Training

May 20, 2019 Gigas Editorial approx. 12 min

Supramaximal interval training (S.M.I.T.)

Learn the difference between two highly effective interval training methods and create your own interval training program.

This guide includes the following:

A general overview of both types of training.
What the differences are between HIIT and SMIT.
Which is more important: Intensity or duration.
The importance of the work-to-rest ratio and what this means in terms of energy systems.
Answers to the most frequently asked questions about HIIT and SMIT.
How to put together a lower body/upper body split program.
Important practical tips for interval training.

HIIT / SMIT Overview

Have you ever walked into a commercial gym and wondered why some people sprint on the treadmill or cycle ergometer as if they were on the home straight of the Tour de France? Well, if your goal is to get lean and build a solid body, there's a good chance this won't get you there.

Training efficiency should always be a top priority, and that's why it's quite helpful to use different HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) protocols instead of spending hours on a treadmill. Interval training allows us to improve different cardiovascular markers and build greater work capacity in a shorter period of time. 2 for the price of 1 - who could say no to that.

But what if I told you that there is another method that could be even more helpful than the holy grail of interval systems (HIIT)?

Welcome to the world of supramaximal interval training aka SMIT.

The war of bioenergetics - HIIT vs. SMIT

Walking or jogging? 1, 3 or 5 sets? Rice or potatoes? Whey protein or casein?

It seems like there is always a debate in the fitness community on every topic. Well, interval training is no different. What is the difference between HIIT and SMIT? Is one better than the other or can they both be used to produce excellent results?

SMIT

Maximum intensity.
Passive recovery is recommended.
Over 100% of VO2 max.
Very long rest intervals of over 2 to 3 minutes duration.
Different modalities are possible - some are better than others.

HIIT

Slightly lower intensity.
Passive or active recovery depending on the length and intensity of the intervals.
90 to 100% of VO2 max.
Shorter rest intervals (45 to 90 seconds) due to the lower intensity.

I'm sure some will now be asking themselves, "what is a VO2 max and how can I go over 100 on an absolute percentage scale?" Well VO2 max is basically the maximum amount of oxygen your body can take in and use during exhaustive activities. Once you reach your VO2 max (100%), your body switches energy systems to produce enough energy to meet the demand in that situation.

Now that we've cleared up some terminology and got a rough overview, let's take a look at what the science has to say.

A recent study published in the European Journal of Sport Science set out to compare the training adaptations and benefits of HIIT and SMIT. The scientists used physically active men and women as subjects and divided them into 3 groups who trained three times a week for 6 weeks:

1. HIIT group:

100% of VO2 max
4-6 intervals per training session
4 minutes of passive regeneration

2nd SMIT group:

130% of VO2 max
7-12 intervals per training session
150 seconds passive recovery

3rd control group:

30 minutes of continuous running @ 75% of VO2 max

And what happened after 6 weeks. Let's quote the study directly:

"Improvements in 3000-meter time were greater with SMIT than with continuous running, and improvements in 40-meter sprints and in repeated sprint ability were more pronounced with SMIT than with HIIT and continuous running." (Cicioni-Kolsky et al., 2013).

So SMIT beat both continuous running and HIIT when it comes to improving endurance, sprint performance and repeated sprint performance in physically active people. The researchers also noted that there was a gender-specific response to the training modality in the 3000 meter run, as women improved more than men.

Intensity vs. duration - a double-edged sword

Ah, the age-old question of which is more important: Intensity or duration? If you ask me, I'd say "both".

When it comes to intervals, both need to be considered if you want to develop the best program possible. There is just one crucial caveat that we must never forget: Intensity and duration are inversely proportional to each other.

In other words, you won't be able to maintain a 100% power release over an extended period of time - no one can. As I mentioned in the discussion above, there are certain systems within your body that can produce a maximum power release - albeit for a very limited period of time.

Interval training for different energy systems
% of max. anaerobic power	Valued energy system	Interval time	Work/pause ratio
90-100	Phosphogenic	5-10 s	1:12 to 1:20
75-90	Rapid glycolysis	15-30 s	1:3 to 1:5
30-75	Fast and oxidative glycolysis	1-3 min	1:3 to 1:4
20-35	Oxidative glycolysis	>3 min	1:1 to 1:3
From: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, NSCA (2000)

How do we use this information in the context of SMIT? Well, if you refer to the table above, you will see that intervals that involve 100% power release only last 5 to 10 seconds and require a 1:12 to 1:20 work to rest ratio. This means that if you sprint at maximum intensity for 5 seconds, you should pause for at least 60 seconds to allow your energy systems to fully recover.

The work to rest ratio determines both which energy system is used and the physiological adaptations that will take place. If you neglect rest intervals and simply perform intervals whenever you feel like it, your training will lack long-term progression and ultimately results.

Q&A

Q: Can anyone do SMIT?

