Training
Q: You recently said that training in the evening is the worst time to train, which is especially true for steroid-free exercisers. Why is that?
A: It has something to do with cortisol production. Exercise increases cortisol levels. Let's take a look at what cortisol does.
Its main function is to put the body in the best possible state for the situation in the face of danger and stress. It mobilizes stored energy, increases alertness and temporarily downregulates the immune system so that you have more energy available for muscles and organs that are needed in the face of stress. It also boosts brain performance - primarily by converting noradrenaline into adrenaline.
The ideal cortisol cycle is high in the morning and low in the evening. The cortisol surge in the morning is what wakes you up (when you wake up on your own). The cortisol surge can also increase adrenaline levels, which helps you wake up.
When your cortisol levels drop in the evening, this puts your autonomic nervous system into parasympathetic mode - also known as rest and recovery mode. This allows you to fall asleep more easily, regenerate better, spend more time in deep sleep and achieve a higher growth hormone release.
If cortisol levels remain elevated in the evening, you will find it much harder to fall asleep and get quality sleep. This is the reason why exercising in the evening is not the best choice.
Let's say you exercise regularly in the evening and have restless sleep as a result. This could lead to chronically elevated cortisol levels, which is bad for your gains. The first reason for this is that cortisol increases protein breakdown. The amount of muscle you build is a function of the difference between protein synthesis (anabolism) and protein breakdown (catabolism). If you break down more protein, you'll have a harder time building muscle tissue, especially if you're a steroid-free exerciser.
And then there's the impact on myostatin. Myostatin is a myoprotein that plays a role in how much muscle mass your body allows you to build. The more myostatin you have in your body, the less muscle you can build. Cortisol can increase myostatin levels and thus inhibit muscle growth. It also reduces the rate of muscle glycogen synthesis - the storage of glycogen in the muscles after you've depleted muscle glycogen stores during exercise - which delays recovery.
For all these reasons, the more you can increase cortisol levels by training earlier in the day, the better you can respect your body's natural cortisol levels and the better you can recover.
Chemically assisted exercisers have fewer problems because steroids significantly reduce the effect of cortisol. But natural exercisers need every advantage they can get.
Some people can actually cope with training in the evening: those who can fall asleep even if they've had a killer training session two hours earlier. Usually these people have high levels of either GABA or serotonin, which allows them to shut down their CNS as soon as they finish their workout, putting them into parasympathetic mode.
Interestingly, carbohydrates in the evening (post-workout) can also help reduce CNS activation and lower cortisol levels if you exercise in the evening.
Diagnose your bench press problems
Q: In a previous column, you gave us a table that included problems and solutions for each potential weakness in barbell shoulder presses. Can you do the same for bench presses?
A: Sure. This table only lists the most likely problems that could be responsible for weaknesses in the movement. There could be something more complex going on or there could be a technical issue that is specific to you. But in eight out of ten cases, strengthening in the area of weakness will solve the problem.
So take a look at this table, find out where your weak point is, note the possible causes and use the appropriate support exercise to strengthen that area.
Problem areas in the bench press
|
Problem area |
Causes |
Support exercises |
|
Directly above the chest |
1. the latissimus is weak or not properly integrated 2. external shoulder rotators |
1. pulldowns with extended arms, pendlay rows (1), seal rows (2) 2. cuban presses (3), seated dumbbell snatch (4), external shoulder rotation 3rd Trap 3 Raises, machine for the rear shoulder muscles, Powell Raises (6), Victory Raises (7) |
|
Lower third |
Chest muscles |
Bench press with wide grip, spotto press (8), bench press on reverse incline bench, floor press, dumbbell band press, bench press with duffalo bar (9) |
|
Middle third |
1. front shoulder muscles 2nd rear shoulder muscles and rhomboids (the shoulders are lifted off the bench) |
1st incline bench press, incline bench press with slight incline, prone front raise 2. bench press with resistance bands around the wrists, face pulls, machine for the rear shoulder muscles |
|
Upper third |
Triceps, especially long muscle head |
Pin press with close grip (10), floor press with close grip, close bench press on reverse incline bench, overhead tricep press |
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA0WmbQd7Ds
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBgDGkfT8Rc
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQJoK0a3h44
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX-zAUb5Vug
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8naZC9gSnt0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gXYalKN4LA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV5VV9HK2iQ
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlVDInbYauI
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtbXTauYBYk
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clqyKiqjEIo
If you have corrected a muscle weakness, it will take some time for these strength gains to transfer to the bench press. Your body has to change its intermuscular coordination patterns to do this. So don't panic if your strength gains on the bench press lag a few weeks behind your strength gains on the supporting exercises.
Facts about fat burners
Q: I know training and diet come first, but can fat burning supplements help you get super lean? How do they even work?
A: The fat burner supplement category is quite broad. There are countless different products sold that claim to help you burn fat faster and easier.
Fat loss supplements are formulated to have one of the following effects:
- An increase in metabolic rate or energy expenditure via increased beta-adrenergic activity (adrenaline).
- An increase in the metabolic rate or energy consumption via higher thyroid hormone levels
- Increased fat mobilization via inhibition of alpha-adrenergic receptors
- Increased fatty acid transport and/or increased utilization of fat for the purpose of energy supply.
- Improved insulin sensitivity.
- Activation of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP1.
There may be other mechanisms (such as a reduction in fat intake), but these are the main ones. Let's look at these in detail:
An increased metabolic rate via beta-adrenergic stimulation
This is achieved with the help of products known as stimulants. This category includes, for example, ephedrine, synephrine and similar compounds. Caffeine can also be indirectly integrated here.
These supplements work and increase energy consumption, which leads to fat loss. However, their effect is limited. An old study looked at the effects of the classic epherdrine-caffeine stack. This increased the metabolic rate/energy expenditure by about 5% which equates to perhaps 100 extra Kcal burned per day.
This may still have an effect and help you burn that last bit of fat when preparing for a race, but it won't work miracles. The main reason these stimulants work is that they inhibit appetite, making you eat less and making it easier for you to stick to a diet. They also give you more energy when you are tired from dieting. When you have more energy, you will move more and exercise harder, which will also help you lose more fat.
However, excessive use of stimulants comes at a price. First of all, it leads to an increase in cortisol levels and most of us already have too much of it. More importantly, chronic overstimulation quickly leads to desensitization of adrenergic receptors (meaning they no longer respond well to adrenaline). When this happens, it will become harder to lose fat and you will also have less energy and motivation. Unfortunately, you will feel worse and worse over time.
It's best to save this category of products for losing those last few pounds of fat, as they should only be used for a few weeks.
An increase in metabolic rate via higher thyroid hormone production
The T3 thyroid hormone is largely responsible for increasing your metabolic rate. The body mainly produces the thyroid hormone T4, which is then converted into T3. To increase T3 levels, you can either increase the total production of thyroid hormones or increase the conversion rate from T4 to T3.
To increase total thyroid hormone production naturally, it is best to provide the body with sufficient raw material to produce these hormones. This would be iodine and tyrosine. Supplements containing these two substances can help to support thyroid hormone production.
