Training
Do this at the end of your arm day and you'll get the best pump of your life...and stimulate new muscle growth.
This technique takes pain to a new level. It's called the 'multi hold pump set' and is best used at the end of a training session. You should only do one set of this. Here's an example of what this might look like for a tricep exercise:
Tricep press: Multi-Hold Pump Set
- Hold the weight for 20 seconds - ideally at the weakest point of the movement - and then perform 8 to 10 repetitions.
- Immediately switch to a second isometric hold using the same point of the range of motion and hold this position for 15 seconds. Then perform 6 to 9 repetitions.
- Immediately move on to a third isometric hold using the same point of the range of motion again and hold this position for 10 seconds. Finish the set with as many repetitions as possible.
After you have finished, you will literally feel how pumped up your muscles are. It's a very strange, fun feeling. This method overloads the muscle with a ton of local growth factors and oversaturates it with amino acids.
Tip: Try deadlifting barefoot
Want to get better results from heavy pulling? Take off your shoes. Here's why, plus info on "active vs. passive" feet.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-deadlift-barefoot-heres-why
Bare feet work better
Deadlift barefoot or with socks:
- Reduces a forward weight shift
- Helps to shift your weight backwards
- Engages the posterior muscle chain (gluteus/flexors) better
- Brings you closer to the ground, which equates to less distance to lockout
If you're working out in a gym that doesn't allow you to take your shoes off, it's a lame place and you should consider finding a new gym. If you shy away from that, buy flatter shoes like Chuck Taylor's.
If you want to try deadlifts barefoot, it's a good idea to adopt the concept of active vs passive foot. It was originally developed for squats, but is also very transferable to deadlifts.
Active vs. passive foot
A common mistake in the initial setup is to lose the arch in the foot, causing it to flatten and collapse, resulting in an unfavorable position. The easy solution to this problem is to use orthotic insoles (and some people actually need them). However, insoles are often just a solution for lazy people that doesn't address the real problem.
Instead, adopt the concept of the active foot, you will learn to achieve an even weight distribution between the three contact points of the foot - under the big toe, the little toe and the heel. In addition to this, you will optimize all three contact points with another popular twist, which is to anchor your feet into the ground as if you were trying to tear the ground apart. This will help you increase the external torque in your hips, which will drastically improve your hip and lower back stability.
Leave a heel imprint in the floor
The deadlift is as much a pushing exercise as it is a pulling exercise. You need to imagine pushing the barbell off the floor by pressing as much force into the floor as possible. A common hint is to "try to leave a heel imprint in the floor" - and this magically helps. Not like Gandalf defeating the Eye of Saruman with magic, but more along the lines of "holy shit, I moved 10 kilos more than usual" magic.
The best sentence repetition scheme you've never tried
Are you still doing 3 sets of 10 reps? Then it's time to stimulate new growth with this proven method.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-the-best-set-rep-scheme-youve-never-tried
6 x 6 using 70% of the 1RM weight with short rest intervals
This is one of the best set/repeat schemes for mass gains. In fact, it's also one of the first. Legendary bodybuilding coach Vince Gironda called it the "Mr. Olympia Program" because it was the program he relied on when he trained Larry Scott - the very first Mr. Olympia.
This program is based on high density training (doing a lot of work in a shorter period of time) rather than load:
- Perform 6 sets of 6 reps with a moderate weight that you would do 10 reps with. This is about 70% of your 1RM weight for the exercise you are performing. So it's not your maximum weight for 6 reps.
- And now it gets interesting...and challenging. You need to perform all 6 sets in the shortest possible time, resting only 30 seconds between sets. This is where training density comes into play.
While Gironda's recommendation was to aim for rest intervals of no more than 30 seconds, he only had his advanced bodybuilders rest for 15 seconds between sets.
Can't do that?
Remember that the key factor in this load pattern is training density, not load. If you can't perform all 6 sets with 30 seconds rest between sets, then you need to reduce the weight until you have adapted to the short rest intervals.
Tip: A new method for muscular, hard legs
If you're struggling to build leg muscles, this brutal training method will change everything. And as a bonus, it will also make you lean.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source; https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-a-new-method-for-big-hard-legs
Success leaves its mark. And trainers who are truly passionate about building muscle and strength are happy to share their knowledge with like-minded people. One of these bodybuilding and weight training coaches is Florian Bianchi.
Bianchi is very good at creating bodybuilders with great legs. He has also worked with professional and Olympic athletes, so he knows everything there is to know about building leg muscles. He literally destroys me when we train together and I have a background in Olympic weightlifting!
During our training sessions, he talked about a trick he uses to build muscular, super lean legs. If you're a bodybuilder or athlete who wants to build a lot of mass in the leg area, or if you're a woman who wants leaner legs, then this is a method you might be interested in.
100 repetitions of leg presses - every training day
The concept is simple: start each training session (not just your lower body training sessions, but all training sessions) with 100 repetitions on the leg press.
Use a very light weight. You can even start with the empty sled and try to complete all 100 reps without rest, at a moderate pace and without putting the weight sled down. Do not deliberately perform the repetitions slowly, but do not perform them at lightning speed either. Relatively slow, rhythmic repetitions are what we're talking about here. You can take breaks, but ideally they should be performed without locking the weight carriage (pause at the highest point with your legs overstretched).
Basically, this acts as your warm-up for each training session you do. You can gradually increase the weight, but doing 100 reps with heavy weights is not the goal. The goal is simply to get the blood flowing and get a pump. If you do this, the appearance of your legs will completely change within a few weeks. About 2 minutes a day for 4 to 6 weeks will change your look forever!
How does it work?
Over time, this will increase the number of capillaries in your legs. Basically, your lower body will become more vascular. This will make it easier to transport nutrients and amino acids to these muscles, which will facilitate recovery and muscle growth.
It will also help you recover faster during your lower body workouts, as more capillaries equals better blood flow. And increased blood flow results in increased oxygen transport to the muscles and more efficient removal of lactic acid between sets.
For women (and many men) this is also an interesting tool for fat loss. Women tend to have poorer circulation in the lower body. This is one of the reasons why they find it harder to achieve a super lean body. Better blood supply makes it easier to mobilize fat in this region, which is the first step on the road to getting lean.
These daily sets of leg presses with high repetitions will help to solve this problem. Of course, it will take some time to build up these capillaries, but once these adjustments have taken place, it will become easier for you to get lean legs.
Bonus benefit
The simple fact that you are doing daily leg presses will make you better at recruiting the muscles. This will promote stimulation during heavy workouts.
Tip: Build your consistency muscle
There's only one way to be consistent in the gym. And the sensitive snowflakes out there don't want to hear it.