A: Due to the intense nature of SMIT, I would recommend that only more advanced exercisers use this form of training. Start with HIIT (weightlifting, jumping rope, cycling, etc.) and then work your way up to SMIT as your work capacity increases and your aerobic base improves.

Q: Since science has shown that SMIT was superior to both HIIT and continuous running, SMIT is my best option, right?

A: That's wrong. Your body needs periods of lower and higher intensity training based on external stressors, your individual recovery ability and your current fitness level. As I mentioned in the introduction section, the SAID principle is also applicable to SMIT - your body will adapt to the stimulus over time and your training will become less effective. In addition, your training will quickly become boring and monotonous if you only use one training style, which is why you should mix up different training styles to keep your training interesting! Remember that consistency and maintainability are the keys to success.

Q: How many times a week can I do SMIT?

A: This will depend on the rest of your training plan and your goals. But for the average exerciser who trains with weights three times a week, I would recommend one SMIT session, one HIIT session and one session of cardio at a consistent moderate intensity per week.

Q: How long should my intervals be?

A: Anything from 5 to 15 seconds is possible. Anything beyond this point will lose maximum power release and it is better to start with your rest period instead.

Q: How many intervals should I do per training session?

A: 4 to 8 sprints is probably a good starting point for most people. Always start at the lower end of the spectrum and work your way up. You didn't do 10 sets of squats of 10 reps on your first day of training either (at least you shouldn't have) - approach your conditioning training in the same way.

Q: What is the best conditioning modality for this style of intervals (cycling, rowing, sprinting, treadmill, etc.)?

A: Ideally, I would recommend options without additional weights to start. Stick to rowing, cycling or a stairclimber. However, as you get more advanced in your training, you should also use other options such as uphill sprints or stadium runs (out the stairs of the stands). These options require each step to be higher than the previous one and will limit eccentric stress on your joints.

Q: I've been training for a while and I like sprinting (on the flat or uphill) but I seem to keep pulling my leg flexors. What should I do?

A: As with everything, you should increase your sprints slowly. Due to the fact that you are prone to hamstring issues and the explosive starts, it's best not to go from 0 to 100% in a few strides. Give yourself 10 to 15 meters to build up speed and only then start your sprint uphill or straight ahead.

Q: How long should I rest?

A: Again, this will depend on the length of the intervals, your goals and your fitness level. Start at the higher end of the work-to-pause interval (1:20) and try to slowly increase to the lower end (1:12) of the spectrum as you improve.

Q: If I choose SMIT, can I still do HIIT and cardio at the same moderate intensity?

A: As I mentioned above, I recommend doing all three options due to the different intensities and physiological adaptations.

Q: Why should I do cardio at the same moderate intensity when I could just do SMIT and/or HIIT?

A: This question would be worth its own article, but suffice it to say that constant levels of high-intensity training will eventually lead to burnout. Cardio training at consistent moderate intensity is an excellent way to promote recovery, balance neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine) in the brain and improve neuronal plasticity.

Q: I am an athlete. Should I use this style of conditioning training?

A: Like most other questions, the answer to this question depends entirely on the rest of your circumstances and conditions. Conditioning for a sport and conditioning just to stay in shape require two completely different programs. To keep it simple, I will say that this style of conditioning is certainly an option for athletes. Is it necessarily the best option considering experience, age and sport specific requirements? Perhaps not necessarily...

A SMIT lower body/upper body split program

Most HIIT or SMIT protocols are very intense in nature, so I would recommend that you schedule your lower body workout for the day before or after your intervals. It's also important to remember that interval training can be autoregulated based on your workouts. If you did an exceptionally hard leg training session on Friday, then you should back off a little on your HIIT training on Saturday.

If you want to put together your own training program, here is an example template that works exceptionally well and can serve as a template.

Day 1 - Lower body	Sets
A1: Deadlift variation	3,2	3,8
A2: Medicine ball throws overhead	5	4
B1: Glute-Ham Raises	4	6-10
B2: Split squats	4	8-10
C1: alternating hanging leg raises	3	6-8
C2: Side Plank	3	4 (15 sec./reps.)
DAY 2 - Upper body	Sets
Dumbbell incline bench press	4	4,6,8,10
Pull-ups with additional weight (underhand grip or hammer grip)	3	5-7
A1: Paused push-ups with raised legs	3	8-10
A2: Dumbbell rowing	3	8-12
B1: Overhead tricep press	3	12-15
B2: Half-kneeling facepulls	3	10-15

Day 3 - SMIT	Supramaximal intervals
Choose a modality from the list below: Cycle ergometer Rowing machine Stairclimber	4x8, 5-15 sec laps
Day 4 - Active rest	Sets
Full body fascia roll	1	10 min.
Additional soft tissue training	1	10 min.
Dynamic warm-up	1	10 min.

