You’re not alone
I’ve yet to meet someone who is completely satisfied with themselves when
it comes to strength training. Everybody, yes EVERYBODY, I’ve ever met either
wants to be bigger, or stronger, or faster, or leaner (AKA, better looking, as
vain as it is, this is why most people put themselves through hell in the gym).
And while this could be a very lengthy subject to cover each and every way to
improve each of those specific goals, the topic of this article will simply be
to shed some light on ways to develop a certain bodypart of your choosing,
without having to go through a specialization phase, in which the continuous
development of other bodyparts, or strength qualities, is put on hold (there
aren’t many things I can think of that suck more than knowing time is going to pass
by, and you won’t be getting better at everything).
What the hell’s
going on over here?
The goal with training to accomplish ANY goal is to train as much as
possible, without overworking your body’s capacity to recover. Training is the
catalyst essentially, to which the body responds to by getting either bigger,
stronger, faster, or leaner. Logically, it makes sense then that, the more you
train, the better results you will get.
Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work like this, otherwise all anybody would
need to do is devote more time to training, and naturally they would get more
results. But, because of ‘the law of diminishing returns’, which states that,
doing something beyond a certain point results in no further benefits, only so
much training can be done while providing a positive response, regardless of
how much time you put in.
You do NOT get bigger, stronger, faster, or leaner while you are training.
Well, you may get a little bit bigger during the acute training period, as a
result of the additional blood flow to the working muscles in order for them to
get the oxygen needed to perform their job for a sustained period of time, but
after the inflammation subsides, they go back to their original size (not what
I would consider a permanent result). And yes, you can lose weight during a
training session as well, but that’s typically a result of sweating, which the
body responds to by holding onto more water the next chance it gets (also not
what I would consider a permanent result).
I don’t have time
for this shit
Depending on the severity of the damage to the muscles during a training
session, it takes anywhere between 48-166 ½ hours (2 days, to a week minus an
hour and a half for the workout) for the muscles to recover and it be beneficial
to train them again. On average, most people will train a bodypart either once
or twice a week (with a 72 hour gap in between). Those training for strength
may train a movement pattern 3-4 times a week, while those performing lifts
with little to no eccentric component (like the Olympic lift variations) can
get away with training several times a day, and the ones who actually do train
that frequently do so because it’s their job!
This means for the average person who wants to get bigger and/or look
better (to most this means leaner), a bodypart will receive 52-104 training sessions
over the course of a year, assuming no workouts are missed, and training is not
postponed during vacations, or for any other social obligations. To many, this
would be considered a best case scenario, and as many can attest to, we don’t
live in a world of best case scenarios. Even if you could manage to get all
your workouts in, there’s still 66-83% of the year in which each bodypart is
left to rest.
Are we there yet? Are
we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we... SHUT UP!!!!
Leaving 66-83% of the year to go by without being able to train a muscle
can seem like a lifetime, especially given that a training session takes
anywhere between 20-90 minutes. If you do the numbers, you’ll realize that, of
the 1,440 minutes in a day, a training session only consists of roughly 1 to 6 ¼%
(an hour would be just over 4%), of a day (I always tell that to people who say
they don’t have time to train. If they can’t devote 1-6 ¼% of their day to
health, to hell with em). Basically, for a 1 – 6 ¼% investment of time out of
your day, you have to wait 96 ¾ - 99 ½ times longer before you can train that
muscle again (and that’s BEST CASE scenario)! It should go without saying that
it’s in your best interest to do everything you can to maximize your time,
since you’re going to have to wait a great deal longer to take another shot at
it (training that bodypart, that is).
Are you serious? There
has to be a better way
Fortunately there are ways to fast track or speed things up a bit, and
maximize your time, without overworking your body’s capacity to recover, and
the best part is that they require no additional investment of time! Here are
some of the most effective ways to further stimulate a specific muscle group
without negatively affecting the outcome.
First things first, light weights should be used, stopping with at least a
few reps left in the tank, for any of the techniques below that call for actual
exercises to be performed. If you trained hard the last time you trained the
bodypart that you want to devote more attention to, and are still sore,
performing any of the exercises in a manner which promotes further breakdown (ex.
training to failure, lifting heavy) of muscle tissue will only prolong
recovery, not enhance it.
Staggered sets – one of the ways
you can subject a muscle that is seemingly resistant to grow to more volume is
to perform a set (8-10 reps) for the muscle you want to develop the most in
between sets of the muscle you are scheduled to train that day. If you do this
between every set, or just some sets, the volume adds up, and as long as you
don’t overdo it, it should have a positive response.
Staggered sets can also be used to boost performance for the movements
that you had scheduled to train during the workout. For example, if your rear
delts are in need of some extra work, or your bench press is suffering (it’s a what
came first, the chicken or the egg type of thing), you could perform a set for
the rear delts in between your sets of bench presses. This does a few things
which will improve your bench press performance while helping to bring up your
rear delts.
First, it fatigues the antagonistic muscles to those used in the scheduled
movement. This results in a greater level of net motor unit recruitment for the
agonists. Basically the opposing muscle groups are less active, which means the
targeted muscle groups will deal with less resistance when contracting, leading
to a greater amount of force being produced.
