Training
Squats are a crucial exercise for building lower body muscle and lower body strength, as well as improving core stability, but are also an exercise that is harder to increase consistently. This article will help you with that.
Squats are one of the hardest and most rewarding exercises you can perform. When performed regularly and correctly, squats can quickly transform your legs and glutes and build substantial core and lower back strength.
While many - or perhaps even most - neglect squats, a minority know the vital importance of this exercise and train it hard every week. And based on the many emails I receive, many of these people eventually reach plateaus and aren't sure how to break through them despite good training planning and nutrition.
In this article, I want to share with you 7 effective ways to increase your squat performance. By using one or more of these methods, you should be able to consistently perform more reps every week or two and then increase the weight.
Tip #1 for increasing your squat performance: Control your form
Just as with deadlifts and bench presses, incorrect form on squats will not only stall your progress but also open the door for injury. On the other hand, perfecting the form of the exercise execution will enable you to make continuous progress.
So let's take a closer look at correct exercise execution form, as this covers a whole range of factors in squats.
The setup:
There are two ways to place the barbell bar on the shoulders in classic squats:
- The so-called "high bar" position
- The so-called "low bar" position
In the "high bar" position, the bar rests directly on the upper trapezius. In the low-bar position, the bar rests on the body between the upper part of the trapezius and the rear shoulder muscles. In the "high bar" position, your body will remain more upright during the exercise than when using the "low bar" position.
Both forms are correct, but many exercisers will be stronger when using the low bar position as it is more hip dominant, whereas the high bar position is more knee dominant. Other people find the low-bar position very uncomfortable and therefore prefer the high-bar position. Many exercisers use a bar position that is somewhere between the 'high bar' position and the 'low bar' position.
Ultimately, you should experiment with the position of the bar to find the position that works best for you. It's also smart to switch between different bar positions from time to time, as improvements in your squat performance in one position will tend to help improve your performance in the other position.
Once you have found the correct position of the bar, you are ready to lift the weight from the rack. Make sure that your feet are directly under the bar so that you can push the weight out of the rack with a squat motion and also make sure that you push your chest forward and pull your shoulder blades together.
After you have pushed the weight out of the rack, take a few steps backwards, place your feet about shoulder-width apart and place your feet 15 to 20 degrees outwards. Keep your head in a neutral position, elbows down and chest up and take a deep breath.
Now you are ready for the downward movement.
The downward movement
Start the downward movement by simultaneously pushing your hips back and bending your knees (don't consciously do either of these first). You should feel some backward movement in your hips and feel like you want to sit on your heels.
Keep your knees in line with and behind your toes (don't let them bend inwards or outwards) and continue the downward movement. Your torso will automatically lean forward during the downward movement, but don't overdo it - try not to exceed a 45 degree lean.
Move down until your thighs are parallel to the floor or slightly lower. Once you have reached this position, you are ready for the upward movement.
The upward movement
The key to starting a good upward movement is to move your body upwards by pushing from your heels and the center of your feet, making sure that your shoulders move upwards at the same speed as your hips. As you continue the upward movement, consciously tighten your gluteus until you reach the top position of the movement.
Tip #2 to increase your squat performance: Perform heavy squats
The topic of the ideal repetition range for squats is quite complex, which is why I won't go into more detail in this article, but will keep it short and sweet:
If you're just starting to train with weights (you've been training for less than a year), then you should perform all your squat training in a repetition range of 4 to 6 reps if you're a man and use a repetition range of 8 to 10 reps if you're a woman.
This means that you use a weight with which you can perform at least 4 but no more than 6 repetitions and increase the weight in the next set as soon as you have reached 6 repetitions.
If you are an experienced exerciser, you may benefit from training in different repetition ranges or periodizing your workouts. Here is a simple approach to periodization for squats:
- Week 1: 2 sets of 2 to 3 reps (~90% of 1RM weight) + 1 set of 4 to 6 reps (~80% of 1 RM) + 1 set of 8 to 10 reps (~70% of 1RM weight)
- Week 2: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 2 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions + 1 set of 8 to 10 repetitions
- Week 3: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 3 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions + 1 set of 8 to 10 repetitions
- Week 4: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 3 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions + 1 set of 8 to 10 repetitions
- Week 5: 2 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions + 2 sets with the 1RM weight
As you can see, in the above program you will train squats once a week (or every 5 to 7 days). The program includes training in the 2 to 3 repetition range, which provides maximum overload, the 4 to 6 repetition range, which is the optimal range for myofibrillar growth, and the 8 to 10 repetition range to stimulate growth via metabolic stress and cellular exhaustion.
After you have completed the 5 week cycle, you should plan to take an off-load week (or not train with weights at all for a week) and then start back at week 1.
Tip #3 to increase your squat performance: Perform deep squats - even if it means reducing the weight
This point has already been touched on in the first point, which dealt with exercise form, but it deserves its own section. The fact is that you are cheating yourself of your progress if you don't at least reach the position with your thighs parallel to the floor when doing squats. This is almost common knowledge and is also supported by numerous scientific studies that show the following:
- The further down you go when doing squats, the more your legs will improve in terms of strength and muscle mass (1).
- The further down you go during squats, the more your gluteus will be activated (2).
- The further down you go during squats, the more weight your hips take off your knees (3).
- The further down you go during squats, the more your lower back is strengthened (4).
- The further down you go when doing squats, the more power you will be able to generate with your legs (which is especially important for athletes) (5).
I could go on, but the above is already a fairly comprehensive list of reasons why you should go low when doing squats. How low? Although full range of motion squats - where your glutes (almost) touch your feet - have their benefits, they require a lot of flexibility and mobility, which I'll talk about next. I would recommend starting with squats where you go down until your thighs are parallel to the floor and build up your strength before incorporating full range of motion squats into your training.
Tip #4 to increase your squat performance: Improve the mobility of your lower body
While many people don't realize the importance of proper exercise form and sufficiently deep squats, many couldn't even perform this exercise correctly if they wanted to. They simply lack flexibility and mobility.
The most common problem is stiff hips and hamstrings, but ankles and calves are also common problems. Fortunately, there are a number of simple exercises you can do to warm up and enable you to perform proper squats with ease.
Tip #5 to improve your squat performance: Use the right shoes
Believe it or not, the wrong shoes can make squats significantly harder. A good weightlifting shoe has a few things going for it:
- It provides a stable surface to help you maintain balance and support heavy weights. This is particularly important for exercises such as deadlifts, squats and overhead presses.
- It encloses your feet like a glove and leaves them no unnecessary room to move. Under no circumstances should your feet move back and forth in your shoes while you are exercising.
- It provides good traction so that your feet cannot slip during the exercise.
The right weightlifting shoes not only improve your performance in exercises such as squats and deadlifts (6), but also reduce the risk of injury.