DAY 5 - Lower body	Sets
Front squats	3	6-8
Romanian deadlift with wide grip	3	8
A1: Single leg press	3	6-10
A2: Leg curls	3	12-15
B1: Dumbbell hammer curls	3	8-10
B2: Front Plank	3	4 (20 sec./reps.)
Day 6 - Upper body	Sets
Standing shoulder press	4	6
Dumbbell row with supported chest	4	8-12
A1: Dips	4	10-12
A2: Lat pulldown with wide grip	4	10-12
Dumbbell tricep press	3	8-12

Day 7 - Complete rest	Sets
A1: Sleep	As much rest as possible
A2: Eat
A3: Watch soccer
HIIT	High Intensity Intervals
Choose a modality from the list below: Battling Ropes Uphill sprints on the treadmill Cycle ergometer Jumping rope Rowing Weight sled	4-6, 15-30 sec. rounds

Practical conclusion

HIIT and SMIT are often mistakenly seen as the same thing by both exercisers and trainers.
Due to the intense nature of SMIT, it cannot be used as your sole conditioning workout. Also use HIIT and cardio training at a consistent moderate intensity.
SMIT intervals are of a higher intensity, requiring shorter duration and longer recovery breaks.
Use modalities without additional weights whenever possible to protect your joints in the long run.
Structure your conditioning training around the rest of your training - not the other way around.
Use 4 to 8 intervals (5 to 15 seconds each). Keep your work to rest ratio at 1:20 to start with and slowly reduce it to 1:12 as your fitness improves.

Remember that there must always be a rationale for your methodology - don't just do conditioning workouts to tire yourself out - train with a purpose.

Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/complete-guide-to-smit

May 17, 2019 Gigas Editorial approx. 11 min

High repetitions or low repetitions for muscle growth: what science says

The general consensus is that training with high repetitions and light weights improves endurance but does little to increase muscle mass. Low reps and heavy weights, on the other hand, are the generally accepted "best way" to maximize muscle growth.

However, in 2010, Stuart Phillips, a kinesiology professor at McMaster University in Canada, began to challenge much of what was considered to be a commonly held view.

High repetition vs. low repetition: the scientific research

Phillips and his team found that muscle protein synthesis - a driving force behind muscle growth - was higher with lighter weights and higher repetitions (4 sets of 24 repetitions) than with heavier weights and lower repetitions (4 sets of 5 repetitions) (1).

At the time, these results led to a lot of controversy. They were ignored or considered irrelevant by many, mainly due to the fact that the study looked at short-term changes in protein synthesis rather than long-term gains in muscle mass.

For this reason, Phillips conducted another study. This time, he had a group of men train their legs on a leg extension machine three times a week for 10 weeks, using three different set and repetition configurations (2):

1 set of 10-12 repetitions to muscle failure
3 sets of 10-12 repetitions until muscle failure
3 sets of 30-40 repetitions to muscle failure

The result?

The amount of newly built muscle mass in the legs was almost identical. Training with lighter weights and higher repetitions stimulated just as much muscle growth as training with heavier weights and lower repetitions.

In addition, the average size of both fast and slow contracting muscle fibers increased to the same extent with heavy and light weights, indicating that both muscle fiber types were recruited and stimulated during training.

High repetitions vs. low repetitions for muscle growth

The second study also attracted criticism, mainly related to the fact that it used untrained beginners as subjects. Take someone who has never trained before and have them train with weights for a few months. They will tend to build muscle regardless of how they train.

Would you see the same results in someone who has been training for a few years?

To find out, Phillips recruited a group of 49 men who had an average of 4 years of training experience. These men were divided into two groups (3). One group performed 20 to 25 repetitions per set, while the other group performed 8 to 12 repetitions.

The result?

After 12 weeks, no statistically significant difference in the rate of muscle growth was observed between these two groups. As with the studies conducted with beginners, the average size of both fast and slow contracting muscle fibers had increased to a similar extent in both groups.

However, this does not mean that both training protocols produced identical results. The average muscle mass was one kilo in the group that used high repetitions, compared to 1.6 kilos in the group that trained with low repetitions.

If the study had lasted longer or the number of subjects had been higher, the difference in results between the two groups could have been large enough to cross the threshold of statistical significance.

Of course, these are only the results of a few studies and it is never a good idea to draw conclusions from a small number of studies. However, there is plenty more research showing numerous benefits of training with light weights and high repetitions:

Light training with slow speed of movement (55 to 60% of 1RM weight and 3 seconds to lift and lower the weight) can increase both muscle mass and maximal strength (4). The results are comparable to those achievable with heavy training at normal speed (80 to 90% of 1RM weight, 1 second for lifting and lowering the weight).
Both heavy (4 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions) and light training (4 sets of 18 to 20 repetitions) activate the expression of different genes involved in muscle growth (5).
Training the arms for eight weeks with light weights (20 RM weight) and short rest intervals (30 seconds) leads to increases in muscle mass that do not differ from the increases observed with heavier weights (8 RM weight) and longer rest intervals (3 minutes) (6).
Training with lighter weights and higher repetitions (not to muscle failure) stimulates protein synthesis in connective tissue just as well as heavy training, which means that such training can play a role in improving connective tissue recovery during rehabilitation after injury (7)
Eight weeks of training with high repetitions and light weights (30 to 40 repetitions per set) builds just as much muscle as training with lower repetitions (8 to 12 repetitions per set) and heavy weights (8). Using a mixed protocol, which included alternating between heavy and light weights, did not produce better results.

