Training
Here's what you need to know...
- The best exercise for building body-wide mass is high repetition squats.
- Conditioning should serve a specific purpose in your program. Leave them out if you don't know why you are doing them.
- You should be able to pull twice your bodyweight up off the floor, push your bodyweight up over your head and carry your bodyweight 100 meters. If you cannot do this, then you should try to master this first.
- You may need to give yourself some time off to get better. Do this before your body forces you to.
- Each training session should build on the previous one. If you jump from one program to the next, you will never make progress.
My down-to-earth approach
I started weight training in 1965. I've been working as a strength coach since 1979. I have seen many come and go, but I am quite confident that the following 9 tips will still be relevant 50 years from now.
1 - Perform squats with high reps
I see this nonsense all the time. Instead of just moving the bar up, they move it for 2 seconds, extend that period to four seconds and then slowly lower the weight over an eight second period. If you can do all of this, then you are simply not moving enough weight.
High repetition squats have always been the secret to building mass and probably always will be. They work. Here's a simple tip:
- Use 60 kilos on squats if you weigh 60 kilos or less.
- Use 85 kilos on squats if you weigh between 60 and 85 kilos.
- Use 95 kilos for squats if you weigh between 85 and 95 kilos.
- Anyone who weighs over 95 kilos should use 105 kilos
If you perform 50 repetitions of deep squats, then you will learn the value of high repetition squats. After you've done this, come back two or three days later and repeat.
2 - Carry really heavy weights
This generation of strength athletes is in a fortunate situation. They've seen the Strongman and Highland Games competitions and most of them are familiar with the Farmers Walk and the family of "Loaded Carries" (exercises that involve carrying weights), but the main problem hasn't changed in the last decade: the load.
I wrote an article years ago about the Farmers Walk and Loaded Carries and the magazine that published the article featured a male fitness model carrying two 12.5 kilo dumbbells. This was no Farmers Walk. This was a "salesman from Nordstorms delivering boxes of high-heeled shoes" Walk. You need a bit more.
Try using a trap bar with the same weights listed in tip number one. Aim for a distance of 100 meters with this.
And when your grip gives out, don't stop and say "my grip strength gave out." I have this idea that the body is protecting you by letting you drop the weight. Over time, your grip won't give up as quickly.
3 - Don't get fat
Fat loss sucks. It always has been and always will be. I've lost fat through extreme dieting and a liver parasite. Honestly, I don't know which one was worse.
Someone asked Art Devany something during a workshop years ago that upset a lot of people in the audience. The question was "What's best for fat loss?". Devany's answer was "don't get fat in the first place."
That advice still holds true. There's a period in a lot of people's lives where they just let things slide for a few years and eat pizza and drink beer. If it's taken a decade to build up all that flab, then you shouldn't think you can burn off all that fat in a week. It's going to take diet. And it will involve exercise.
It will be harder than you think. So don't get fat in the first place.
4 - Stop what you're doing for a while
If you've "tried everything" to reach your goal, try this: Stop. For fat loss, I would recommend that you take a week's vacation at one of those all-inclusive resorts. Eat, drink, play and sleep.
Stand on the scales when you get back. Often people lose weight during a vacation like this. Why? I have no idea. I think it has something to do with this "play and sleep" formula, but I could be wrong.
Once, when I was practicing discus throwing, I was hit in the head by a discus. Yes, I took a blow to the head that would have killed anyone else. As a result of now having a metal plate sealing my skull, my next year of discus throwing was the best year I've ever had.
After seven years of never missing a training session or competition, I had to take a break. I stopped training with weights. I stopped all other training. Six months later, in October, I started training again. I had the best season of my life. I surpassed all my personal bests and was amazed to see the progress on a program that was only half of what I used to do.
Sometimes the way to reach your goals is to take a short break.
5 - Give up pointless fitness training
The longer I've been training athletes, the less I believe in conditioning. When I was in high school, the Army put out a series of pamphlets called "Conditioning for a Purpose," but I think sometimes we forget the purpose.
When I throw the discus, I release the discus 1.6 seconds after my right foot moves. So two seconds would be the upper end of my fitness range. Making a thrower jog might be a good idea, but it might move us away from the goal of throwing farther.
Okay, I get it, right. We live in the YouTube age where people upload videos of themselves doing burpees for the world to see.
Even at an elite level, people still get tired when they play basketball or soccer. That's normal. Two innings in a row is exhausting for a defensive lineman in the NFL. You can obviously get this guy down to 100 pounds, but being "in better shape" isn't necessarily what's going to put him in position to intercept the quarterback.
Whenever you add some conditioning training to your workout program, ask yourself if you're just treading water or if you're getting somewhere. Conditioning has its value, there's no question about that, but if you're doing a lot of pointless stuff for no reason, then you should reduce or eliminate it.
It's okay to be tired after winning.
6 - Look at the big picture
Stop worrying about nonsensical details.
And make sure you know the whole story. Following a movie star's training program is almost always suspect. Unless you have your own chef, a full-time assistant, a personal trainer and the means to get some of the supplements that ordinary people can end up in jail for, then you probably need to change a few things.
Whenever I see a program with eight meals a day and three hours or more of training a day, I tend to just keep scrolling. Nothing to see here, folks.