Tip #6 for improving your squat performance: perform repetitions with breaks in the movement
The part of the squat movement that causes most people the most problems is the first part of the upward movement from the bottom position. This requires a tremendous amount of strength and coordination between many muscles of the body. However, this part doesn't have to haunt us because we can focus on it in our training and turn this weak point into a strength. We do this by performing repetitions with pauses during the movement.
These are easy to perform: You perform squats as normal, but when you reach the lowest point of the movement, you hold that position for 5 to 7 seconds, take full, deep breaths and then stand up.
Not only is this a great way to work the gluteus, hamstrings and hip muscles responsible for the upward movement from the lowest position, but it also increases core strength and stability immensely.
To get the most out of these reps, I recommend you start with around 60% of your 1RM weight - which is the weight you would normally perform 10 to 12 reps with - and work your way up to 75% to 80% of your 1RM weight - which is the weight you would normally perform 6 to 8 reps with.
When it comes to incorporating these reps into a training session, I prefer to do them after my normal heavy sets. So I don't replace my heavy sets with sets of holding the deepest position, but add a few of these sets to my existing squat workout.
Tip #7 to increase your squat performance: Push yourself up for your workout
If you're an experienced exerciser, then you know how important it is to be mentally prepared for heavy exercises. This mental preparation can make the difference between success and failure on a heavy single repetition. You've no doubt seen powerlifters go through what looked like a ridiculous satanic ritual before performing a heavy exercise, but did you know that it's been scientifically proven that such a mental push actually works?
A study conducted by scientists at AUT University on elite rugby players found that athletes' bench press power production increased by 8% when they had previously pushed themselves up (7). The researchers also found that distraction significantly reduced force production - there was a 12% difference in force production between the hyped-up and distracted athletes.
The message here is that you should push yourself for heavy exercises and focus on each repetition as you perform them - no small talk, no listening and no mental wandering.
I, for one, have found that the right workout music dramatically helps me mentally prepare for my set and before I grab the bar, I take 10 to 15 seconds to focus on the exercise I'm about to perform and visually picture myself successfully performing that exercise. Sounds silly? Well, scientific research has shown that visualizing a successful exercise execution before the actual exercise execution can increase strength (8).
References:
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23604798
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12173958
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22797000
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23254544
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23442291
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22201687
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22076083
- http://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/2012/10000/Maximizing_Strength_Training_Performance_Using.10.aspx
Source: https://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-increase-squat/
By Michael Matthews
Advice on the best way to build muscle will take you in all sorts of directions, but here are two fundamental truths that will help you recognize nonsensical advice.
When it comes to building muscle, many people spend far too much time looking for shortcuts, hacks and secrets, while spending far too little time focusing on the basic 20% that will deliver 80% of the results.
I know this problem from personal experience. I used to waste hundreds of dollars each on more or less useless supplements and jumped from training program to training program and nutrition program to nutrition program for years hoping to finally find THE training and nutrition hack.
To make a long story short, I've probably made just about every muscle building mistake you can make and now that I'm on the other side, I've learned a valuable lesson:
Building muscle is not as complicated as many may believe
It requires that you understand a handful of principles and do a number of things consistently and correctly. It takes patience and diligence - not innovation and extremism.
In this article, I want to share with you what I believe are the two most important aspects of building muscle. If you do these two things right, then you will build muscle and strength. If you don't, then you will struggle just like I once did.
The best way to build muscle: Move heavy weights
I made a lot of mistakes during my early years in the gym and one of the biggest of these was doing so-called hypertrophy training with lots of repetitions. You know, those training programs you'll find in all the bodybuilding magazines: 8 to 12 reps per set, lots of sets, descending sets, supersets, mega sets, etc. I did these types of training programs for 7 years, 3 to 5 days a week, with no major breaks, and in that time I only managed to gain 12 kilos of muscle and mediocre strength.
I might have looked okay, but not for 7 years of consistent training. And I was also quite weak. On a good day, I could do maybe a few reps of squats and bench presses with 100 kilos, I couldn't use more weight on shoulder presses than on curls and I didn't do deadlifts.
At some point my body didn't really change any more. For the last 2 or 3 of those 7 years, I looked more or less the same and already thought I had reached my genetic limit. In reality, however, I wasn't even close to my potential, which I realized after I dramatically changed my training methods...
There were a few turning points that were responsible for these dramatic changes and the primary one was the realization of how important heavy training is for building muscle. The big "A-ha" was that training with high reps and feeling a muscle burn should never be the focus of a natural trainee. Our goal should be to get stronger.
Emphasizing high repetition training simply cannot build the amount of muscle that makes the difference between "normal" and "muscular" (about 20 to 25 kilos for the average man and about half of that for women). The only reliable way to achieve this is to move heavy weights week after week.
The repetition range that works best for this in my experience is between 4 and 6 repetitions, which is equivalent to training with 80 to 85% of your maximum weight for one repetition (1 RM weight). This repetition range is a great way to stimulate both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, resulting in big, strong, dense muscles that won't disappear when the pump fades or you define.
Trust me when I say that muscular, defined guys who perform 15 to 25 sets per session with 10 to 12+ reps per set with supersets, descending sets and other fashionable repetition schemes can only look like that because of illegal muscle-building substances.
This applies equally to men and women, although women generally cannot perform as much heavy training per session as men because their bodies produce far fewer muscle-building endogenous hormones and thus cannot repair muscles damaged by training as effectively.
The latter is why I advise women to start with a repetition range of 8 to 10 reps and as they get stronger, add some training in a repetition range of 4 to 6 reps on the heavy multi-joint exercises such as squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses and bench presses into their training.
I more or less treaded water for years until I learned this lesson. Don't make the same mistake. What Ronnie Coleman once said is true: "Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to move those heavy weights."
The worst way to build muscle: Incorrectly executed mass building and definition phases
Every aspect of fitness - be it nutrition, training or supplementation - has its own hotly debated controversies and one of these is the ongoing debate over whether the concept of mass building and definition phases actually works.
Many people believe in the simple and time-honored and stick to the old-school dictum that you have to eat a lot to get bulky and then go through the agony of near starvation and hours on the treadmill to get lean, while others claim that mass gain and definition phases are antiquated and nonsensical and that building muscle without gaining fat (body recomposition) is the new era of bodybuilding.
The truth, however, is that both groups are right and wrong. When done correctly, mass gain and definition phases are the most effective way to build an impressive body - but when done incorrectly, they are an extremely effective way to forever tread water in the long run.
To understand why this is the case, let's take a quick look at the physiology of the body:
One of the big "secrets" of building muscle is to eat enough food
Most people know that you need to eat enough protein to build muscle, but many don't realize that they also need to eat enough calories.
Your body burns energy to stay alive and you fuel it by eating food. The relationship between these amounts - energy burned vs. energy supplied - is also known as the energy balance.
If you supply your body with less energy each day than it uses, then you enter a state known as a calorie deficit. This is a state of negative energy balance (the body burns more energy than it consumes) and results in weight loss (a loss of water, glycogen, fat and sometimes muscle).
