Training
Here's a quick summary:
- The best way to build your forearms is to get as strong as you can with a handful of basic exercises.
- If that's not enough, you can add forearm-specific exercises such as barbell holds, grip trainer exercises, plate pinches, fat grip training and dumbbell farmer's walks.
- If you want to get your forearms growing as quickly as possible, use a fat grip during your curl and press exercises, finish one of your weekly training sessions with 2 to 3 sets of barbell holds and perform 6 sets of grip trainers per week.
The forearms are like the calves of the arms. You can have muscular biceps, shoulders and trapezius, but the "look" just won't be complete if you have spindly forearms.
Strong and muscular forearms are more than just vanity. They also improve your grip strength, which is crucial for increases in your pulling exercises like rowing and deadlifts.
Trained forearms can even help you progress faster on chest and shoulder exercises, which require a strong grip to stabilize the barbell.
The bottom line is that the stronger your forearms are, the better progress you will make in strength training.
However, this does not necessarily mean that you have to train your forearms directly several times a week. It may be necessary to target your forearms in your training, but if you do everything else right, they can get quite big and strong without direct training.
In this article, I'll cover all aspects and show you exactly what you need to do to build forearms that would make Popeye envious.
The anatomy of the forearms
Your forearms are made up of many small muscles, each of which plays a slightly different physiological role. Rather than looking at each of these muscles individually, you can simply divide them into two broad categories:
- Flexors
- Extensors (extensors)
The flexors are used to flex the wrist and fingers and the extensors are used to extend the wrist and fingers. The flexors are also responsible for rotating the palm downwards, while the extensors are responsible for rotating the palm upwards.
We could go into more detail about the forearm muscles and talk about the different superficial, slightly deeper and deep muscles, but this is not necessary for our purposes.
All you need to know is that one set of muscles flexes the wrist and fingers and rotates the palm downwards, while another set of muscles extends the wrist and fingers and rotates the palm upwards.
The simple science of effective forearm training
Building big and strong forearms is pretty straightforward
- Do a lot of heavy pushing, pulling and curling.
- And if that's not enough, perform a handful of additional forearm exercises as needed.
Most people find that point 2 is unnecessary - that heavy chest, back and arm training is enough to build big, strong, well-proportioned forearms.
However, some find that grip weakness limits their progress on point 1 and that targeted forearm training is an easy solution to this problem.
Although your grip strength will improve naturally with a well-planned weight training program, there are a number of forearm exercises that can help you speed up the process.
I used a handful of these exercises to improve my grip strength and use more weight on pulls and rows and it worked perfectly.
It was also quite simple - it works more or less the same way you train any other muscle group in your body.
Accordingly, the principle of progressive overload is the most important principle you need to follow to get the most out of your forearm exercises.
Progressive overload refers to increasing the amount of tension your muscles produce and the most effective way to achieve this is to progressively increase the weight you move.
In other words, even when training smaller muscles such as the forearms, the primary goal is to get stronger over time.
Your total body strength will also affect the size of your forearms because when you increase the weight you move on bench presses, deadlifts and curls, you're not just overloading your chest, back and biceps - you're also overloading a number of other muscles including your forearms.
This is why many people see forearm-specific exercises as unnecessary - the size of their forearms and their grip strength more or less keep up with the rest of their body.
So if you want bigger and stronger forearms, then you should also be looking to increase your full body strength and muscle mass, and to do this you need an effective training program.
The best forearm exercises
Considering the function of the muscles of the forearms, the exercises that work the forearms best are the exercises that are generally used to increase grip strength.
Let's look at these exercises in isolation.
Barbell hold
Barbell holds are a brutally simple forearm exercise that can easily be performed at the end of a training session.
Here's how this exercise works:
Prepare a barbell on a squat rack or on the floor as if you were going to do Romanian deadlifts.
Hold the bar (without handles, of course) for 10 to 20 seconds or as long as you can. Then pause for 1 to 2 minutes before performing another set. Increase the weight by 5 kilos as soon as you can hold it for 20 seconds or more.
Work with the new weight until you can hold it for 20 seconds and then increase it again, etc.
Grip trainer
An extremely effective way to train your forearms is to increase your strength when squeezing your hands.
This involves nothing more than a hand flexion - closing your hand around an object and squeezing - but is great for building strong forearm flexors, wrists, hands and fingers.
One of the easiest ways to increase your squeeze strength is to use a spring grip strength trainer - if you use it correctly.
The key is that the resistance is in the range that allows you a full range of motion - no partial repetitions. However, the resistance should also not be so low that it barely challenges you.
Probably the best-known and most popular grip trainer is the Captain of Crush grip trainer. It has been on the market for over 15 years and is very popular in bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman circles.
You have 11 resistance options to choose from, ranging from 60 pounds to 365 pounds. A good starting point for most is in the 60 to 80 pound range. On the other hand, if you are an experienced strength athlete who can deadlift 150+ pounds without grip assistance, then you can probably start with the 100 pound model.
Here are some guidelines for training with a grip trainer.
Pay attention to correct exercise form
If you are an experienced strength athlete, then you know how important correct exercise form is. The difference between correct and incorrect exercise execution can be like night and day in terms of progress and results.
The same applies to training with a grip trainer.
A full squeeze is far more effective than a partial squeeze.
How you should structure your grip training sessions
A training session with a grip trainer is quite simple:
- Perform 5 to 6 sets per training session and aim for 8 to 10 repetitions per set.
- Rest 1 to 2 minutes between sets.
- Your ultimate goal is to successfully perform 5 to 6 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions.
- Once you have achieved this, you can use the next resistance level.
You can increase the difficulty of your training sets by performing repetitions while holding the contracted position. To do this, squeeze the grip trainer fully and hold it for 10 to 20 seconds (start with 10 seconds and work your way up). Many exercisers like to end their sets with one repetition with hold.
Plate Pinches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNbatvOweWw
Plate pinches (squeezing and holding two weight plates between your thumb and remaining fingers) is another simple forearm exercise that only requires a couple of weight plates.
Start with two 5 kilo plates and try to hold them for 10 to 20 seconds. Once you can do 20 seconds, it's time to increase the weight.
Instead of going straight to two 10 kilo plates, it is easier to add a third 5 kilo plate and hold 3 plates. You can increase the number of plates until the stack becomes too wide to hold between your thumb and remaining fingers.
Fat Grip Training
Fat bar training has been popular for decades and with oversized rubber grips you can easily put this type of training into practice. These grips are popular because you don't have to change anything in your training program - you simply place these grips around your barbell or dumbbells and you're ready to go.
However, the marketing is a little over the top when it comes to these grips. No, Fat Grips are not "powerful muscle building aids" as often claimed... but they are an inexpensive way to train your forearms and grip.
I have used these grips quite a lot and like them best for my press and curl exercises, but not for heavy pulling exercises.
The reason for this is simple: you can't pull nearly as much weight with these handles as you can without them and the amount of weight you have to remove from the bar isn't worth it.
