A lot of people who
get into bodybuilding, or who train with the goal of building their body (which
pretty much defines what ‘bodybuilding’ is), fall into the trap of focusing on
the wrong things like external cues. Building your body is an ‘experience’ that
YOU are central to, not the result of doing things that are written down on a
piece of paper, or on your smart phone.
External cues like
how much weight you’re using, how long you’re resting for/supposed to rest for,
and how long you’re supposed to follow a program completely remove YOU from the
experience – and YOU are ‘supposed’ to be central to which all those variables
are based upon.
If you want to build
your body, you must understand YOUR BODY, and also know what you want to get
from your body through your training. Then, from there obviously it would help
to know how to go about taking your body from where you’re at, to where you
want to be. But before you can take your body from where you’re at, to where
you want to be, it’s probably a good idea to understand what will prevent you
from getting there, so you can account for that beforehand.
HOW UNDERDEVELOPED
BODYPARTS BECAME THAT WAY IN THE FIRST PLACE
In pursuit of
specific development of certain bodyparts, bodybuilders will often focus on performing
single-joint movements through a single-plane. This can create neural
confusion, because our muscles aren't meant to be worked this way. The neural
confusion created from this type of training then leads to stagnant and lagging
bodyparts, which paradoxically encourages bodybuilders to further isolate them.
A weak, or
unresponsive bodypart, cannot expect to be developed with the exact same type
of training that created the problem in the first place – this is completely
illogical. Muscles get stronger and respond better if they're employed as part
of a kinetic chain, in the way the body is designed to be used.
When someone has
difficulty developing a bodypart, it’s usually a problem of innervation. As
stated above, by chronically performing movements through a single plane,
single joint training can disrupt natural neuromuscular coordination, resulting
in the development of faulty recruitment patterns. Over time this becomes the
cause for a difficulty in developing a certain bodypart, and lack of results
from such training. A muscle cannot be expected to be fully trained (recruited,
stimulated, fatigued, and exhausted) if its recruitment, activation potential,
and rate of force production are suboptimal.
Including an
underdeveloped bodypart as part of a more fully functioning movement chain is
one way to force it to adapt, as these measures can increase its capacity to
respond with more efficient fiber recruitment and force production over time
when performing isolated work. One way to do this is by adding motion to a
traditional bodybuilding exercise, and moving in multiple planes. This forces increased
proprioceptive demand and also increases recruitment of the primary muscle groups,
without negatively affecting the amount of weight that can be used – still
engaging optimum loading conditions. If exercises can't be made multi-planar,
then proprioceptive demand cannot be increased.
In terms of
progression for multi-joint, multi-planar movements, speed and increased range
of motion (where possible) should precede increases in load.
This is WHY a
routine must be personalized – isolated bodypart training has its place in a
routine designed to build muscle as long as the individual has the capacity to
use the muscles they are trying to use when performing certain exercises.
EXCITATION
THRESHOLDS
Excitation
thresholds of motor units and recruitment patterns is often one of the most
misunderstood aspects of training. Motor units with lower excitation thresholds
will be preferentially activated in a given movement, regardless of the
intended targeted muscles, which explains why we have weak, unresponsive
muscles, and further demonstrates the importance of exercises selection.
When a bodypart is
unresponsive to training, it’s usually because a highly responsive bodypart is
located right next to it. So even though the intent may be to target a certain
muscle, a more neurologically dominant and responsive muscle ends up taking on
most of the work. More responsive muscles have lower excitation thresholds, which
is why they will act first. One solution in this case is to exhaust the highly
responsive muscle(s) at the onset of a workout to limit their ability to ‘take
over’ a movement later on.
The nervous system
has a marked ability to selectively activate segments of a muscle preferentially
over the targeted intention, meaning that mechanical adjustments to the angle
of contraction, and joint angle, are the most important when it comes to
recruiting the segments of a muscle belly targeted during a certain exercise.
This suggests that angle of contraction and exercise order are more important than
rep ranges and load.