One side effect of a calorie deficit is that your body's ability to build muscle protein is reduced (1). This means that your body cannot build muscle efficiently when it is in a state of calorie deficit and this is also the reason why it is generally accepted that you cannot build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
So if you want to build muscle as quickly as possible, then you need to make sure that you are not in a state of calorie deficit. This is because, in a sense, you need to eat a lot to become bulky and muscular. No matter which way you eat - be it intermittent fasting, cyclical carbohydrate intake, IIFYM, etc. - if you are in a state of caloric deficit for several days and are a relatively lean, experienced exerciser, you will gain little to no muscle mass. There is simply no way to naturally outsmart this physiological mechanism.
The easiest way to ensure that you are not in a state of caloric deficit is to slightly exceed your body's caloric needs and thus maintain a caloric surplus or positive energy balance. This is exactly what classically happens during a mass-building phase and this approach is scientifically sound and supported by decades of bodybuilding research and real-world results.
However, many people overdo it...
The big problem with the traditional bulking phase
The traditional bulking phase is something of a nutritional sledgehammer. It makes you eat thousands of calories every day and you get fatter and fatter without really knowing why. Although this is a possible way to ensure a calorie surplus, you should ask yourself whether so many calories are really needed to build muscle? Fortunately for our wallets, our stomachs and our sanity, this is not the case. And when you get right down to it, such an approach can even be counterproductive.
The main problem with maintaining a large calorie surplus is that fat builds up quickly and this hinders muscle growth
Many people don't realize that as the amount of body fat increases, insulin sensitivity decreases (2). As your body becomes more insulin resistant, its ability to burn fat decreases and the likelihood of carbohydrates being stored as fat increases (3). In addition, insulin resistance suppresses the intracellular signaling responsible for protein synthesis, which means less muscle growth (4).
At the same time, levels of endogenous male muscle-building hormones decrease, while estrogen levels increase (5). Since these male muscle-building hormones play an important role in the muscle-building process and high oestrogen levels promote fat storage, the disadvantages of such a scenario should be clear.
The bottom line is that the fatter you get, the less muscle you will build, which is why I recommend that men never exceed a body fat percentage of 15 to 17% and women should never go above 25 to 27% body fat. Once these upper limits are reached, men should diet down to 10% and women to 20% body fat before going back to a state of calorie surplus.
How to calculate a suitable calorie surplus for building muscle
Here's a rule of thumb for building mass: Eat 10% more calories than you consume each day to maximize your muscle growth and minimize your fat storage.
An accurate way to measure how much energy you consume is to use the average of different online calorie calculators to determine your basal metabolic rate (calories burned at rest) and multiply it as follows:
- By 1.2 if you exercise 1 to 3 hours per week.
- By 1.35 if you train 4 to 6 hours per week.
- 1.5 if you train 6+ hours per week.
This should give you a good estimate of your total daily energy expenditure, which is nothing more than the amount of calories you burn each day. To achieve a 10% calorie surplus, simply multiply your total energy expenditure by 1.1 to get your starting point.
For example, I currently weigh 88 kilos, have a body fat percentage of 7.5% and exercise 5 to 6 hours a week. My basal metabolic rate is 2,200 kcal per day. I multiply this value by 1.4 to get my actual energy consumption, which corresponds to 3,080 kcal per day. I then multiply this value by 1.1 to get my calorie intake during the mass-building phase, which is 3,400 kcal per day.
You know you're eating the right amount of calories when you're steadily getting stronger and gaining 250 to 500 grams per week as a man (and 125 to 250 grams per week as a woman).
In terms of muscle to fat ratio, most people will build fat and muscle in a 1:1 ratio (1 kilo of muscle for every kilo of fat), with some people tending to build slightly more muscle than fat and others tending to build slightly more fat than muscle. This is where your personal genetic predisposition comes into play.
The worst way to lose fat
So much for building muscle. Now let's move on to fat loss, which requires us to keep our bodies in a state of calorie deficit. There's no debate about the physiology here - no calorie deficit means no fat loss - but there are right and wrong ways to go about it. And unfortunately, the wrong ways are much more prevalent, giving fat loss a bad name.
The most common (and worst) way to define fat loss is to drastically reduce your calorie intake and do a ton of exercise. The combination of a large calorie deficit and a large amount of exercise is disastrous for the following reasons:
- You'll lose fat, but you'll also lose muscle (7) and the less you eat, the more muscle you'll lose. And as you lose muscle, your body starts to take on that ugly "skinny fat" look. At the same time, your metabolism will slow down (8), your bone health will decline (9) and your risk of disease will increase (10).
- You will feel progressively worse and worse (11). Your energy levels will drop rapidly, you will struggle with intense food cravings, your mental performance will decline, you will become depressed and much more.
A much better way to tackle this is to maintain a moderate calorie deficit of 20 to 25% (eat about 75 to 80% of the amount of energy your body burns daily). This will allow you to lose 1 to 2 pounds of fat per week while maintaining your metabolic health, energy levels, mental balance and mood.
In terms of quantity and intensity of training, 3 to 5 workouts with weights and three 20 to 25 minute high intensity cardio interval training sessions are a good starting point. This will burn plenty of energy and help accelerate fat loss, while this type of training is also effective for maintaining your muscle mass, which is just as important as fat loss during a calorie deficit.
The second worst way to lose fat
If your goal is to build a great body, then another big fat loss mistake is to use the "slow cutting" approach - a slower fat loss over a longer period of time with a lower calorie deficit of 5 to 10%. At first glance, slow fat loss may seem beneficial. You get to eat more, which means less hunger and better workouts, and you still lose fat (albeit more slowly).
The problem with this approach, however, is that even the slight calorie deficit will hinder your muscle growth, meaning that the longer you define, the longer you won't build new muscle mass. This insidious mistake can really hinder your long-term results, as if you keep working on your body and need to build more muscle to reach your goal, you can waste a lot of time and potential muscle growth.
I've seen people seriously mess this up and only build half to a third of the amount of muscle they could have built in 6 or 12 months because they stayed in a state of mild calorie deficit for too long. This is the reason I recommend that people use any safe and scientifically validated strategy for maximizing fat loss during the definition phase. The goal is to lose fat as quickly and comfortably as possible and get back out of the calorie deficit as quickly as possible to build muscle again.
Putting it all together: correct vs. incorrect mass gain and definition phases Having covered a lot of ground here, I'd like to finish by giving you a simple summary of the mass gain and definition phases:
The ineffective way to build and define muscle
-
Eat far too much during the mass building phase and build up far too much fat
This slows down your muscle growth and forces you to switch to a calorie deficit after just a few months, which is not enough time to build any significant amount of muscle.
And then...
-
Eat far too little and train far too much during the definition phase and lose equal amounts of muscle and fat proportionately
This often results in you losing all the muscle mass you built up during the mass-building phase, which sets you back to your starting point in terms of body composition.