You can, however, use these grips when warming up for heavy pulling (and then remove them when the heavy work sets begin). The downside to this, of course, is that your grip strength will be more depleted for your heavy sets, which means you probably won't be able to move as much weight as you normally would. For this reason, I do not recommend using it for heavy pulls.
Dumbbell Farmers Walk
This is an old school strongman exercise that will never lose its place in the realm of forearm exercises.
Aim for 10 to 15 meters of walking per "set" and increase the weight once you reach this distance.
The ultimate forearm training program
The forearm muscles are very resilient, but training them too often is counterproductive, especially if you are also doing a lot of heavy weight training.
For this reason, I recommend adhering to the following guidelines:
- Use fat grips during your press exercises and curls.
- End one of your regular training sessions with 2 to 3 sets of barbell holds. I personally do this after my back training sessions.
- End one of your training sessions with 2 to 3 sets of plate pinches. There should be a few days between the barbell holds and the plate pinches.
- Do 6 sets with a grip trainer per week. I do this on the two days of the week when I'm not training with weights.
My program looks like this:
- Monday: Chest with Fat Grips
- Tuesday: Back and barbell holds
- Wednesday: Arms with Fat Grips
- Thursday: Shoulders with fat grips
- Friday: legs and plate pinches
- Saturday: Rest day and training with the grip trainer
- Sunday: Rest day and training with the grip trainer
The bottom line on forearm training
In many ways, forearm training is like abdominal muscle training.
If you follow a sensible weight training program and have good genetics, you may well never need it.
On the other hand, if you are struggling to build muscle mass in your forearms and your grip is weak, then you may benefit from incorporating forearm-specific exercises into your training program.
The primary muscles you should be training are the forearm flexors and extensors, which flex, extend and rotate the hands.
The best way to build strength and mass in the forearms is to progressively overload your forearm muscles with heavy basic exercises such as bench presses, shoulder presses and deadlifts.
Isolation exercises such as barbell curls also train the forearms.
If you are not building the forearms you want with these exercises, you can also perform forearm-specific exercises such as the following:
- Barbell hold
- Training with a grip trainer
- Plate pinches
- Fat Grips
- Dumbbell farmers walk
If you include these exercises in your training program, use fat grips in your presses and curls and finish one of your weekly workouts with 2 to 3 sets of barbell holds and another with 2 to 3 sets of plate pinches and perform 6 sets with a grip trainer twice a week.
Do this, eat your spinach and you'll build forearms like Popeye.
Source: https://legionathletics.com/forearm-workouts/
By Michael Matthews
You will find a lot of contradictory advice from different experts on the internet. Many would like someone to write an article about what the rules really are. What are the things you need to do and what are the things that are simply in the "nice to have" category but are not really essential?
I thought about this question for several days and came to the conclusion that there are only 8 laws of strength training. At first I thought there must be more, but every time I thought of a potential law of strength training, an argument against it soon popped into my head.
Of course, due to varying goals and varying genetic predispositions, it's hard to make hard and fast rules, but the bottom line is that I don't think I can go too far wrong with my choices.
These rules are based on what I have learned as a trainee and as a scientist and they represent my current understanding of the current state of science, which means they are not set in stone and may change over time.
Before I present to you my 8 Laws of Strength Training, I would like to present to you 20 potential laws of strength training that did not make it into my list of 8 laws. Many trainers and exercisers will think that some of these potential laws are indeed laws of strength training, but I disagree.
The 20 "almost" laws of strength training that didn't make the list:
1 - You must foam roll
Foam rolling feels good. Ask any exerciser who uses foam rolling if it makes them feel better, if it relieves pain or if it helps prevent injury and you'll always get a resounding yes.
However, there are also millions of exercisers who do well without foam rolling. To date, there are only a handful of studies on the subject and to be honest, we don't know much about what it does and doesn't do (Miller & Rockey 2006, MacDonald et al. 2012).
At this point, we can speculate about what foam rolling does, but it's also nothing more than pure speculation.
2 - You need to stretch
Stretching also feels good and intuitively most exercisers think it's a good idea. Nobody wants to lose their flexibility and it's no fun being tight.
However, proper strength training includes stretching. Scientific research shows that strength training is just as effective as stretching when it comes to improving flexibility, which can be attributed to several factors (Aquino et al. 2010, Simao et al. 2010; Morton et al. 2011, Nelson & Bandy 2004).
First of all, there is the eccentric component of the exercise, which puts the muscle under tension, increases sarcomerogenesis and improves mobility by building new sarcomeres and stretching the muscle (Brughelli & Cronin 2007). Resistance training is therefore a viable form of active stretching under load.
Next, passive stretching can indeed reduce stiffness and increase pain tolerance during stretching, although it does not regulate muscle length in the same way as active stretching (Weppler & Magnusson 2010, Riley & Van Dyke 2012). If you regularly perform exercises such as squats, Romanian deadlifts, lunges, pull-ups and calf raises with good form through the full range of motion, then you will achieve good overall mobility.
3 - You need to do cardio and/or HIIT
Cardio training sounds good in theory. After all, the heart is the most important muscle, right? But what exactly is cardio? Doesn't the heart also beat quite hard during strength training?
Although prolonged low-intensity cardio training does indeed have its value, strength training - especially when performed intensely to near muscle failure - also provides many of the benefits of cardio training (Steele et al. 2012).
As long as you follow an active lifestyle and regularly move weights with sufficient intensity, cardio is not a must. If you've done a set of walking lunges with 100 kilos on the barbell, then you know that resistance training is very good for the cardiovascular system.
Over the last decade, scientists have raved about HIIT and emphasized that it leads to higher metabolic demands and higher fat loss in the long term compared to cardio training at a constant intensity due to the effect of EPOC (Tremblay 1994, Hazell et al. 2012). But training with weights is also a form of HIIT, as long as you train intensively.
4 - You need to train heavy (i.e. use more than 90% of your 1RM weight)
It has recently been shown that training with lighter weights, performed to muscle failure, can indeed provide a potent hypertrophy stimulus, perhaps even more so than heavy weights (Mitchell et al. 2012).
It's too early to tell if the studies were only done with beginners, but at least the newer research shows that you can build muscle without using heavier weights.
Have you ever seen how Kai Green trains his gluteus? He uses light weights and high reps and focuses on feeling the gluteus move the weight. Jay Cutler doesn't use nearly as heavy weights as he did early in his career, but is more muscular than ever due to a shift in his focus on muscle contraction.
Few bodybuilders use less than 6 reps and when it comes to the lower body, most stick to 10 to 30 reps. For most of the time, Andy Bolton - the man who was the first to move over 1000 pounds on squats - relies on deadlifts with dynamic effort to build his world-class deadlift strength.
5 - You need to train explosively (i.e. dynamic effort)
Many exercisers benefit from the dynamic effort method. Explosive training increases muscle activation at the start of the movement and allows for more frequent training due to the lighter weights used.
However, explosive training reduces muscle activation in the second half of the movement due to the deceleration of the weight (Frost et al. 2010).