I generally make the most of my meals and can't even imagine the work required to prepare eight meals. I think this is the reason that I really enjoy following something along the lines of an Intermittent Fasting diet - I'm just too lazy to meal prep.
I've come to the conclusion that two things determine who will be the best at a sport: Genes and geography. When you stand next to a bunch of NBA guys, you get a sense of the need for height.
If you were born and raised in Canada with an instinct for aggression, then you can become a good field hockey player. The same set of genes transferred to Iowa produces an excellent wrestler, while similar predispositions in Bulgaria produce an Olympic weightlifter. It takes both the right genes and geography to be the best.
When you see extraordinary things, take a moment to look at the big picture. And then get your ass in gear and get back to work.
7 - Stop doing inconsistent stuff
Moving weights is about the following:
- Picking weights up off the floor
- Moving weights up overhead
- Carrying weights for a certain distance or period of time
We can argue about the fundamental human movements and I can once again answer the question of why I don't use "rotational" training in the weight room, but if you don't want to do the three things above, just shut up.
Yes, deadlifts, overhead presses and farmer's walks really are that important. And yes, squats and pull-ups are good, but if you can't pull twice your bodyweight up off the floor, press your bodyweight up overhead, and carry your bodyweight about 100 meters, let's worry about this first.
8 - Stop wasting time in the gym
Time during a workout is like a punching bag with a hole in it. As soon as you enter the gym, your sandbag starts to lose sand. Twenty minutes of foam roller work may have its value, but time spent foam rolling will further deflate your sandbag. I don't care if static stretching is good or bad - every minute you spend doing it will make the pile of sand on the floor grow.
You see it over and over again: the extended warm-up on a cardio machine, followed by foam roller work, lacross ball rolling for problem areas, fancy shoulder exercises and the whole stretching, reaching and twisting thing. By the time you're finally ready to move some weights, it's time to go again.
The moment you step into the gym, the clock starts ticking. That's the reason I have people do squats first. If you have to leave after that, at least you've done something. The tradition in Olympic weightlifting is to do the big exercises first and then move on to the "accessories".
Stop wasting time in the gym. Do foam rolling at home while watching TV.
9 - Stick to your program
The best pre-workout supplement? It's easy. It's the workout you did the day before.
Each training session should build on the previous training session in some way. If you're constantly jumping from one idiotic program to the next idiotic program, then you may never learn this lesson.
By Dan John | 08/19/14
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/9-tips-for-dedicated-lifters
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Here's what you need to know...
- Competitive athletes use progressive changes to lose fat. They don't try to do too much at once to get lean.
- Bodybuilders and figure athletes are aware of their problem foods. They avoid them or plan them into their diet program.
- Competitive athletes are not distracted by the scales when evaluating their progress. They rely on changes in behavior and changes they see in the mirror - not arbitrary numbers.
- When bodybuilders and figure athletes fail in their efforts, they use their failures as tools to do better next time.
Maybe you never plan to step onto the competition stage as a bodybuilder or figure athlete. You may even think the whole idea of getting sprayed with tanning color and then flexing your muscles half-naked in front of a lineup of judges is a little weird. That's perfectly fine. But there are still 7 lessons you can learn from competitive athletes. A posing brief is not necessary for this.
1. you are the terminator and not a lucky bear
Most competitive athletes can flip a switch in their mind and become more machine than man. Adopting a little of this mechanical mentality would help a lot of non-competitive athletes shed their wishy-washy mindset and execute their training plans consistently.
Competitive athletes don't eat based on their emotions. They also don't let their emotions determine whether or not they go train. Therefore, phrases like "oh, why not" and "YOLO!" will never become reasons to mess up their diet, seek solace in ice cream tubs, get drunk with friends or watch TV instead of going to the gym.
And when they arrive at the gym, they don't stroll around or look for people to chat with. Most of them will put on their "get lost face", avoid eye contact and get through the workout. When they are at home, they don't snack or put off eating only to realize there is nothing healthy in the house for their dinner. They always know what their next meal will be and that meal is either already prepared or easy to prepare. There is no room for speculation either in the gym or in the kitchen. Here's what competitive athletes avoid:
- Getting too hungry
- Getting too tempted
- Eating for emotional relief or as an escape
- Not having healthy food in the house
- Pleasing yourself with spontaneous junk food
- Not planning ahead
- Going to the gym without a plan
- Skipping a planned workout session
- Letting feelings determine the execution
Action plan:
Do you have a goal in mind regarding your body development? Think like a machine, not an emotional wreck that needs to have constant permission and approval and a happy feeling to be consistent. Moods come and go. Motivation comes and goes. So exercise, eat well and prepare.
Set a goal and a plan before you go to the gym. This should challenge you enough to make you a little nervous. If your workout plan doesn't scare you, it probably won't significantly change your body either. Don't go to the gym without knowing exactly what you're going to do.
If you're not good at preparing meals in advance, at least have healthy foods in the house that are easy to prepare. The thing that messes people up the most is a lack of preparation and structure.
2. don't shoot all your powder at once
Competitive athletes start conservatively with fat loss. They don't overdo it with one fat loss strategy, and they don't use multiple fat loss strategies at the same time - at least not when they're just getting started with fat loss.