Training with super high repetitions: How light is too light?

Most of the studies we've looked at so far show similar rates of muscle growth at both low and high reps. But what happens when you start training with super high reps? And by super high, I mean something in the range of 60 to 70 reps per set.

That was the question posed by a Brazilian team of scientists who used a group of 30 untrained men as test subjects and had them train with weights twice a week for 12 weeks (9).

The test subjects were divided into three groups. All three groups trained biceps and quadriceps on one side of their body with very light weights and super high repetitions (20% of their 1RM weight and 60 to 70 repetitions per set).

On the other side of their body, the men used three different loading protocols, as has been done in other similar studies (10):

A protocol with high repetitions, where about 30 repetitions were performed with 40% of the 1RM weight.
A protocol with moderate repetitions, in which about 15 to 20 repetitions were performed with 60% of the 1RM weight.
A protocol with a low number of repetitions, in which around 10 to 15 repetitions were performed with 80% of the 1RM weight.

All three groups trained to muscle failure and performed two exercises: Bicep curls and leg presses.

At the end of the 12 weeks, training with low, moderate and high repetitions resulted in similar gains in muscle mass. Higher repetitions with lighter weights resulted in just as much muscle growth as heavier weights and lower repetitions.

However, things looked very different on the side of the body that was trained with super high repetitions. Here the muscles only grew at half the rate of the other training protocols.

In other words, this meant that even though 30 reps resulted in identical gains to sets of 10 to 15 reps, training with only 20% of 1RM weight appears to be below the stimulus threshold necessary to maximize gains in muscle mass.

High reps vs. low reps: two types of muscle growth

Some say that the type of muscle growth induced by training with lighter weights and higher repetitions is not "as good" as the type of muscle growth induced by heavier weights.

Here's what these people are talking about:

If you could take a closer look at a slice of muscle tissue, you'd see that it's made up of many smaller muscle fibers. Your muscles get bigger as these individual fibers get thicker - a process known as hypertrophy.

Within each muscle fiber are elongated structures called myofibrils that run parallel to each other. The myofibrils are the part of the muscle tissue that contributes to force production.

There is also a fluid part of the muscle fiber called the sarcoplasm in which the myofibrils are embedded. This sarcoplasm contains things like water, glycogen and myoglobin and does not directly contribute to the production of muscle strength.

The term myofibrillar hypertrophy refers to an increase in the volume of the myofibrils, while the term sarcoplasmic hypertrophy refers to an expansion of the plasma.

The idea is that training with lighter weights and higher repetitions mainly leads to so-called "non-functional" sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which creates soft, inflated muscles that collapse relatively quickly.

Training with heavy weights and lower repetitions, on the other hand, should preferentially increase the rate of myofibrillar hypertrophy, leading to dense, strong and "functional" muscles.

At least that's the theory, but personally I'm not really convinced by it.

In one of the few studies that compared the effects of high vs. low repetition training on myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic protein synthesis, training with low weights and high repetitions increased the rate of sarcoplasmic protein synthesis to a greater extent than heavier training (1).

However, this training also increased the rate of myofibrillar protein synthesis. It is interesting to note that when measured 24 hours after training, training with high repetitions and light repetitions (4 sets of 24 repetitions) increased myofibrillar protein synthesis to a much greater extent than training with heavy weights and lower repetitions.

However, it should be noted that this study looked at the short-term changes in protein synthesis after training rather than the long-term changes in muscle tissue after several months of training. We cannot say with certainty that the former is completely reliable to predict the latter.

But nevertheless, this study challenges the idea that training with higher repetitions and lighter weights will preferentially increase sarcoplasmic hypertrophy rather than myofibrillar hypertrophy.

However, this does not mean that training programs based on the sarcoplasmic vs. myofibrillar hypertrophy concept cannot work. Only the way in which they are supposed to work probably does not correspond to reality.

The sarcoplasm exists and it can grow (11). However, there is no convincing evidence that gains in muscle mass resulting from training with lighter weights and higher repetitions are primarily based on "non-functional" sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, while the myofibrillar portion of the muscle remains the same, or grows to a much lesser extent.

High reps vs. low reps: final thoughts

What does all this mean in practice? It certainly doesn't mean that training with light weights and high reps is now the best way to build muscle. In fact, just because it's possible to build muscle using higher reps and lighter weights doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea to do so.

Remember that, at least in terms of muscle growth, there were no discernible benefits to high repetition and light weight protocols. These protocols did not result in superior gains in strength or muscle mass, but each set took twice as long to complete.

Training to muscle failure in a higher repetition range is also very uncomfortable and extremely painful - and much harder than training to muscle failure with heavier weights and lower repetitions.