Another good way to
attack a weak muscle group is to perform a movement of high neural and/or
metabolic demand, followed by an isolation exercise for the weak/underdeveloped
muscle group in which the demand is low, but still has specific recruitment of
the targeted area with little systemic exhaustion.
INNERVATION
Generally muscles
with higher excitation thresholds are more challenging to develop for a few
reasons:
1.
It’s harder to actually recruit, stimulate, fatigue, and exhaust
them with traditional measures
2.
If a synergistic muscle located near the one you want to target has
a very responsive low excitation threshold, then more than likely that muscle
will absorb or share too much of the load when doing an exercise in which it is
involved
Because of this,
variables like ‘technique’ and ‘sequence’ become everything.
‘Muscles’ are more
than just prime movers or stabilizers in a given movement – they are a
community of motor units (a motor unit is composed of a nerve cell, a motor
neuron and the muscle fibers, which it innervates) which can act with some
degree of independence to maximize efficiency of movement and force production.
The ability to produce and sustain force is determined by the ability of the
nervous system to appropriately activate the muscles, and selectively actively
activate certain segments of that muscle – the actual size of the muscle is merely
‘potential’.
For those strictly
looking to build muscle, the concept of strength is not that important in terms
of adaptations to training or progress. The ability to recruit and fatigue as
many motor units as possible is much more important to training progress, and
this is often misinterpreted to mean that heavy weights must be used, and this
simply isn’t the case. For those looking to build muscle, the primary benefit
to using heavy weights is to teach the brain how to maximally recruit the
muscles.
The term ‘strength’ itself
can be defined as ones force output capacity. For a muscle to showcase the
amount of force it’s capable of producing, all of the motor units in the muscle
must be activated. Achieving maximum fiber recruitment, or maximum ‘voluntary’
neural activation, is a neural adaptation in response to training. Increased
activation can take the form of recruitment of high threshold units, or
increased firing rates of units, both of which are adaptive responses. Increases
in firing frequency (rate coding) with resistance training doesn’t necessarily
contribute to increased force output, but rather improved rate of force output.
These points should have a profound influence on a resistance training program,
especially if training with the goal of building muscle.
Another noteworthy adaptive
response to training is that of greater neural drive when fatigued – which is
why training programs tailored for those looking to build size should involve
some degree of oxygen debt – AKA incomplete rest between sets.
Neural drive in this
case refers to the body's ability to recruit the largest and most powerful
motor units, and in a trained individual, this is actually stronger during a
fatiguing workout. As a result, your capacity to overcome fatigue is elevated, and
it makes targeted training to specific muscles even more effective. To
reiterate and create a sense of clarity – you recruit high-threshold motor
units, and achieve better neural drive, resulting in more efficient overload,
when training in a fatigued state.
Your level of
fatigue – how fatigued you get from a certain workload, and your ability to
recover from such work will vary from workout to workout, which is why
attention must be paid to how your body responds, and base what you do on the
cues it provides. Take what your body gives you by moving faster between
exercises, and taking less recovery between sets on days when you’re capable of
more, and obviously account for greater levels of fatigue on days when performance
is suboptimal.
Listening to your
body will allow you to get the most out of any program, and will allow you to
‘keep it alive’ for longer, which is something that any individual who wishes
to maximize performance must learn to do, so they can handle greater workloads,
and receive greater benefits from the workloads they are handling.