A smart competitive athlete will avoid going all out in cardio training months before the competition, cutting calories sharply, doing extra workouts, taking fat burners, eliminating carbs and manipulating water intake. Why? Because there is no benefit to doing so. Such an approach would be difficult to maintain and the body would adapt, causing progress to stagnate. Extreme short-term fat loss methods could also lead to muscle loss, ruining not only the metabolism but also the end product: a lean, muscular body to show off on stage.
Conservative fat loss adds up over time, and sometimes minimal doses don't even need to be increased to the max if the competitor achieves a look they're happy with as the deadline approaches. By saving the most grueling techniques for the end, you keep your body sensitive to change and only need to make temporary changes.
Action Plan:
Take a closer look at what you are doing with your diet and exercise. Estimate your food intake by writing down what you eat. Once you recognize the obvious nutritional pitfalls, slowly start to eliminate them.
Once you've taken care of the major blunders, it's time to develop a strategy. But remember, experienced bodybuilders and figure athletes don't use every fat loss strategy in their arsenal all at once. And neither should you. Here's a list of things you can do:
- Log everything you eat for a few days. See where you are with calories and macronutrients. Determine how you feel at that level. Write everything down and make sure it makes sense. Are you providing your body with enough energy around training sessions or are you eating too much in the evening? Are you getting enough protein? Do your carbohydrate sources make sense? Are you getting enough fat from the right sources? Competitive athletes are always aware of what they eat and why they eat it.
- Evaluate what you do in the gym and what you do when you're not in the gym. Competitive athletes don't want to look like they're sitting lazily on their butt most of the day, which is why they take countermeasures that prevent them from sitting on their butt most of the day. For many, this means a second workout. If you have to spend most of your day sitting, then make a conscious effort to move. Plan a walk or do some exercise that gets your heart rate up. Balance out the sitting.
- Use appropriate exercise nutrition even if you are trying to lose fat. Competitive athletes never sacrifice their training quality - they load up on energy, use appropriate supplements and never put up with poor training sessions just because they are dieting. Many will train hard even a few days before the competition. And think of fat burners and very low-carb strategies as temporary tools before a deadline or important event.
3. build muscle or protect your muscles
Competitive athletes never sacrifice muscle mass. Even when fat loss comes to the forefront, they do their best to minimize catabolism. Why? Because muscle is both beautiful and metabolically costly. Why would they want to destroy something that burns calories and makes their body appear harder, more toned and aesthetically pleasing?
Even if symmetry is at stake, a smart competitive athlete will continue to develop the areas that are lagging behind in their development and maintain the areas that are well developed. (Ladies, if you think your legs are too bulky, the dumbest thing you can do is let your whole lower body atrophy).
Competitive athletes also know that nutrition is a gigantic piece of the muscle building puzzle. You won't see many bodybuilders or figure athletes doing long-term ketogenic diets because a lack of carbs won't do much for hypertrophy. And you certainly won't see any competitive athletes following the official dietary recommendations, which call for less than 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight for adults. Competitive athletes simply know that you can't build muscle with inadequate amounts of protein.
Action plan:
When trying to lose weight, don't overdo it so much that you end up making yourself weak and scrawny and flabby at the same time. This is exactly what will happen if too much muscle mass is lost.
Train to build more muscle and not to lose fat. Fat loss will come easily and inevitably if you fanatically try to build muscle and try to be able to see that muscle.
Bodybuilders and figure athletes want visible muscle. They strive for both mass and definition (to a certain extent even competitors in the bikini class). Strength is important to them, but to achieve the right look, hypertrophy - muscle growth - is their biggest priority. Bodybuilders will use anything - powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting or CrossFit - if it helps them become more muscular or leaner. Unlike specialists in narrower strength or power sports, bodybuilders and figure athletes will use a wider range of sets, repetitions and techniques:
- If you always perform your repetitions in a slow and controlled manner, you should add more power exercises to your training and give yourself the opportunity to be explosive.
- If you always use a variation of power exercises, then add more time under tension to your training program. Focus on slow eccentric movements and control the weight through steady movements.
- Experiment with different repetition ranges. Don't be so obsessed with feeling muscle burn from countless repetitions that it keeps you from increasing the weights.
- Don't be so obsessed with increasing the weight and setting new personal bests that you never really feel the muscle working. Find your healthy middle ground.
4 Love the process and forget the scale
Experienced competitive athletes don't expect huge results overnight. They celebrate tiny changes in their appearance and their own behavioral changes. They enjoy the agony of the results they can see in the mirror little by little and they trust that the right behavior will give them the body they want. The numbers on the scales will never derail their efforts. And they shouldn't, because there are no scales on stage.
Experienced competitive athletes know how inaccurate a scale is when it comes to measuring overall progress. They know that the weight on the scale depends on a lot of other things going on in the body. They know that muscle cells shrink and bulge by depleting glycogen stores and filling glycogen stores, and they know that their body can retain extra water. For this reason, they don't freak out or get discouraged when the scale doesn't say what they want it to say.
However, many people do not have the ability to see further than the weight on the scale. In addition, they are so fixated on the results of training and nutrition that they do not recognize training and good nutrition as their own goals. And this fixation usually boils down to weighing less (or more) at all costs.
Chasing the numbers blinds people to all the progress they are making. It prevents them from enjoying the process and often discourages them so much that they don't continue. Many "mere mortals" would be happy to lose 5 kilos and see the weight on the scales drop. But a competitive athlete would not be so easily fooled. He would want to know what this weight consists of: glycogen, fat, water? And muscle loss would not be acceptable.