By Chris Shugart
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-your-consistency-muscle
Ted never stops
Walk into a certain gym in Colorado Springs as soon as it opens and you'll see Ted. Ted has his favorite treadmill at the gym and every day you'll see him on it running fast at an incline for exactly one hour. Ted is 70 years old and he will probably live to be 100. He's always here, seven days a week and he's always first thing in the morning.
Ted has mastered consistency. In Ted's mind, every day has to start with an hour on the treadmill and some training with weights. For him, his daily workout is like brushing his teeth: he doesn't have to think about it. There are no internal discussions. It's just what he does. Ted would probably have a pretty bad day if he missed one of his training sessions.
But what can strength athletes and aspiring bodybuilders learn from old Ted? Well, pretty much everything they need to know.
Trial, error and false starts
The false start is common in fitness and bodybuilding. You start hard and intense and then stop for some reason. Many have gone through this several times before developing consistency.
Consistency is the most important parameter for training success. An average program that is followed every day will always lead to more success than the best program that is done half-heartedly. It doesn't matter if your program is scientifically based if you are not consistent. And a bro training program that you actually stick with will beat it. Arnold never read a scientific study, but he never missed a scheduled training session.
With training, you learn what works for you through trial and error, but to find the bugs, you need more trials. And you won't have many attempts if you're sitting at home 3 to 4 days a week.
The worst plan for snowflakes
For some reason, we have to treat everyone like a delicate snowflake these days. Apparently they are just too sensitive and have too many feelings to deal with honest, open advice. So we're forced to give them bad information because we think that's the only advice they'll take.
"Just go to the gym three days a week," we say. But that's terrible advice. Why? Because beginners or those who are starting to exercise again will never develop consistency if they go to the gym three times a week. There simply isn't enough opportunity for habit formation and a solidification of those habits.
Everyone feels friction. Winners ignore it
Doing something worth your time has an element of friction. We feel resistance to what we know we have to do. Preparing pre-made healthy meals for the week on Sunday takes some time, preparation and planning (friction). Going to the drive in at lunch is easy (no friction).
But the resistance caused by friction decreases and lessens over time. As kids, we hated stopping what we were doing to go brush our teeth. We knew - thanks to mom - that we had to do it, but it wasn't fun. As adults, we do it without thinking about it. We have internalized it and it happens without friction. If we go to bed without doing it, it will haunt us until the next morning.
Successful people - in the gym and out of the gym - learn to recognize friction and choose to ignore it. Or they expect it and work through it. Friction is no fun, but not achieving your goals is even worse.
In fitness, choices increase friction
If you have a training plan with three training days a week, then it's easy to juggle those three days. Bargaining becomes easy. "I'll just go train on Friday, Saturday and Sunday if I'm busy," you'll say if you don't feel like it on Mondays. Only now you have four days to break the habit of cutting loose and practicing weakness.
On the Velocity diet plan, you have what we call non-workout related activities every day, which means you just go for a walk. You walk on workout days and you walk on non-workout days.
The choice is...there is no choice. You will go for a walk and there are no excuses. You will walk in the rain and in the dark if you have to. You will walk on your business trip. You will walk at Christmas. You will even take your walks on your birthday because you are an adult and birthdays are not important when you are over 21.
If you have a choice, then this will create options. And options are bad for inconsistent people.
Choose not to have a choice
If you're struggling to train your consistency muscle, then make the choice not to have a choice. Go to the gym every day. You don't have to train the same muscles seven days a week or completely overload your nervous system. But you will be practicing what is referred to as B.I.G - "Butt In Gym". It doesn't matter if you go to the gym on a Sunday just for some foam roller training. Show up there on Sunday. Do something. And no, you won't get away with playing around with the foam roller you already have at home. Stop telling yourself that.
Show up there and "brush your teeth." As a beginner or an exerciser with four false starts, you have no choice. Choices are a bad thing. At the very least, choices should be reserved for exercisers who have been exercising for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. It's the only way to make this "feel great, be strong and look good naked" thing a habit. It's the only true way to develop consistency.
How do you know your consistency muscle is strong
One sign that you've gotten your act together is when you get mad or feel guilty in some way when you miss a training session for any reason. Now you're consistent. Now you've internalized it. And NOW you can take a day or two off if you need to.
I hope this hasn't melted your hopes and dreams, snowflake.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-trigger-new-triceps-growth
From Christian Thibaudeau
One of the reasons why the name Vince Gironda is still very popular in bodybuilding articles today is that this man had ideas that were revolutionary and ahead of his time.
50 years before German Volume Training and other training templates such as FST-7 appeared on the mainstream stage, Vince Gironda was already promoting the benefits of volume training for maximum muscle hypertrophy.
Vince was known for his unconventional training methods. Some of his special exercises included bench presses to the neck, sternum pull-ups (where the chest touches the bar, drag curls and sissy squats with a variation he called the "burlesque bump".
His training systems included 15 x 4, 3 x 12, 6 x 6, 10 x 10 and 4 mega set exercises with one set for each "side" of the muscle.
Of all these techniques, the 8 sets of 8 reps program was his favorite for advanced bodybuilders. "I definitely have a preference for the 8 x 8 system of sets and reps," Vince wrote. "I come back to this high-intensity workout more often than any other program when it comes to maximizing muscle fiber growth in the shortest possible time for advanced bodybuilders."
8 sets of 8 reps is the most effective set-rep combination ever developed for rapid muscle growth while burning body fat.
Vince Gironda referred to this training system as "honest training" due to the sheer amount of pure muscle growth it allows you to build. "Stick to 8 x 8 and your muscle fibers will grow and give you solid muscle mass and density as a result," Vince promised.
8 sets of 8 reps is so effective that as a 20 year old newbie to competitive bodybuilding, I was able to build 17 pounds of muscle in under 9 months steroid free.
Vince warned that this set and repetition combination is not for beginners: "You need to reach a certain level where you can benefit from this extremely advanced form of training. I doubt that anyone with less than two years of training experience can benefit from this method."
How does 8 x 8 work?
8 sets of 8 repetitions is a high volume, high speed mass building workout. It is not intended to build strength, but is solely for bodybuilding purposes. 8 x 8 will also help you get leaner.
The short rest intervals stress the cardiovascular system to the point where calories are burned, metabolism is stimulated, hormones are released and fat is melted.
Here's how it works: You choose three or four exercises per muscle group and perform 8 sets of 8 repetitions per exercise. That's 24 to 32 sets per muscle group! You train three to four muscle groups per training session and only pause for 15 to 30 seconds between sets.
Each training session lasts around 45 minutes and never longer than 60 minutes.