TOTAL ACTIVATION
POTENTIAL
The well recognized
mechanisms of neural adaptations associated with strength gains in response to
training include:
·
Altering recruitment/increased agonist activation – the ability to
achieve maximum fiber recruitment, especially of the largest threshold motor
neurons. Becoming more efficient at recruiting the largest motor unit
thresholds and increasing firing rates, within targeted agonists
·
Rate coding or firing frequency – increased firing rates
·
Synchronization of motor units
·
Reflex potentiation/potential
·
Co-contraction of antagonists
·
Cross education
·
Synergistic muscle activity – increased activation of agonists, selective
activation/recruitment of motor units within agonists
·
Pre-movement silence – agonist muscles during a ballistic
contraction exhibit little or no motor unit activity prior to the contraction,
and this brief pre-movement silent period may bring all motor neurons into a
non-refractory state, allowing them to be more readily recruited at the maximum
possible firing rates. This is a learned response, rather than an automatic
response to exercises that are ballistic in nature. The increased frequency of pre-movement
silence is indicative of a neural adaptation to high-velocity training. This
common non-refractory period with ballistic contractions may contribute to the
increased incidence on synchronization found with training
The sum of these
parts is known as total activation potential – meaning the potential to
generate maximum force is a combination of these variables operating at maximum
capacity. These points reflect, and further reinforce the necessity for proper
exercise selection and technique (precise movement pattern specificity), and proper
sequencing of exercises, and when developing a program.
When you master the
technical elements of a lift (technical mastery), you naturally become more
efficient at activating prime movers within a movement. Technical mastery is
unlike habituation, which occurs when the same exercise is done in the same
way, for the same reps, in the same sequence, all the time, resulting in a
plateau, or regression.
EXERCISE SELECTION
It goes without
saying that before selecting an exercise, you must determine which muscle you
primarily want to target – then mechanically position yourself to ensure that
that muscle, and only that muscle, is doing the most work, so you can overload
it and promote the desired response (to go over all the mechanical adjustments
that can be made for each and every exercise goes far beyond the scope of this
article, but if you don’t know how to do this, then that’s where you should be
looking). This means ignoring how much weight is being used (which is an
external cue), and focusing on the effect the movement is having on the muscle
by paying attention to what you ‘feel’.
OVERLOAD + EXPLOSIVE
POWER
It’s a commonly
well-known fact that to promote a positive response, you must progressively
overload your muscles – they must be force to adapt, they won’t just do it on
their own. Where most people go wrong is their interpretation of the term
‘overLOAD’ itself, in thinking that greater LOADS are needed to provide this
overload.
Power is an integral
part of training for size, strength, thickness, etc, because of the effect that
it has on overloading the musculature to promote an adaptive response. The
premise here is that it takes more power to move a certain amount of weight
through space in less time, or to move an even greater amount of weight through
space in the same amount of time. As stated, a lot of people misinterpret this
to mean that in order to achieve maximum overload, they must use maximum
weight, but that’s not the case. Max ‘load’, and max ‘weight’ are two entirely
different things.
Explosive power is
expressed through the equation, ‘force X distance / time’. Because ‘force’ is
defined by the ‘load’ being used, it’s easy to identify where all the confusion
arises from.
Max ‘loads’ don’t
have much to do with the actual amount of weight that is used, but rather your
performance when using such loads. How much you ‘can’ lift, and how
much you ‘should’ lift, are two totally independent variables. How much
you ‘can’ lift is not the deciding factor in overloading a muscle. The deciding
factor is how much stress a muscle endures as overload.
If the goal is size
and thickness then more sets on the heavier end of the spectrum are performed,
but there is still a lot of value in performing explosive work near the lower
end of the spectrum as well. The amount of weight is only incidental – it is simply
relative information to determine if whether or not you are using the right
amount, or should be using more, or less.
Intentionally lifting
slower than you can, and increasing the duration of tension on the muscle via
tempo actually thwarts the power equation (explosiveness), while also needlessly
lowering the amount of weight that can be used, which only hampers the training
response. The duration of overload on the target muscles must be viewed over
the course of an entire workout, not just one set.
RANGE OF MOTION
To allow the muscle
to achieve full overload, the working muscle must be put through its most
disadvantageous leverage positions – meaning subjected to high levels of
tension at both their shortest, and longest positions. This means moving
counter to the movement of the weight (leaning INTO the weight when performing
rows for example). Placing the trained muscles in a stretched/lengthened
position under load can enhance the anabolic effect of subsequent muscular
contractions, because of the effect it has on protein degradation and
synthesis.
Worth noting is that
the muscle is what should be trained through a full range of motion – NOT the
movement. Many people are make the mistake of performing a movement through a
full range of motion rather than the muscle, and leave their muscles
under-stimulated as a result.