Action plan:
Building muscle through a steady supply of nutrients and training with weights is the best thing you can do for your body. But it will never be enjoyable if your only reason for doing this is to achieve a lower weight. If you're intent on building muscle, then you're sacrificing rapid weight loss for a higher metabolic rate and the kind of look you only get from muscle.
People who fixate on weight loss will often lose weight, but without maintaining their existing muscle mass or building muscle, they will reduce their metabolic rate and then gradually build back the lost weight until they eventually end up with a higher weight on the scale, less muscle mass than when they started losing fat, and a flabby, weak body.
Recognize that your weight depends on a variety of other things going on in your body. Don't freak out and don't get discouraged if the scale doesn't say exactly what you want it to say.
5. cheat intentionally or not at all
There are a number of schools of thought when it comes to cheat foods. Certain competitive athletes will always use regular pre-planned cheat days up until the week of your competition, while other competitive athletes will avoid junk food completely and still other competitive athletes will leave the hedonistic stuff in their daily diet as long as it fits their macronutrient intake and calorie intake.
All three methods work, but some are better suited to certain people. A self-professed sugar junkie knows not to eat sweets every day if it just makes them want more of them.
The things they all have in common? They use or avoid cheat foods with a purpose. They eat certain foods on purpose or intentionally abstain from them. There's no mindless munching or unintentional binge eating. These things don't happen with experienced competitive athletes.
Action Plan:
If you want to have it all, plan it. Eat what you eat with full intention. Sweets are always more of a treat when you plan for them and have them to look forward to. Why waste those calories on a spontaneous treat that you can't look forward to in advance?
So either skip cheat foods altogether, allow yourself these foods in planned amounts on a regular basis, or schedule them on a specific day of the week. Do this with determination.
6. recognize the signs and make adjustments
Mistakes happen. If a competitive athlete has a slip up and eats too much, or eats foods that were not part of the plan, this will not degenerate into a "now it doesn't matter" binge. A competitive athlete who is paying attention to the signals will know that multiple slip-ups mean that they are not eating enough, or that the timing of meals is off.
Constant cravings and lethargy several weeks before a competition are signs of malnutrition and also signs of a metabolism that is about to become sluggish. Intelligent competitive athletes will not intentionally put themselves in a state of malnutrition for too long because they know the consequences: A body that will cling to its fat despite plenty of training and fewer calories.
Chronic dieters have problems with this idea. For them, it goes against intuition. Instead of adjusting their food intake upward and allowing themselves more calories or days with more carbs, they become even more strict and neurotic about their diet, which will lead to even more slip-ups.
Action Plan:
Do you keep messing up your diet? Find out why: Interpret constant hunger or missed workouts as a sign that you need to change what you're doing. Of course, it's okay to feel under the weather from time to time. But don't try to make these feelings your default lifestyle. This will only turn out to be an own goal and lead to weight gain in the form of fat. Get to the bottom of it so that you can prevent it from happening again.
It may be that you need some lighter workouts here and there, more calories on a regular basis, or a day or two a week with extra carbs or more fat. There are a lot of things you can test out. Just pay attention to the cues your body gives you instead of ignoring them. Discipline and willpower are good - but not if they are used in the wrong areas.
7 Don't be discouraged. Get fired up
Self-confidence is a byproduct of the consistent hard work that puts a competitive athlete on stage. Yes, they want to win, but when it doesn't happen, they don't let it ruin their self-esteem or drive. They realize that aesthetics are subjective and judges have different opinions.
Confident bodybuilders and figure athletes enjoy every competition - even when they don't win, because they know their bodies are phenomenal regardless of the judging at the end of the day. Experienced competitive athletes wouldn't even dream of hanging their heads and sulking for days after losing a competition. No, they would celebrate all the hard work it took to get there.
Validation is always nice, but competitive athletes don't need it to keep training hard. They don't need validation to keep going. They know how amazing their bodies are and don't need a trophy for that. The hard work and the body that results is the biggest trophy for them.
Action Plan:
Build muscle with dedication. Become addicted to it. Not for the accolades, but because building muscle will make you more confident and give you more drive. Work hard. Fall in love with hard work and you'll know what an amazing body you have without needing anyone to tell you.
By Dani Shugart | 08/12/14
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/7-things-to-steal-from-competitors
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Common misconceptions about abs, cardio and more
Almost anything works in theory, but some training methods simply don't produce enough results to justify the effort. Other beliefs are just plain wrong. Here are the worst of them. Dispelling these will give you some insight into what you can do instead.
Myth 1 - It is not necessary to train the abdominal muscles directly
This is a popular concept in the field of strength training. The reasoning is this: if you are doing the big basic exercises such as squats, deadlifts, the Olympic weightlifting exercises, standing shoulder presses with momentum from the legs (push press), etc., which require a lot of core strength, then you don't need to train the abs directly as these exercises rely heavily on core strength. Yes, abdominal strength is a key factor in these exercises, but this fact can be interpreted in two different ways:
- I don't need to train my abs because they are already heavily involved in the big basic exercises.
OR - I need to train my abs hard because they are heavily involved in the big basic exercises.