Most bodybuilders train semi-explosively, but ensure that they control the weight throughout the range of motion. Many strive for more consistent tension on the muscles to maximize the pump effect.
In addition, many powerlifters have built up a lot of strength without ever focusing on maximizing acceleration with a lighter weight. Dynamic effort is an excellent idea for Olympic weightlifters and for athletes, but this method is not a must for general exercisers.
6. you need to go to muscle failure
I grew up reading strength training articles that tried to convince me that the last repetition of a set is the only one that counts and the only one that builds strength. Today I know that was humbug.
You can build amazing amounts of strength without going to muscle failure. Sure, you won't build maximum strength if you don't push yourself to your limits from time to time, but you can still get quite strong and muscular even if you finish the set one to two reps before reaching muscle failure.
In fact, a recent article has shown that maximum muscle activation during a set is reached a few repetitions before muscle failure is reached (Sundstrup et al. 2012). It could be argued that avoiding the increased wear and tear and stress on the joints and nervous system due to too heavy weights and too hard training can lead to increased progress via reduced stress, reduced pain and reduced injury combined with increased recovery.
7 - You must train squats
The squat is the queen of lower body exercises, there's no doubt about it. But do you have to train squats? Some exercisers never seem to get the correct form of the exercise right and this has a lot to do with their anthropometry.
Ben Bruno has shown that it is indeed possible to make continuous progress in squat strength by focusing intensely on single-leg strength. Scientific research has shown that single-leg strength and power training resulted in slightly better performance effects than double-leg strength and power training, although the differences were not significant (McCurdy et al. 2005).
Strength is highly dependent on the movement pattern. So as long as you perform a one-legged squat movement like Bulgarian split squats or reverse lunges, your squat strength will not suffer dramatically.
Let's say you trained deadlifts and Good Mornings variations along with single-leg squat variations week after week, but never performed double-leg squats. Your quadriceps would still be muscular, your spine would still be stable and your hips would still be strong.
8 - You need to train deadlifts
If the squat is the queen of lower body exercises, then the deadlift is the queen of total body exercises. That's why you need to train deadlifts to see good results, right?
Westside showed a long time ago that a trainee can build a lot of strength on deadlifts without training deadlifts directly. They performed tons of box squats, back raises, pull-throughs, reverse hypers and glute ham raises - and they were amazingly strong on deadlifts.
I've found that heavy kettlebell swings can work wonders when it comes to building and maintaining strength in deadlifts. Max Shank can perform single-leg Romanian deadlifts with over 140 kilos on reps, which provides a tremendous training effect for hip extensors and keeps the deadlift pattern strong while protecting the back.
In bodybuilding, many exercisers prefer the mix of bent-over rows, T-bar rows and back extensions rather than deadlifts for their lower back development as they have found deadlifts are not worth the risk to their bodies.
If your training includes heavy kettlebell swings, box squats, good mornings, bent-over rowing, T-bar rowing and back extensions, you will also be quite strong in deadlifts and your back and hip extensors will show impressive muscularity.
9 - You need to train bench presses
Let's move on to the queen of upper body exercises, the bench press. The bench press is without a doubt the most popular exercise in the world, but do you have to train it? Many exercisers' shoulders don't cope well with this exercise and therefore they don't need to include it in their training program.
You can also build strength for the bench press with other pressing exercises. A trainee who has done a lot of push-ups with additional weights and/or dumbbell presses from different angles will have muscular pecs and triceps - not to mention usable bench press strength.
10 - You need to perform unilateral or bilateral exercises
Let's say an exerciser has only performed squats, leg presses, hip thrusts, back extensions, glute-ham raises, bench presses, standing shoulder presses, dips, push-ups, bent-over rows, pull-ups and barbell curls throughout their training career. I think we would agree that this exerciser would be amazingly strong and muscular, assuming he gets strong doing these exercises.
In contrast, let's say an exerciser has only performed Bulgarian split squats, reverse lunges, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, sled pushes, hip thrusts, single-leg back extensions, single-arm bench presses, single-arm shoulder presses, single-arm dumbbell rows, single-arm lat pulldowns and alternating dumbbell curls for their entire training career. He too will be amazingly strong and muscular, provided he gets strong on these exercises.
11 - You need to train your core directly
Multi-joint exercises with free weights do a great job when it comes to activating the muscles of the core. An aesthetically pleasing core has more to do with being lean than having muscular abs anyway.
If you train exercises such as pull-ups, push-ups, squats, deadlifts, farmer's walks, standing shoulder presses and barbell curls, your core will become strong and muscular. Combine this with the right diet and your core will look great.
12 - You must use free weights
Free weights reign supreme in the world of strength training. They allow for natural movement patterns and require real-world stabilization. For this reason, they are absolutely essential, right? Not so fast.
Activating the primary muscles can also be achieved with machine training and a trainee can become amazingly strong and muscular this way.
Furthermore, there is a big difference between a poor machine training program and an optimal machine training program.
For example, if an exerciser is simply doing leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, butterflies, lat pulldowns with arms extended and side raises, then they probably won't get very far when it comes to overall body strength and muscularity.
On the other hand, if a trainee trains squats on the machine, Hammer Strength deadlifts, leg presses, lying leg curls, Hammer Strength presses, pulling exercises from different angles and cable curls, then they will become amazingly strong and muscular, always assuming they get strong on these exercises.
13 - You must always strive for progressive overload
Earlier in an exerciser's training career, progressive overload is a must. But later on, there are other ways of progression. For example, you can use a better form of exercise execution, emphasize a specific muscle or focus on better control.
For example, many exercisers place heavy squats and/or heavy deadlifts at the end of their training session in an attempt to protect their joints and reduce the risk of injury, so that they can achieve a good training effect without having to rely on very heavy weights.
Let's say you've built your strength up to 150 kilos on the bench press, 200 kilos on squats and 250 kilos on deadlifts and decide to stick with those weights for a year while improving your form and diet. You'll look better even though you're not using progressive overload. Progressive overload is important, but it's not always a must.
14 - You need to incorporate plenty of variety into your training program
Variety is the spice of life. Training can be quite dull and it's always nice to spice up your program with new exercises, changing grip and stance widths, changing ranges of motion or tricks like rest-pause or descending sets. It is said that a lack of variation in training leads to stagnation or habit formation.
But is variety really necessary? Many Olympic weightlifters from Bulgaria have not fallen into this trap - they perform about six different exercises throughout the year. And this is the crux of John Broz's system - classic squats, front squats, power cleans, power snatches, clean & jerk and snatches.
Let's say a particular exerciser performs the same 5 exercises for his entire training career and trains nothing but squats, deadlifts, bench presses, standing shoulder presses and bent-over rowing for 30 years. He will probably have greater strength and better development than 90% of all exercisers.
Variety is nice - we all like it, it breaks up the monotony and keeps us interested in going to the gym, but if you don't like change then you don't need to change your training to see excellent results.