Failing to train a
muscle through its full range means a muscle cannot be subjected to maximum
overload, thus limiting the potential for gains that could’ve been made from
the effort.
Over time the
ability to place muscles in a fully stretched position under load becomes
compromised, which then leads to imbalances, and further limits your ability to
train a muscle through its full range of motion.
This can then result
in a buildup of scar tissue, adhesions, inflammation, etc. – generally as the
result of single joint training (resulting in suboptimal progress at best).
BIOFEEDBACK
To experience a
workout, one must pay attention to the internal cues that the body is
providing, based on the demand – these cues are called ‘biofeedback’.
It’s impossible to
predict various life stressors that we are all faced with, let alone their
effects on our training, and to insinuate that a program should be followed for
however many weeks completely disregards the individual, which is the whole
purpose of training in the first place. The feedback the body provides in
response to training is what should dictate what is done next – how much rest
to take, if more or less sets should be performed, or whatever changes that
need to be made, can be made.
Every change that is
made should be based on how an individual is responding, and paying attention
to the internal cues that the body is providing is how this is done, not by
using external cues like a clock (for rest periods), a calendar (for length of
program), or the load (for how much weight should be lifted).
Motivation, energy,
drive, and enthusiasm to perform a workout, or the next set, should be taken
into account as well, as these factors will highly influence how much a person
will get out of their training. If they aren’t motivated, have low energy, and
don’t really want to do the workout or the next set, then changes should be made
to reverse these feelings. These are variables that should determine when to
add, or when to take away from the workload, and to what degree, and for how
long, and this has nothing to do with following a program for a certain number
of weeks to get the best results.
External cues
distract you from the experience, which is the most important part of your
training, and you don’t get this by focusing on external cues. Numbers, in
terms of how much weight was lifted, does not directly contribute to building
muscle – the muscle has no clue how much weight it’s lifting, it only knows how
much stress it is under. This is the difference between a more advanced, and
less advanced lifter, in that a more advanced lifter can place their muscles
under greater levels of stress, without lifting more weight. Their capacity to
recruit and exhaust their muscles is greater, and thus the amount of weight
that is used is secondary as long as they have full control over it. Lifting
heavy is one way for a less advanced lifter to increase their capacity to
recruit their muscles at will, and that’s about the only reason that one
lifting to build muscle should lift heavy – as a teaching method: to teach the
individual how to recruit their muscles, so they can be effectively exhausted throughout
their entirety.
Energy levels,
effort, recovery, oxygen debt, and how long it takes to complete the
workload/workout are examples of qualitative biofeedback, and have nothing to
do with predetermined numbers. The numbers are simply broader information in
the context of a workout.
Predetermined
tempos, percentages of max, and rest do nothing more than take you further away
from paying attention to your body’s own feedback mechanisms, and the thinking
required to pay attention to those variables takes away from the thinking about
what you’re doing – your ability to concentrate on the task at hand, and your
ability to put forth a maximum effort.
Using the feedback
your body provides, and paying attention to internal cues like perceived
exertion (ex. how hard you pushed on your own scale of 1-10), using rep ranges
as a guide to whether or not you’re using the right amount of weight is what
training to build muscle is all about.
HOW TO DETERMINE THE
LOAD USED
The amount of weight
used should allow all sets to be performed for at least a minimum amount of
reps. The actual amount, whatever that may be, is secondary to ’where do I feel
this working’ – internal cues from the body should be used, not external like
how much weight is used.
HOW NOT TO DETERMINE
THE LOAD USED
Unlike strength
training, training strictly to build muscle (AKA bodybuilding) should not be
based on percentages of max to determine the load used, as all that does is
assume strength is the predominant factor for building muscle, when it isn't.
Using a weight based on a percentage is an external cue that takes away from
the experience for the individual, and creates a false hope in one’s mind in
that being able to lift more and more will equate to greater muscular development.
This is not to say that being stronger won’t increase your capacity to build
muscle, but rather that being stronger doesn’t guarantee you’ll be bigger –
otherwise weight lifters, and powerlifters would dwarf bodybuilders, and they
simply do not.