Doing longer, more painful workouts just to generate the same results doesn't sound like a great idea to me. In addition to this, lower reps with heavier weights are clearly superior when it comes to strength gains (12).

What all this means is that the repetition range you can use to build muscle is much wider than previously thought.

Most studies show quite similar gains in muscle mass across a wide range of repetition ranges. This gives you much more choice in the type of training you can do.

For example, joint problems or injuries can mean that training with heavy weights means pain in the shoulders, elbows, knees or wrists.

The solution to this problem is quite simple. If using heavy weights causes pain, then simply use lighter weights instead. You can switch from heavy weights and low repetitions to light weights and high repetitions without sacrificing any gains.

You may also prefer lighter weights for certain exercises and heavier weights for others. Even then, you can use the weights that suit you best without having to worry about your gains.

In short, you can grow your muscles with a wide range of repetition ranges and weights, from light to heavy, as long as you train hard and challenge yourself.

References:

Source: https://muscleevo.net/low-weight-high-reps/

May 13, 2019 Gigas Editorial approx. 12 min

Tips of the week Partial repeats

Use partial repetitions to improve your pull-up performance

Are you bad at pull-ups? Avoid machines and use this technique instead.

Exercisers who can't do many pull-ups usually use some kind of machine for assisted pull-ups. However, most of these machines won't get you far enough up that you can move your chin over the bar and none of these machines will work on your capacity to move your body in space as the body is fixed (meaning no three-dimensional movement is possible). Is there a better method? Yes, partial repetitions.

How to perform partial repetitions for pull-ups

Move your body into the top position of a pull-up by stepping onto a bench. Then lift your feet so that you are hanging freely from the pull-up bar and perform partial repetitions at the top of the pull-up range of motion. Only go down far enough so that you can pull yourself back up again afterwards. Perform 3 to 5 partial repetitions.
Then lower yourself to the lower position in a controlled manner and perform partial repetitions from the lowest point of the movement. Pull yourself up as far as possible and then lower your body again in a controlled manner. Perform as many repetitions as possible.

Over time, the length of each of these two phases will increase and you will soon be able to perform pull-ups across the entire range of motion.

Bonus method: horizontal rowing

Although this movement doesn't involve the same movement pattern as pull-ups, it can still help you practice lifting your own body. There will be some carryover for pull-ups. While this is not my primary strategy, it can be added to the workout as it is not too taxing on the body.

Don't fight insomnia - get up

There's a reason you wake up in the middle of the night. Don't fight it.

By TC Luoma

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/living/tip-dont-fight-insomnia-get-up

First and second stages of sleep

It's a long-forgotten part of human physiology, but until a few hundred years ago, people slept in two separate sleep stages called "first sleep" and "second sleep". When it got dark, they went to bed, but then they woke up sometime after midnight, got out of bed, ate, socialized with other people, or did whatever they wanted before going back to bed and sleeping until the sun came up.

As electricity and artificial lighting became more widespread, this behavior was forgotten, as lightness and darkness were no longer determined by the sun, but by who turned the lamp on and off. Nevertheless, people still wake up at night. And as much as they try to go back to sleep, their genetic memory remembers the first and second sleep.

To this day, people still wake up in the middle of the night and blame insomnia for this, even though it is instead a completely normal and perhaps even desirable behavior. In fact, sleep researchers who recreated the "first sleep/second sleep" behavior in modern subjects () found that the time before the first sleep and the second sleep was the most relaxing time of the day, almost reminiscent of yoga meditation in this respect. Biochemically speaking, the test subjects released large amounts of prolactin between the sleep phases - the hormone that is also released after an orgasm and produces a feeling of well-being.

Of course, modern people find this phase anything but relaxing. They try to force themselves to fall asleep or even use pharmaceutical sleep aids.

Do the following instead

If you habitually wake up in the middle of the night, consider the following options:

Get up instead of lying in bed desperately trying to fall back asleep. Do something pleasant that relaxes you instead of stimulating you. If you're reading, use a Kindle or one of those old-fashioned book things (the blue light from electric screens affects your sleep hormones in undesirable ways). Go back to bed after about half an hour. Instead of consciously trying to fall asleep, wait patiently, because the more desperately you try to fall asleep, the harder it will be.
If you really can't get back to sleep, consider nutritional interventions instead of potentially addictive medications. Magnesium plays a crucial role in regulating sleep patterns and magnesium deficiency is widespread in our society. 400 to 500 mg before bedtime can often have an immediate effect.

Don't try to train your triceps with dips

Changing the form of performing dips to train your triceps will ruin your joints. Here's a better method that works great

By Joel Seedman, PhD

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-dont-try-to-hit-the-triceps-with-dips

A common trend seen with dips is to change the angles and mechanics to target the triceps more. Unfortunately, this change in body mechanics is a great way to promote dysfunctional movement patterns that can damage the joints. This is what I call incorrect targeting of specific muscle activation, as the exerciser neglects the correct activation patterns in the hope of activating specific muscles.