Or...
-
Drag out your definition phase far too long and lose in 6 months what you could have lost in 2 months in a healthy way
This means you've spent 4 months building little to no muscle, when you could have spent those 4 months building muscle.
The effective way to build and define muscle
-
Follow a proper diet plan during the mass building phase, ensuring you maintain a mild calorie surplus and are careful not to lose control of your cheat meals
This will prevent drastic "overeating" and allow you to extend your mass-building phases for as long as possible - 4 to 6 months for most people - and build a significant amount of muscle and strength.
-
Use a safe but aggressive calorie deficit and an appropriate training and supplement program to lose fat quickly while maintaining muscle mass
This allows you to keep your definition phases relatively short - 2 to 3 months for most people - and maintain the muscle mass built up during mass gain. This allows you to build more muscle as quickly as possible.
The best ways to build muscle are simple and effective
If you make these simple changes to your training sessions and diet - if you focus on heavy training with basic exercises and take the right approach to mass building - you will see drastic changes to your body.
You'll build muscle and strength faster than ever before and come to the same realization I did - that if you do this long enough, you'll achieve the body you really want. No more anxiety, frustration or magical secret formulas. And that's the real reward - having full control over how your body develops.
References:
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17229738
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16497175
- http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7058/abs/nature04140.html
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16777975
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21678033
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23209188
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7437413
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11157332
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16960159
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16960159
- http://www.ednses.com/downloads/effects_of_semi-starvation.pdf
https://www.muscleforlife.com/best-way-to-build-muscle/
By Michael Mathews
Can training a muscle group six times a week work better than training the same muscle group three times a week? For most people, this idea may sound completely outlandish. Training one muscle group six times a week will only ruin your joints, completely overload your CNS and leave you burnt out in a state of overtraining...
But there's fascinating research that suggests this idea might not be as crazy as you might think.
The study, known as "The Frekvensprosjektet" (Norwegian for Frequency Project), has not yet been published in any scientific journal, so it has been difficult to get important details about exactly how this study was set up. However, I was able to piece together some details with the help of the conference proceedings (3, 4), Matt Perryman's excellent book "Squat every Day" and articles by Borge Fagerli (5) and Martijn Koeveots (6).
The Norwegian Frequency Project
A group of 16 Norwegian powerlifters - 13 men and 3 women - were divided into one of two study groups. Both groups followed the exact same training program - with one key difference:
Group one trained three times a week. Group two split each training session into two sessions and performed six shorter training sessions over the course of the week. Taken together, the exercisers in both groups performed exactly the same amount of work - it was just distributed differently throughout the week. To keep the total training volume the same, the group that trained three times a week performed twice as many sets per training session.
After 15 weeks, it was the 6 days a week group that made the most progress
Strength gains in squats, deadlifts and bench presses were approximately twice as high in the 6-day group as in the 3-day group. The figure below shows the combined changes in strength for all 3 exercises. Each circle and square represents the results for one subject, while the horizontal line represents the group average.
In addition to strength measurements, the researchers also looked at changes in the thickness of the vastus lateralis (a thigh muscle) and the cross-sectional area of the quadriceps. Again, it was the 6 days per week group that built up the most muscle mass and increased the cross-sectional area of the quadriceps by 4%. Interestingly, the members of the 3 days per week group did not gain any muscle mass on average. The results can be seen in the graph below:
These results seem very strange to me. Why did so many members of the 3 days a week group lose muscle? If you look at the graph of percentage change in cross-sectional area of the quadriceps, you will see that it only shows the results of five of the eight subjects in the 3 days a week group. Where are the results of the other three? What impact would their results have had on the average of the group?
Something else that stands out is the wide range of variance in results from person to person
In terms of muscle thickness, three subjects in both groups achieved roughly the same results and saw about 5% gains. Two subjects in the 6 days per week group made substantially faster progress than all other study participants. In one of the exercisers, an increase in muscle thickness was observed that was about three times the group average.
Such a large variance in results - even among people who followed exactly the same training program - has been observed in other studies on the same topic. Some people respond extremely well to strength training. These subjects are also known as "high responders". Some will achieve "good but not excellent" results and are known as "medium responders". Others - the "low responders" - tend to make much slower progress.
This raises a question: Would the low responders in the 3 days a week group have achieved better results if they had exercised 6 days a week?
We don't know, and neither do we know whether the high responders in the 6 days per week group would have made the same gains if they had been in the 3 days per week group. In other words, it is possible that these subjects were low and high responders regardless of training frequency and that the reason for the superior gains of the 6 days per week group was that the greater number of low and medium responders happened to be assigned to the 3 days per week group.
The results of the Norwegian Frequency Project look convincing, but there are several reasons why I don't think we should immediately abandon everything we know and start training each muscle group six times a week
For one thing, the participants in this study were not overweight beginners or less physically active students, who usually serve as subjects in such studies. Instead, all of the subjects were young powerlifters with an average age of 21 and all of them had competed in national-level powerlifting competitions during the six months prior to the start of the study.
This tells us that these subjects must have been at the front of the line when the genes for "strong and muscular" were distributed. But that same set of powerlifting-friendly genes may have also made it more likely that these athletes made good progress with a program that included training six days a week.
Just as results from studies conducted with untrained beginners cannot be extrapolated to elite athletes, results from studies with elite athletes cannot always be extrapolated to those who do not have the same genetic predispositions.
In addition, muscle growth was only measured in the thigh area. We know from other studies that the quadriceps respond differently to an increase in training volume than muscles of the upper body (1, 2). The same could well apply to training frequency. In addition, there was no "mean" training frequency. Would training a muscle 4 to 5 days per week have worked as well as training 6 days per week?
Remember that the main goal of the Norwegian Frequency Project was to study strength gains. The type of training that maximizes strength gains is not necessarily the type of training that works best for building muscle.
The results of the Norwegian Frequency Project could not be replicated by other studies
In a follow-up study, researchers at the University of Florida compared two programs that included training three or six days per week (7). The subjects who participated in this study were young men in their early twenties who had been training with weights for at least 6 months. To be eligible for the study, participants had to be able to use at least 125% of their body weight for squats, 100% of their body weight for bench presses and 150% of their body weight for deadlifts. So these were not the typical untrained beginners who often serve as test subjects in such studies. However, they were very far from the level of performance of the competitive powerlifters who took part in the Norwegian Frequency Project.
The study participants were divided into two groups and trained either 3 or 6 days per week. The amount of training performed was identical for both groups, but was distributed differently throughout the week. For the men who trained three days a week, each training session lasted an average of two hours, while the men who trained six days a week each trained for one hour.
And what were the results?
This time, no significant differences in strength gains were observed between the groups. The men in the 3-day group and the men in the 6-day group achieved roughly the same results, with the researchers concluding that training frequency appears to follow the law of diminishing returns, as a high frequency of resistance training (6 days per week) compared to a lower frequency (3 days per week) does not appear to offer any additional benefits in terms of strength and muscle gain when volume and intensity are equal.