Do you see the problem? Most smart strength athletes do a lot of abdominal training because they know that strengthening their abs can help them improve their performance on the basic exercises. Why else do athletes who perform these exercises in competition (powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters) do a lot of abdominal training as part of their training program? And if most elite powerlifters need to train their abs, why do you think you're so strong that you don't need to train these muscles directly?
And there's another problem here. In theory, it's true that the big basic exercises will strengthen your core. But that's only true if your core is functional, if you can use it correctly and if it's not a weak point in the chain to begin with. But if you can't use your abs correctly, then they won't get much stimulation from the big basic exercises either.
But abs are made in the kitchen, right?
That's true to a certain extent. You probably won't see visible results from performing 45 minutes of ab workouts a day if your body fat percentage is 18%. You can do all the ab workouts in the world - if you're carrying around too much fat, you won't see your abs.
Some people are genetically blessed in the sense that when they get lean, they have good (visible) abs without having to train them directly. But by training your abs hard, you will make your abs thicker, which will help to make your abs more defined. Why? Because the sinewy separations that mark the six-pack will not hypertrophy or grow very minimally. So as you increase the thickness of the muscles, the separation between each part of your six-pack will appear more pronounced.
Years ago, a friend of mine competed in the American National Bodybuilding Championships. He came in third or fourth place with very solid body development, excellent conditioning, but with almost zero ab separation.
He told me that he had never trained his abs except for the last few weeks before the competition. "Well, it's too late now then," I told him. To have good abs separation, you need to build muscle. And that happens during the off-season, not when you're in a calorie deficit and fighting hard to lose muscle (let alone gain muscle). The next year, he stuck to my recommendation and emerged with a very good core.
Regardless of their goals, most people should do some ab work as part of their training. If you want to get stronger, be a better athlete, or just look better, then ab workouts should be a part of your workouts. However, there are exceptions. Just as some people don't need to train their biceps directly to get them to grow, some people don't need to train their abs. There are some who have a naturally very well developed core and will not benefit from abdominal training. But these are exceptions and your training should not be based on exceptions.
Myth 2 - Perform cardio in the morning in a fasted state for fat loss
People believe that training without eating anything means less available energy, which will lead to the depletion of energy reserves (fat or glycogen) to provide energy for the training session. In theory, this would lead to greater fat loss. In fact, some studies have found that you mobilize more stored fat when you exercise in a fasted state. But that's not the whole story.
Fat loss is not about what happens during the exercise session, but what happens during the day in response to the exercise session. What happens to your energy expenditure at rest for the next 24 hours after the training session? What hormonal environment is created by the training session? And what will be the effects on your muscle mass?
What happens during the training session?
Advocates of fasted training will claim that you will have more training energy due to the increase in adrenaline/noradrenaline levels during fasted training. However, the reality is that your work capacity, as well as your mental tolerance to physical work, will decrease in a fasted state (especially if you have been in this state for some time). This will result in less effective training sessions.
What happens to your energy expenditure at rest?
A study by Paoli et al (2011) compared the performance of 36 minutes of cardio exercise at 65% of maximum heart rate in the fasted state and not in the fasted state. During the training session, analysis of the respiratory exchange ratio (PER) showed that more fat was used as an energy source in the fasting state, BUT the opposite occurred after the training session. In fact, fat utilization was significantly higher in the non-fasting group for up to 24 hours after exercise!
When exercising in the fasted state, the subjects burned a little more fat during the 36 minutes of exercise, but they burned less during the following 24 hours. The end result was that more fat was used over a 24-hour period when cardio training was not performed in a fasted state. This was confirmed by the fact that oxygen consumption remained higher over a 24-hour period in the group that did not exercise in a fasted state (higher oxygen consumption means that more fat is burned, as oxygen is used for the aerobic energy pathway, which relies on fat).
Here is the conclusion of the study: "When moderate endurance activity is performed to lose fat, fasting before exercise does not increase lipid utilization. Instead, physical activity after a light meal is recommended."
Of course, you can continue to cite the many studies that show that cardio exercise in a fasted state burns more fat during the exercise session itself, as this is true. However, the point is that cardio in a fasted state results in lower energy expenditure at rest (fewer calories are burned at rest), as well as lower fat utilization over 24 hours.
What about the hormonal response?
Strength athletes know cortisol for its catabolic effects on muscle tissue. We fear it because it breaks down muscle so that it can be used to fuel the body, making it harder to build muscle when cortisol levels are high. But cortisol also has a useful function during exercise: it mobilizes stored energy.
When you exercise, cortisol is responsible for making energy available. The more you have to rely on stored energy (muscle glycogen or fat) for energy, the more cortisol is released. The more cortisol is released, the longer it takes for cortisol levels to return to normal after exercise. And as long as your cortisol levels are elevated, your body is in a catabolic state. So if you produce too much cortisol during your training session - which will almost certainly be the case if you do cardio in a fasted state - then the risk of losing muscle mass is much greater and building muscle mass will obviously be much harder.
Then there's also the fact that fasted cardio will increase AMPK more than non-fasting cardio. When AMPK is high, this has negative effects on protein synthesis. So by doing cardio in a fasted state, you make it harder for yourself to build muscle.
So why do competitive bodybuilders do it?