When it comes to converting T4 to T3, one of the best things you can do is lower your stress levels. Chronically elevated cortisol levels can interfere with this conversion. Zinc deficiency can also be problematic as zinc is needed to convert T4 to T3. Rhodiola and raspberry ketones can also stimulate this conversion.
Increased fat mobilization via inhibition of alpha-adrenergic receptors
There are two main types of adrenergic receptors in the body: alpha-adrenergic and beta-adrenergic receptors. The beta receptors are the on-switch. When activated, they increase heart rate, CNS activation, energy mobilization (including fat) and muscle strength. These are the receptors targeted by most stimulants.
The alpha receptors are the off switch. When activated, they deactivate energy/fat mobilization, slow heart rate, reduce CNS activation, etc. Some supplements act as antagonists for the alpha-adrenergic receptors, which in simple terms means that they block the alpha receptors. When you block these receptors, your body mobilizes energy for longer.
There is also a theory that stubborn fat deposits (areas where you find it difficult to lose fat) have more alpha receptors than beta receptors, making fat mobilization more difficult.
Yohimbine is an alpha-receptor antagonist. For this reason, it can increase fat mobilization - especially in problem areas.
Yohimbine could also be a good idea if you are extremely stressed or planning a monster training session. Such workouts, even without stimulants, can increase adrenaline levels to the point where it can cause problems. A good time to take it is before cardio training at a constant intensity.
Yohimbine isn't a miracle pill either, but it can help shed stubborn body fat if that's all that's left. It works in conjunction with training and makes training more efficient in terms of mobilizing fat. Yohimbine will have a small effect on its own and it will be more effective in combination with cardio training than with weight training.
Increased fatty acid transport and/or increased use of fat as an energy source
Some supplements improve the transport of fatty acids to the mitochondria or increase the levels of enzymes involved in energy production from fat. However, some supplements only claim to do this without actually doing it.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine can help you use fat more efficiently for energy. The main benefits of ALCAR relate to brain function, for which it is quite effective. Some bodybuilders even go so far as to use injectable forms of ALCAR, which works slightly better.
Raspberry ketones can help increase the levels of enzymes responsible for breaking down fatty acids so that more fatty acids can be used by the mitochondria for energy.
Increasing insulin sensitivity
This is the issue that most people should focus on. Apart from helping in improving body composition, improving insulin sensitivity is very healthy. Improving insulin sensitivity has only advantages and no disadvantages.
But how can good insulin sensitivity be good for fat loss? Insulin is a storage hormone and as long as it is elevated above baseline, fat mobilization is less effective. If you are insulin resistant, then your cells don't respond well to insulin and as a result you have to produce a lot more of it when you eat a meal - especially if it's a meal that contains carbohydrates.
When you produce more insulin, it takes longer for insulin levels to return to normal. This means you spend less time in an efficient fat mobilization mode, making it harder to lose fat. Being insulin resistant won't necessarily make you store more fat, but it will make it harder to mobilize fat.
As your insulin sensitivity increases, your body will need to produce less insulin after meals and insulin levels will drop back to normal more quickly, giving you more time in fat mobilizing mode. This makes it easier to lose fat.
There are a number of supplements that can increase insulin sensitivity, including cyanidin-3-glucoside, berberine, r-ALA and omega-3 fatty acids - and chromium also has a small effect. Cinnamon and apple cider vinegar can also have a positive effect on insulin sensitivity.
Supplements that can improve insulin sensitivity will not lead to a dramatic increase in the rate of fat loss, but they will make the fat loss process much easier - and they will also make you much healthier in the process.
An activation of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1)
This results in more heat and less energy being produced, meaning you have to burn more fat to produce the same amount of energy.
The best known "uncoupler" is the highly dangerous DNP. It was quite popular in bodybuilding circles for a while, but has directly led to some deaths. Basically, mitochondrial uncouplers work by making energy production very inefficient. Instead of being used to produce ATP (energy) for the most part, glucose and fatty acid are converted into heat. This means that you need a lot more fatty acids/glucose to produce enough ATP to function. This will dramatically increase energy expenditure.
A few supplements have a small effect on UCP1, but it is not spectacular. If something has a large effect on UCP1, then it will have many potential side effects.
The bottom line on fat burners
Not all fat loss products are ineffective. In fact, the effects of a whole range of ingredients are supported by scientific research.
One of the best supplement strategies to support fat loss is to target insulin sensitivity. Stimulants and antagonists for the alpha-adrenergic receptors are effective, but not magic. They should be used cautiously - and only when really necessary (for that last bit of fat) - and only for a short period of time.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-55
https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-56
By Christian Thibaudeau
Believe me, I know what you're going through right now. You feel miserable because you can't go to the gym.
Aside from losing your stress relief valve, you're probably experiencing a strange kind of body dysmorphia that's not too different from what people who suffer from anorexia experience and constantly worry about being too fat - except that you're constantly worrying about being too thin or physically underdeveloped.
Accordingly, your inability to go to the gym has probably put you in one of the following three camps:
- Even though you know it's completely impossible to turn muscle into fat, you're firmly convinced it's happening.
- You think you're losing muscle every minute. You feel like Captain America, but you're going through the transformation in the other direction. Muscular Steve Rogers gets into the pod and minutes later, skinny little Steve Rogers gets out of the pod and is assigned to the typing pool.
- You're bi - bi-paranoid - and depending on the time of day, you either think you look as scrawny as one of the teenagers from almost every British Netflix comedy series, or as lardy as one of those twins who ride mini motorcycles and whose fat ass almost drags on the ground every time you turn a corner.
I'm here to tell you that there's nothing wrong with you - it's mostly your mind playing tricks on you. Of course you're going to lose some muscle - even if you do some smart and challenging workouts at home. However, there are a few smart nutritional strategies you can adopt to keep your muscles while preventing you from getting fat.
But first, let's confront your fears.
How much will you lose?
We know pretty well that "mechanical unloading" - a technical term for sitting idly on your butt - results in a reduction in the number of satellite cells and that the size of your muscles depends to a not insignificant extent on the number and size of these satellite cells.
Apart from this, not much is known scientifically about the rate at which healthy exercisers lose muscle when they are unable to perform regular resistance training. The only directly related research I could find looked at the effects of a paltry two-week break from training.
The exercisers in this study who continued to consume their usual amount of protein lost absolutely nothing in terms of strength and muscle mass - which was not true for those who didn't maintain their protein habits. That's great, but unfortunately not much is known about a time-out lasting longer than two weeks.
However, there is plenty of research on the loss of strength and muscle mass that comes with complete immobilization, such as that which can occur after serious accidents.
In cases such as these, there appears to be an initial 14-day cushion during which bedridden patients are able to maintain most of their strength and muscle mass, but after this phase both tend to decline rapidly.
On average, these patients lose about 0.5% of their lean body mass and 1.5% of their strength per day (after the aforementioned 14-day phase), but as mentioned earlier, these are bedridden patients and not healthy exercisers who for some reason do not have access to a gym.
Fortunately, we have at least plenty of anecdotal experimental experience reports that tell us that the loss of strength and muscle mass from a relatively long period of time off, with some exercise still involved, is not nearly as bad.
