9 training concepts that don't achieve much
Here's what you need to know...
- You don't have to beat the crap out of yourself every day. All strong exercisers know that they can't keep pushing their limits all the time, otherwise their progress will stall.
- You don't have to master squats with your own bodyweight before moving on to squats with additional weights. Nor do you need to do heavy overhead squats or band-assisted pull-ups.
- Doing more work in less time is great, but if you're dragging your training form to beat the clock, you've gained nothing.
- "Never train to muscle failure" only applies to certain people with certain goals. It is not a rule that must always be followed.
- The best recovery training session consists of eating and sleeping.
- If you feel great, then exercise - regardless of what your overly complex periodization scheme tells you.
Good in theory, bad in practice
Some ideas sound pretty good on paper, but don't work in the real world. This happens in training all the time. Someone shares a training methodology that sounds smart with the rest of the world and people don't even think it's necessary to test it out. Instead, they immediately start spreading it as a truth. It doesn't take long for all kinds of ridiculous concepts to start floating around the internet.
As someone who spends his entire day training people in the gym and experimenting with new ideas, I'm more of a practical person than a theoretical one. And as such, I'd like to present you with nine oft-repeated mantras or methodologies that don't stand up to the test in practice.
1. you must first master squats using only your own body weight before you can use additional weight
Of course, you shouldn't put a heavily loaded barbell on your neck if you can't even perform a good squat with just your own bodyweight, but goblet squats and lumberjack squats with light weight are two of the best ways to teach a good squat scheme to those who struggle with performing squats correctly.
Extra weight usually exacerbates errors in exercise execution form, but squats are one of the few exceptions where light weight seems to improve form. However, you should not overdo it with the weight and make sure you have mastered the technique correctly before moving on to heavier weights.
2. band-assisted pull-ups will help you do pull-ups through the full range of motion with your own bodyweight
Band-assisted pull-ups with a band around the knee or foot are often used as a way to help beginners work their way up to full bodyweight pull-ups. The problem, however, is that this rarely works.
Why? Because the band is helping you with the bottom part of the repetition, where most people don't need assistance, rather than helping you with the top part, where most people need help. So you end up seeing the band pull people up from the bottom position until the movement stops almost immediately once the band is no longer providing assistance. Then those people hang there like one of those kittens on those "Hang in There" motivational posters.
Instead, try isometric holds where you hold yourself above the bar, or slow eccentric reps where you jump to the top position and then slowly lower yourself down. You could even use one of those assisted pull-up machines that provide constant assistance from the lowest to the highest point of the movement and strive to reduce the amount of assistance you use over time.
3. you should completely destroy yourself in every training session
The idea that if something is good, more must be better characterizes the strength training community and a lot of exercisers feel the need to beat the crap out of themselves in the gym day in and day out. In fact, most strong people go through a phase during their first few years of training where they perform every training session as if it were their last and refuse to take any time off for fear of losing all their gains.
I know this from personal experience and I think that this "revision phase" of a training career is invaluable for developing a good work ethic. However, sooner or later all strong exercisers will realize - whether due to injury, burnout or the advice of an experienced exerciser - that they can't give it their all all the time or else progress will stall or worse, they will injure themselves.
Sometimes, when life gets hectic and stress levels are high, taking a break or at least cutting back on your training may be the best choice you can make to keep making progress.
4. when you leave the gym, you should feel better than you did before you started exercising
This mindset probably came about to combat the idea of judging the effectiveness of a workout session by how close you are to death after the workout. I understand that, and like many things, this idea is only well-intentioned, but it goes to the opposite extreme.
Unless you're just doing some stretching and foam rolling, you're simply not going to feel any better when you leave the gym than when you went in. If you do, then you need to train harder. At the end of the day, it's a gym, not a spa where they put hot rocks on your butt.
I understand the reservations about exercise fanatics who habitually try to kill themselves, but you still need to train hard and push yourself...unless you think it's cool to just be mediocre, of course. After a good workout session, you should feel temporarily beat up, but you shouldn't feel beat down and paralyzed for days. As with most things in life, the answer lies somewhere between the extremes.
5. recovery training sessions are essential
Recovery training sessions are a great idea in theory and can be very beneficial for the right person. If you're training hard 3 to 4 days a week, it might be wise to add a light recovery training session to your training program, but more often than not, the people asking for recovery training sessions are the obsessive/compulsive types who refuse to give themselves some down time. And this is the same type of person who only knows one pace in the gym: full steam ahead.