The quality of the
work performed to enhance your capacity to tolerate higher volumes of high
quality work should always be the determining factor when prescribing how much
weight to use. The weight itself is strictly informational, not experiential (which
is what matters).
Tempo is another
meaningless obsessive behavior that removes an individual from the experience
they should be having during the workout. When you’re counting out the
eccentric in your head, then pausing, then counting out the concentric, while
paying attention to how much weight (in numerical terms) is being lifted, you
lose the experience of the set completely.
External cues, like
how much weight you’re lifting, and at what tempo, only creates compulsive
training at the expense of the experience. Recording more and more information
doesn't mean it contributes to results. All it really does is create far too
much thinking – thinking about things that don’t matter.
What does matter is
the amount of high quality work that was performed – if it is not possible to
continue performing high quality work because the muscles have been exhausted,
then that workout is considered to have been ‘intense’, by all accounts and
measures as far as bodybuilding is concerned. Generally the best way to
increase the amount of high quality work that can be done is by strategically
manipulating the overall volume.
REPS
When it comes to
building muscle, generally higher volumes of work (using more than 6 reps per
set, for multiple sets) are needed to ensure a critical concentration of
intracellular amino acids to stimulate protein synthesis.
REST INTERVALS
Rest intervals should
be dictated by the biofeedback your body provides – the experience of the
workout, and the toll it is taking on your body. Rest intervals are another
external cue that removes the individual from the experience of the workout.
The amount of rest that you take should be based on two things that need to be
self-assessed.
1.
Oxygen debt recovery – when breathing ‘almost’ returns to ‘normal’,
then it’s time for the next set, unless the goal is to perform the next set
with some degree of oxygen debt still lingering. Therefore, it’s important to
know beforehand whether ‘complete’, or ‘incomplete’ rest is prescribed.
2.
Psychological assessment of performance readiness – basically, if
you think you can match your performance of the last set (meaning to do another
set with the same weight at the same intensity, for the prescribed amount of
reps), then it’s time to go, even before your breathing is totally back to resting
level. After that set, is when load becomes informational, because if you
weren't able to do the same weight for the same reps, then you either didn't
rest long enough, or chose the wrong amount of weight. This is how to gauge
proper rest intervals using rep ranges as performance guidelines.
One way to ‘keep the
program alive’ is to gradually limit the rest intervals, and proceed to the
next set further and further into oxygen debt. This keeps the body guessing, and
also keeps you honest about your own performance levels by paying attention to
how your body responds, and not meaningless cues like how many seconds you
rested for, or how much weight you lifted.
FORCE DECREMENT
ANALYSIS
When a bodypart is
stubborn, and seemingly refuses to grow, it’s not only important to target it
directly, but also focus on all aspects that contribute to strength – including
concentric, isometric, and eccentric strength, emphasizing muscles within
specific movements, and increasing its ability to tolerate high volumes of high
quality work (AKA work capacity).
As always, internal
cues like oxygen debt and self-assessment should be used to determine when to
perform the next set – if the load needs to be lowered from the first set to
the last set, then your work capacity is lacking, you’re using too much weight,
or you’re simply not resting enough.
One biofeedback cue
that your body gives you is that of ‘force decrement’ – which is the point in
which your ability to perform your reps with the same level of speed begins to
decline, and reps are performed slower than which is intended.
If the goal is to
perform reps explosively (as it should be, unless otherwise stated), when the
concentric phase begins to slow down, it’s a sign of pending fatigue. Combat
this by pausing at the most advantageous position of the lift, and restarting
the set as soon as you’re fully able to perform the remainder of the reps with
the same amount of explosiveness as you started with. Pause as many times as
needed to complete the required amount of reps with the required amount of
force.
Generally you want
to pick a weight that allows you to complete 70-80% of the reps with maximum
velocity before having to briefly rest and complete the last 20-30% of the set.