For example, there is the story of a Canadian Olympic weightlifting champion who was unable to train for 5 years due to his career and family commitments, and who managed to regain 90% of his former strength within 2 to 3 months despite this extremely long training hiatus.
The average exerciser will probably lose between 3 and 5 kilos of muscle mass during a three-month training break. We're talking about a three-month period during which you live like a non-training person, doing no real physical work apart from taking out the trash once a week.
Of course, you'll lose significantly less strength and muscle mass if you do any kind of regular exercise - even if it's less ideal and involves household objects like crates of drinks, a bowling ball or busts of Beethoven or Mozart.
Of course, losing any amount of muscle mass can be emotionally distressing, but this is where some of the studies on loss of strength and muscle mass in bedridden subjects come in - they at least provide us with some nutritional strategies that can help minimize the loss of strength and muscle mass in healthy but gym-less people.
Here are these strategies in descending order from least important to most important.
8 - Regulate your energy intake
Yes, this goes without saying - but probably not for the reasons you'd think.
Of course, you know that not exercising makes you more prone to getting fat, but excessive energy (calorie) intake during periods of inactivity does something else - it's associated with higher systemic markers of systemic inflammation known as C-reactive proteins, which impair body-wide protein turnover.
A positive energy balance during periods of inactivity is associated with higher levels of muscle atrophy, although this may seem counter-intuitive. For the sake of your waistline and your muscles, you should therefore optimize your energy intake. Eating enough calories will help maintain your muscle mass. Eating too many calories, on the other hand, will help break down those muscles and also make you fat.
If you're gaining weight, you're obviously eating too much junk food and other treats and your muscles will pay the price.
7 - Spread your protein intake evenly
When we exercise, most of us spread our protein intake evenly over three meals (and of course the many extra snacks we eat between those meals.
However, when we don't go to the gym, we tend to revert to our old "civilian" habits, which include shifting the largest amount of our daily protein intake towards the evening meal. This is a mistake. An even distribution of protein intake throughout the day has been shown to promote a 25% higher protein synthesis response compared to an irregular pattern.
So if you eat 30 grams of protein at dinner, you should also try to eat 30 grams of protein at breakfast and 30 grams at lunch.
6 - Extinguish the flame
If you're not exercising, it's likely that you're stressed. Combine this with any poor eating habits you may have picked up during your inactive phase and it's likely that your body will have elevated levels of inflammation. Sustained systemic inflammation is not a good thing in general, but it has also been shown that inflammation is the primary negative regulator of skeletal muscle protein synthesis during periods of muscle wasting.
To keep inflammation under control, you should eat anti-inflammatory foods such as oily fish, olive oil, green leafy vegetables or nuts such as almonds and walnuts. If you can afford the supplement route, you can also take fish oil capsules and/or curcumin.
5 - Use antioxidants
Oxidative stress is linked to inflammation, but it's not the only cause. Other things can also cause this type of stress - things like too little physical activity, environmental stress, too little sleep, a less-than-optimal diet, etc.
Regardless of the cause, there is increasing evidence that oxidative stress is directly linked to skeletal muscle atrophy.
When the number of reactive oxygen species in the muscles increases, this leads to DNA fragmentation and protein oxidation, all of which leads to apoptosis - another word for muscle cell death. Under the microscope, the whole thing would look a lot like the Starship Enterprise after being riddled with holes by the phasers of a Klingon spaceship.
One remedy for high levels of oxidative stress is an intake of antioxidants, which is thought to be a useful approach to reducing the muscle breakdown associated with muscle wasting diseases.
For this reason, you should eat selected fruits, berries, vegetables and plant foods in general and if you are not getting at least four servings of these per day, you should consider using supplements that contain antioxidants in concentrated form.
4 - Use creatine
We all know what creatine does for exercisers who actually train with weights, but there is also scientific evidence that creatine also helps to maintain muscle mass during periods of inactivity.
Johnston et al found that exercisers who were given creatine and had one arm immobilized for two weeks maintained their upper arm muscles better than a second group who were only given a placebo. Creatine also reduced the reduction in elbow flexion strength (-4.1% vs. 21.5%) and the reduction in elbow flexion strength (-3.8% vs. -18.3%).
Again, these studies involved limb immobilization, so we can only extrapolate from these results. One conclusion would be that if you were using creatine before your training break, you should consider using it during your training break as well.
Creatine has many healthy properties. Among them, it at least increased the amount of fluid in the muscle cells, which at least gives you the appearance of someone who hasn't missed any training sessions.
3 - Keep your testosterone levels high
Stress reduces testosterone levels, which also applies to inactivity. And when testosterone levels drop, so does protein synthesis.
Although we do not want to tempt anyone to use banned performance-enhancing substances and have good reasons for rejecting the use of these compounds, it should be mentioned for the sake of completeness that an increase in testosterone levels can help to counteract muscle loss. Numerous studies support this, although most of these studies did not look at athletes who had to take a break from training, but focused on patients suffering from serious illnesses that included muscle atrophy as a side effect.
As a healthier alternative, it may also be helpful to ensure that testosterone levels remain in the normal range or are even slightly elevated. To achieve this, you could consider using legally available testosterone booster supplements.
2 - Take leucine between meals
This branched-chain amino acid has been shown in several studies to maintain muscle mass, strength and endurance in bedridden patients. Leucine is known as a "nutrient signal" that reduces muscle protein breakdown while stimulating muscle protein synthesis. It does this by stimulating the mTOR pathway and other signaling pathways. These pathways are known to become resistant to leucine in the case of chronic inflammation or oxidative stress, both scenarios that are common when immobilized or disused.
A few grams of leucine can be enough to provide an anabolic boost between meals when the body is lacking protein. Taking it in combination with all other essential amino acids in the form of an EAA supplement can further help reduce muscle breakdown.
1 - Ensure adequate protein intake every day
One of the problems of not using muscle is that it induces anabolic resistance, which reduces the protein synthesis response to protein consumption. This makes it all the more important that you keep your protein intake in the adequate range, if not high.
If you were consuming 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day before your training break, you should also consume at least 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day - or more - during your training break. You can consume this amount of protein in the form of whole foods, but this can put you at risk of exceeding your daily calorie consumption - and we have already looked at the negative effects of this.
A good alternative is to use a protein supplement that provides you with large amounts of protein without excess calories.
This time will also pass.
You've probably noticed that most of the nutritional strategies mentioned above for preventing muscle loss during a training break are the same as those you should use if you train hard and often.
This shouldn't be too surprising. At the end of the day, muscles are still muscles. They just need a little more of everything when you train.
But even if you lose some muscle mass during your training abstinence, keep in mind that when you are able to train again, you will be rested, regenerated and ready to train hard. You will quickly rebuild what you have lost due to muscle memory - a phenomenon that is now scientifically proven.
In the meantime, you can think about what you want to do when you can go back to the gym. In a way, it's a way to start again. Personally, I've said to myself at several points over the years "If I had to start over and knew what I know today, I'd do a lot of things differently."