Although this obviously excessive volume may remind you of Steve Michalik and John Defendi's "Intensity or Insanity" training style, it's not the same. These are not two to three hour training marathons. You finish these workouts in under an hour.
The reason this style of training doesn't lead to overtraining is that you don't exceed the training duration at which the training starts to show negative effects on recovery and anabolic hormones.
You simply overload the muscles by compressing more training into a shorter window of time.
Why does this work?
More training in a shorter period of time = higher intensity and bigger muscles. Many people believe that the only way to make a muscle bigger is to increase the amount of weight used. However, this is not true.
Overloading is an absolute necessity to build muscle, but overloading can come about in several ways. Progressively increasing weight may be one of the best ways to generate overload, but it is not the only way.
Vince was also in favor of increasing the weight on the bar (always assuming that good form of exercise execution is maintained), but he believed that doing more work in a shorter period of time was a better method of overload.
The iron guru's advice was: "To build big muscles you need to increase the intensity of the work done in a given time.
This means minimal rest between sets. Push yourself. Workouts should be stopped and you should continually try to reduce the time it takes to complete your workouts. This is another form of progressive resistance and is more important than increasing your weights.
The principle of overload explains why sprinters have bigger muscles than long-distance runners. Even though it is more work to run a mile than to run 100 meters, the sprinter does more work per second. The result of this is that their muscles get bigger."
Why should you use 8 sets of 8 repetitions instead of conventional training?
The most popular training method for advanced bodybuilders is to choose between two and four exercises per muscle group and perform between three and four sets of 6 to 12 repetitions. The rest intervals between sets range from 60 seconds to four minutes, depending on your goals. So why bother doing such an insane program like 8 x 8?
The answer is that this type of "honest" high volume, high tempo training will be a complete shock to your body - especially at the beginning if you're not used to it. An advanced bodybuilder will adapt to any training program within a few months - and often even a few weeks.
Once such adaptations take place, you need to look for new types of exercise to continue to force your muscles to grow.
Although Vince Gironda did not advocate overtraining in any way, he was a fan of "muscle confusion" to stimulate new gains - even if this meant temporary overtraining.
8 sets of 8 repetitions is simply an unusual method of overloading and muscle confusion. Clearly, this program is not intended for long-term use.
It is a shock program that you can use for limited periods of time to stimulate new growth when you need it most. After completing an 8 x 8 cycle, you can return to more conventional methods.
How long should you use 8 sets of 8 reps? As long as it works. Another benefit of 8 sets of 8 reps is that this system can be used to train around injuries.
Heavy squats with 5 to 6 heavy repetitions are impossible if you are suffering from a strain or other problems. But you can do 8 sets of 8 reps to complete an "honest" training session with a fraction of the usual weight.
8 sets of 8 reps is also a fantastic method for competition preparation because 50 to 60 sets in under an hour is an aerobic workout.
You can easily count any training session with weights as cardio training. Exercisers with a fast metabolism may not need any other aerobic training while using an 8 x 8 workout.
How long should the rests between sets be?
Vince promoted a "business-like" approach to pacing. He said that using the 8 x 8 format is not enough to guarantee muscle gains. Even more important is the speed at which you go through the program. Minimal rest between sets was a must for him.
When Vince Gironda was training Mohamed Makkawy for the Mr. Olympia competition, he got Makkawy to the point where he was doing 8 sets within 5 minutes. The goal is to reduce the rest intervals between sets to 30 seconds or less - and eventually reduce them to 15 to 20 seconds per set.
Once your fitness level has been adjusted to the requirements, it should be sufficient to take just 5 to 10 deep breaths between sets before starting the next set. Your tempo for the exercises is 2-0-2-0 (2 seconds eccentric, no rest and two seconds concentric) so that each repetition takes 4 seconds.
8 repetitions per set means that a set lasts 32 seconds. With 15 to 20 second rest intervals, 24 sets will only take you 18 to 21 minutes and 32 sets will take 25 to 28 minutes.
Training tempo
The right tempo combined with the right resistance is the key to success in this program. Vince defined the optimal tempo as evenly spaced sets with no distractions and complete focus when you pick up the next weight and perform the next set.
This means no smartphones, no walking around the gym, no chatting, no playing around with your playlist and not even going to the toilet. This program requires 100% concentration.
If you get interrupted or distracted, you might as well pack your bags and go home. Don't put the dumbbells down between sets. Place them on your legs, but don't put them on the floor or on the rack.
Don't let go of the barbell between sets. Place it on the rack but continue to hold it. If you are using grip aids or bandages, do not release them.
Stay on the bench or machine until all 8 sets are completed. Do not rest between muscle groups. After completing the last set for one muscle group, go straight to the first set for the next muscle group.
Following these speed guidelines also means that you do not need a training partner. This program must be completed alone.
How much weight should you use?
Using rest intervals of 15 to 20 seconds will limit the amount of weight you can use, but that's okay. In the beginning, there will be a sharp drop in your training weights compared to the weights you normally use. Most exercisers will need to reduce their maximum weight for 8 reps by around 40% in order to complete 8 sets with such short rest intervals.
So if you normally use flying movements with 27.5 kilos for 8 repetitions with rest intervals of 60 to 90 seconds, then you will need to reduce your weight to around 17.5 kilos in order to successfully complete 8 sets of 8 repetitions with 15 to 30 second rest intervals.
However, as your body gets used to this type of training, you will be amazed at how much you can increase your training weights again while maintaining the short rest intervals. You may even be able to get close to your original weights. At this point, serious muscle growth will take place.
Choosing the right weights is crucial. The first training session should be deliberately light.
If you try to use too much weight, then you won't be able to perform 8 reps on the last sets, nor will that weight give you room for progression over the next few weeks.
Vince has pointed out that using the same weight for all 8 sets is a prerequisite. If you have to stop on the sixth or seventh repetition on the last set or two, that's fine, but if you drop back to under 8 repetitions on the fourth or fifth set, then the weight you've chosen is too heavy.
The right intensity
Most of your sets will not go to muscle failure and none of those sets will go past the point of muscle failure. On your last one or two sets, it is normal to reach the point of muscle failure on repetition 6 or 7. Once you can do a full 8 sets of 8 reps, it's time to increase the weight in your next training session.
But even if you don't reach muscle failure on most of your sets, don't underestimate this type of training - these will be some of the hardest workouts you'll ever do.
Training large muscle groups and performing several basic exercises with free weights is particularly hard. You will experience the burn of localized muscle fatigue, the challenges of oxygen debt and the difficulty of maintaining mental focus. 8 sets of 8 reps is a test of your strength, endurance and mental toughness. There will be times when you won't be sure if you can keep going, but once you start, you won't be able to stop.