Proper execution of dips should involve centering the upper body with load distributed evenly across the joints and muscles involved rather than isolating a specific area. Aside from saving your joints, this type of execution places you in the strongest position to move the most weight and maximize muscle growth.

Do the following instead

If your goal is to target your triceps, then there is a more efficient method. Instead of sacrificing your natural body mechanics, you can try using pre-fatigue while using ideal mechanics and technique during dips.

To load your triceps more effectively during dips and minimize the use of the chest and shoulder muscles, you can perform an isolation exercise for the triceps such as cable tricep presses or lying tricep presses (skullcrusgers) directly before performing dips. This will fatigue the triceps and cause your triceps to give up before your chest and shoulder muscles during the subsequent dips.

More importantly, train your triceps with emphasis while keeping your movement pattern intact, rather than ruining your natural body mechanics with a mutated version of the exercise.

Avoid non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and ice treatments to treat muscle soreness

If you're using ice or painkillers after brutal workouts, you're stunting your muscle growth

By TC Luoma

Source:https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-avoid-nsaids-and-icing-sore-muscles

The truth about inflammation

Without inflammation, injuries wouldn't heal...ever. Any disease would last for years. Even the muscles you want to strengthen and build would probably never get stronger or bigger if inflammation didn't exist. The whole battle that takes place after an injury or hard training sessions is a strictly choreographed offense designed to heal the body. The swelling that occurs with inflammation allows the "superhero proteins" - white blood cells and antibodies - to enter the arena.

However, when you treat an injury with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aspririn, ibuprofen, etc.), you prevent all of this. You stop the healing process. Although ice treatment or painkillers may be fine for treating long-lasting chronic pain, you should think twice about using them to treat acute, short-term pain.

Recommendations:

Don't cool your muscles with ice or ice spray after exercise. Ice does not contribute to healing, it only relieves pain.
Do not use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs after training or for minor injuries unless absolutely necessary.
To treat daily, non-exercise related inflammation and increase the chances of good overall health, avoid pro-inflammatory practices (not enough sleep, alcohol consumption, poor diet, etc.) and use anti-inflammatory nutrients such as curcumin and/or concentrated fish oil.
To treat chronic inflammation or severe pain, use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as directed on the package insert or take two capsules of curcumin twice daily and/or 4 to 8 capsules of fish oil per day.
If you push yourself to your limits in the gym and this pushes your inflammation levels up to an alarming level, then some light exercise such as walking the following day can reduce inflammation to a non-damaging, muscle-building level.
If extreme training in the gym day after day is your status quo, then you should use appropriate supplementation around your training to keep your inflammation levels in the green zone. This will prevent your inflammatory processes from running amok and your muscle soreness from becoming unbearable, so that you are able to give it your all day after day in training and make maximum progress.

Take on the Farmers Walk challenge

Improve your conditioning, grip strength, trapezius and just about everything else with this tough test.

By Dan John | 12/29/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-farmers-walk-challenge

Simple but brutal

Grab a pair of 40 kilo dumbbells or kettlebells. That's the weight my former high school football players used. Of course, you can adjust the weight, but 40 kilos is the right choice for most adults.

The challenge is simple: go as far as you can in 5 minutes. It works best if you walk away from the starting point so that the rest of the training session makes more sense.

The rest of the workout is easy: bring the weights back to the starting point.

Obviously, the hard part of the challenge is getting the dumbbells back to the starting point. If it took you 5 minutes to carry them away, then it can take a long time to get back to the starting point. Just maintain your posture and discover your trapezius for the first time.

If you are doing this exercise in a gym, run circles around any equipment or run back and forth. (Don't use a treadmill for this, or film it if you're doing the exercise on a treadmill, so we can laugh if you fall). An unpopular variation on this challenge is to do a 15 minute walk and then come back - but that's probably more for the crazy ones.

Perform floor presses

Here's why you should occasionally bench press without a bench

By Christian Thibaudeau

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-floor-press

Floor presses - barbell bench presses performed lying on the floor without a bench - have become a staple exercise for many top powerlifters, but basically anyone who wants to get stronger and build muscle can benefit from this exercise.

Interestingly, this is not a new exercise, but the rediscovery of a very old exercise. Long ago, before exercisers had weight benches, floor presses were the only chest exercise these exercisers could perform. This exercise has been around for over 100 years.

It is a very effective exercise for building compressive strength and muscle mass in the chest, shoulders and triceps. To understand why this exercise is effective, it is important to understand the force production when you move a weight.

3 factors that contribute to force production:

The actual contraction of the muscle.
The elasticity of the muscle tissue and tendons. A muscle is naturally elastic. Like a rubber band, it will return to its normal length with force after it has been stretched. This pre-stretch contributes to force production when you move a weight and the muscle returns to its normal length.
The myostatic stretch reflex. A muscle has receptors called muscle spindles. When this muscle is stretched, the spindles activate the stretch reflex, which shortens the muscle to prevent it from tearing. This contribution to force production works in conjunction with the elasticity of the muscle.