I'm sure you've said this to yourself at some point. If this is the case, then you now have the chance to start again and do things properly. Do without stupid programs and exercises. Follow a plan. Train more deadlifts and less curls. Do the right thing when it comes to your diet.
Have a plan!
References:
- Arny Ferrando, et al. "EAA supplementation to increase nitrogen intake improves muscle function during bed rest in the elderly," Clinical Nutrition, Volume 29, Issue 1, February 2010, pages 18-23.
- Elfego Galvan, Emily Arentson-Lantz, Séverine Lamon, and Douglas Paddon-Jones "Protecting Skeletal Muscle with Protein and Amino Acid during Periods of Disuse," Nutrients. 2016 Jul; 8(7): 404.
- Hugues Magne, et al, "Nutritional strategies to counteract muscle atrophy caused by disuse and to improve recovery," Nutrition Research Reviews, Volume 26, Issue 2, December 2013, pp. 149-165.
- Adam Johnston, et al. "Effect of Creatine Supplementation During Cast-Induced Immobilization on the Preservation of Muscle Mass, Strength, and Endurance," The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23 (1), 116-120, Jan 2009.
- Mettler S, Mitchell N, Tipton KD, "Increased protein intake reduces lean body mass loss during weight loss in athletes." Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010 Feb;42(2):326-37.
- Phillips, SM, Glover, EI & Rennie, MJ, "Alterations of protein turnover underlying disuse atrophy in human skeletal muscle" J Appl Physiol 107, 2009, 645-654.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/prevent-muscle-loss-the-definitive-guide
From TC Luoma
Are you focusing on the wrong things?
The only thing that guarantees you progress is progression. Quite obvious, isn't it? Why are you focusing on anything other than progression? Feeling the burn. Getting a massive pump. A killer muscle ache. Not being able to climb stairs after a leg day.
All of this sounds cool and could be considered a badge of honor, but none of it will guarantee that your training session was effective and led to improvements. And yet we prefer to focus on these elements rather than objective progression. Here's a training method that will help you focus on what really matters.
The double progression method
In the double progression model, your goal is to perform certain numbers of sets with a certain number of repetitions with the same weight - e.g. 5 x 8 with 100 kilos.
Use a repetition range where there are about three repetitions between the lower and upper end of the repetition range. Your goal is to perform all your work sets at the top end of the repetition range. If you choose a range of 5 to 8 repetitions, this would be 8 repetitions.
If you can do 8 reps on each set:
If you are able to complete all of your planned work sets with the same weight at the top end of your chosen repetition range, then you can increase the weight on your next training session.
If you can't complete 8 reps on each set:
If you don't manage to reach the top end of the repetition range on each of your sets and do, for example, 8, 8, 8, 7 and 6 reps on your 5 working sets, then that's perfectly fine, but it means that your training weight will be the same on your next training session. You should only increase the weight when you can complete all your work sets at the top end of the repetition range.
This is real progression. And that's what you need to build muscle and strength.
Tip: Use a balloon to increase your deadlift strength
It may sound strange - well, it is kind of strange - but this technique actually works.
By Alex Nurse
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-use-a-balloon-to-boost-your-deadlift
Deadlifts and the need for stiffness
During deadlifts, our torso - everything above the pelvis - is statically loaded. This means that the job of our torso is not to move. All of our movement comes from the hips and legs.
Therefore, one of the most common reasons for failing at higher intensities is a lack of stiffness generated by the torso and front core - the deep and superficial abdominals, lateral abdominals, latissimus, back extensors, etc. This stiffness is what allows us to maintain a neutral position of the lumbar spine and avoid energy leaks at our central joint system.
As an advanced exerciser, we automatically drop the bar when we realize that the neutral position of the lumbar spine is compromised. We don't even have to think about it. Reciprocal inhibition kicks in to protect us.
It should therefore stand to reason that methods that focus on continually increasing stiffness in the thoracic region during our repetitions will result in reduced reciprocal inhibition and heavier weights during deadlifts. This is where a new breathing technique comes into play to increase our strength performance.
Breathing for more strength
Basically, breathing is the key to moving heavy weights. Think of the diaphragm - our primary breathing muscle - as a parachute surrounded by the abdominal walls. When we inhale, our abdominal wall stretches to make room for the diaphragm to unfold. When we exhale, the exact opposite happens and our abdominal wall contracts to put pressure on the diaphragm and push the air out of the lungs.
How does this apply to training? As it turns out, you can use a balloon to learn how to breathe properly during deadlifts. The result? Heavier, safer deadlifts.
The balloon breathing exercise
- Take a balloon and a short straw. Before the deadlift, lie on the floor and rest your feet against a wall.
- Push the straw into the balloon and exhale for as long as you can (so hard that your eyes become bloodshot and your cheeks redden), trying to fill the balloon with air. Aim for about 7 to 12 seconds.
- After you have exhaled every cubic centimeter of oxygen you have, squeeze the straw so that no air escapes from the balloon. Then breathe in through your nose into your diaphragm (try not to do chest breathing) and repeat.
- When the balloon is full, let all the air out and do it again.
This exercise will only take a minute or two. When you do the exercise for the first time, you will feel so much tension in your abdominal muscles that you will feel like you are about to crack a rib. The straw ensures that the exhalation lasts a long time, which allows a deeper contraction of the abdominal area. The balloon ensures that your breathing is powerful. Try to get to the point where you can fill the balloon with a single breath.
The balloon and the straw work together to greatly increase your capacity to generate stiffness in the lumbar spine and front center of the body and, most importantly, to greatly increase the speed at which you can generate stiffness. When you've gotten good enough to fill the balloon quickly with a single exhale, you'll be able to quickly generate all the stiffness you need for good bar speed regardless of weight.
Transfer this new skill to the bar
Generate stiffness in the same way you did with the balloon and you will find that your nervous system is prepared for heavy pulling. Start exhaling right before you move the bar up and notice how stable you feel. Try to do this for a full repetition while exhaling.
Master this and you will be deadlifting without sacrificing chest pressure or oxygenation of your working tissues. As a result, you will produce less lactic acid and hydrogen ions and be physically prepared for the next repetition.
Tip: Eat these foods to fight cravings
If you have the wrong bacteria in your digestive tract, you will suffer from junk food cravings. Get the right bacteria with this tip.
By Erick Avila
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-eat-these-foods-to-squash-cravings
Gut bacteria and constant cravings
From the moment we are born, our bodies are colonized by thousands of bacteria. These microorganisms have a powerful impact on our health, including our metabolism.
Lean and obese people have different gut flora in terms of amounts and types of bacteria. Lean people usually have a greater diversity of microorganisms in their gut. Gut bacteria such as firmicutes (which are over-represented in obese people) are more efficient at extracting energy from food and storing dietary fat, meaning that these people will store more fat than leaner people on the same diet.
Junk food can lead to an increase in troublesome, obesity-promoting gut bacteria, which leads to cravings for more food to feed these bacteria. This creates an endless cycle of cravings for foods with low nutrient density and high calorie density, making it harder for these people to lose fat.
The power of prebiotics
One way to improve gut health is to include prebiotics in your diet. Prebiotics are foods that are rich in fiber, which promotes the growth of "good" bacteria. Some of these fibers include beta glucan, psyllium, pectin, fructo-oligosaccharides and other oligosaccharides, all of which are usually listed as dietary fibers on food labels.