Interestingly, the high training frequency group was able to achieve faster gains in muscle mass - 2.6 kilograms compared to 1.7 kilograms in the lower frequency group.
Similar results were observed when a team of Brazilian scientists compared training a muscle group once a week with a full body workout performed 5 days a week from Monday to Friday (8). To be eligible for the study, participants had to have been training for at least three years and be able to move 150% of their body weight on squats and 100% of their body weight on bench presses.
The group that trained each muscle group once a week performed two exercises with 5 to 10 sets per exercise, while the full-body group performed 11 exercises with 1 to 2 sets per exercise. Both training sessions lasted slightly longer than 30 minutes.
Again, no significant differences in strength or mass gains were observed between the two groups - 10 to 15 sets spread over 5 days increased muscle mass and strength to a similar extent as the same number of sets performed once a week. However, similar to the University of South Florida study, the full-body group showed slightly greater gains in lean body mass compared to the group that trained each muscle group only once a week.
In another study, Croatian researchers found that training a muscle group either three or six times a week for the same volume resulted in similar gains in muscle mass and strength (9).
Beginners, intermediate or experienced exercisers?
The length of time you've been training also seems to have an impact on how your muscles respond to a higher training frequency. If you have just started training with weights, you may be able to get just as good results with a conventional training program where you train each muscle two to three times a week.
In a group of untrained beginners, training with weights one or three days a week over a period of 11 weeks resulted in very similar gains in muscle mass and strength (10). At least in terms of muscle growth, six sets once a week worked just as well as two sets three times a week.
When scientists at the University of São Paulo in Brazil looked at the influence of training frequency in a group of untrained young men, they found no benefits to training one muscle more than two days a week (11).
The exercisers were divided into two groups. Both groups trained one leg five times a week using a leg extension machine. The other leg was trained either two or three times a week. Unlike the other studies we have looked at so far, the total training volume was not identical. The high frequency program consisted of 15 sets per week, while the low frequency training consisted of 6 to 9 sets per week.
After eight weeks, the higher volume training had not resulted in faster muscle gain. Three sets of 2 to 3 days per week had produced the same muscle growth as three sets of five days per week. The scientists also observed that the rate of progression of the leg that was trained at high frequency was significantly lower than the leg that was trained two to three days per week. The exercisers were not able to increase the number of repetitions or the weight as quickly as the leg that was trained at a lower frequency.
However, the scientists also emphasized that these results are specific to untrained individuals. For exercisers with a few years of training experience, the results could be significantly different.
Here's what they had to say on the subject:
"Considering that the time course of the increase in protein synthesis after a resistance training session changes to a shorter and more specific course, it is reasonable to hypothesize that trained individuals might benefit from a higher training frequency such as five times a week. This idea is supported by a lower stress impact of each resistance training session with increasing training experience, which shortens the necessary recovery period between two training sessions."
Borge Farelli says the following:
"Studies show that even though moderately trained strength athletes experience an anabolic increase in muscle protein synthesis rate for 24 to 48 hours after a training session before muscle protein synthesis returns to baseline, this increase can be much shorter in more advanced exercisers, lasting only 12 to 16 hours."
In short, if you've just started training, your muscles can grow at the same rate regardless of whether you split your training into one, two or three sessions per week. However, if you are more advanced, you may well see better results if you train each muscle group more than two or three times a week.
Final thoughts
It's important to remember that millions of people have successfully built muscle using a wide range of different training methods. The results of the Norwegian Frequency Project should not be interpreted to mean that training every muscle group six times a week is now the official best way to train.
This research merely suggests that the range of effective training frequencies - especially for those with several years of experience training with weights - may be much wider than previously thought.
References
- Hanssen KE, Kvamme NH, Nilsen TS, Rønnestad B, Ambjørnsen IK, Norheim F, Kadi F, Hallèn J, Drevon CA, Raastad T. (2013). The effect of strength training volume on satellite cells, myogenic regulatory factors, and growth factors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 23, 728-739
- Rønnestad BR, Egeland W, Kvamme NH, Refsnes PE, Kadi F, Raastad T. (2007). Dissimilar effects of one- and three-set strength training on strength and muscle mass gains in upper and lower body in untrained subjects. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21, 157-163
- http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.94449!/fileManager/Book%20of%20Abstracts%20ECSS%20Bruges%202012.pdf
- http://www.nih.no/Documents/1_SFP/ICST%202012/ICST%20Book%20of%20abstract%20Final%20291012.pdf
- http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/reignite-progress-with-new-science/
- http://gregnuckols.com/2014/02/18/high-frequency-training-for-a-bigger-total-research-on-highly-trained-norwegian-powerlifters
- http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/publishahead/Training_Volume,_Not_Frequency,_Indicative_of.95555.aspx
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29489727
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327435932_Resistance_training_frequencies_of_3_and_6_times_per_week_produce_similar_muscular_adaptations_in_resistance-trained_men
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30013480
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29852092
We asked 11 experts from different areas of weight training the following question:
What was the biggest mistake you made as a beginner - and what would you do differently today?
I tried to do what the best did
I've always had a pretty good bullshit detector and decent common sense, which has meant that I've luckily always sought out intelligent teachers. There's a saying that goes "success leaves its mark", which is why I always tried to surround myself with people who knew more than I did.
But as a beginner, I should have asked the more advanced guys how they built their fundamentals and strength base. What works for advanced exercisers doesn't necessarily work for beginners and vice versa.
For this reason, you should seek out the people who have achieved what you want to achieve, but instead of just imitating and copying them, you should ask them how they started and how they achieved what they are achieving today - and then do just that.
- Ben Bruno - Strength coach
I didn't use frequency to my advantage
I was convinced that there was a magical combination of sets and reps that I hadn't found yet. I therefore searched endlessly in bodybuilding and weight training magazines to find the answer to my question. The real problem, however, was that I was not training my stubborn muscles with sufficient frequency.
During one week I tried high reps and during the next low reps. Then it was triple descending sets or training with inhuman intensity and partial reps. All of these failed because I didn't realize that even the best combination of sets and reps during a single training session will only stimulate a minimal amount of muscle growth, even at best. Adding more intensity and volume to a training session that already included more than enough of both was like trying to add more gasoline to an already full tank.
It wasn't until I increased the frequency of training for my stubborn muscle groups (by four times or more) that I started to see growth.
However, after a month or so, I started having problems with overtraining. It took me even more time to figure out that the increased frequency needed to be limited to a few muscle groups at a time and that the exercise parameters needed to change systematically every few weeks. Fortunately, I figured this out in my early years so that my clients didn't have to suffer as much as I did.
- Chad Waterbury - Strength and Conditioning Coach
I was doing the wrong exercises
As a lanky teenager, I couldn't perform many of the most effective exercises like barbell squats, bodyweight pull-ups and dips. As a result, I didn't do these exercises for the first four years of my training. During this time, I had no idea about regression and progression.