Pushing on the floor reduces the contribution of elasticity and the stretch reflex. If you pause with your upper arms on the floor for a second or two at the start of each repetition, you can reduce the contribution of the stretch reflex by around 90%. This is the reason why most of us will be weaker on floor presses than bench presses, even though the range of motion is significantly shorter.

By inhibiting the stretch reflex, you rely almost entirely on the actual contraction of the muscles during floor presses. This results in a more powerful contraction and a lot of gains in mass and strength. In this sense, floor presses are the upper body counterpart to deadlifts.

This does not mean that you should forgo regular bench presses in favor of floor presses. If you do, you will lose your ability to use the stretch reflex to your advantage, which will reduce your performance and increase your risk of injury.

Train the top and bottom of the deadlift

By John Gaglione

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-work-the-top-and-bottom-range-of-the-deadlift

Once you've learned the basics of the deadlift and you have weak points in the movement, it's important to use specific exercises to increase strength in the lower and upper range of motion.

Deadlift from blocks(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRcIKKQInAc)

To increase strength in the upper part of the movement, there is nothing better than deadlifts from blocks. This exercise is better than rack pulls because the bar bends in the same way as if you were pulling from the floor. Instead of blocks, you can also place the barbell on another elevation such as weight plates. There are simply too many ways to cheat when you lift the weight from a rack and you can only mimic the correct deadlift position when you pull from blocks.

Deadlift deficit(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HquEKxHeNo)

Deficit deadlifts are excellent for strength in the lower range of motion. Standing on an elevation will make the beginning of the movement much harder. This is extremely important if you have problems lifting the weight from the floor. It is not necessary to overdo it with the height of the elevation - a few centimeters is sufficient.

When should you do these exercises

These supporting exercises should be performed after your work sets. In general, sets of 5 to 8 repetitions work best, but occasionally you can perform heavier sets of 3 repetitions or heavy single repetitions instead of the traditional deadlift.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-stage-reps-to-improve-your-pull-ups

By Christian Thibaudeau

May 10, 2019 Gigas Editorial approx. 13 min

Why belly fat is stubborn - and how to get rid of it

Did you know that certain fat cells in your body are extremely resistant to mobilizing and burning the fat they contain? And did you know that these fat cells tend to accumulate in the dreaded stubborn areas such as the belly, hips and thighs?

And did you know that you can use science-based diet and exercise strategies to burn off that stubborn fat once and for all? Imagine what it would be like if you could have the slim waist and washboard abs you've always wanted all year round. And imagine never having to go on weird diets or grueling workout programs again, the results of which will only disappoint you in the end.

Well, you no longer have to imagine these things, because I'm going to show you the way to all these goals in this article. In 15 minutes, you'll know what makes your belly fat so stubborn and what you can do to get rid of it once and for all.

Let's start with what makes belly fat different from other fat deposits in your body.

What makes belly fat so stubborn?

If you're having trouble losing belly fat, don't worry:

You're not genetically cursed
You don't need to do any special exercises
Your hormone levels are probably perfectly fine
You're not eating the wrong foods (no, sugar is not the problem)
You don't have to give up carbohydrates

The reality is that you could follow every rule for a lean belly that mainstream gurus on the internet promote, you could do every exercise for a flat stomach, you could avoid every possible food that supposedly messes with your hormone levels, you could say goodbye to all forms of sugar, you could subject yourself to the renunciations of a low-carb lifestyle...and still carry around mountains of unsightly belly fat for the rest of your life.

However, it doesn't have to end that way. Regardless of your genetic predispositions or your hormones, you can achieve the slim and defined tummy you've always dreamed of. And it could be easier than you thought possible...if you know exactly what you're doing and why you're doing it.

And that knowledge starts with a physiological understanding of how fat burning works. When we talk about burning fat, we're really talking about a two-part process consisting of lipolysis and oxidation.

Lipolysis is the process by which fat cells release molecules of stored energy(fatty acids) into the bloodstream, while oxidation is the process by which cells use, or burn, these fatty acids.

The body's primary method of stimulating lipolysis is the production of the catecholamines adrenaline and noradrenaline. These chemicals enter the bloodstream, are transported via the blood to the fat cells and dock onto certain receptors there.

Once these catecholamines have docked onto the receptors of the fat cells, they stimulate the release of fatty acids that are stored in the fat cells. Other cells are then able to use these fatty acids for the purpose of energy production.

None of this will be news to many readers, but most don't realize that not all fat cells are the same. Some respond well to catecholamines, but others do not. If you have been dieting for any length of time, you will have experienced this first hand. Certain areas of your body such as your chest, arms and face become firmer, while others such as your stomach, hips and thighs don't really seem to change.