WORK CAPACITY
Strength, as in the
ability to produce force in a single effort, is not what leads to muscular development,
aesthetics, and thickness, nor is the ability to perform multiple reps in a
single effort (muscular endurance). The ability to produce and sustain high
levels of force in a fatigued state, AKA work capacity, is.
The path to real
results in terms of muscular development, thickness, and fullness, is through
being able to not just produce force, but sustain high levels of force over the
course of a workout.
Another way to frame
this concept is, ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’. Anyone can
start strong – in fact, you should be able to start strong, because that’s when
you’re fresh, and unaffected by fatigue. Being able to combat fatigue, and
still produce high levels of force is another story – a story more related to
being able to promote the body to build more muscle.
Being able to
increase the amount of weight in a fatigued state (both metabolically and
strength wise) is the key to success when building muscle. Work capacity, NOT
how much you can lift, is what earns hypertrophy and development.
CHANGING IT UP
Your next workout
should take into consideration what you did last time, as well as your current
needs state, what you may have done yesterday and today, in and out of the gym,
and also on what you plan to do tomorrow. Leverages like length of arms for
instance, also must be accounted for. This is where the art of program design
really comes into play.
Doing one movement
before another one week, then varying its sequence, cadence, and rep range the
next week is the most efficient way to enhance muscular development.
A lot of people
think that performing 4-6, or 6-8 reps for one workout, and 10-12 or 12-15 reps
the next is enough of a difference to consider it a change, and while this may
promote a different hormonal response, it’s still well within what the nervous
system recognizes as ‘normal’.
High threshold motor
units are activated once force reaches 90% exertion rates. The key word here is
‘exertion’, and this need not be mistaken for force, in terms of weight. When
exertion exceeds 90% is when maximal motor unit activation occurs, and this can
happen with weights that are below 90% of max, and there are many ways to apply
this, far beyond performing 2 or 3 more/less reps per set.
Paying attention to
the internal cues allows you to ‘keep things alive’ by changing rep and
exercise sequence, as well as rest periods depending on the desired response.
For example, in a
workout with a rep range of 12-15, you can train at the high end of the rep
range for each set, the low end of the rep range, or pyramid within that rep
range, or stagger back and forth by performing a set for 12, the next at 15,
and then back to 12. These sets can be performed till failure followed by
complete rest, or not to failure with incomplete rest between sets.
Failure in this case
meaning another rep cannot be completed concentrically. This is in contrast to
absolute failure, in which the muscle can no longer contract eccentrically, or
isometrically. Absolute failure generally requires techniques like forced/cheat
reps and negatives, which fatigue not only the muscles, but the body as well, and
require more rest between workouts to recover from the demand.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
All of this
information is as useless as external cues are to the end result if one simply
does not know how to apply it. While a program should always be personalized,
there is value in at least presenting these principles in action, so you the
reader can better understand how to adapt them to your own training.
Here are four
shoulder workouts that can be rotated from week to week, for as many weeks as
it takes to your body to adapt to:
Workout 1
1) 3 x 8-10 Shoulder press variation (barbell, dumbell, smith
machine, hammer strength)
2) 4 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
3) 4 x 15-20 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
4) 4 x 12-15 Seated lateral raise
5) 3 x 12-15 One-arm rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
6) 3 x 15 Upright row (barbell, dumbells, cables)
2) 4 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
3) 4 x 15-20 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
4) 4 x 12-15 Seated lateral raise
5) 3 x 12-15 One-arm rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
6) 3 x 15 Upright row (barbell, dumbells, cables)
Workout 2
1) 2 x 8-10, 2 x 10-12, 2 x 12-15 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables,
reverse pec-deck)
2) 4 x 10-12 Seated lateral raise