In the second part of this article, I will discuss the remaining "almost" laws of strength training before finally presenting what I consider to be the 8 "real" laws of strength training.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/20-almost-laws-of-strength-training
https://www.t-nation.com/training/8-laws-of-strength-training
By Bret Contreras
The best training methods for biceps
1 - Use heavy weights
Because the biceps are made up of even more growth-friendly type II muscle fibers than the triceps (by at least 60%), they tend to grow more when heavy weights are used. A study by Lagally et al. found that each jump at the relative load (in the range of 30 to 90% of 1RM weight) resulted in better muscle activation. This means you should aim for full contractions and use heavy weights.
2 - Pull yourself up
Whether you think you can build big biceps with multi-joint exercises alone or not, pull-ups with an underhand grip are an excellent biceps exercise. In fact, scientific research has shown that pull-ups with an underhand grip activate the biceps at near maximal levels (Youdas et al. 2010). The biceps crave loading and nothing can beat pull-ups here.
3 - Let the shoulders come forward
The long muscle head of the biceps works amazingly well when you tense your shoulders slightly and curl forward in a standing position. Due to the strength curve, you will achieve maximum contraction of the biceps in the middle section of the movement, which also corresponds to the strongest position. However, do not curl the barbell too far up (towards the shoulders) as this will take the strain off the muscle.
4 - Rotate to give your biceps the rest
The biceps rotate the forearm and flex the arm. Forcing your biceps to do both will maximize stimulus, especially for the short head of the muscle (Staudenman et al. 2015).
5 - Sit down and stretch
Dumbbell incline bench curls are the ultimate building exercise when it comes to the short muscle head of the biceps. The hyperextended shoulder position stretches the long muscle head (Oliveira et al. 2009), which means that the short muscle head has to do extra work.
How should you train your biceps?
Taking all of these techniques into consideration, you should bombard your biceps with multi-joint exercises and then target each of the two muscle heads with a specific exercise selection.
- Use heavy weights to maximally activate your biceps and train the type II muscle fibers. Stick to the tried and tested and perform the majority of your exercises with a 3 to 8RM weight.
- You should start your bicep training with pull-ups with an underhand grip. Over time, you will be able to increase the weight continuously.
- Train the long muscle head of the biceps with standing barbell curls. Make sure you go to at least 90 degrees of elbow flexion and squeeze your biceps as hard as possible. Allow your shoulders to flex naturally as you curl, rather than limiting the weight by keeping your arms at your sides.
- Perform dumbbell incline bench curls last. Start the exercise with your palms facing your body and turn your palms upwards during the curl movement.
Tip: Stop thinking in terms of body types
Endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph: stupid type designations from the 1940s that were never intended for exercisers. Here's the real story
By Chris Colucci
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-stop-labeling-your-body-type
A system of built-in excuses and apologies
A somatype is one of three labels people like to use to describe themselves. Fat people who say they have trouble losing weight claim to be endomorphs, skinny people who say they have trouble gaining weight claim to be ectomorphs, and the lucky ones who say they can build muscle no matter what they do call themselves mesomorphs.
It's a popular system of categorization because it seems so clear-cut. If you look like so and so, then you are called so and so and you have these inherent disadvantages, which means you need to train and diet accordingly. This is why this concept is so appealing to exercisers. It's a system of built-in excuses. "Oh, I'm ectomorphically inclined, which is why it's not my fault that I'm 180 cm tall and only weigh 65 kilos. I have something like a serious medical condition."
The big problem
The problem is that these three categories were originally described in the early 1940s by Dr. William Sheldon, who used them as a way to assess people's personalities based on their general appearance. These categories had nothing to do with improving physical appearance. Scheldon's work was based on the earlier research of Dr. Ernst Kretschmer, who attempted to establish a link between physical appearance and behavior in the 1920s. Kretschmer basically believed that fat people tend to be happier and that thin people are most often nervous. The more "extreme" the physical appearance was, the more extreme the personality should be. Yes, the whole thing was just as accurate as it sounds.
This is the problem with exercisers who are all too quick to categorize themselves with these labels. This concept simply has no real connection to how you should train and eat in the real world.
Perhaps it's a mental reassurance for the underweight novice to "know" that Frank Zane was also ectomorphically inclined and still managed to win three Mr. Olympia titles. Maybe the flabby rookie looks at Mr. Olympia winner Jay Cutler and thinks "Wow, if that endomorph can build that much muscle and get that lean, so can I."
But neither exerciser will accomplish anything until they stop using psychological terms to influence their physical preparation. Get rid of these labels and see yourself as an individual.
No more labels
If you are 180 cm tall and weigh 65 kilos, you don't have to eat like an ectomorph. You need to eat like a tall, slim person who is trying to gain weight. Maybe you have a fast metabolism (a stereotypical ectomorph trait) but maybe not. Want an easy way to find out? Eat a certain amount of food for a week. If you don't gain weight, then eat more during the next week.
On the other hand, if you are 170 cm tall and weigh 110 kilos, then you are not endomorphic. You're just a fat guy. Get rid of your excuses and take care of your diet. It's simple physiology. A fat person can become a lean person by training with weights plus cardio plus smart nutrition. There's nothing endomorphic about it.
All ectomorphs or endomorphs who have become successful bodybuilders have a few things in common:
- They train damn hard
- They eat intelligently
- They have kept both up for a long time
It's amazing how these three simple steps can magically overcome any unflattering somatype.
Tip: Optimize your warm-up
Here are 5 ways to improve your warm-up and get better results with heavy workouts
By Charles Staley
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-optimize-your-warm-up
A good warm-up can positively impact your entire workout. A poor warm-up is a waste of time and can even affect your performance during the actual training session. I have 5 rules for a perfect warm-up:
1 - Skip the general warm-up
Traditionally, the warm-up consists of the general warm-up like 10 minutes of running on the treadmill before squats and the specific warm-up - lighter sets that prepare you for the working weights of the day. But unless you're an 85-year-old arthritis patient preparing to use your max weight on snatches and deadlifts at 6am on a cold winter's day, you should skip the general stuff and get right down to business.
While general warm-up activities may indeed "warm you up", they don't allow you to repeat the technical skills of the exercise you're warming up for. So it's better to kill two birds with one stone. For example, if you're warming up for squats, you can start with a bodyweight exercise or light goblet squats to warm up your knees. Then take the bar on your back and start preparing for the main event.
2 - If your warm-up weights are still light, don't rest 3 to 5 minutes between sets like you do with your heavy sets
This is just a waste of time and leads to distraction and procrastination. Or use the time between these early warm-up sets to stretch or work with the foam roller.
3 - Your last warm-up set should be a preparation set
Its sole purpose is to close the gap between your last warm-up set and your first work set. Here is an example of a squat training session:
- 20 x 5
- 45 x 5
- 65 x 5
- 90 x 3
- 110 x 1
- 130 x 1
- 155 x 1
- 170 x 1 (preparation set)
- 190 x 1 (working set)
4 - Mix your warm-up sets for the next exercise with the working sets of your current exercise
Example: If you're currently doing deadlifts and your next exercise is pull-ups with additional weight, then there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't do a few light sets of pull-ups in between your final working sets of deadlifts - you'll end up using completely different muscle groups. In this case, when you're done with deadlifts, you can move straight on to your pull-up work sets.