Prebiotic rich foods include:
- Leeks
- garlic
- onions
- yam beans
- asparagus
- bananas
- Barley
- Oats
- Wheat bran
- Dried fruit (figs, dates and prunes)
- Chickpeas
- Red kidney beans
The benefits
Prebiotics influence our digestive tract in several ways:
- An improvement in gut flora: greater diversity in our gut flora affects our digestive system and the way we break down and store food.
- Stimulating appetite-regulating hormones: Our hormones can influence how often we are hungry and what we eat.
- Increased satiety after meals: Feeling fuller for longer keeps calorie intake under control.
- An influence on macro and micronutrients: Prebiotics improve the absorption of certain minerals we are usually deficient in, such as magnesium and calcium. They can also improve our insulin sensitivity.
Appetite science
The intestinal flora has a direct influence on appetite suppressing and stimulating hormones. In our hypothalamus, we have a receptor for digestive tract hormones that measures circulating levels of appetite-regulating hormones such as pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) (which inhibits appetite) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP) (two appetite-stimulating hormones). Signals from our digestive tract influence the circulation of these hormones, leading to changes in our energy expenditure and eating behavior.
A seven-week study conducted with rats, in which a diet rich in saturated fat was combined with a prebiotic (glocomannan), showed an increase in adiponectin levels and a reduction in blood sugar. Adiponectin regulates energy balance and improves glucose metabolism and fatty acid oxidation. Higher levels of circulating adiponectin are associated with a leaner body.
Tip: Build strength and muscle mass during the same training session
If your workout makes you sacrifice strength just to look good, something is going wrong. Get the best of both worlds with this brutal method.
By Corey Young
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-size-strength-in-the-same-workout
You can train for gains in muscle mass. You can train for strength gains. But you can't do both at the same time, can you? Experienced exercisers know that if you optimize your training for muscle hypertrophy, you won't get as strong as you could.
Conversely, optimizing your training for strength gains will not result in maximum muscle gain. Why? Because these two goals require different training approaches.
Scientific research has shown that training for maximum muscle mass or maximum strength is dependent on a number of different factors such as repetition ranges, load, tempo, rest-pause and a million other variables. But what about those of us who aren't happy doing one or the other? Is it impossible to get the best of both worlds in one training cycle? Or maybe even during the same training session?
The truth is that you can maximize your gains in one of these aspects while getting much closer to the other goal than you are right now. This is where the 5-10-20 method comes into play. This method is based on triple sets and works as follows.
Triple sets for those who are greedy for growth
The triple sets you will use in the 5-10-20 method include a range of different repetition ranges and a varying degree of intensity from set to set. In triple sets, you perform three exercises for the same muscle group to recruit as many motor units as possible and exhaust as many muscle fibers as possible.
- The first exercise: Perform a basic multi-joint exercise. This is non-negotiable. Use your ability to move some real weight while your muscles are still fresh and rested. The heavier weight is not only optimal for increasing strength, but also produces an acute hormonal response resulting in increased levels of testosterone and growth hormone.
- The second exercise: At this point you perform another multi-joint exercise for the same muscle group, but using a different plane of movement. For example, if you used flat bench press as the first exercise, you can use incline bench press as the second exercise.
- The third exercise: This is an isolation exercise. Use a machine or cable pulley to prevent injury as fatigue sets in and you approach the point of muscle failure. For years it was thought that training with higher repetitions was not beneficial for muscle growth. However, recent research suggests that training with lighter weights (30% of 1RM weight) can be just as effective for muscle growth as training with heavier weights if you train in a repetition range of 25 to 35 repetitions.
The 5-10-20 method
The numbers 5, 10 and 20 represent the number of repetitions in the individual sets of the triple set. In the first exercise you perform 5 repetitions, in the second 10 and in the third 20.
1 - The first exercise
This is your first heavy multi-joint exercise. Perform it with a weight that corresponds to 75 to 80% of your maximum working weight for 5 repetitions. Resist the temptation to perform more than 5 reps and go to muscle failure. Leave 1 to 2 reps in the tank, which will allow you to train at a higher intensity for the rest of the set.
Note: Go to muscle failure on the last round of your triples. At this point, your muscles will be quite fatigued and forcing 1 to 2 more reps will not have as big an impact on the rest of the set as reaching muscle failure earlier.
2 - The second exercise
Now that your muscles and joints are up to speed, move on to a more traditional bodybuilding repetition range of 8 to 12 reps with 65% of your 1RM weight.
As your muscles will already be exhausted from the previous heavy set, a weight that would normally take you to the point of muscle failure after 12 reps is the perfect choice. Using a weight that is too heavy is counterproductive and would interfere with your training with heavier weights in the following rounds. Choosing a weight that is too light will also affect your performance and have an impact on the next phase of the set.
3 - The third exercise
Choose an isolation exercise and a weight that will allow you to perform around 20 repetitions. This will pump as much blood as possible into your muscles and drive muscle acid production. Use either machines or cable pulleys. Avoid using a weight that is too heavy or too light. Reaching the point of muscle failure after 12 to 15 repetitions is not good. The same applies to doing 20 repetitions with a weight that you could have done 50 repetitions with.
Example: chest training with the 5-10-20 method
Perform these three exercises one after the other and then pause for 90 seconds. This is your first round. Perform three rounds.
- Flat bench press x
- Dumbbell incline bench press x 10
- Crossover cable pulls x 20
https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-measure-your-gains-with-this-method
By Christian Thibaudeau
Any program will work if it's not completely idiotic, but you need to consider the basics. So before you think about what new exercise you might try, make sure the foundation of your training program is solid. Knowing how far you can go to muscle failure and what volume, load and frequency should look like will determine how effective your training will be. If just one of these aspects is off, your gains will stall.
1. use muscle failure conservatively
To muscle failure can be beneficial when used under the right circumstances and in the right doses. And it's not the only stimulus for growth - maybe not even the best. Sure, there's some research showing that the weight used isn't as important as training to muscle failure when it comes to muscle hypertrophy.
One experiment even showed that a weight in the range of 30% of the exerciser's maximum weight resulted in similar hyertrophy as a load equivalent to 85% of their maximum weight for the exercise in question. This would suggest that muscle failure is necessary to stimulate muscle growth. But, as always, it's not that simple. You can't ignore all the bodybuilders who have built a lot of muscle without going to muscle failure.
So is reaching muscle failure really the stimulus for muscle growth? Or is it just the result of taking what is necessary for growth to the extreme?
Here's why training to muscle failure seems to work: by the time you reach muscle failure, you will have exhausted each muscle fiber to the point where it can no longer produce enough force to overcome resistance. But muscle failure is not always based on exhaustion of the muscle fibers.
Muscle failure can also occur due to depletion of energy (either the phosphagens or glucose in the muscles) and at very high repetition rates, mitochondrial failure can also occur. And a common cause of muscle failure is over-acidification of the muscle. Lactic acid and hydrogen ions accumulate as a result of mechanical work. These impair the contraction of the muscle fibers. If this impairment is severe enough, you will reach muscle failure.