When I finally added barbell squats to my program (this was the time before the advent of the internet), I was performing quarter squats and deadlifts with a rounded back because I simply didn't know any better.
Had I started with a simple regression like goblet squats, band-assisted and eccentric pull-ups, band-assisted and eccentric dips, and Romanian squats, I could have performed variations of these exercises from the start. I would have progressed quickly and within six months I could have been doing deep squats with a barbell, pull-ups, dips and clean deadlifts and I would have seen much faster progress in my body development as well.
- Bret Contreras - Strength coach
I was doing too many finetuning exercises
Before strength and conditioning coaches got a voice in the popular media, we could only rely on information from bodybuilding magazines. This meant that most of us were simply copying the pros. Practical experience is important, but it also made us short-sighted.
For example, I bought a book by bodybuilder Bob Paris. In this book he recommended toe lifts. This is something like reverse calf raises, where your heels stay on the floor and you lift your toes. I was firmly convinced at the time that my overall body development would become unbalanced if I left this little exercise out.
The problem? I was doing all these silly toe raises instead of exercises like deadlifts and pull-ups. It's kind of like polishing the rims of your car but forgetting to fill it up with gas and do regular oil changes.
Today we see much the same thing. Too many young people spend too much time focusing on the little things. Excessive corrective exercise. Excessive flexibility training, working on balance...even though their real goal is simply to lose fat and build muscle. All this stuff has its place, but you shouldn't forget about throwing heavy weights around and doing things that get you out of breath and sweating.
And that's the core problem: all this accompanying stuff is light, which is why people tend to favor it. But light doesn't force your body to adapt and change. Light won't make you strong and it won't make you look good naked.
Chris Shugart - T Nation Chief Creative Officer
I was looking at food in isolation
I was an overworked, health-obsessed, exercise junkie with a carb phobia who used to think "To hell with this diet. If I don't get something to eat right away, I'm going to start chewing my own arm off. Surely I can treat myself to the occasional hamburger or pizza." And so I gave in to my cravings.
What were the results? A 100-inch waist, 30 pounds overweight and a thyroid condition. This type of overly stressed thinking always caused me to go extremely overboard in one way or another.
For example, I would give up bananas because they contained "too many" carbohydrates, but as a result I would end up enjoying a burger or cheesecake binge a few days later. After observing this phenomenon occur continuously patient after patient, I gave it the name "the banana effect."
And here's what I had to do differently: first, I recognized the concept of buffer foods. There are certain foods that we need in our diet for no other reason than we love them and they satisfy our cravings. I loved bananas. Eating bananas gives me the sweet taste I crave, but at the same time, bananas don't lead to the binge eating that eating French fries can do.
Bananas are my buffer food. When I include bananas in my regular diet, it results in me eating better overall and feeling more satisfied. Bananas are able to keep my hunger, energy and cravings under control.
Another example of a buffer food for me is wine. If I can have a glass of wine with dinner, it allows me to feel satisfied with just salad, steak and vegetables and keeps me from overeating carbs or needing dessert.
Looking at food in isolation, as if it had nothing to do with my other food choices, was a big mistake. Now I eat what allows me to make better food choices at subsequent meals - even when those foods might not be the most desirable choice in isolation.
Jade Teta - Integrative physician, naturopath, coach
I spent too much time on the lifting phase and not enough time on the lowering phase
When I started training in 1959, nobody really paid attention to the lowering/eccentric phase. It was the lifting/concentric phase that was important to us. In each set of 10 repetitions, the concentric phase became progressively heavier from the seventh or eighth repetition until I had to deviate a little - or sometimes quite a lot - to get through the last one or two repetitions.
After I had lowered the weight on the last repetitions, did I then lower the weight slowly, evenly and in a controlled manner? No. I just dropped it and hoped that it might bounce a little at the bottom to give me the momentum I needed to perform another concentric repetition. My training partners and I focused on concentric training. The question we were concerned with was, "How much weight can you move up?"
In 1972, I read an article titled "Accentuate the Negative," by Arthur Jones in IronMan magazine. Jones had found that the negative part of the movement was more important than the lifting phase. He proved that the average exerciser is about 40% stronger during the negative phase than during the positive phase. In other words, this means the following: If you can perform a strict repetition barbell curl with 50 kilos, then you can perform a controlled negative repetition barbell curl with 70 kilos.
Jones spent the next two decades trying to develop machines that allowed more resistance during the negative phase of the movement than during the concentric phase, but he was never really successful - at least by his standards and desires. The guideline he had was simple: allow twice as long for the negative repetition as for the concentric phase of the movement. So if the concentric phase lasts 2 seconds, then you should allow 4 seconds for the negative repetition. Such a guideline is better for free weights than for machines, as machines involve friction, making the concentric movement harder and the eccentric movement easier.
Since 2000, exercisers have gradually returned to more concentric and less eccentric training. If you visit serious bodybuilding gyms today, you may not see anyone performing heavy negative reps or anything else along those lines.
In 2009, a groundbreaking study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on the subject. The scientists looked at 66 studies from the last 50 years that compared resistance training in the form of negative training with concentric resistance training. The scientists used the data from all these studies to carry out computer-calculated meta-analyses. The results showed that negative training was significantly more effective for building muscle mass and strength than purely concentric training.
I wish I had known more about negative training during my early days of training.
- Ellington Darden - physician, bestselling bodybuilding author
I was doing too many tricep kickbacks
I also trained too many leg extensions, wrist curls, reverse curls and other exercises that gave me too little value for my efforts. I was big and pathetically skinny at the time and shouldn't have wasted my time on such useless exercises.
I should have had a plan. I should have focused on squats, lunges, deadlifts, overhead presses, rowing, pull-ups with added weight, and maybe at least considered that unless a person is an NFL offensive lineman, frequently finds himself in the woods with oak trees falling on his chest, or pushing cars out of the snow for a living, he doesn't need to spend half of his workouts bench pressing.
I should have built a strength base first using progressive programs where I would have focused on one or two strength exercises at a time and maintained performance on the others.
I should have done exercises like Loaded Carries and pushing a weight sled as "cardio" instead of working out on the bike ergometer or jogging or doing silly workouts on an elliptical.
I should have hired a trainer for at least a couple workouts to teach me the Olympic weightlifting drills. I shouldn't have tried to copy hour-long workout programs from steroid-filled bodybuilders. I should have had a life outside of the gym. I should have known what a woman's touch felt like. Can anyone tell me if her skin is really as soft as the seats in my aunt's Lexus Coupe?
And then - after I would have built a solid strength base, mastered the Olympic weightlifting exercises, and learned at least a few finer points of strength training - I should have added a few curls for the girls to my program and started training for specific muscle groups.
And I probably wouldn't have had to worry about those stupid isolation exercises if I'd done everything right from the start, as I wouldn't have needed them in the first place. All that hard stuff would have gotten me exactly where I wanted to go from a body development perspective.