5 - Combine exercises intelligently
This is not a warm-up tactic in the purest sense, but it will reduce your warm-up time. Arrange your exercises so that each exercise becomes a warm-up for the exercise that follows.
An example from the field of weightlifting would be a training session consisting of reps, followed by pulls, followed by deadlifts. A trainee who moves a maximum of 125 kilos when repositioning can start their pull with 135 kilos and start their deadlift with 155 kilos. Similarly, previously performed pull-ups can reduce or eliminate the warm-up sets for curls and bench presses can eliminate the need to warm up for triceps exercises.
Tip: Take on this 9 minute fat loss challenge
Burn fat with this swing & clap finisher
By Chad Waterbury | 05/07/16
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-take-the-9-minute-fat-burning-challenge
What is a finisher?
A finisher is an intense exercise or combination of exercises that stimulates all major muscle groups to produce the highest possible metabolic cost. Basically, it's the longest 10 minutes of your life. And as the name implies, a finisher should be performed at the end of your training session. There are two reasons for this.
Firstly, your available energy stores are much lower after a strength training session. This depletion generates the ideal time to increase energy requirements as your metabolism will trigger a release of hormone-sensitive lipase in the adipocytes to provide this energy. In German, this means that you can stimulate a lot of fat burning at the end of a training session.
Secondly, if you've done a finisher correctly, you won't want to do anything else afterwards. A finisher should be exhausting to the point of nausea and even if you feel a little sick for a few minutes afterwards, you can be proud of the fact that you've revved up your fat burning machine.
Kettlebell swings and push-ups with hand claps.
This combination is popular because all you need is a kettlebell. You can do it almost anywhere. This is a 30/20/10 double countdown. Look at the work and rest intervals and you'll know why.
- Start with as many kettlebell swings as you can do in 30 seconds and then rest for 30 seconds.
- Then do as many push-ups with clapping hands as you can do in 30 seconds and then rest for 30 seconds.
- Then perform as many kettlebell swings as you can in 20 seconds and then pause for 20 seconds.
- Then do as many push-ups with clapping your hands as you can do in 20 seconds, followed by a 20-second rest.
- Finish with 10 seconds of kettlebell swings, 10 seconds of rest and 10 seconds of push-ups while clapping your hands.
- Pause for 30 seconds and repeat the whole sequence one more time.
Note: If you find push-ups with clapping your hands too difficult, start with regular push-ups.
Tip: Prepare this peanut butter & jelly parfait
Are you tempted to snack? Eliminate your cravings with a double portion of protein. Here's the recipe.
By Dani Shugart
It's easy to avoid junk food when the alternatives taste better. Turn that childhood sweet tooth into an adult dessert - one that will fuel your growth.
Ingredients:
- 2 scoops of vanilla flavored protein powder
- ½ scoop defatted peanut butter powder
- 1 cup of rolled oats
- 1 cup of water
- ½ cup Splenda or a sweetener of your choice
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping cup of fresh or frozen berries
- Optional: coconut flakes or flakes
Directions
- Mix everything together except the berries.
- Layer this mixture with berries in a jar
- Sprinkle with coconut flakes if desired
- Chill the dessert in the fridge for a few hours
Makes 2 small or one large portion.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-biceps-with-science-backed-methods
From Adam Bentley
Perform dips on bands if regular dips don't feel right. Dips are a basic exercise for most people, but they can overload the shoulders of those with long training experience. And for some people, dips just never feel right.
However, there is a viable compromise - dips on bands. Sure, this exercise should probably be called "presses on bands" since you're pushing the load away from your body instead of pushing your body away from a solid surface, but this exercise still feels a lot like dips.
The main difference with dips with bands is that the tension is significantly reduced at the highest point of the movement, which is easier on the shoulder joints. At the lowest point of the movement there is still a lot of chest and tricep activation, making this exercise a benefit for those who cannot perform dips safely and pain-free.
Tip: Test your REAL upper body strength
Two exercises are all you need to test your upper body strength.
By Jim Wendler
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-test-your-real-upper-body-strength
Here are a press exercise and a pull exercise to test your upper body strength. I didn't opt for bench presses, however, but use strict overhead standing presses with a barbell.
While I don't necessarily think one exercise or movement is more "athletic" than another, I find it hard to justify a test where you're lying on a padded surface.
The press
You can use your 1 RM or your max weight for a certain number of reps. To convert your maximum weight for a given number of repetitions into an estimated 1RM weight, you can use the following formula:
Moved Weight x Repetitions x .0333 + Moved Weight = Estimated 1RM Weight Remember, an athlete using these exercises as a means to improve performance in their sport does not need to perform maximum single repetitions. The key to this test is not to take any momentum with the legs during this exercise. Perform the exercise as strictly as possible.
- 100% of body weight: excellent
- 90% of body weight: good
- Less than 90% of body weight: you still have work to do
The pull-up test
The second test consists of pull-ups. Use the grip that you find most comfortable, which includes a neutral grip. (I'm a big fan of a wide range of grip variations, which includes the use of ropes and towels).
There are two tests you can try. Use the one you're good at. The first test is a simple set with your own body weight until muscle failure. The second is a pull-up test with 10% of your body weight as additional weight. You can use a dip belt or a weight vest. Do as many repetitions as you can manage in 10 minutes. Do I need to mention that this test should be performed with strict form?
- 20 repetitions with your own body weight/40 total repetitions with 10% additional weight: excellent
- 15/30: Not bad
- 10/20: Work on it
Tip: Use box jumps in the right way
This means not using them as a conditioning or cardio workout
By Eric Bach
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-use-box-jumps-the-right-way
The absence of speed and speed-strength training in your program will likely limit the amount of weight you can use in other exercises. No, you won't build muscle with high-volume box jumps, but you will potentiate your nervous system to fire more efficiently at a higher rate. By improving the efficiency of your nervous system, you will improve your strength, which will improve your work capacity with submaximal weights for the purpose of building muscle.
But don't use box jumps as a conditioning workout!
Every exercise requires a risk-benefit analysis and box jumps perform miserably in this regard when used as conditioning training.
Jumps with a high number of repetitions and a high tempo minimize hip extension. Full hip extension is the primary driving force in a solid vertical jump, which carries over to activities like sprinting, the deadlift lockout or the end of a squat.
If you are using faulty mechanics in your training, it will show when it matters most. Leave box jumps where they belong - at the beginning of your training session as a power exercise.
Do you want to improve your fitness? Then use jumps with a lower load such as jumping rope.