If you perform sets of 40 to 60 seconds (12 to 20 repetitions), this is probably what causes muscle failure. In addition, people with more fast-twitch muscle fibers reach this point much faster because they produce more lactic acid. So a person with more fast-twitch muscle fibers could reach muscle failure due to acidosis or contractile interference with sets as short as 25 to 30 seconds.
Reaching muscle failure does not necessarily mean that you have exhausted your muscle fibers to the point that they can no longer perform. Additionally, in many exercises, muscle failure does not mean that the target muscle reaches muscle failure. Muscle failure is more likely to be based on other factors: the muscles involved cannot produce enough force; the correct posture and training mechanics cannot be maintained, resulting in reduced training efficiency or CNS fatigue.
Bottom line: training to muscle failure can be useful for certain types of training and for certain individuals, but it certainly shouldn't be used for all exercises.
Sure, you can go to muscle failure to recruit more muscle fibers without having to use heavy weights. The central nervous system pretty much always recruits the slow-contracting muscle fibers first. If the weight is too heavy for the strength of these fibers alone, then the moderately contracting fibers are brought into play. And if the weight is even heavier, the fast-contracting fibers are added to the mix.
Muscle failure or not - achieve maximum muscle fiber recruitment
The average person needs to move about 80 to 85% of their maximum weight. People with a very strong dominance of fast-twitch muscle fibers or very high neural efficiency may be able to do this at 65 to 70% of maximum weight. Of course, this applies to normal repetitions.
If you train explosively, you can also recruit the fast-twitch fibers with less weight. The other way to recruit the fast-twitch fibers is to use muscle fatigue to make the weight heavier. In a normal set, you lose 1 to 4% of your strength per repetition. The longer the set lasts, the greater the loss of strength from repetition to repetition.
In a set of 20 repetitions, for example, you have a much greater loss of strength from repetition 19 to repetition 20 than from repetition 1 to repetition 2. This is due to the fact that more fast-contracting fibers are recruited in the later repetitions and fatigue more quickly. There is also a greater accumulation of lactic acid.
After several repetitions with 60% of your maximum weight, you can recruit just as many muscle fibers as you could with a weight of 80% of your maximum weight, because the weight becomes heavier relative to your current strength potential as you fatigue. During a set of 15 repetitions using 60% of your maximum weight, the repetitions will feel like this:
Parameters at 60% of 1RM weight
- Repetition 1: feels like 60%
- Repetition 2: feels like 62%
- Repetition 3: feels like 63%
- Repetition 4: feels like 64%
- Repetition 5: feels like 65%
- Repetition 6: feels like 66%
- Repetition 7: feels like 67%
- Repetition 8: feels like 68%
- Repetition 9: feels like 70%
- Repetition 10: feels like 72%
- Repetition 11: feels like 74%
- Repetition 12: feels like 76%
- Repetition 13: feels like 78%
- Repetition 14: feels like 80%
- Repetition 15: feels like 83%
Remember that maximal voluntary muscle fiber recruitment occurs at 80 to 85% of 1RM weight. On repetition 14, 60% feels like 80% due to accumulated fatigue. At repetition 13 or 14, you recruit all the muscle fibers you can due to fatigue. What would happen if you continued the set with 50 repetitions until you reached muscle failure? The additional repetitions would feel like this:
- Repetition 15: feels like 83%
- Repetition 16: feels like 85%
- Repetition 17: feels like 88%
- Repetition 18: feels like 91%
- Repetition 19: feels like 95%
- Repetition 20: feels like 100%
Muscle failure would probably occur on repetition 20. The first 13 repetitions up to what feels like 78% are what you use to prepare your body for the repetitions that count and with these repetitions you prepare for the exhaustion that forces your body to recruit muscle fibers with a higher threshold. Repetitions 14 to 18 are the productive repetitions where you have full recruitment and can stimulate/exhaust the muscle fibers that are most receptive to growth.
The final reps are the danger zone where you are likely to reach muscle failure. These repetitions put much more stress on the nervous system and dramatically affect your capacity to do more work. Think of each set where you reach this point as the same type of set where you would move your 1RM weight.
It's important to understand this: Going to muscle failure has the same neurological effects as using your max weight because you reach muscle failure when the relative weight of the resistance is slightly higher than your strength potential at that moment. In other words, the repetition at which you reach the point of muscle failure is the repetition at which you can no longer move the weight despite maximum effort.
Training to the point of muscle failure while building muscle is like a powerlifter always attempting maximum reps in their training. Neurologically, it has the same effects because the last repetition is a repetition with maximum effort: it can be effective, but it will also burn you out quickly. Going to muscle failure is just a form of insurance. It helps you make sure you've recruited as many muscle fibers as possible. The thing about an insurance policy, however, is that it costs you something. The cost is neural exhaustion and ultimately hormonal exhaustion.
If you have to do it, then you should know which exercises it's okay to go to muscle failure on. Only do this with exercises that have low neurological demands - mainly isolation exercises and exercises on machines. Avoid going to muscle failure in multi-joint exercises.
2. the load: choose the right weight
Ronnie Coleman once said that the only way to build muscle fast is to achieve a pump with heavy weights. This may sound simplistic, but it tells you a lot about the choice of weights during training.
The bottom line? You need to use weights that are heavy enough for you but still create the muscle tension necessary to generate a pump. And there are two ways to mess this up:
a. Using weights that are too heavy
This will not give you a solid pump. There is a point at which you can still do the work with more weight, but you won't feel the target muscle working properly. And the tension is distributed to other muscles and even tendons.
Moving maximal or near-maximal weights that don't generate a pump and during which you don't feel the target muscle properly can be used to improve strength and muscle hardness. However, this cannot be your primary training approach if your goal is to build muscle.
b. Using weights that are too light
This will not lead to maximum muscle growth if used as a primary training method. Using a light weight can allow you to perform repetitions with constant tension: slow repetitions with a deliberate hard contraction of the muscle. You can also perform sets with high repetitions, descending sets and supersets and achieve a huge pump. But the weight is not heavy enough to generate maximum tension.
Using light weights to achieve a crazy pump can help stimulate muscle growth by increasing nutrient uptake by the muscle and mTor activation. But it can't be your primary way to train if you're trying to build maximum amounts of muscle.
Try to find someone who has built an impressive amount of muscle with just light pump training. These people do exist, but they are often older and have a long history of previous heavy training. If you already have a lot of muscle, then you don't need as much heavy training to further improve your body. But don't look at what the heavy guys are doing now, look at what they've been doing their whole lives to get to where they are now.
Challenge yourself without losing the feeling of intense muscle contraction. This is the key to building muscle mass. Try to challenge yourself to anything between 4 and 8 hard repetitions per set, focusing on 6 to 8 repetitions. This will be hard enough to stress your muscles enough, but it won't be so hard that it shifts tension away from the target muscle. It will also give you enough mechanical work to achieve the muscle fiber exhaustion that leads to muscle growth.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and temporary gains
When scientists studied exercisers who trained to muscle failure, they found similar gains in exercisers who used 30% of their maximum weight and those who used 80% of their maximum weight. However, the same study also found that those who trained at 80% of their maximum weight built about twice as much strength as those who used 30% of their maximum weight.