3) 4 x 10-12 Shoulder press variation (barbell, dumbell, smith machine, hammer strength)
4) 3 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
5) 3 x 12-15 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
6) 3 x 10-12 One-arm lateral raise (dumbells, cables)
2) 4 x 10-12 Seated lateral raise
3) 4 x 10-12 Shoulder press variation (barbell, dumbell, smith machine, hammer strength)
4) 3 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
5) 3 x 12-15 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
6) 3 x 10-12 One-arm lateral raise (dumbells, cables)
Workout 3
1) 5 x 8-12 Seated lateral raise
2) 4 x 15 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
3) 4 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
4) 3 x 12-15 One-arm lateral raise (dumbells, cables)
5) 3 x 12-15 Upright row (barbell, dumbells, cables)
6) 3 x 12-15 Shoulder press variation (barbell, dumbell, smith machine, hammer strength)
2) 4 x 15 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
3) 4 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
4) 3 x 12-15 One-arm lateral raise (dumbells, cables)
5) 3 x 12-15 Upright row (barbell, dumbells, cables)
6) 3 x 12-15 Shoulder press variation (barbell, dumbell, smith machine, hammer strength)
Workout 4
1) 5 x 10-15 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
2) 4 x 12-15 Seated lateral raise
3) 4 x 15-20 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
4) 4 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
5) 3 x 12-15 Upright row (barbell, dumbells, cables)
6) 3 x 12-15 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
2) 4 x 12-15 Seated lateral raise
3) 4 x 15-20 Rear-delt fly (dumbells, cables, reverse pec-deck)
4) 4 x 10-12 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
5) 3 x 12-15 Upright row (barbell, dumbells, cables)
6) 3 x 12-15 Front raise (barbell, dumbells, alternating)
*In each of the
above workouts, perform the first 2 exercises with an explosive nature, resting
‘completely’ between sets, and for the remainder of the workout perform the
exercises with a controlled nature, using ‘incomplete’ rest intervals.
A good workout is
more than a collection of exercises. The sequence matters, as does the rotation
of exercises from one workout to the next, with the shift in cadence from
explosive to continuous tension, or from continuous to explosive. The rep
schemes and the angle of stress on the targeted muscles should also be
manipulated.
Here are four back
workouts demonstrating the same principles:
Workout 1
1) 5 x 3 Rack pulls
2) 1 x 6-8, 8-10, 12-15
Pulldown variation (underhand, overhand, neutral, close-grip, wide-grip)
3) 4 x 12-15 One-arm
row variation (dumbell, hammer strength)
4) 4 x 10-12 Seated
rows variation (cable, machine, overhand, underhand, neutral, close-grip,
wide-grip)
5) 4 x 10-12 Pulldown
variation (underhand, overhand, neutral, close-grip, wide-grip)
Workout 2
1) 4 x 8-12 Barbell
row variation (overhand, underhand, t-bar, smith machine)
2) 4 x 12-15 Pulldown
variation (underhand, overhand, neutral, close-grip, wide-grip)
3) 4 x 12-15 One-arm
row variation (dumbell, hammer strength)
4) 4 x 8-10 Rack
pulls
5) 4 x 15 Pulldown
variation (underhand, overhand, neutral, close-grip, wide-grip)
Workout 3
1) 5 x 8 Rack pulls
2) 5 x 12-15 Barbell
row variation (overhand, underhand, t-bar, smith machine)
3) 4 x 12-15 One-arm
row variation (dumbell, hammer strength)
4) 3 x 12-15 Pulldown
variation (underhand, overhand, neutral, close-grip, wide-grip)
5) 3 x 10-12 Seated
rows variation (cable, machine, overhand, underhand, neutral, close-grip,
wide-grip)
6) 3 x 15-20 Straight-arm
pulldowns (slow/constant tension – rope or bar attachment)
Workout 4
1) 4 x 8-10 Barbell
row variation (overhand, underhand, t-bar, smith machine)
2) 3 x 8-10, 1 x 10-12
Pulldown variation (underhand, overhand, neutral, close-grip, wide-grip)
3) 4 x 10-12 One-arm
row variation (dumbell, hammer strength)
4) 4 x 10-12 Seated
rows variation (cable, machine, overhand, underhand, neutral, close-grip,
wide-grip)
5) 4 x 12-15 Rack
pulls
And for the hell of
it, here’s a chest and bicep workout, and a leg workout:
Chest and biceps
1) 6 x 6 Incline
barbell press
2) 6 x 8 Flat
dumbell press
3) 2 x 10-12 Flyes (pec-deck,
cables, dumbells)
4) 1 drop set Machine
press (Smith machine, or machine)
5) 4 x 8-10 Concentration
curl variation (dumbell, barbell, cables)
6) 4 x 10-12 Machine
preacher curl (single-arm, or double-arm)
7) 3 x 10-12 Zottman
curls (single-arm, or alternating)
*Swap incline
barbell press for flat barbell press, and flat dumbell press for incline
dumbell press from week to week to incorporate variety.