- TC Luoma - T Nation Editor
I tried to force-feed my muscles
When I was 18 years old, I wanted to gain weight to play football. So I started eating tons of junk food every day. I ate junk food at least twice a day and drank multiple servings of high-calorie shakes that contained weight gainers, ice cream, peanut butter, eggs and whole milk. I must have eaten around 6000 kcal a day. I did everything I could to make the weight on the scales go up.
One summer I increased my weight from 84 to 100 kilos and honestly thought it was all muscle, as my pants hadn't gotten any tighter. Little did I know that my mom was making my pants wider while my belly was growing! In reality, my belly had gone from 82 to 105 centimeters.
When football training camp came around, it took me a pathetic 5.31 seconds to run the 4 yards, which was slower than most. I was kicked out of the starting lineup after only two games because I just couldn't keep up.
After that season I decided to lose fat, only to end up back at 85 kilos. So over a period of 9 months I had achieved virtually nothing in the prime of my bodybuilding potential. This was the point where I learned that you can't force muscle growth by eating. Of course, eating too little is one of the best ways to limit muscle growth, but the concept of the mass-building phase died for me that year.
I also learned that unless you're already lean to begin with (and have a body fat percentage above 13%), it's hard to judge purely by visual difference whether you've increased your body fat percentage by 5 or 6 percentage points. There is an area of body fat where it is difficult to see a difference. If your body fat percentage is between 14 and 20 percent, then you're not lean enough to be defined and not fat enough to look like crap. You may well be building 10 to 15 pounds of fat and THINK you're building muscle.
When it comes to building a muscular body, there are no shortcuts. Unless you have amazing genetics for building muscle, you're going to have to accept that achieving your dream body is going to be a long-term project. And trying to force Mother Nature to do something can have the exact opposite effect and make achieving your dream body even harder.
The best thing you can do is to get your diet on track: eat plenty of high quality foods and avoid the junk food route. Choose a training philosophy that fits your goals and work hard. And consider a good supplement protocol to optimize your training sessions (here you should first get your nutrition around your training on point before considering anything else). Do this consistently for several years and you will get a little closer to your goal every day.
Christian Thibaudeau - Strength coach
I thought that isolation movements trumped
If I had to do it all over again, I would use the following simple guidelines for training with weights:
- Pick it up off the floor.
- Push it up over your head.
- Carry it over a distance.
When I first started training, I did everything from the floor. Every exercise, every repetition and every set started from the floor. When I got to the advanced level, we did the same:
- Power Transfer
- Standing shoulder presses
- Front squats
- Bench press
Bench press from the floor? Yes, we had benches without a rack and your training partners grabbed the bar at both ends and brought it to you.
Then the ascent of the machines began. Now we lay down, sat down and strapped ourselves in. I trained bench presses on machines! It took me three years to realize this mistake.
- Dan John - weight training coach
I followed the "eat a lot to get muscular" philosophy
I thought that as long as I met my protein needs, I could eat whatever I wanted. This approach led to me getting bulkier, but it wasn't good bulk. I got so fat that my heart rate and blood pressure would spike to unhealthy levels when I tried to tie my shoes.
This led to a longer, more demanding competition diet where the end result of all the suffering was very little net muscle gain of competition quality.
After 23 years of competition experience, I know that it is more effective and healthier to stay closer to competition form during the off-season. This also makes dieting much easier as you are always within striking distance. The quality of off-season gains is significantly more important than the quantity of gains on the scale.
- Mark Dugdale - IFBB Pro Bodybuilder
I would do absolutely nothing differently
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have great people guiding me and I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and listen to those people. So I did most of the things that everyone should do: eat well for years, jump, do squats, run and play multiple sports.
One thing I left out for the sake of time and energy was training for upper body hypertrophy. But that's really splitting hairs, as I wanted to be strong and fast and achieve my goals rather than worry about horseshoe-shaped triceps.
The lesson from this is to keep your mouth shut, open your ears and listen! There are mentors everywhere, as long as you leave your ego and your 4 months of sporadic training experience out of it.
- Jim Wendler - Strength coach
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/exposed-11-things-experts-did-wrong
In this training method, you use three exercise variations of the same movement pattern. For each of these exercises, you increase up to your 5RM weight. Once you have reached your 5RM weight for one of these exercises, you increase the weight further, but move on to the next stronger exercise.
For example, you could start with Zercher squats, then move on to front squats and then classic squats. All of these exercises use the same movement pattern, and you will be able to use more weight in each of these exercises than in the previous exercise, as you will be stronger in classic squats than in front squats and stronger in front squats than in Zercher squats.
This will allow you to get a lot of stimulation for a specific movement pattern while targeting different muscles and different muscle fibers involved in that movement pattern. For squats, this pattern might look like this:
Squat movement pattern
For this method, use 4 to 5 sets to build up to the first exercise and 3 sets per exercise for the following two exercises:
|
|
Exercise |
Sets |
|
|
A |
Zercher squats |
4-5 |
5 |
|
Start with about 60% of your 1 RM weight, perform sets of 5 reps, increasing the weight until you reach your 5 RM weight. |
|||
|
B |
Front squats |
3 |
5 |
|
Start with the weight you performed your last set of Zercher squats with. Perform 5 repetitions and increase the weight on each subsequent set until you reach your 5 RM weight. |
|||
|
C |
Classic squats |
3 |
5 |
|
Start with the weight you performed your last set of front squats with. Perform 5 repetitions and increase the weight with each subsequent set until you reach your 5 RM weight. |
|||
And this is what it could look like for shoulder presses:
Shoulder press
|
|
Exercise |
Sets |
|
|
A |
Standing neck press |
4-5 |
5 |
|
Start with about 60% of your 1 RM weight, perform sets of 5 repetitions, increasing the weight until you reach your 5 RM weight. |
|||
|
B |
Standing shoulder press, bar in front of body |
3 |
5 |
|
Start with the weight with which you performed your last set of neck presses. Perform 5 repetitions and increase the weight on each subsequent set until you reach your 5 RM weight. |
|||
|
C |
Push Press (standing shoulder press with momentum from the legs) |
3 |
5 |
|
Start with the weight with which you performed your last set of standing shoulder presses. Perform 5 repetitions and increase the weight on each subsequent set until you reach your 5 RM weight. |
|||
Keep training heavy while you diet
Some people forgo heavy weights during the fat loss phase and perform endless amounts of light repetitions. This is a mistake and here's why.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-keep-lifting-heavy-when-dieting
The top priority when trying to lose fat should be to maintain existing muscle mass. Losing muscle should not be acceptable. Among other things, muscle loss would make it harder to continue losing fat, as muscle tissue is metabolically responsible for most of the fat loss you will see during a diet.
And then there is the issue of insulin sensitivity. If you have more muscle mass, then your insulin sensitivity will lean more towards building muscle. A larger muscle mass has more insulin receptors, which increases the insulin sensitivity of the muscles.