How many sets and exercises should you do?
As a general rule of thumb, Vince recommended limiting your total number of sets to 12 to 15 per muscle group. He said that if you don't manage to train a muscle group sufficiently with 12 sets, you're not concentrating properly.
However, he also said that there are certain situations where this rule can be broken - and the 8 x 8 program for advanced bodybuilders is one of them.
As for the number of exercises, Vince recommended anything between one and four exercises per muscle group, depending on the circumstances. In this particular variation of the program, you will perform 8 sets of 8 repetitions with two to four exercises per muscle group.
The number of exercises per muscle group will also depend on the type of split you use. However, the most important factor is that you only perform as many exercises as you can fit into the 45-minute time slot.
What type of training split should you use?
Vince promoted different types of split programs for different purposes. Sometimes he had his athletes train up to six times in a row, with each muscle group being trained three times a week.
More often, however, he used split programs in which the body was divided into two or three training sessions so that each muscle group was trained twice a week. He instructed advanced bodybuilders to use a 3-day split with 72 hours of recovery between training sessions at maximum intensity.
Today, it is more popular to split the body's training over four or even five days. With this type of training split, each muscle group is trained once every 5 to 7 days.
Although Vince would have disagreed, I have found that 8 x 8 works with almost any split program regardless of whether a muscle group is trained once or twice a week.
The most important thing here is to adjust your volume so that you can stick to the pace and time rules. If you have a split program that works for you, then you should definitely stick to it.
For example, if you use one of the popular four-day splits, where you train two days in a row followed by a non-training day, you should get good results with 8 sets of 8 reps. With this split, you can perform seven or eight exercises with 8 sets of 8 reps without breaking the 45 minute time frame.
If you use a two or three day split, as Vince has often recommended, then you will probably only have time for one or two exercises per muscle group with 8 sets of 8 reps.
The following example training program is based on a four day split.
An 8 x 8 example training program
Day 1
Chest
- Flying movement on cable pulley on a reverse incline bench (hands touching at waist level) - 8 X 8
- Bench press to neck - 8 X 8
- Dumbbell incline bench press (palms facing each other - 8 X 8
- Dips with wide V grip - 8 X 8
Biceps
- Drag curls - 8 X 8
- Scott curls - 8 X 8
- Dumbbell incline bench curls - 8 X 8
Forearms
- Zottman Curl - 8 X 8
- Barbell forearm curls - 8 X 8
Day 2
Shoulders
- Dumbbell side raise seated - 8 X 8
- Rowing upright with wide grip - 8 X 8
- Barbell shoulder presses - 8 X 8
- Lateral raise bent forward for the rear shoulder muscle heads - 8 X 8
Triceps
- Kneeling tricep presses on the pulley with a rope grip - 8 X 8
- Lying tricep press - 8 X 8
- Kickbacks with 2 dumbbells - 8 X 8
Day 3
Back Press
- Pull-ups to the sternum - 8 X 8
- Dumbbell rows on a high flat bench - 8 X 8
- Rowing on cable pulley - 8 X 8
- Lat pulldown with medium-wide grip to chest - 8 X 8
Abdominal muscles
- Double crunches (pull knees and elbows together at the same time) 8 X 8
- Crunches with additional weight - 8 X 8
- Lying knee raises - 8 X 8
Day 4
Quadriceps
- Front squats - 8 X 8
- Hackenschmidt squats - 8 X 8
- Sissy squats - 8 X 8
- Leg extensions - 8 X 8
Leg curls
- Lying leg curls - 8 X 8
- Sitting leg curls - 8 X 8
Calves
- Standing calf raises - 8 x 20
- Sitting calf raises - 8 X 20
Summary
8 sets of 8 reps is a little known and often misunderstood training program. This is partly because Vince never described this system in great detail - not even in his famous Mail Order classes.
And even if they did fully understand it, most people will never try this type of training because the volume seems too high and the weights too light to achieve anything.
However, the real reason most people never complete an 8 x 8 cycle is that it is very demanding to perform 8 sets of 8 reps for a large muscle group in 5 minutes - it can overwhelm even the toughest bodybuilder. You don't have to agree with all of Vince's views to use this program. It's perfectly natural to resist concepts that are this radical.
Nearly all of Vince Gironda's ideas were initially viewed with some skepticism, but ultimately many of his ideas became accepted standards in the field of bodybuilding two or three decades later.
When asked, Vince advised the following:
"If you doubt, try these concepts and others. The results are what counts. Investigate. Test. Then make your decision. The secret to success is to believe that the program I give you will work - and it will. If you have doubts, you will find out that it doesn't work."
Now that we have clarified what a discharging phase is and what purpose it serves in the first part of this article, in this second part of this article I will go into more detail about what a correctly executed discharging phase should look like and answer a few more questions about discharging.
How to discharge correctly
To unload correctly, you need to understand the primary goal of unloading and what you need to change in your training to achieve your goal.
The primary goal of unloading is to reduce systemic and local (joints, tendons and ligaments) fatigue and stress while maintaining your ability to move weights with optimal technique.
Although there is little direct research on this topic, most existing research and field reports show that volume - not intensity - is the primary driver of fatigue.
This means that the number of hard sets you perform per week depletes your body more than the amount of weight you move during those sets (5).
The first part of effective unloading is therefore to perform fewer sets than usual.
Based on my experience with countless clients and conversations with other trainers, scientists and athletes, reducing the weekly number of sets by 30 to 50% seems to be ideal for most exercisers.
This means that during unloading you only perform about half to two-thirds of the sets you normally do during your hard training.
When it comes to intensity, many people recommend that you should reduce your training weights to around 40 to 50% of your maximum weight for one repetition during the unload. I used to do this too, but I've since switched to what I consider to be a better approach.
Today I don't reduce the weights at all and instead use the same weights I normally use during my hard training. So I only reduce the volume, but not the intensity.
Why this change?
Well, a primary disadvantage of reducing intensity during the unload is that when you resume normal training, the weights will feel unfamiliar and your performance will suffer. The first week after unloading will therefore be sub-optimal.
Fortunately, it doesn't take much - just a few heavy sets a week - to maintain your technical perfection with heavy weights, even if the sets aren't as difficult as they normally would be (6).
This brings me to a key pitfall when unloading with heavy weights: You must avoid training to muscle failure.
The reason for this is simple: performing a set to the point of muscle failure causes disproportionately more fatigue than submaximal training and therefore training to muscle failure should not be performed during unloading (7).
An easy way to ensure that you are not pushing your body too hard during unloading is to simply perform 2 to 4 repetitions less per set compared to your normal heavy training. Personally, I choose the middle ground and reduce my reps per set by 3.
