strong enough to balance this force, you wouldn't be burning or tired. Right? You lift for the type of stressor.
Not so...
Many do fast reps up, which is good, but not slow enough reps down. I've done even the Pete Sisco program of Static Training or slow reps, but slow in 1 direction isn't how it works. It's fast up, slow down, because muscle operates that way in real life, and if you want to see the benefits of muscle daily, training this way is what gives you the best benefit for your time, aside from ladies watching.
Muscle only knows 1 thing: more stress. That's it. It doesn't know volume, or confusion, or drop sets. Sure, the mind of the operator requires new workouts to keep moving, and if you plateau, it sometimes help to change gears, but changing style isn't always best. I can't account for guys on gear, only natural trainers.
I did PL for awhile, and while I got stronger, sort of, it was b/c I was lifting low sets, but no negatives, and not eating enough of anything, whether it was protein, fats, or carbs. That's first. You can grow with dumbbells if you eat enough, and are pushing yourself everywork to do a little more. Say 1 more rep or 2.5 more lbs. PLing never really grew, and the gym of guys I was with stagnated BIG time, as big as they were, because most guys were doing TONS of big exercises in one day.
We'd lift @ 6am, just before work, guys of various ages, about 7 of us, and slowly but surely, every guy switched their program over time and left. Not because PLing didn't work, but because the sheer number of exercises we did each morning was far too many.
Goodmorning, Deadlifts, BentOver Rows, Rack Deads, and Pulldowns for Back. It was volume + heavy weight. But you couldn't max out on any 1 set or exercise because you were already spent. Not to mention, most guys didn't stress diet.
Ever heard the phrase, "you gotta believe it to see it." Well, it applies to eating too. You got EAT like it, TO BE LIKE IT. If you're eat minimal, your body doesn't have enough to grow, and no reason to grow. Sure it sucks to be soft, somewhat, but it's winter in the northeast, and most girls prefer marginally thick guys with some meat, to scrawny Metros' (those are just the girls I know and date).
-----------------------
I mentioned all this because I hadn't found it anywhere but it's worked. Getting back to basics will help everybody grow more.
A-Unit