What happens then is that these people go to the gym with the goal of doing a light recovery workout, but end up driving your body even further into the ground. You know that guy who says he wants to do some light cardio to improve circulation in his legs and then ends up doing intervals until he almost throws up.
If you already train 5 to 6 days a week, then a "recovery training session" is an oxymoron. Just rest. I always smile when people ask what they should do on their non-training days. Don't do anything! If you can't cope with this at all and insist on doing something, then here is a tried and tested recovery training session for you:
- A1. Eat - 3 sets of SVPWM (as much protein as possible)
- A2. Take a nap - 3 sets of SVMWM (as many minutes as possible)
Perform all three supersets in a row with no rest between sets. Pee breaks are acceptable, but you must sit down.
6. overhead squats are great for mobility and build strength and muscle
Although overhead weight squats look impressive and light overhead weight squats with a light barbell might have some value as an agility exercise that you can do as part of your warm-up, this exercise is completely unsuitable for building strength and muscle.
A large part of deciding which exercises to use has to do with assessing the risk vs. the benefit. Heavy squats with the weight overhead are unnecessarily risky and provide very little value in return, making them a poor choice for me.
Most people don't even begin to have the mobility required to perform this exercise safely and when you combine this with a heavy weight, you're just begging for trouble. I cringe whenever I see someone trying to perform a heavy set of this exercise because there is so little room for error. I honestly think that the main reason exercisers perform squats with the weight overhead is pure bravado, because it's heavy and looks cool.
Even if you have sufficient mobility to perform a good overhead squat, there are many better options for building strength and muscle with significantly lower risks. Front squats, classic squats and one-legged squats would be better alternatives. Heck, I'm not a big fan of the leg press, but I would even go so far as to say that leg presses are a better option than overhead squats.
If you can't perform proper overhead squats due to mobility limitations, then it may be beneficial to use this exercise in your mobility training, but do yourself a favor and choose a different exercise for your heavy training.
7. never train to muscle failure
Like many concepts out there, the idea of avoiding training to muscle failure has merit in certain situations, but problems arise when people try to apply one recommendation to all exercises and scenarios. This is one situation where a small dose of common sense can work wonders. Performing a set of heavy deadlifts to muscle failure is completely different than performing push-ups to muscle failure.
I would not recommend performing heavy deadlifts, heavy squats, variations of rowing with free weights, good mornings or single leg leg workouts to muscle failure. Basically, for any exercise where you could injure yourself if your form deteriorates, you should avoid training to muscle failure.
But for things like push-ups, pull-ups, upright rows, leg curls, dumbbell press variations and other exercises where there isn't as much risk to your body, training to muscle failure can generate excellent growth stimulus and teach you to push beyond your comfort zone.
It's also fairly safe to say that performing a few sets of push-ups or pull-ups to muscle failure will not "fry" the central nervous system.
You should be judicious in training to muscle failure, but with the right exercise and a well-planned training program, even an occasional workout to muscle failure has its time and place.
8. perform as much work as possible within a given time window
Timed workouts, where the goal is to perform a given workout as quickly as possible, have recently become increasingly popular. The weights usually remain constant and thus time becomes the mode of progressive overload.
This idea has merit...up to a point. I like the idea of trying to shorten the rest intervals and do more work in less time. Cool. But once you can perform a given task in a continuous manner using good technique without excessive pauses, the only way to further improve your time is to use worse form and speed up the reps. This is not improvement.
It's okay to set a time goal for a training session, but that time window must allow you to maintain good form the entire time. Once you are able to complete the task within that time frame, it's time to increase the weight and try to get back to your target time, but don't allow yourself to compromise your technique in the name of a faster pace.
9. detailed periodization schemes are the epitome of an effective training program
Talking about fancy periodization schemes will make you look smart to your training peers, and these schemes have their value and raison d'être for competitive athletes whose lives revolve around their training regimen. But for most exercisers, they are unnecessary and overly complicated.
If you have a demanding job, family and personal life, then there will constantly be things that may conflict with your planned training sessions. That's okay. Your exercise program doesn't have to define your life.
On the other hand, you may feel great during a particular week, but your training program calls for a pre-planned off-load week. In this case, it makes no sense not to use the times you feel great to your advantage just because your program tells you to take it easy. For the average person, life itself already provides a built-in periodization scheme, so you shouldn't try to think about this too much.
A simple progressive overload system that follows the normal ups and downs of your life will give you both long-term progression and a balanced life.
By Ben Bruno | 09/19/14
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/9-training-concepts-that-suck