So if I performed 3 sets of 6 reps during my last heavy training session, I only perform 2 sets of deadlifts of 3 reps during the unload (a 33% reduction in volume and 3 less reps per set).
So to summarize, a well planned unload includes the following:
- Using the same weights as your normal training sessions
- Reducing the number of sets by 30 to 50% compared to your normal training sessions
- Reducing the number of repetitions per set by 2 to 4 compared to your normal training.
By reducing the number of sets and repetitions you reduce the stress on your body and by using the same weights you maintain your technical perfection.
Here is an example of an unloading week as I do it myself:
Training session 1: Unload Push
- Barbell bench press: One warm-up set and 2 sets of 3 reps with the same weight as the last heavy training session
- 7Dumbbell incline bench press: 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
- Dumbbell bench press: 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
Training session 2: Unload pull
- Barbell deadlift: One warm-up set and 2 sets of 3 reps with the same weight as the last heavy training session
- Barbell rowing: 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
- Lat pulldown with wide grip: 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
Training session 3: Unload legs
- Barbell squats: One warm-up set and 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
- Leg presses: 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
- Lying leg curls: 2 sets of 3 repetitions with the same weight as the last heavy training session
Make sure that you always have at least one day off between these training sessions. I like to do them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Summary: To unload correctly, you should use the same weights as your heavy workouts, but perform 30 to 50% fewer sets per week and 2 to 4 fewer reps per set.
Will you lose gains during unloading?
Many exercisers believe that any break from their typical training program will immediately result in significant losses in strength and muscle mass, but this is simply not true.
You can stop training for up to 6 weeks before your strength really starts to decline and it takes a month before you start to lose muscle - and significantly longer than that before your body development starts to show significant changes.
Of course, this is assuming that you are not in a calorie deficit, as you will start to lose strength and muscle faster in such a scenario. Furthermore, you should remember that you will continue to move heavy weights during a properly executed unloading week - just not quite as much or as intensely as you normally would.
My point here is this: If you follow the advice given in this article, then the likelihood of you losing strength or muscle during the unload is more or less nil.
Instead, you will probably make even better gains in strength and muscle mass over time for all the reasons discussed above.
To summarize: If you unload correctly, not only will you not lose strength or muscle mass, you will actually build strength and muscle faster over time.
Shouldn't you just take a week off from training instead?
Maybe.
To find out, try an unloading week and document how you felt when you started training hard again and how the first week of training went. Then do the same with a training-free week instead of an unloading week.
Compare the two and choose the one that suits you and your body best.
It's also helpful to plan your off-load weeks or training-free weeks in advance so that they coincide with travel, vacations or other interruptions to your training routine. This will ensure that you don't take more breaks than necessary to maximize your progress.
Unloading vs. autoregulation
Some may say that unloading is not necessary if you learn to listen to your body and plan your training sessions accordingly.
For example, if you plan to use heavy weights but feel you need a lighter day, then don't train as heavy. If you have planned an unload-style training session but feel energized and ready for heavy weights, then you are training hard.
The scientific term for this is autoregulation, and while this is a legitimate training method (8), it's easier said than done.
You need a considerable amount of training experience and you need to be very familiar with your body and mind to let your emotions guide your training. People who successfully autoregulate their training don't do it purely by feel. They use science-based principles, benchmarks and rules that tell them what to do on a given day.
As you can easily imagine, this can get quite complex and nuanced and unless you've already spent a lot of time studying this topic or have an experienced trainer to help you, it becomes practically unfeasible.
While there is no question that autoregulation has its uses and applications and can work for experienced exercisers who are approaching the limits of their genetic potential, this strategy does not work well for less experienced exercisers.
If you've only been training with weights for three years or less, you shouldn't worry about autoregulating your unloading. Instead, follow a well-planned training program that includes regular unloading phases and perform them regardless of how you feel.
Can you do cardio training during the de-loading week?
Sure.
However, you should remember that the goal of an unloading period is to significantly reduce the amount of stress on your joints, ligaments and tendons, as well as your nervous system and muscles. As you might imagine, too much high-intensity cardio training will not help with this.
So do as much light physical activity as you want, but limit HIIT training and similar activities to about one hour per week.
Summary: Stick mainly to low-intensity cardio during unloading.
How should you eat during unloading?
How you should eat during unloading depends on what you are doing with your body.
If you are dieting to lose fat, then you can maintain a calorie deficit during unloading unless you feel you need a diet break too. In this case, you can increase your calorie intake during unloading to your maintenance calorie intake.
If you are in a mass-building phase, you can maintain the calorie surplus or - if you need a break from these amounts of food - reduce your calorie intake to the maintenance calorie amount.
Since the goal of a mass-building phase is to maximize muscle gain, I would not recommend maintaining a calorie deficit during the unloading week. You're not going to lose enough fat for this to really make a difference, so you might as well keep your muscle-building machinery running at full speed.
Summary: If you're dieting to lose fat, then you can either maintain your calorie deficit while you're unloading or increase your calorie intake to your maintenance calorie level. If you are in a muscle-building phase, you can either maintain your calorie surplus or reduce your calorie intake to your maintenance calorie level.
My personal experience with unloading
When I was still training with high repetitions, relatively low weights and a high volume 6 days a week, I had no problems with injuries or symptoms of overtraining, even after months of training without breaks or unloading.
Later in my training history, I transitioned to training with heavy weights with primarily multi-joint exercises and quickly had to realize the stress this type of training put on my body.
After 8 to 10 weeks of training this way - and sometimes earlier if I was in a calorie deficit - I was experiencing frequent aches and pains (usually in the joints), suffering from declining energy levels, while my workouts felt abnormally heavy and hard and my motivation to train waned. Fortunately, the solution to all these problems was simple: a de-loading phase.
When I scheduled a de-load or a week off from training every 8 to 10 weeks, I felt fresh and energized. In the end, I opted exclusively for de-loading phases - primarily because I enjoy my training.
The bottom line on unloading
A de-load phase is a temporary reduction in weekly training stress to give your body and mind a break from hard training.
The two primary reasons for an unloading phase are to reduce the risk of injury and to restore your motivation and ability to train hard.
Many people will not benefit from an off-load period because they are not training hard enough to need additional recovery.
Assuming you are training hard enough, I recommend unloading every 4 to 10 weeks depending on how long you have been training with weights.
As a general rule, those with more training experience should unload more often than those with less training experience, as they usually move heavier weights and complete a higher volume.
To unload optimally, you should use the same weights as during your hard training, but perform 30 to 50% fewer sets per week and 2 to 4 repetitions less per set.