Tip: Perform these dumbbell complexes
Two quick workouts to burn body fat and improve your overall athleticism. They're easy to do even in a crowded gym
By Travis Hansen
Source https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-these-dumbbell-complexes
An exercise complex is a series of specific strength exercises that are combined into a continuous training cycle. This consists of performing these exercises in sequence, completing all repetitions of one exercise before moving on to the next. Traditionally, complexes are performed with barbells, but dumbbells have several advantages in this case. Try the following two complexes:
Dumbbell complex 1
- Dumbbell burpee: 3-8 repetitions x 3-5 sets
- Dumbbell sumo deadlift: 3-8 repetitions x 3-5 sets
- Dumbbell rowing with both arms: 3-8 repetitions x 3-5 sets
Dumbbell complex 2
- One-arm suitcase deadlift or shoulder press: 3-8 repetitions x 3-5 sets
- One-arm dumbbell row: 3-8 reps x 3-5 sets
- Single-leg Romanian deadlift: 3-8 reps x 3-5 sets
The benefits
1 - They help to restore structural symmetry
Structural asymmetry is common. Subtle but potentially devastating shifts in weight during squats, deadlifts or bench presses can lead to tissue overload and performance plateaus. Dumbbell complexes have the inherent power to address multiple deficits in movement.
2 - They burn a ton of calories
Complexes trigger a high level of metabolic disruption in the body, resulting in increased fat loss. This is especially true if an athlete has a solid strength base.
3 - They are great for high-intensity conditioning training or active recovery
Complexes can be downright nasty, but you can manipulate the training parameters (use less weight, limit sets and reps, etc.) so that you're working more towards active recovery.
4 - You improve the rotating core function
Proper development of rotational core function is important for both performance and long-term health. Most daily movements and also most exercises take place in the sagittal plane with movements from front to back. Exercises such as pallof presses, cable chops, plank progressions, renegade rowing and one-arm training/complexes can address this issue. Multidirectional stability throughout the kinetic chain is essential for health and performance.
5 - They help you master exercises more technically
Complexes typically involve a moderate to high training volume, so the repetition scheme is well suited to improve motor learning.
Tip: Build your triceps with these 6 methods
Take these tips from an insanely strong powerlifter and apply them to your training.
By Adam Bentley
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-build-your-triceps-with-these-6-methods
Which training techniques are best for triceps?
Scientific research has examined a number of exercises regarding triceps brachii activation. Here's what we know:
1- Perform either single-joint (isolation) or multi-joint exercises
Interestingly, scientific studies have measured similar levels of electrical activity in the triceps muscles (EMG) during isolation and basic exercises. This is true for weights in the 10RM weight range for bench press, close bench press, dips and many variations of triceps presses including lying triceps press, overhead triceps press and cable triceps press (Bohler et al. 2011, Soares et al. 2016).
2 - Forget the training ball
Press exercises performed on a Swiss ball or balance cushion are inferior to exercises performed on a stable surface and are pretty useless if you are already quite strong (Saeterbakken et al. 2013). To maximally engage the triceps, use a stable position with a stable weight. In other words, you need a weight bench and a barbell.
3 - Prefer a barbell to dumbbells
In many cases, barbell and dumbbell variations of an exercise are quite similar, but this is not the case for tricep training. Dumbbell bench presses and dumbbell overhead presses cannot compete when compared to the equivalent barbell or multi-press exercise variations, probably because dumbbells limit the total weight used (Saeterbakken et al. 2011, 2013).
4 - Train heavy
You can't fool your triceps with light weights. It is well known that muscle activity increases with increasing weight, but even if you bench press with maximum acceleration, heavier weights (up to 1RM weight) are better for engaging the triceps than lighter weights (Newton et al. 1997).
5 - Use a bench with a slight negative incline or a flat bench
Barbell presses are the king of multi-joint exercises for the triceps. You should use a flat bench or a bench with a slight negative incline (the pad points downwards), as triceps activation is superior at these angles compared to variations on the incline bench (Barnett et al. 1995).
6 - Use a narrower grip
Compared to bench presses with a wide grip, the EMG amplitude at moderate weights is twice as high when you use a narrow grip (Lehman et al. 2005).
How should you train your triceps?
Heavy bench presses produced some of the best EMG amplitudes for the triceps - in addition to the fact that this exercise respects the anatomy and individual lever arms () of the muscle heads of the triceps.
We can make bench presses even better for building the triceps by using a close grip, as this variation increases the involvement of the triceps.
You can also perform bench presses in a way that emphasizes the upper part of the exercise. For example, you can perform partial repetitions such as board presses or floor presses ("bench press" lying on the floor). You should also train bench presses with variable resistance (with bands or chains).
Tip: Always start with an empty bar
Some of the strongest strength athletes in the world start their training with an empty bar. Here's why you should do the same
By Paul Carter
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-always-start-with-an-empty-bar
The more time you take to warm up on your first exercise, the better your work sets will feel, and starting with an empty bar to see how your body feels that day will tell you a lot early on. Try to get to the point where you can tell if your training session is going to be good, average or miserable by the time you use the empty bar.
Using an empty bar will allow you to make some instinctive adjustments to load patterns rather than simply sticking to the planned pattern. If you planned to do heavy sets of 5 reps, but you know from your warm-up with the empty bar that something feels tight or not right, then you should reduce the intensity that day and do more volume with a lower weight. This has saved my ass several times when it came to injury avoidance and it can help you too.
Rules for warming up with an empty bar
- Treat your warm-up with respect. Perform your warm-up sets in the same way and with the same care as your heaviest sets.
- Perform your repetitions in the same way. Yes, an empty bar will feel light, but doing reps with the empty bar where you throw the weight around wildly is stupid. Use clean and steady reps. Pay attention to how your joints feel and how your body moves. This will give you some clues for the rest of the training session. Does it need to be adjusted? The empty bar will let you know.
- Perform 2 to 4 sets of 20 to 40 repetitions. Yes, that's a wide range. If everything feels good after two sets, add some weight. If you feel stiff after two sets, then you don't need to add weight yet. Take as much time as you need with the empty bar until your setup, technique and repetition feel good.
https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-try-band-dips-for-chest-and-triceps
By Bret Contreras
The training frequency for bodybuilders or recreational strength athletes with the aim of building muscle mass is a hotly debated topic.
A quick look online will show that expert opinions vary widely when it comes to the ideal training frequency for strength training with the goal of building muscle.
Some authorities recommend training a muscle very often, while others (especially those closer to mainstream bodybuilding) continue to suggest training each muscle only once a week. Those who follow the scientific literature quite dogmatically will point out that recent meta-analyses have reported that an ideal training frequency is two to three times a week, even though most bodybuilders continue to train their muscles once or twice a week.
The decision to train a muscle two or three times a week is a big decision that will have a big impact on how you should set up your training program. At this point in time, the available scientific literature does not have the level of precision we would need to determine an optimal training frequency based on the numbers from long-term studies.
What factors can influence training frequency?
Training frequency can be influenced by the duration of time during which the muscle protein synthesis rate is increased after a training session. In addition to this, the ability of the exerciser to recover after the first training session also plays a role. This is related to the after-effects of fatigue on the hypertrophy stimulus of the second training session.