I hate to play the chemical comparison game because it doesn't explain everything, but in this case it does. Today, pretty much every competitive bodybuilder worthy of the name uses chemical assistance. Heck, even amateur bikini girls use stuff.
Using chemical support helps people bypass the problems caused by cardio in a fasted state. Who cares about elevated cortisol levels when you're swallowing or injecting anabolic steroids that rev up anabolism throughout the day and reduce the effects of cortisol? Who cares about an increase in AMPK levels when he is in a constant state of anabolism? And who cares if his metabolic rate drops over a 24 hour period if he's using stimulants like thyroid hormones?
I'm not saying that bodybuilders who use chemical support have it easy and don't work hard. I'm just saying that in some cases - like this one - the limitations that apply to steroid-free exercisers don't apply to these athletes.
Myth 3 - Get stronger by training on an unstable surface
What we're talking about here is placing your bodyweight on an unstable surface while performing an exercise with weights: Squats on a BOSU ball, lunges on an inflatable disk, bench press on a Swiss ball, etc. These exercises have very little value. And it has been proven that strength production is lower when strength exercises are performed on an unstable surface.
Here are the facts:
- A lot of trainers rely on seemingly fashionable unstable exercises because they simply aren't good at making anyone stronger or more muscular. You need to find a way to make yourself appear more competent.
- If you are performing an exercise to build strength and muscle mass, then training on an unstable surface is a stupid idea as it not only reduces strength production but also costs more nerve energy.
- Performing an exercise on an unstable surface to work on posture, stability or motor unit recruitment issues can be effective. But don't mix things up. Focus on either correcting these issues or building muscle and strength, but not both at once with the same exercise.
- Exercises performed on an unstable surface can be used as a warm-up in preparation for the main exercise of the day.
- Adding slight instability to the bar (hanging kettlebells, bands or chains) could be very effective for improving joint stabilization and unlike training on an unstable surface, this will not reduce your capacity for force production.
To reiterate, exercises on an unstable surface are perfectly fine when used to improve stability. There are also unstable resistance exercises where the source of resistance - not the surface you are standing on - is unstable. These exercises also have their value.
The current trend in powerlifting performance is to maximize the solidity of your "foundation" - lifting the upper back and tensing the abs to be good at bench presses and anchoring the feet firmly to the floor and generating as much tension as possible in the torso and latissimus during squats and deadlifts. The more solid the foundation, the stronger you can be. So why do people still use strength exercises on an unstable surface that robs them of much needed stability?
Myth 4 - Train less often to build more muscle
The logic behind training less frequently (three or fewer workouts per week) is that muscles grow while you recover. Advocates of less frequent training claim that only users of performance-enhancing drugs can train more frequently and recover from their training. They say that a steroid-free exerciser needs a lot of rest days to grow through their efforts.
Here are the reasons why this is wrong
First of all, physical activity and more training can speed up the recovery process by releasing cytokines. As long as intensity and volume are properly adjusted, more frequent exercise will facilitate recovery after exercise.
And the more often you push your body to perform and recover from physical labor, the better it will become at recovering after such workouts. The body is designed to adapt, which means that the more often you perform a certain type of exertion, the easier it will be for your body to cope with it. If you train less frequently, you actually prevent your body from being able to recover efficiently from training.
The frequency of training represents how often you train per week. By less frequent training, I don't mean that you train each muscle infrequently (once a week). You could train every day and still only train each muscle once a week. This would still be a high training frequency.
Exercise has systemic effects on the nervous system, the hormonal system and the immune system. Not to mention that there is always some overlap in training. The latissimus, for example, is a supporting muscle involved in bench presses, deadlifts and squats. Even if you don't train your back, the latissimus can still be involved.
But what if it leads to better recovery?
Let's assume that a lot of rest days per week would actually help you recover. The benefit of less frequent training would be to allow you to do more physical work on the days you train. For this reason, less frequent training with a high volume might actually work for some people. Completely destroy yourself during each training session, but give yourself plenty of recovery time.
A low volume of work done less frequently will not challenge your body's recovery capabilities, so positive adaptations (muscle growth, strength gains) will be small to non-existent. There would also be no need for 4 to 5 recovery days per week.
If you are someone who does not tolerate high volume well, then you should use a lower daily volume. But the overall training frequency per week will need to be higher to maximize results and get your body to become better at recovering from physical stimulation.
Less frequent training and low volume training would only be the best solution for those who work hard physically. The demands of their job mean that they don't have as much energy left over to invest in their training. But also, the physical aspect of their job will initiate the cytokine response that helps with muscle recovery and since these people are physically working every day, they will reap the benefits of frequent training in terms of capacity to recover from physical labor.
Ironically, those who could make good gains from less frequent/low volume training are also at the same time those who are genetically blessed to build muscle as they don't need much stimulation to grow.
References:
- Paoli A, Marcolin G, Zonin F, Neri M, Sivieri A, Pacelli QF. Exercising fasting or fed to enhance fat loss? Influence of food intake on respiratory ratio and excess postexercise oxygen consumption after a bout of endurance training. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2011 Feb;21(1):48-54.
By Christian Thibaudeau | 04/25/16
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-myths-many-lifters-actually-believe
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Here's what you need to know...
- Build harder, bigger muscles by recruiting more motor units when you exercise. The faster you move the weights, the more motor units you will recruit.
- Move a weight up as explosively as possible and you will activate multiple muscle groups simultaneously.