This should tell you one of two things: either the lighter weight stimulated more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (an increase in cell volume without the actual muscle fibers getting bigger) or their neural factors weren't trained as much. In both cases, this is a major disadvantage.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is lost more quickly than hypertrophy of the actual muscle fibers. So even if you can increase your sarcoplasmic hypertrophy to further increase your gains, most of your training should be aimed at making your muscle fibers bigger, which will make your muscles bigger and stronger.
Neural efficiency is also important. The more efficient you are at recruiting your muscle fibers, the less fatigue your body will require to build the maximum amount of muscle fibers. The faster you can recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers during a set, the easier you will recover, which will allow for either more volume or a higher frequency.
3 - Volume: Know how many sets you should perform
For hypertrophy, using sets of 4 to 8 repetitions per set and performing 2 to 3 work sets is best. And if you increase the weight slowly, it could be 2 slightly lighter warm-up or preparation sets and then 2 to 3 challenging work sets. Four sets can also work well.
In terms of weekly volume per muscle group, Brad Shoenfeld has presented data showing that performing 10 sets or more per week results in more muscle growth (+9.8%) than performing 5 to 9 sets (+6.6%) or less than 5 sets (+5.4%).
A safe assumption is that 10 to 15 sets per week is optimal for maximum hypertrophy. This could mean performing 5 or 6 exercises per muscle group with 2 to 3 work sets. More than this could compromise your gains.
The weekly volume can be split into 1, 2 or 3 weekly training sessions. You can either spread the volume evenly or do more volume for one muscle group on one day and less volume on another day.
The volume per training session also depends on the glycogen status. If building muscle is a priority, we want to avoid depleting glycogen stores too much, as this triggers catabolic actions that impair muscle growth. So if carbohydrate intake is low, the volume per training session needs to be reduced. On the other hand, using a workout drink that contains the right carbohydrates can increase the volume you can tolerate during a training session.
The point of diminishing returns
Yes, volume is important if you want muscle growth. Performing 10 sets per muscle per week will give you almost twice as much growth as performing 5 sets or less per week per muscle. But don't overdo it. Using too high a volume will not stimulate additional gains as long as you are not using steroids.
4 - Training frequency: How often you should train
Frequency is king. This is true for hypertrophy and even more so for strength. Scientists have come to the conclusion that training a muscle at a higher frequency is superior to training at a lower frequency. Train each muscle twice a week for maximum growth.
Keep in mind that some muscles can be trained significantly even if they are not the main focus of an exercise. The pectorals are trained by a close bench press, even though this exercise primarily trains the triceps. This does not mean that all muscles should be trained three times a week, but that they should be trained at least to some degree on two or three days for maximum growth. Here is an example:
- Monday: chest and upper back
- Tuesday: lower back, quadriceps dominant
- Wednesday: no training
- Thursday: shoulders, biceps and triceps
- Friday: No training
- Saturday: back, lower body (posterior muscle chain dominant)
- Sunday: No training
With this training split, each muscle is trained twice a week and the biceps even three times a week if you take into account the stimulation for the biceps on the back days.
The weekly workout
Take a look at the training frequency of elite weightlifters and top athletes. Most train 4 or 5 days a week - with the exception of Olympic weightlifters who require more frequent training of their technique. If these people - who have superior genetics and are in their prime - are making optimal progress with 4 to 5 days of training per week, what makes us think we can cope with more?
Training 5 days a week or more is best temporarily during an overreaching phase for a few weeks before a vacation or for people with a low stress life. But someone who is under a lot of psychological stress or who works physically should stick to 4 training days per week.
A smart training split can have you train each muscle group to some degree twice a week with only four workouts per week. It would also be possible to achieve this with three training sessions, but the daily workload might be too high, which can lead to a lower quality of work towards the end of the training session.
Rest days
They are important for maximum muscle growth, optimization of glycogen stores and neuronal regeneration - all of which are necessary for optimal training performance, which in turn is necessary for muscle growth. A healthy immune system and a healthy hormonal system require rest days. The schedule of training and rest days that I recommend is as follows:
- 2 days of training
- 1 day off training
- 1 training day
- 1 day off training
- 1 training day
- 1 day off training
- Start again from the beginning
References
- Mitchell, C., Churchward-Ve
- nne, T., West, D., Burd, N., Breen, L., Baker, S., & Phillips, S. (2012). Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 113(1), 71-7.
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/how-to-train-for-non-stop-muscle-growth
By Christian Thibaudeau
It sounds crazy, but this challenging training session will not only test your manhood, but also set your heart and lungs on fire.
The bench press & pull-up challenge
- Load the bar with your body weight for the bench press part. Perform superset bench presses with pull-ups for 5 reps each.
- Perform 8 repetitions of each exercise. Pause when necessary to maintain good form when performing the exercise.
- You have 10 minutes to perform a total of 16 sets (8 sets of bench presses and 8 sets of pull-ups). If you need more than 10 minutes, stop after 10 minutes and record the number of repetitions. Beat this result next time.
Note: You should be familiar with both exercises. As you will experience fatigue, you should have a training partner at your side during the bench press.
Tip: Use load contrast training for new growth
Here's a new way to stimulate hypertrophy that you've probably never tried before.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-load-contrast-training-for-growth
Intra-set load contrast
This method utilizes the potentiating effect of heavy training. By performing a heavy exercise first, you excite the nervous system and neuromuscular junctions and activate more muscle fibers. If you immediately switch to hypertrophy training and use the same movement pattern, you will keep more muscle fibers active and stimulate more growth.
Use two different loads for both sets. Load the bar with 75% of your maximum weight. Then slide two locks onto the bar. Then add 10 to 15% extra weight to the outside of the bar before the locks. (The bar is now loaded with 85 to 90% of your maximum weight). This will make it easier to remove the extra weight faster before you perform the descending set. The whole thing looks like this:
Log Press: Intra Set Load Contrast
- Perform 1 repetition with the heavy weight (85 to 90%)
- Quickly remove the extra weight. Ideally a training partner should do this.
- Take the lighter weight and perform as many clean repetitions as you can without bouncing. This should be around 7 to 10 repetitions. If you can do more than 10 reps, increase the weight.
This method will build a lot of muscle mass. It will also get you used to using heavier weights, which will translate into maximum strength gains. Although this method can be used with any exercise, it is more suitable for heavy basic exercises such as squats, bench presses, shoulder presses, rowing, etc.
Tip: Perform one set for arm growth
Yes, just one set. A killer set that will make your eyes pop out of your head.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-one-set-for-arm-growth
The multi-hold pump set
This technique takes pain to a new level. It is best used at the very end of a training session. Only do one set this way! This method overloads the muscle with tons of local growth factors and supersaturates it with amino acids.
For a tricep exercise, this method looks like this:
Tricep Press: Multi-Hold Pump Set
- Hold a weight isometrically for 20 seconds - ideally at the weakest point of the range of motion.
- Then perform 8 to 10 repetitions.