Legs
1) 4 x 12-15 Lying
leg curl (single-leg, or double-leg)
2) 8 x 12 Squats (back,
or front)
3) 6 x 15 Leg press
or hack squat
4) 1 drop set Leg
extension
As stated, building your
body is an experience to which you are the central part of. For those having
difficulty digesting the information presented, here’s a short summary of the
principles once again, to help with memorization, so that you can be fully prepared
to take yourself from where you’re at, to where you want to go, with each and
every training session.
·
Select exercises that allow you to feel the targeted muscle doing
the work
·
If a dominant nearby muscle is taking over, exhaust that muscle
first so the targeted area has no choice but to do more work. This is why
technique and sequencing is so crucial
·
Some level of oxygen debt is a good thing because of the increased
neural drive
·
Overload the muscles by using loads that are light enough to allow
you to perform movements explosively, or light enough to keep the working
muscles under stress from the beginning, to the end of the set
·
Train a muscle through its full range of motion, and make sure to
expose the muscle to high levels of tension in its lengthened position
·
Everything should be based on biofeedback – how much weight, how
much rest, how long to follow a program, what to do next, etc
·
The amount of weight should be based on how many reps are
prescribed, NOT based on how much you ‘can’ lift
·
Reps should be high enough to stimulate growth
·
Rest should be complete, or incomplete, and based on whether you’re
ready and able to perform the next set, with the same amount of weight, and
still performing the amount of reps in the range you are working
·
You should pick a weight that allows you to perform 70-80% of your
reps at the desired speed without resting, and when you get to that point,
rest, and wait till you’re ready to complete the last few reps
·
You’re ability to finish strong (AKA work capacity), is the
determining factor in muscle development
·
Changes should be based on your own enhanced biofeedback
STRUCTURE
As long as you know
what you want to accomplish, you have the freedom to make decisions on the fly.
A good ‘structure’ for those looking to build muscle is to first pre-pump the targeted
muscle(s), then train them as part of a heavy compound movement, before further
pumping the hell out of them, and finishing with an exercise that places them
under a loaded stretch.
Another good option after
the heavy work is to perform ‘contrast work’ in which sets geared towards pumping
the muscle are alternated with explosive work. For example, perform one set
pump, then 1-2 explosive sets using the same weight – an example being: 10
partials (shortened position) + 5 partials (mid-range) + 5 full reps as one
set, then performing 3 explosive reps for the next set or two, alternating back
and forth in that fashion, before finishing with a set of max reps (stopping
shy of failure).
Performing explosive
work when a muscle is pumped hampers the acceleration component, resulting in
less of a deceleration phase – meaning more time is spent accelerating, since
the weight isn’t moving as fast as it would if you weren’t pre-pumped, and as a
result you don’t need to instinctively decelerate the load. Basically you have
to continue to impart high levels of force to do explosive work on a pumped
muscle.
This type of contrast
from pump to explosive feeds itself – the pump is relieved during the explosive
work, which enhances the pump effect on the next set since the muscle has had
an opportunity to clear away waste. The explosive work enhances subsequent
recruitment for the pump work.
As far as loading
for such a method, opt to use 40-50% of max for pump work, or 60-70% of
momentary 8RM.
If you have any questions about the experience
that is bodybuilding, or any of the other information presented in this
article, feel free to contact me at ben@paramounttraining.ca. I'm available for online consulting and
personalized program design, as well as one on one training if you are located
in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
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