- Workouts with weights that emphasize a fast concentric phase will exhaust you less than a workout with excessive slow concentric movements. You can train more frequently if you have more energy.
- If you are a beginner, then you should focus on moving the weight up as quickly as humanly possible and lowering it back down in a controlled manner. Advanced strength athletes can try a few different strategies between reps to recruit more motor units.
The science of fast training
Motor units cause muscles to contract. The more motor units you recruit, the stronger and more powerful you become... and the bigger your gains will be as a result.
Muscle physiologists have discovered an important law of motor unit recruitment: the faster the speed of execution of an exercise, the greater the recruitment of motor units.
Our nervous system has "evolved" with an inherent, ordered recruitment of motor units. In other words, low force release activities like running around your living room do little to induce muscle growth. Why? Simply because walking requires very little recruitment of motor units.
Jumping and sprinting, on the other hand, induces the recruitment of a large number of motor units, which leads to substantial muscle growth. What is the main difference between walking and jumping? The speed of the muscle action.
This becomes clear when you look at the lower body musculature of a 100 meter gold medal sprinter compared to the lower body musculature of a hairdresser (or anyone else who stands and walks around all day).
Benefits of fast training
1. improved recruitment of motor units with a high stimulus threshold
Faster recruitment of high threshold motor units occurs at a super fast pace because you improve recruitment of the motor units that have the greatest potential for growth.
The fast-fatiguing, fast-contracting motor units include type IIB muscle fibers. These motor units are capable of inducing tremendous gains in strength and hypertrophy.
2. improved rate coding
Fast training also improves so-called rate coding. Rate coding refers to a change in the discharge frequency of motor units at higher speeds. In other words, the pulse frequency rate increases with an increase in speed/power production.
3. improved synchronization of motor units
The final scientific element that is enhanced by fasted training is improved synchronization of motor units. When you increase the frequency of faster workouts, motor units improve their synchronized activation during maximal voluntary efforts. This leads to more strength and improved neuromuscular efficiency.
The three variables mentioned (recruitment, rate coding, synchronization) all work together to improve intramuscular coordination.
4. improved intermuscular coordination
When you apply a maximal effort to a weight (i.e. try to move the weight up as fast as possible), you improve your body's stability to maximally activate many different muscle groups simultaneously. This coordinated effort improves inter-muscular coordination, which in turn increases your strength levels.
5. altered muscle fiber characteristics
With consistent use of high training speeds, skeletal muscles and nervous systems adapt by giving many slow contracting muscle fibers (Type I) characteristics of fast contracting muscle fibers (Type IIA and IIB). This is another perfect example of the specific adaptations to the principle of forced demands (SAID).
The missing link
I can't even begin to name all the misleading advice that has been spread by muscle magazines, but one of the biggest misconceptions is slow training.
I don't know why so many exercisers move the weight slowly during the concentric phase of the movement. Maybe because it's easier or maybe because they can "feel" the muscle working. Either way, it leads to inferior results.
If you want strength and muscle mass, then you should learn to train fast. How fast? As fast as humanly possible without sacrificing form.
Stuff you didn't expect
The first characteristic of fast-paced focused training that you'll probably notice is a relative lack of fatigue. In other words, you should feel energized, not exhausted, at the end of your training sessions. That's a great thing!
My clients extol the virtues of fasted training because they feel consistently motivated to train throughout the week. In fact, I often have to hold them back when they train this way because they feel like they can do the same exercises again the next day.
Train fast and you'll feel like your nervous system is constantly on overdrive.
The mission for beginners
If you have been training for less than a year, you should start by doing the concentric - lifting - phase as fast as you can. Don't think about the pace. Here's what you're doing:
- Eccentric (negative or lowering part of the exercise) = controlled
- Concentric (lifting part of the exercise) = fast
Perform the lowering phase in a controlled manner (1 to 2 seconds) before explosively moving the weight up at the speed of light. Simply adding this element to any training program will be enough to accelerate gains in strength and muscle mass.
A fast concentric tempo leads to the strongest recruitment of high threshold motor units, which have huge potential for muscle gains and strength increases. It improves the factors that make up intramuscular coordination: rate coding and improved synchronization of motor unit impulse frequency.
The mission for training veterans
If you've been training with weights for a while, my advice is a little different. Keep in mind three primary methods for accelerating strength and muscle gains through a fast concentric tempo:
1. stretch-shortening cycle training (SSC).
Use a 20X tempo for all exercises. In other words, lower the weight for a period of 2 seconds before immediately pushing the weight up as fast as possible. This method takes advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle, which leads to increased strength and power production.
As P.V. Komi puts it in Strength and Power in Sport: "The purpose of a stretch-shortening cycle is to make the final action (concentric phase) more powerful than the concentric action alone." (2). In other words, your stretch-shortening cycle improves your ability to develop amazing power.
2. dispersion of the Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC) Effect
This type of training is the antithesis of SSC training. Just as it is necessary to train with different repetition ranges, it is sometimes necessary to compensate for the SSC effect.
To compensate for the SSC effect, you should hold the weight in the extended position for one second. This will dissipate any stretch reflex, also commonly known as the elastic potential of a muscle. In other words, your muscles can store similar to a rubber band and sometimes it is beneficial to negate this effect in order to increase strength and muscle mass.