Let's look at both factors below.
1. changes in the rate of protein synthesis
During a strength training session, the fibers of a muscle experience a mechanical load. This mechanical load is perceived by mechanoreceptors, which leads to an anabolic signal sequence. This signaling sequence triggers an increase in the rate of protein synthesis within each loaded muscle fiber. This increased internal rate of muscle protein synthesis is what causes increased protein content within the exercised muscle fibers.
After the training session, the rate of muscle protein synthesis increases over several hours, eventually reaching a maximum value and then decreasing again. We can plot these changes over time as a curve and the area under this curve is the overall effect of the training session on the size of the muscle fiber. If the rate of muscle protein synthesis is increased more or over a longer period of time, the corresponding muscle fiber will experience a greater increase in size.
Logically, it makes sense to wait until the rate of muscle protein synthesis after a training session drops back to approximately the pre-training session level before performing the next training session, as otherwise the stimulus generated by the second training session would be partially wasted. For this reason, the length of time over which the rate of muscle protein synthesis is increased after a training session is quite important.
As the figure below shows, the curve differs between trained individuals (blue) and untrained individuals (red). In untrained individuals, it takes longer for the rate of muscle protein synthesis to reach its maximum and it also takes longer for the rate of muscle protein synthesis to return to its starting point, resulting in a larger area under the curve.
In addition to this, the curves also differ depending on which proteins are measured. If we look at all proteins in a muscle fiber (continuous curves), the curve shows a different profile than if only the contractile proteins (dashed curves) are measured.
We should note that both myofibrillar and mixed muscle protein synthesis rates can be increased for the purpose of increasing muscle fiber size and for the purpose of repairing damaged muscle fibers, which occurs in the contractile and non-contractile protein areas. Therefore, an increase in the rate of (myofibrillar or mixed) protein synthesis does not automatically mean that the muscle fiber is building new proteins to increase in size - it could simply be repairing damage that has occurred.
If we look at all proteins in untrained individuals, the rate of mixed protein synthesis reaches its maximum value after 16 hours and has not dropped back to the pre-training baseline after 48 hours. If we look at the shape of the curve, it suggests that the rate of mixed protein synthesis reaches its baseline value after about 72 hours, which would imply an ideal training frequency of every three days or twice a week.
Since the curve peaks and declines more quickly in trained individuals, this data suggests that more frequent training would be ideal. However, it should be noted that this analysis is limited by the fact that all muscle fiber proteins are taken into account.
Ideally, a similar analysis would be performed looking only at the contractile proteins, but such a study has not yet been published. However, scientific research has shown that the increase in the rate of myofibrillar protein synthesis over a 48-hour period is closely related to the hypertrophy that results from a strength training program - but only when the individual is trained, but not when they are untrained.
This suggests that most of the increase in myofibrillar protein synthesis rate in trained individuals occurred within 48 hours, implying an ideal training frequency of at least every other day or three times per week.
2 Regeneration of the trainee
Immediately after a strength training session, we experience a reduced ability to release strength. There are three factors responsible for this effect:
- peripheral (local) fatigue of the muscles
- muscle damage
- exhaustion of the central nervous system
It is important to understand that the influence of each of these three factors changes over time.
Peripheral (local) muscle exhaustion may result from reductions in the activation of individual muscle fibers (through a reduction in the sensitivity of actin-myosin myofilaments to calcium ions or a reduction in the release of calcium ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum) or from factors that affect the individual's ability to produce force. The latter includes an impairment in the function of the actin-myosin cross-links. But however this fatigue occurs, it is only temporary.
We recover from peripheral fatigue within a few hours.
Muscle damage can include many things. These include very small amounts of damage to internal structures within the muscle fiber, such as the cytokine skeleton or contractile proteins. In fact, one of the most common signs of mild muscle damage is displacement of the Z-disks - lines that separate one sarcomere from the next. Muscle damage can also include tears to the cell membrane and more serious damage can include complete rupture of the muscle fibers themselves.
All of these types of damage are repaired by extending the structures of the existing muscle fiber. Very severe damage cannot be repaired and this leads to fiber necrosis. When this occurs, the remnants of the old muscle fiber are completely degraded by proteases and a new muscle fiber grows within the cell membrane of the old muscle fiber (1, 2).
Some types of strength training involve little or no muscle damage, while others involve a large amount of muscle damage. Muscle damage can also vary between muscle groups, muscle fiber types and individuals. Depending on the degree of muscle damage, the duration of the repair or regeneration process can take anywhere from very short to several weeks.
Central nervous system fatigue can result from either a reduction in the strength of signals sent from the brain or spine or an increase in feedback that reduces the excitability of motor neurons. Central nervous system fatigue is not the same as an unwillingness to perform the next training session, which is more closely related to the amount of muscle damage we have experienced. Rather, it represents the degree to which we can voluntarily activate the trained muscle.
Central nervous system exhaustion after strength training is less and of shorter duration than most people believe, which is probably related to some confusion about the meaning of the term. We assume that because we don't feel ready for the next training session, we must experience central nervous system fatigue, which is not necessarily the case. Incidentally, central nervous system fatigue tends to increase with increasing exercise duration rather than intensity, which makes it more pronounced after endurance training.
However, if the muscle damage is severe, such as after unaccustomed purely eccentric training or a high volume of conventional strength training (3), then this can cause prolonged periods of central nervous system fatigue that can last up to 2 or 3 days after training.
The three types of fatigue mentioned above have different effects on the impact of subsequent training sessions.
If we are still experiencing peripheral fatigue at the time of a subsequent training session (which would be very unusual as it would require a second training session within a few hours of the first) then this does not affect the hypertrophy stimulus.
The high level of peripheral fatigue leads to an increased recruitment of motor units and a reduced shortening speed of the muscle fibers, which means that our high threshold motor units are recruited earlier and we perform fewer repetitions but still achieve the same mechanical load on the target muscle fibers.
If we are still experiencing central nervous system exhaustion at the time of performing the next training session, then this impairs the hypertrophy stimulus. If we cannot fully activate a muscle during exercise, then we are not stimulating the high threshold motor units, which means that we are failing to produce sufficient mechanical stress on the muscle fibers controlled by these motor units - and this will reduce the amount of hypertrophy results.
In practice, central nervous system exhaustion is caused by either aerobic exercise or muscle-damaging strength training performed in close temporal proximity to the training session.
If we are still suffering from muscle damage at the time of the subsequent training session, then this will affect the hypertrophy stimulus for two reasons. Firstly, this may affect the hypertrophy stimulus to the extent that it causes central nervous system exhaustion. Secondly, this scenario can lead to oxidative stress that interferes with the increase in muscle protein synthesis rate that is stimulated as a result of the anabolic signals elicited by the mechanical load. For this reason, even if we are able to fully activate the muscle, muscle damage can impair hypertrophy by interfering with the signaling process.
What determines the training frequency?