- Then immediately switch to a second hold without a break, targeting the same point in the range of motion - this time for 15 seconds.
- Perform 6 to 8 repetitions.
- Then immediately and without pausing, move on to a third hold targeting the same point in the range of motion - this time for 10 seconds.
- Complete the set with as many repetitions as possible.
You will feel your muscle really pumped up when you finish this set. It's a strange but fun feeling.
The same method can be used for the biceps. Perform the isometric hold in the middle of the range of motion of curls.
Tip: Build broad shoulders with this superset
You've never trained your shoulder muscles like this before! Take a look at this unique hypertrophy method
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-wide-shoulders-with-this-superset
Partial repetitions / isolation superset
Like all supersets, this method involves performing two exercises directly one after the other with minimal rest. Here, however, the first exercise consists of a basic exercise performed in the form of partial repetitions in a non-accelerating manner. For the shoulder, it could look like this:
Partial repetitions shoulder press and side raise
Try to maintain a fairly slow speed of movement throughout the range of motion, concentrating on maintaining tension on the target muscle. Performing a partial repetition should take about as long as it would normally take to perform a full repetition. Perform 8 to 10 partial repetitions as well as 8 to 10 repetitions of the isolation exercise.
Not just for the shoulder muscles
The same training method can also be used as follows:
- Chest muscles: perform the lower half of the bench press movement as partial repetitions and use cable pulls over circle as an isolation exercise.
- Quadriceps: The upper half of squats and then leg extensions.
- Leg curls: The middle section of Romanian deadlifts (from below the knees to the mid-thigh) and then leg curls.
- Latissimus: The second half of lat pulldowns (contracted position) and then pulldowns with arms extended.
- Biceps: The first half of a pull-up or lat pull-down and then barbell curls.
Tip: Train intelligently to the point of muscle failure
There is a right way and a wrong way to train to muscle failure for muscle gains. This is the right way.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-train-beyond-failure-the-smart-way
https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-train-beyond-failure-the-smart-way
Mechanical descending sets for muscle growth
This technique is based on the same principle as regular descending sets: Once you reach the point of muscle failure on an exercise, you find a way to continue training. Normally, you reduce the weight so that you can perform more repetitions. With mechanical descending sets, you keep the same weight and change the exercise slightly so that you achieve a mechanical advantage and can continue training the same muscle group.
A mechanical descending set can include two or three variations. Regardless of whether you use two or three variations, the order is always the same: you start with the variation in which you are weakest and work your way up to the variation in which you are strongest. When you reach muscle failure in the first variation, you can perform a few more repetitions in the next variation. For a shoulder exercise, it looks like this:
Front raise: mechanical descending set
- Choose a weight with which you can perform 6 to 8 repetitions in the first exercise.
- For the first variation, take the barbell with a close grip and perform front raises until muscle failure.
- You then switch to using a shoulder-width grip and perform as many repetitions again until you reach the point of technical failure.
- Finally, train again with a wide grip until muscle failure.
- Use the same weight for all three variations of this exercise.
- Pause for 10 seconds when moving from one variation to the next. This will not affect the growth stimulus and will allow you to perform 1 to 2 additional repetitions per variation.
Tip: Build shoulder muscles with tempo contrast training
This insane-looking muscle building technique is simple but tough! And you've probably never tried it before.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-delts-with-tempo-contrast-training
This muscle building technique is simple. During the same set, you alternate between very slow and fast repetitions - the fastest you can perform with perfect form.
More specifically, you perform 2 repetitions with a 5-second concentric phase and a 5-second eccentric phase, followed by 2 fast repetitions. This is called a cycle. Each set consists of either 8 or 12 repetitions (two or three cycles of four repetitions) or between 8 and 12 repetitions if you reach muscle failure before completing 3 full cycles.
An example would be log presses with the tempo contrast method.
This method recruits more muscle fibers due to the different types of contractions. In addition to this, alternating between slow and fast repetitions allows a temporary "trapping" of waste products within the muscles, leading to a release of growth factors that stimulate protein synthesis and muscle growth. The accumulation of metabolic products and blood trapped within the muscles results in a killer pump.
Other muscle groups and exercises
This method is not just for overhead presses. This method works particularly well for biceps, quadriceps (leg extensions and leg presses), hamstrings (leg curls) and chest (crossover cable pulls, butterflies, flying movements), as well as pressing exercises such as bench presses.
Tip: Tackle heavy weights with this CNS trick.
If your mind doesn't believe you're going to move a new personal maximum weight, then you won't be able to do it. Here's an approach that will help you activate your nervous system so you're ready for the task
By Rob King
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-crush-big-weights-with-this-cns-trick
Mental confidence is crucial when it comes to moving heavy weights. If the weights feel like they're going to crush you, they probably will. You need to convince your mind that it's ready for the task.
Here's a prime example. I was training to break the Canadian IPF squat record, which at the time was 210 kilos. My goal was to reach 211 kilos. My first step was to get used to standing there with the weight. The first time I was at that weight, it felt like my spine was going to shoot out of my body. After doing this a few times, I started walking around with the weight. Again, it felt heavy. My knees felt weak and my ankles hurt just from walking.
Over the course of two weeks, I walked a few steps with this weight. I remember thinking "I'm not going to be able to do a squat with this weight." The following week I did. The next week I did 2 single reps and 4 weeks later I moved that weight in competition and broke the squat record.
The trick: A CNS overload
The method is called a CNS overload and it will help you move weights that are in the range of 10 to 20% above your 1RM weight. It will also give you superior confidence when moving heavy weights and stimulate your nervous system.
When it comes to strength, your nervous system is the gatekeeper. You can have strong muscles and tendons, but until your nervous system is ready to handle the weight, you'll leave a lot of unused kilos in the tank.
Squats
Before your first squat or before you aim for a new 1RM, add 10 to 20% more weight than your standard repetition on the bar and hold it in the highest position for 5 to 10 seconds. Let's say you're trying to reach a maximum weight of 200 kilos on squats. Perform your warm-up sets as normal, but before your 200 kilo attempt, take 210 or 220 kilos on your back and take a step out of the rack.
- Tense your muscles, stand up straight with the weight on your back and take a step out of the rack as if you were going to do a squat, but don't actually do it.
- Hold the weight for 5 to 10 seconds while tensing the muscles as hard as you can.
- Then put the weight back down and reduce the weight to 200 kilos.
- Pause for 1 to 2 minutes and then set your new best performance. The 200 kilo squat will not feel nearly as heavy.
Bench press
Are you about to try to bench press 150 kilos? If so, follow these steps:
- Warm up as normal. Before you attempt the 150 kilos, take 160 to 165 kilos from the rack and simply hold this weight with outstretched arms. If 160 kilos feels easy, move on to 165 kilos (the exact weight will vary from person to person, so you'll just have to see how it feels).
- Squeeze your muscles hard and hold the weight with your arms straight for 5 to 10 seconds.
- Put the weight down and reduce the weight to 150 kilos.
- Pause for 1 to 2 minutes and then set your new 150 kilo best again.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-bench-press-to-lose-fat
By Martin Rooney | 07/02/16