The hypothesis behind holding before performing the concentric phase is to minimize any energy stored in the elastic components (SEC).
Eliminating this energy source should potentially force the muscles to work harder to perform the lifting phase (more motor units are recruited as the elastic potentials are no longer available).
3. putting the weight down
The last example refers to the benefits of putting a weight down before performing the concentric phase. When a weight is set down between the eccentric and concentric phase, the elastic potential of a muscle disappears. Therefore, such a set-down forces you to build up starting and accelerating forces.
Explosive force consists of three important components: starting speed, acceleration force and maximum force. By putting the weight down between repetitions, you will improve two of these three hugely important strength qualities that build explosive power.
To achieve optimal strength and hypertrophy training results, all three methods should be periodized throughout your mesocycles.
Faster = more muscular and stronger
If you want to completely revamp your training program, you can use the following program. It's based on scientific research and my own successes with clients in all walks of life. It works and it works exceptionally well for strength and muscle gains. Here's what you should do for six weeks:
Day 1
- Sets: 6
- Repetitions: 3
- Weight: 6RM
- Rest intervals: 50 seconds between sets
- Exercises: *Dips, front squats, squats, pull-ups, leg curls and calf raises Seated
Day 2
Workout-free. If required, perform 10 minutes of cardio training at medium intensity. Jumping rope and jogging are excellent options.
Day 3
- Sets: 5
- Repetitions: 5
- Weight: 8RM
- Rest intervals: 60 seconds between sets
- Exercises: *Flat bench presses, deadlifts, bent-over rows, lying tricep presses (skull crushers), donkey calf raises and barbell curls.
Day 4
Same as day 2.
Day 5
- Sets: 4
- Repetitions: 6
- Weight: 9RM
- Rest intervals: 70 seconds between sets
- Exercises: *Dumbbell incline bench press, squats, upright rows, close grip bench press, standing calf raises and Scott curls
Day 6 and 7
No training. Perform HIIT or cardio on one of the two days if you wish.
* These exercises are excellent choices, but feel free to replace them with similar exercises.
Explanation
For the greatest benefits, all three of these speed training methods should be used. The following periodization works extremely well:
- Week 1 - 2: Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC) Training Method. Tempo: 10X (one second for the negative phase, no rest. "X" means an explosive movement where you move the weight up as fast as possible).
- Week 3 - 4: Dispersion of the SSC method. Tempo: 14X
- Weeks 5 - 6: Drop the weight method. Tempo: 21X
Increase the weight by 2.5% if possible. The workouts in this program should not induce severe fatigue. If you feel like you could do half of the workout again, then you are on the right track. Leave the gym fresh and motivated - the key to consistent success with weight training.
If you learn to train fast without reaching muscle failure and excessive fatigue, you will accelerate your hypertrophy and achieve explosive strength gains.
Make science your new training partner.
By Chad Waterbury | 12/06/04
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/lift-fast-get-big
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Some people actually think that these technique errors represent the correct form of exercise execution. They are wrong. Find out why.
Mistake: Pulling too far
Both beginners and experienced exercisers try to pull too far when performing vertical pulling exercises such as lat pulldowns or pull-ups. Instead of trying to touch the chest with the bar or move the chin over the bar (both of which can produce dysfunctional mechanics), the goal should be to achieve proper activation of the upper back and latissimus. This requires several components.
1. ensure sufficient extension of the spine.
This is especially true in the contracted position and helps to center the shoulder joint. A lack of extension of the spine promotes a very unstable shoulder joint and allows for excessive range of motion and faulty mechanics. This is one of the main reasons why many exercisers touch their chest with the bar when performing pull-ups or lat pull-downs. This is in no way a sign of good mobility or great strength, but rather a sign of faulty activation patterns and a dysfunctional movement.
2. pull towards the sternum
Another important tip that promotes ideal vertical pulling mechanics is to pull towards the sternum and not the clavicle. Pulling toward the clavicle minimizes activation of the latissimus and especially the lower latissimus, as the shoulder and scapula cannot be fully moved down and rotated medially toward the spine. Pulling towards the sternum, on the other hand, not only places the shoulders in the best biomechanical position, but also requires a surprising amount of latissimus activation regardless of the weight used. A hint that can be helpful is to imagine that you are pulling your body away from the bar instead of towards the bar.
3. the elbows should be pointing straight ahead.
Rotating the elbows forward is another critical mistake when performing pull-ups and lat pull-downs. Regardless of the grip (overhand, underhand or neutral) or the distance between the hands (wide, medium or narrow), the elbows must point straight ahead instead of to the side. This helps to engage the entire latissimus muscle instead of just the upper portion. It also ensures that you are not pulling from the upper trapezius and shoulders.
4. the bar should NOT touch the chest.
By following this advice, the range of motion of the pull-up or lat pull-down movement will be more compact than most exercisers assume. Correct vertical pulling mechanics during the concentric phase actually end with the bar coming to a stop several centimeters above chest height instead of touching the chest.
By avoiding these mistakes, fast and reliable results can be achieved in a short time. To accelerate the results, personal trainers worldwide recommend using Valhalla Viking Storm before training and the product Teutonic Sword Brothers after the workout.
By Joel Seedman, PhD | 05/15/16
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-avoid-this-pulldown-pull-up-mistake