Second, the additional blood flow to the same joint (in this case the
shoulder joint) increases the amount of stability to the joint, which leads to
a more favorable position to generate maximum force. The more pumped the region
that the targeted muscle is in, the more outward pressure that will be exerted
onto the surrounding tissues. This will also facilitate growth for the entire
region, as the more pumped the muscles are (especially when it is stretched
under load), the greater the enveloping fascia will be stretched.
Isometric holds (30-60 seconds) with bands are a good option if using
staggered sets with the goal of concurrently boosting performance for the
agonist, and development for the antagonist. Both isometric holds, and the use
of bands, don’t require much energy, and therefore won’t take away from your
scheduled set, and bands are extremely safe, and practical.
Staggered sets come with a disclaimer though, which is, the muscle you are
scheduled to train should not overlap with the muscle you are staggering. For
example, if you are trying to bring up your triceps, which are heavily involved
in all pressing movements, and you are scheduled to train your chest, the
amount of weight you will be able to press during your chest exercises will be
negatively affected, and results for your chest will suffer. You may even end
up unintentionally overworking your triceps, which is completely
counterproductive. Other examples are training triceps the day before a
scheduled chest workout, or training biceps the day before, or during a scheduled
back workout.
If you set things up in a manner that prevents overlapping from occurring,
then you do not need to make any changes to the rest of your routine.
Do over – redoing the
same workout the next day is a great way to boost recovery and positively increase
the amount of volume for the muscle group you want to develop for a few
reasons.
First, low intensity concentric work doesn’t cause further muscle damage (caused
from heavy eccentric work), and may improve recovery by providing somewhat of a
‘massaging’ effect (clearing out toxins, locally increasing metabolism and nutrient
rich blood flow to the area).
Second, since you won’t be able to lift as much anyway, while the powerful
fast twitch fibers are under repair, by performing roughly half as many sets,
and roughly double the reps (performed rhythmically while trying to deemphasize
the eccentric part of the rep), you can further exhaust the fatigue resistant slow
twitch muscle fibers (which contribute more when the fast twitch fibers are
under repair) which contribute to overall development.
Assuming you trained hard and heavy for your scheduled workout (ex. 3
exercises, 6 sets, 3-6 reps), an example of a do over workout would be to
perform 2 sets of 10-15 reps, using constant tension, and performing slow
repetitions, for all the exercises you did the day before as your warm-up, then
start scheduled workout for the day.
Do ya get it?
If you haven’t noticed by now, the major underlying them for the first two
methods is that you want to stimulate your muscles and increase blood flow with
constant tension (using 60-70% or 1 rep max), not annihilate and destroy them
with heavy lifting.
Constant tension is not limited to lifting weights, or performing actual exercises
though. Flexing the targeted muscle for 30-45 seconds after a set is one way to
maximize and prolong the time under tension, while limiting damage. If you
really want to get crazy you could pick a few different exercises, and flex the
targeted muscle between sets.
For example, perform a set for one exercise, flex for 30-45 seconds and then
rest a minute, perform a set for a different exercise, flex for 30-45 seconds
and then rest a minute, perform a set for another different exercise, flex for
30-45 seconds and then rest a minute before repeating that cycle a few times. The
goal is to select exercises that recruit different compartments of the same
muscle, so that as much of the muscle is trained as possible. This method can
be used by itself, as a form of staggering in which you would perform it before
your scheduled workout as long as it doesn’t overlap, or after if it does, or
as a do over the day after a more demanding workout.
Isometric contractions in which you either try to move an immovable object
(ex. pressing a bar into the pins in a power rack), or prevent a weight from
being lowered, can be used in replacement of flexing. Remember, the purpose of
flexing is simply to generate constant tension without negatively affecting
subsequent performance, and you can be creative and come up with your own ways
to do that, as long as it’s not too physically demanding. Flexing is used
simply because it’s the most practical in that you don’t need any equipment to
do so, and it enhances the mind-muscle connection (the ability to voluntarily
recruit a muscle at will), which can enhance subsequent performance.
Don’t worry, be
happy
I once read a quote by Lee Priest that went something like, ‘the day I’m
satisfied, is the day I quit’. With a mindset like that, it’s not likely that
one will ever be happy, because as one goal is accomplished, another one is
set, and life becomes a never ending vicious cycle of constant, and never
ending improvement. Is that really such a bad thing though? Personally, I think
the answer is multifaceted in that, on one hand, a mindset like that will put
you in position to accomplish a lot, but on the other hand, you may never truly
enjoy what you’ve already accomplished.
A huge percentage of people who workout would love to either make a
certain bodypart bigger, more developed, or simply look better (in their own
eyes), and they want it to happen yesterday. In a perfect world our results
would be a reflection of the time and effort we put in, but it just doesn’t
work that way. Aside from knowledge (what to do? when to do? how to do?) being
a limiting factor, time is the one variable which is completely out of our
control, but yet plays possibly the largest part. When things aren’t happening
as quickly as we’d like, the mentality is to just do more. Because of the law
of diminishing returns, doing more doesn’t always equate to getting more, and
can even be counterproductive.
Knowing how to maximize your time, so that you can train as much as
humanly possible, without crossing the line, will take you leaps and bounds
further than just busting your ass day in, day out, not knowing why you’re not
seeing the changes you want. Hopefully the time comes sooner than later, and
unlike Lee Priest, you can be satisfied!
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