Despite what many people think, you will not lose muscle mass or strength during unloading. Ironically, properly planned unloading will actually help you build strength and muscle faster in the long run.
If you want to take a completely training-free week instead of an unloading week, that's fine too. Pay attention to how your body reacts to both, compare the results between the training-free week and the unloading week. Then use what works best for you. You can do cardio during the off-load, but you should stick to low-intensity forms of cardio such as walking.
As for your diet, you can maintain a calorie deficit while unloading during a diet or increase your calorie intake to your maintenance calorie amount if you need a break from your calorie restriction.
If you're in a mass-building phase, you can either maintain your calorie surplus or reduce your calorie intake to your maintenance calorie amount when you need a break from all that food.
References:
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10418074
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20086639
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5118437/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21131862
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26670988
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26049792
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20543732
Source: https://legionathletics.com/deload-week/
By Michael Matthews
It doesn't matter how heavy you can go. If you leave THIS out of your training program, you won't build much muscle mass.
The pump vs. heavy weights
Those who love to feel the muscle burn and get a pump tend to neglect sets with heavy weights and low reps. This is a mistake. But the opposite is just as bad. There's a new interest in training to get strong, which is great, but if you want to look like you're working out, then you also need to train with lighter reps and do higher reps.
Volumization training
Perform an endurance/volumizing exercise for each muscle group you want to build. Sure, doing sets of more than 10 or 12 reps is great for increasing endurance, but you probably won't care about that. What you care about is the visual effect that comes as a result of performing burning and sore sets with higher reps.
Training in this higher repetition range obviously extends the time under tension and it is the longer time under tension that stimulates muscle growth.
Since this hypertrophy that comes from high repetition sets is not primarily based on an increase in the contractile component of the muscle (actin and myosin filaments), it is often referred to as non-functional hypertrophy, which is a very misleading term.
If we disregard the semantics, then when we talk about an increase in the size of a muscle, you can think of it as volumization - an increase in the cross-sectional area of a muscle via an increase in the size and/or number of mitochondria, capillaries, an increase in the size of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, etc.
How many repetitions
Generally speaking, sets of 12 to 20 repetitions are ideal for stimulating muscle volumization. The cosmetic result tends to include rounder, fuller looking muscles. Keep in mind that if your goal is to get bigger muscles, you want to increase all components of the muscle. If you don't, you are potentially giving away possible gains.
Tip: Make this decision, achieve bigger gains
Before you set foot in a gym, you have to make a decision. This decision will determine everything. Here it is.
By Paul Carter
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-make-this-decision-make-more-gains
It is possible to build strength and mass at the same time, but these two attributes and their training have very specific differences. This means that maximizing one means limiting the other. Here's how you should train for each of them.
Selection 1: Build maximum strength
This goal has a strong neural connection. Repetitive effort and specificity are a big part of building strength in a given exercise. So if strength is your main goal, then your program should focus on the exercises where you want to improve the most. You need to focus a large portion of your time and energy in the gym on performing these exercises to maximize your efficiency on these exercises.
Lower reps with a high degree of speed and high volume are usually best when trying to achieve this.
However, if you are chasing the max weights, then you need to decide how to build up this phase. Here are some examples of the big three basic exercises:
- Squats: 5 sets of 8 reps with 65-70% of your 1RM weight (max weight for one rep)
- Deadlifts: 3 sets of 3 repetitions with 75-80% of your 1RM weight
- Bench press: 5 sets of 8 repetitions with 70% of your 1RM weight and 1 to 2 back-off sets at reduced intensity (60%) with as many repetitions as possible.
Selection 2: Build maximum amounts of muscle mass
On the other hand, if you want to get as muscular as possible, then you need to learn to isolate muscle groups effectively, feel the muscle doing the work and build as much tension as possible in the area you are training.
There is a huge difference between these two ideologies. A bodybuilder doing bench presses will try to feel the pecs doing the work. If building muscle mass is the goal, then moving maximum weights for 1 to 3 reps is not the most efficient method.
For hypertrophy, perform 3 to 5 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions for the upper body and 3 to 5 sets of 12 to 20 repetitions for the lower body (not forgetting the warm-up of course).
This is merely a mass-focused program and not a rule set in stone. You can also benefit from things like sets of 100 reps depending on the exercise used and what you are trying to achieve.
Try to start with 4 to 6 exercises per training session to address the areas that need the most work.
The lesson
First determine what you want to focus on so that you can plan your program accordingly. Base your entire training structure on one goal: muscle mass or strength - and not both.
Sure, there's always overlap, but choose one goal to focus on and you'll be much more likely to achieve that goal. And if you want to change your goal later, you can always do so.
Tip: Get tough and defined with density training
Do you want to replace cardio training with training with weights? Then increase your training density.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-get-shredded-with-density-training
Density dominant training
The term training density technically refers to the amount of work performed per unit of time. When it comes to strength training, the easiest way to increase training density is to gradually reduce the rest periods between sets.
With density-dominant training, you perform a moderate volume of work for each muscle group (9 to 12 total sets) and use very short rest intervals (15 to 40 seconds). Alternatively, you can also use techniques to increase training density such as antagonistic supersets (e.g. one chest exercise and one back exercise as a superset). Two ways of progression:
- Use more weight without pausing longer
- Use the same weight while resting for less time
How it works
This approach has the advantage of stimulating a hormone release that burns more fat. Contrary to what the name suggests, growth hormones mobilize fatty acids. By increasing the release of growth hormone, it is possible to positively influence the amount of fat you burn during exercise.
For this reason, training density dominant workouts are good for a fat loss phase and well suited for endomorphic individuals who are normally not efficient when it comes to mobilizing fat. However, such training is not optimal for those who are training to build muscle mass or are performing a pure strength phase.
Tip: full body training vs. split training
Should you train one or two muscle groups or the whole body per day? Here are the pros and cons of both methods.
By Tim Henriques
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-total-body-training-vs-body-part-splits
Should you use a split by muscle group or a full body workout? That depends on who you are and what you need. Both methods have significant benefits. And most people would benefit from spending some time doing both.
A split by muscle group generally means that you train one or two muscle groups per training session. A total body workout means that you perform one exercise from each of the following categories during a training session:
- Upper body push exercise (chest and/or shoulders)
- Upper body pull exercise (latissimus)
- Lower body multi-joint exercise (gluteus, quadriceps and hamstrings)
Here are the pros and cons of both methods. Use this to decide which is the most appropriate approach for you.
Advantages of a full body workout
- Most fitness experts agree that a full-body workout is ideal for beginners
- You are relatively 'fresh' with each exercise as you train one area of the body and then move on to the next. This means there is not too much cumulative fatigue.