The training frequency is determined by the following factors;
- The duration for which the myofibrillar protein synthesis rate is increased after exercise.
- The length of time during which muscle damage affects the hypertrophy stimulus of the subsequent training session either by generating central nervous system exhaustion (and thus preventing the recruitment of high threshold motor units) or by increasing oxidative stress.
At this stage, it is unclear how long myofibrillar protein synthesis rates are elevated after exercise, but it is likely to be less than 48 hours. How much shorter than 48 hours is not yet known. If we were to ignore muscle damage as a factor, then the optimal training frequency would be once every 2 days or three times a week. If myofibrillar protein synthesis is only significantly increased for 24 hours after training (which is quite possible), then the optimal training frequency could be once a day - but only if muscle damage is not taken into account as a factor.
The length of time during which muscle damage can interfere with the hypertrophy stimulus of a second subsequent training session is unclear. When conventional strength training sessions are performed, central nervous system depletion is mild and short-lived.
However, higher-volume training (4) and unaccustomed purely eccentric training can impair muscle activation for 2 to 3 days by inducing a greater amount of muscle damage. The duration of the effects of muscle damage-induced oxidative stress on the hypertrophy stimulus lasts 8 to 24 hours in rodents and might be expected to be longer in humans, although exact values have not yet been determined.
For this reason, it seems likely that key volume plays a key role in determining optimal training frequency. High volume requires a longer recovery time, leading to an optimal training frequency of once every 2 to 3 days (depending on whether the exerciser is accustomed to the training and taking into account that the duration of the effects of increased oxidative stress is not yet known).
Moderate volume training sessions could be limited only by the length of time during which the myofibrillar protein synthesis rate is increased (again, taking into account that the duration of the effects of increased oxidative stress are not yet known).
How important is muscle damage?
When it comes to bodybuilding, the issue of training volume is far less controversial than the issue of training frequency.
Most experts agree with the conclusions of the scientific literature, which reports a dose-dependent relationship between training volume and hypertrophy, with the number of sets ranging from 10 sets per week in untrained and trained individuals.Interestingly, the data in these studies refer to weekly training volume, even though these studies compare different training volumes by changing the number of sets performed per training session while keeping the number of training sessions the same. In fact, many experts refer exclusively to the weekly training volume without considering the volume of training sessions.
Nevertheless, at least in untrained individuals, increasing the weekly training volume by increasing the number of training sessions completed does not appear to have the same dose-dependent effect as increasing the weekly training volume by increasing the number of sets performed per training session.
In one study, researchers found that performing the same training session two, three or five times a week produced similar muscle growth (5). Each training session included 3 sets of leg extensions to muscle failure, which meant that the 3 groups performed 6, 9 or 15 sets per week. It was expected that these differences in weekly training volume would have different effects on hypertrophy, but this was not the case. The lack of differences between the groups suggests that muscle damage induced during some of these training sessions may have affected the hypertrophy stimulus during subsequent training sessions, either through reduced muscle activation or increased oxidative stress.
This effect would certainly be less in trained individuals, but despite habituation to repetitive efforts, muscle damage also occurs in trained individuals, and this is particularly true for the upper body muscles (6).
All in all, this shows once again that training volume only counts if it stimulates. When training too often, training volume may not stimulate if the recruitment of motor units is impaired by central nervous system fatigue due to muscle damage or if an increase in the rate of muscle protein synthesis despite anabolic signals is prevented by oxidative stress due to muscle damage.
Why not train less often?
If training too frequently carries the risk of performing workouts that do not stimulate muscle hypertrophy, then the question arises as to whether it would not make sense to train less often and train each muscle only once a week, as many bodybuilders do.
However, there are two reasons why we should train a muscle more often than once a week:
- Some people find performing the entire weekly training volume for a muscle group during a single training session too demanding due to the high degree of peripheral fatigue during the training session and severe muscle damage, as well as severe muscle soreness after the workout. This is a matter of personal preference, but it is easy to understand.
- There is probably a non-linear dose-response curve of training volume for a given training session. Studies have shown that performing 10 sets of 10 repetitions per exercise is as effective as performing half the number of sets. In addition, the increase in the rate of muscle protein synthesis after training also reaches a plateau at a certain number of sets, meaning that beyond a certain point, more sets will not lead to any further increase in muscle protein synthesis. Once a certain threshold of training volume is reached, splitting the training volume into two training sessions per week should produce greater muscle growth than one weekly training session with the entire weekly volume.
The optimal training frequency therefore depends on the volume performed during the training session. Each training session causes a certain amount of muscle damage, which will determine how often that training session can be performed. However, each training session will only cause a dose-dependent hypertrophy response to the volume performed up to a certain point. For this reason, some training frequencies (in conjunction with the appropriate optimal volume of training sessions) will produce better results than others.
What about psychological stress?
Some research has shown that people who are exposed to high levels of psychological stress take longer to recover after a training session. Although this seems to imply a mechanism involving the central nervous system, it is more likely that this effect is related to reduced recovery from muscle damage. Indeed, several studies have shown that wound healing is slower in different contexts where individuals are exposed to high levels of long-term physiological stress (7,8).
It doesn't take much imagination to see how the repair of muscle damage could be similarly affected by psychological stress.
What does this mean in practice?
The questions considered so far have several practical implications.
First, it is clear that it is possible to train too often, which is mainly related to the effects of muscle damage incurred during one training session on the hypertrophy stimulus of subsequent training sessions.
Secondly, the amount of muscle damage varies from individual to individual (especially due to training status, but also due to stress levels), from muscle to muscle and from training session to training session (especially due to volume). For this reason, the optimal training frequency differs from person to person, from muscle to muscle and from training session to training session. Trying to find the perfect training frequency that will always work for everyone is therefore a doomed endeavor.
Thirdly, we cannot calculate our weekly training volume simply by adding up all the sets performed within a week until muscle failure (or until a certain point before reaching muscle failure), regardless of when they are performed. If training sessions are performed too close together, the stimulus of the subsequent training session will be impaired. How long the interval should be depends on the individual, the muscle being trained and the training session.
In practice, this means that we should start a new training program with a conservative training frequency and increase this frequency until we stop making progress from one training session to the next. In most cases, this will probably mean that we will start with 1 to 2 training sessions for one muscle group per week, depending on the planned training volume.
Conclusion
The training frequency is determined by:
- The duration for which myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis is increased after training.
- The length of time during which muscle damage impairs the hypertrophy stimulus of the following training session (either through central nervous system fatigue preventing the recruitment of high threshold motor units or through increased oxidative stress).
The amount of muscle damage can vary from person to person, from muscle to muscle and depending on the type of training session. Training sessions with a higher volume produce more muscle damage and therefore require longer recovery. For these reasons, the optimal training frequency varies from individual to individual, from muscle to muscle and depending on the type of training session.
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29115986
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25242742
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30067591
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30067591
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29852092
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10958167
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792763/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19686881
Source: https://medium.com/@SandCResearch/what-determines-training-frequency-62ec783f908f
By Chris Beardsley