Maintaining strength - or even building strength - is the absolute best way to ensure you don't lose muscle. If you continue to move heavy weights while dieting, this will force your body to maintain its existing muscle mass, which is vital to its survival. On the other hand, if you reduce the amount of weight you move, your body will "assume" that you don't need as much strength and that it's okay to lose muscle. Why? Because muscle mass consumes masses of calories day after day and the body will see this as expendable.
You can't make a muscle more defined
Sometimes exercisers significantly increase their reps during the fat loss phase to make a muscle more defined - too bad that's not possible. You can only make a muscle bigger or smaller. To make it more defined, you have to get rid of the fat covering that muscle while keeping the muscle big and full.
Some people aren't stupid enough to believe that training with lighter weights and high reps will work, but they perform more reps anyway to burn more calories and accelerate fat loss. That's fine - provided you've already done your heavy training. However, if you overdo it with the repetitions, you can indirectly reduce your muscle mass through impaired recovery.
If your calorie intake is reduced, then your ability to recover from training is already reduced, so the additional load of increased volume can lead to regression in performance and muscle mass. Do everything in your power to at least maintain your strength while dieting - and this won't happen if you stop training with heavy weights.
Train your biceps every day for four weeks to get them growing
If your biceps are slow to grow, this plan is exactly what you've been looking for
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-train-biceps-daily-for-4-weeks-to-grow
Has your biceps growth stalled? Have your biceps always lagged behind other muscle groups in their development? If so, then it's time to specialize. You can train your biceps every day while maintaining your regular training regimen. And no, you won't overtrain your biceps with this 4 week plan.
10 sets every damn day
First, choose a biceps exercise that you feel the most. Scott curls, standing barbell curls, hammer curls, etc. Here's what you do next:
- Set 1: Warm up with light weight
- Set 2: Perform 6 repetitions with a weight you could perform 10 repetitions with
- Sets 3 to 6: Perform 3 strict reps per set using the heaviest weight possible
- Sets 7 to 9: Perform 3 less strict reps (use a slight bend to be able to move more weight) with the heaviest weight possible
- Set 10: Use 50% of the weight you used in your last strict set (sets 3 to 6) and perform as many strict repetitions as possible.
Training details
Remind yourself that you will do this every day. Some days you will feel weaker and need to use a little less weight. Other days you will feel stronger and should use more weight. The key is to strive to move as much weight as possible on both the strict and ab sets.
Even though you would ideally use the same weight for sets 3 to 6, you should use more weight if necessary. The goal is to perform at least one set with the absolute heaviest weight with which you can perform that specified number of reps with strict form. The same goes for sets 7 to 9, you can adjust the weight from set to set if you feel you can do more or feel you should reduce the weight. Don't be afraid to go up a gear if you feel you can do it.
As you will be doing a lot of bicep training every day, you will not be doing any other training for your biceps during these 4 weeks. You will see significant growth and the daily heavy training will increase the ability of your biceps to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers, making them even more responsive to training after these 4 weeks.
Train the same muscle two days in a row
For better gains, train a muscle hard and heavy one day and then again the next day with lighter pump training. Here's the explanation of why this works.
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-train-the-same-muscle-two-days-in-a-row
You can train the same muscle group two days in a row. This is actually best for optimal gains
This method of double stimulation prolongs muscle protein synthesis, leads to increased feedback in the muscle and stimulates better muscle responsiveness. The second training session serves to reinforce the anabolic response to the first training session. It does this through a prolonged phase of increased protein synthesis and also increases the transport of nutrients to the muscles.
How does this method work?
Train the same muscle group two days in a row, but not in the same way. Train them hard with heavy weights on the first day and then perform 15 minutes of pump training for the same muscle group during the first 15 minutes of the next day's training session. Then move on to your actual training session for a different muscle group. Here is an example of how you can use this method with a 4 day "on" / 1 day "off" split.
- Day 1: Train the pressing muscles (such as the pecs on the bench press) hard and heavy.
- Day 2: During the first 15 minutes of the training session, train the pressing muscles again with a lighter pump workout. Isolation exercises performed in the form of a circuit work best. For example, use a repetition range of 8 to 12 repetitions while maintaining continuous tension. Each set should last at least 30 seconds and up to 50 seconds. Then perform your heavy main training session for the pulling muscles (back training).
- Day 3: Pump training for the pulling muscles that you trained the day before. Then train your legs.
- Day 4: Pump training for the legs. Followed by abdominal training and fitness training (optional).
- Day 5: No training.
This approach also promotes regeneration and extends the duration of the anabolic phase. Protein synthesis remains elevated for about 24 hours after training, but by doing a second training session the next day, which is less traumatic for the muscles, you can significantly extend the duration of protein synthesis and thus build more muscle.
Remember that it is important that the second training session is light pump training and not training with heavy weights. We do not want to cause further muscle damage with this training session. We simply want to activate the cell signaling necessary to stimulate hypertrophy and pump nutrients into the muscle. Use appropriate training nutrition for best results.
Perform power snatches from a hanging position
This is by far the best exercise for power athletes. Here is the explanation of why this is so and how you should perform this exercise
By Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-power-snatch-from-the-hang
A power athlete is someone who competes in sports that require a high degree of speed and explosiveness. Examples of such sports would be American football and disciplines that involve things like sprinting, throwing or jumping. If you perform this exercise correctly, the power snatch from a hanging position is the best test of your athletic capacity. Of all the exercises, this is the one exercise with the highest speed strength production. It also requires good general coordination and complete shoulder mobility.
Power snatch from a hanging position
- Keep the back under tension
- When the bar is at knee height, jump upwards (neither forwards nor backwards)
- Keep the bar close to your body during the entire movement
It is not necessary to use heavy weights for this exercise. Acceleration - and lots of it - is the key. Only increase the weight if you can maintain correct technique and maximum acceleration.
Performed from a hanging position, the movement starts with the bar at knee height instead of from the ground and you can catch the bar underneath with a minimal squat movement. Instead of moving the bar itself at knee height, you can also position it on blocks so that it is already at knee height at the start of the movement. This is known as power snatching from blocks.
The difference between power snatching from a hanging position and power snatching from blocks is that in the first variation you start the exercise by reversing the action of the barbell (from the hanging position), whereas in the second variation you start from a static position (from blocks). The first variation will develop more reactive power and the capacity to quickly transition from an eccentric to a concentric movement, while the wide variation will develop more power from the starting position.
Power snatch is obviously a complex exercise. If you are not yet proficient in this exercise, you should only use it once you have learned it under the guidance of a trainer.
To develop maximum speed and explosiveness, you should use a weight that is in the range of 70 to 80% of your 1RM weight. All repetitions should be aggressively explosive, which is why 2 to 3 repetitions per set is best.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-use-the-continuous-ramp-method
By Christian Thibaudeau | 03/14/16