- It's easier to incorporate full body exercises like Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics and strongman stuff into this type of training.
- A total body workout can better prepare an athlete to deal with body-wide fatigue (as occurs in many sports) than a split program.
- A total body workout involves a greater percentage of the body's total motor units than a split program.
- Since you are training the entire body, a total body workout may be better when it comes to burning calories and promoting fat loss.
- It's good for recovering from injury or time off training as the intensity is reduced by default, so you can get more out of training more often to improve your technique.
- If you miss a session or two in a week, you'll still get some training stimulus for the whole body rather than neglecting certain areas of the body.
- It's easy to incorporate supersets (antagonistic sets) into your training to save time.
- Light total body workouts are easier than light split days (think of a full body workout vs. an arm workout).
- You won't get the kind of heavy muscle soreness with a full body workout that you can get with a split program.
- You can get a good overall workout in just three days a week.
Disadvantages of a full body workout
- High frequency combined with high intensity can lead to overtraining in certain areas of the body (shoulders from pushing three days a week, tendonitis in the elbows, etc.).
- It is difficult to train more than three days a week in a full body workout, otherwise you would start to train the same muscles on two consecutive days
- A full body workout may not allow for enough recovery if you train at high (relative) intensity or move a lot of weight (high absolute intensity).
- A full body workout may not allow enough training to improve weak areas.
- You may be tempted to reduce the training intensity as you will essentially be training the same thing again in a few days.
- Total body training may not build the same level of local muscle endurance or resistance to fatigue (lactate threshold) as split training.
- It is difficult to incorporate most intensity techniques (descending sets, compound sets, etc.) into a total body workout due to the short recovery time (in days) before the muscle is trained again.
- You don't get much pump in a specific muscle group, which some exercisers like.
Advantages of a split program
- Split training always allows you to maximize intensity levels regardless of how advanced you are.
- Repeated sets for a fatigued muscle builds muscle endurance better, which is especially true for muscle endurance over multiple sets.
- Split training allows you to train more than three days a week.
- Additional training days allow you to spend more time improving weak points in your development or performance.
- Split training gives your muscles more time to recover.
- Most fitness professionals agree that split training is better for bodybuilders and figure class athletes.
- Split training recruits a higher percentage of the total number of motor units in the body than a full body workout. When a muscle is fatigued, you recruit more motor units, which is better for your hypertrophy.
- The heaviest split day is usually heavier than the heaviest full body day (think of a leg day compared to a full body workout).
- It's easy to incorporate intensity techniques such as descending sets, compound sets, etc.
- A split workout may be better suited to teaching a trainee to train intensely.
- You tend to get a lot of muscle soreness and feel the muscles you worked out for several days afterward (some exercisers like this feeling, others don't).
- Split training is better if you want to train several days in a row.
Disadvantages of split training
- After the first exercise for one muscle group, you will be a little exhausted, which means that further training in that area will require a slight reduction in training weight.
- A split program must be planned correctly in advance to avoid overtraining muscle groups that are prone to this (lower back, front shoulder muscles, etc.).
- It is difficult to integrate full body exercises or combination exercises such as thrusters and Olympic weightlifting exercises into a split program.
- Split training may not promote body-wide fatigue, which can result in the exerciser not being prepared for this.
- You may not be stimulating your muscles intensely enough to require such a long recovery time (in days).
- You may feel the need to train 4 to 5 days a week, which means that your training requires more time.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-how-to-look-like-you-lift
By Clay Hyght, DC
If you can't feel the muscle, you're wasting your time. Here is a way to develop this skill for gains in strength and muscle
If you can't feel a muscle during an exercise, then you're not stimulating that muscle enough to achieve growth at maximum rate.
Even if you're training for strength - and using heavy weights and low reps - you should feel the right muscles doing the work. You won't feel a strong pump in those muscles from strength training, but the target muscles should feel harder after a set.
If you lack the motor skills to activate a specific muscle during an exercise, use isolation training for that muscle to learn how to recruit and maximally contract it.
If you are good at recruiting a muscle, then it will become more involved in multi-joint exercises. Performing isolation training on a muscle that you can't otherwise feel working properly is an investment for future gains.
Isolate to integrate
This is the progression I prescribe for someone who doesn't feel a specific muscle working during a basic exercise. I refer to this as the "isolate to integrate" approach. Each step should last for 2 to 4 workouts.
- Step 1: Learn to isolate the stubborn muscle using isolation exercises, constant tension and a focus on the quality of the contraction. If you can't feel your pecs on the bench press, then you can use something like flying movements with dumbbells or on the machine. Try to exhaust the muscle with the least amount of weight possible for this exercise. This will force you to contract the chest as hard as possible and "find" your pecs.
- Step 2: Pre-fatigue the stubborn muscle with an isolation exercise and then perform the heavy multi-joint exercise. The pump that has been built in the muscle will allow you to feel that muscle more strongly during the multi-joint exercise. This will improve the mind-muscle connection, which will help you learn to integrate the muscle during the multi-joint exercise.
- Step 3: Perform the multi-joint exercise first, focusing on feeling the stubborn muscle. This requires using a lighter weight while focusing on the correct muscle contraction - not just moving the weight.
- Step 4: Move to heavier weights on the multi-joint exercise.
Using this approach has allowed me to start using my pecs more on the bench press. Prior to this, I was one of those who bench pressed primarily with my shoulder muscles. Even though I was bench pressing in the 200+ kilo range, I had zero chest development. The isolate to integrate method helped me to engage my pecs more on the heavier exercises and improve their development.
Tip: 2 things every exerciser needs to improve
Some exercisers simply never make it out of the beginner phase. Others get stuck at a more advanced level. Both groups make the same mistakes. Are you one of them?
By Jim Wendler
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-2-things-every-lifter-must-do-to-improve
1 - Put together a larger collection of tools
As I developed and tried to become a multi-sport athlete, I was exposed to a number of different ideas and training styles. This helped me to prepare for every possible competitive situation. I had a wealth of experience that allowed me to make the necessary transitions and progressions.
When I started working at Elite Fitness, I had access to a lot of different coaches with different principles. I didn't always agree with them, but I learned. And when you learn different things, you can save them for later when you need them. That's how you fill your toolbox.
It's easy to get stuck in one way of thinking or one modality. But the bigger your toolbox, the more you'll have at your disposal when you need it.
Let's say you've injured your shoulder and can't do squats with a barbell on your back. What are your options?
What if it's snowing outside and you can't train with the weight sled? How will you adapt? What if you're traveling and don't have access to a gym? What if you get older and are no longer able to bench press? What's your next choice?
Having a large collection of tools at your disposal will allow you to move on seamlessly without getting stuck on old ideas. Remember that you don't have to use everything right now, but the more you learn, the better you will get.
2 - Be willing to adapt and change your approach
What has worked in the past doesn't have to work again. It's always hard to watch a middle-aged man trying to do what he did at 16.
While the thought process may be admirable, the reality is that we are not the same person we used to be and neither is our body.
The easiest way to illustrate this is to look at something we've all seen a hundred times. An exerciser goes from 80 to 95 kilos with the help of a certain diet and training program. Then he is stuck at 95 kilos and doesn't know why he can't get to 100 kilos. The answer is that at 95 kilos he is simply a different man with a different body and that what worked before will not work again.
Just as you change, your training, your diet and your mind have to change too. You won't get anywhere if you don't evolve.
Tip: Manipulate intensity, volume and frequency
Smart training allows you to recover. Strategically change key variables to recover quickly and make faster gains.
By Paul Carter
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-manipulate-intensity-volume-and-frequency
- Frequency: How many times a day or week do you plan to train?
- Intensity: This can represent two things - the actual weight on the bar or how heavy a set was (often defined as something like perceived rate of exhaustion).
- Volume: Your total workload per training session. Basically, this is the amount of exercises, sets and reps you performed during that training session.
There are basically these three variables in training. Choose two to manipulate to meet your body's recovery requirements.
Emphasize two, reduce one
Your body has a limited amount of reserves to draw on. When these are depleted, your progress will come to a halt. This varies from person to person, which is also why some exercisers can grow through three sessions a week of low volume and heavy weights, while others need a completely different style of training.
You need to decide if you...
- Train more frequently - train most days of the week.
- Train with high intensity - train with heavy weights or perform heavy sets to near muscle failure (or both).
- want to train with high volume - use a high volume of sets, repetitions and exercises.
Choose the two options you enjoy the most and adjust the third down. If you enjoy being in the gym every day and like to give it your all when training, then you should keep the volume lower.
If daily training doesn't appeal to you, then find a middle ground and train 3 to 4 days a week.
From here you need to decide if you want to train with a lot of volume, if you want to train really hard or if you want to train with a high level of perceived fatigue.
If your frequency is somewhere in the middle, then either increase the volume at a lower level of intensity or increase the intensity at a lower volume.
You can't grow without recovery from the training stimulus. There is no way around this.
Avoid the point of diminishing returns
All of these variables have a point of diminishing returns. People often have the idea that if 8 sets are good, 12 sets must be great. Then progress comes to a halt and then - believe it or not - these people think they need to do more! The same goes for the weight on the bar or the number of training sessions per week.
Once you've got all these variables properly balanced and you're seeing progress, don't keep playing around thinking there's a more optimal way. Progress at 5% is better than no progress or regression. And sometimes 5% progression is pretty darn good.
Tip: How much protein do you really need?
How much protein does an exerciser need? Well, a lot more than most nutrition experts will tell you based on the recommended daily value. Here are the facts.
By Jamie Hale
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-how-much-protein-you-really-need
"How much protein do I need?"
The official recommended intake is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. A person weighing 86 kilograms would therefore need 69 grams of protein per day. This may be fine for sedentary people, but is it enough for athletes, bodybuilders and weightlifters? No. In fact, it doesn't even come close to the actual requirement.
Exercisers and athletes who care about their performance or body development need significantly more protein than is recommended for the average person. It is a myth that these recommendations are also adequate for physically active people.
The reason lies in the nitrogen balance
The official recommendations regarding protein intake are too low for certain groups. These recommendations were never intended for people who are trying to increase their performance or build or maintain muscle mass.
(In fact, higher protein intake may have beneficial effects for certain conditions and health problems including obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease and muscle wasting).
The official guidelines reflect the minimum daily protein requirement necessary to maintain a short-term nitrogen balance in healthy, moderately active people.
Nitrogen balance compares the amount of nitrogen supplied to the body in the form of dietary protein with the amount of nitrogen excreted from the body. It is often used as a measure of protein balance because protein is 16% nitrogen.
If you consume the same amount of nitrogen that you lose, then you have a good nitrogen balance. If you consume more than you lose, then you have a positive nitrogen balance. If you lose more than you consume, then you have a negative nitrogen balance and are losing protein - which is not good.
Nitrogen balance tests often include an examination of nitrogen levels in urine. About 90% of the nitrogen in urine is made up of urea and ammonium salts - the end products of protein metabolism. The remaining nitrogen comes from other nitrogen-containing compounds.
The nitrogen balance method is useful, but it also has its problems. A urine collection tends to underestimate nitrogen loss, dietary nitrogen intake tends to be overestimated, varying hair and skin losses are a source of error and the response to increased protein intake varies enormously.
The science
- In a study review published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition, the scientists concluded: "Those who engage in strength training may need up to 1.6 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (about twice the current official recommendation), while those who engage in endurance training may need about 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight (about 1.5 times the official recommendation).
- Another article, published in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism, argued that dietary guidelines should be revised to reflect new evidence on protein requirements. According to scientist Donald Layman, a growing body of research shows that protein intake above official recommendations is helpful in maintaining muscle function and mobility. Diets with increased protein intake have been shown to improve health when it comes to preventing obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diseases.
- A review published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary protein on body composition in resistance-trained athletes in a state of caloric restriction and to recommend protein intake for these athletes. The scientists concluded that the range of 2.3 to 3.1 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass represents the most consistent protective protein intake to prevent lean body tissue loss. This means that for every kilogram of your body that is not fat, you should consume 2 to 3 grams of protein per day to maintain your lean body tissue. So if you have 70 kilograms of lean body mass, up to 210 grams of protein per day would be optimal for you.
Tip: Take on the 100 repetition deadlift challenge
Can you do this test in 10 minutes? Check out the details and give it a go.
By Martin Rooney
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-take-the-100-rep-deadlift-challenge
The 100 reps deadlift challenge
If you're looking for a deadlift challenge, here's one that's sure to challenge your body, your heart and your mind.
The execution
- Choose a weight with which you can do 10 to 16 repetitions.
- Perform 20 sets of 5 repetitions with this weight.
- You have 10 minutes to perform 100 repetitions. If you are not able to complete all 100 repetitions, stop after 10 minutes and write down the number of repetitions and try to beat this number next time.
Note: If you haven't done a lot of deadlifts before, aim for 50 reps instead of 100 to acclimatize. If you are training deadlifts, but not with high reps and high volume, give yourself 20 minutes. Accelerate slowly over several weeks before trying to break the 10 minute barrier.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-learn-to-feel-the-muscle-working
By Christian Thibaudeau