The primary reason for this is the simple fact that fat cells have two different types of catecholamine receptors that have completely opposite functions (1). These receptors are known as alpha and beta receptors, and although their physiology is quite complex, it all boils down to this: alpha receptors inhibit lipolysis, while beta receptors stimulate lipolysis (2).

This means that fatty acids from fat cells with a large number of beta receptors are relatively easy to mobilize, while fatty acids from fat cells with a large number of alpha receptors are difficult to mobilize.

This is the reason that when you begin a fat loss program, you will see immediate results in certain areas of your body such as the chest, arms and face, while other areas such as the abdomen, hips and thighs seem to have little response to your fat loss efforts.

One of the primary reasons that certain fat deposits like belly fat are so "stubborn" is that the fat cells themselves are quite resistant to mobilization of stored fatty acids, as they have more alpha receptors than beta receptors.

Now that you know why belly fat tends to remain your lifelong friend even when you diet, let's next look at some strategies to outsmart these fat loss defense mechanisms.

The 5 biggest myths about abdominal fat loss

If you search Google for belly fat loss tips, you'll see a lot of utter nonsense. Let's start by debunking these myths:

Here's a quick rundown

1. you can't prioritize targeting belly fat loss

No amount of crunches or planks or anything else will directly burn belly fat (4).

2. there are no specific foods that can help or hinder the process of losing stubborn fat

Belly fat will not build up from high-glycemic carbs or processed foods or dairy, and no amount of healthy fats will help you shed that fat.

3.your meal frequency is not the problem

Eating lots of small meals won't rev up your metabolism (5) any more than eating fewer large meals will put your body into starvation mode (6).

4 Eating late at night is not the problem

Whether you eat the majority of your daily calories earlier or later in the day has no effect on any fat loss parameters or your body composition.

5 Stress is not the culprit

While stress can promote behavioral patterns that can lead to weight gain, it cannot directly cause fat loss through hormonal imbalance or any other mechanism.

Fortunately, losing belly fat is a lot easier than many people would have you believe. There are only one or two things you need to know to get rid of unsightly belly fat once and for all:

1. you need to reduce your overall body fat percentage

This is what really matters. Reduce your body fat percentage to 10% as a man or 20% as a woman and most of your belly fat will be gone. And any further reduction in body fat percentage will mean even less belly fat.

2. you can use certain diet, exercise and supplement strategies that will help you mobilize your belly fat better

Anything you do that speeds up your fat loss in general will also speed up the loss of your stubborn fat. However, there are a few specific things you can do to help your body shed stubborn fat and belly fat in particular. Combine these two strategies - faster fat loss and better fat mobilization - and you have an extremely effective fat loss program.

Let's look at how you can achieve this below.

Proven ways to get rid of belly fat faster

So, as we now know, there are two basic ways to get rid of belly fat faster:

Accelerating the rate at which you lose fat in general and
Helping your body to better mobilize fat from the fat cells with the most alpha receptors.

There are a number of ways to achieve this, which I will look at below:

1. use a moderately aggressive calorie deficit

If you're dieting for fat loss, then your goal should be to lose fat as quickly as possible while maintaining your existing muscle mass and health. How well this works is mainly determined by the size of your calorie deficit. In other words, a small deficit of 5 to 10% will produce smaller and slower results than a 20% deficit.

The question, however, is how high your deficit can get before it causes problems with hunger, cravings and muscle loss. Well, there is some scientific research that can shed some light on this.

In a study conducted by scientists at the University of Jyväskylä, lean elite track and field athletes with a body fat percentage of less than 10% reduced their calorie intake for four weeks to achieve fat loss (8).

All subjects followed their regular training program and a high-protein diet. One group of subjects maintained a calorie deficit of about 12% and consumed only 300 kcal less than they expended, while another group maintained a calorie deficit of 24% or 750 kcal per day.

After 4 weeks, the group with the 12% calorie deficit had lost very little fat and muscle, while the group with the 24% deficit had lost an average of 4 pounds of fat and very little muscle. I have seen the same results in my own body as well as in countless clients I have worked with.

If you eat enough protein, use weight training to fuel your fat loss and keep cardio to a minimum, you can maintain a 20-25% calorie deficit to maximize your fat loss and minimize your muscle loss.

I would even go so far as to say that a higher calorie deficit will be necessary if you want to continue to lose fat as you get leaner and struggle more and more with stubborn fat. So don't be afraid of a moderate calorie deficit. It's an effective tool to help you get lean.

2. exercise while fasting

If you've ever looked for advice on how to lose fat faster - especially stubborn fat around your hips, stomach or thighs - then you've probably read something about exercising on an empty stomach. According to many experts, exercising on an empty stomach is a simple but effective way to increase the amount of fat your body burns during exercise.

There is some truth in this advice, but there is also a problem: it's not quite that simple. Exactly how empty should your stomach be? What types of workouts work best? Are there any disadvantages?

Well, the first thing you need to understand is that it's not enough to simply feel like your stomach is empty. This alone does not guarantee anything in terms of fat loss. However, what can help you lose fat faster is training in a fasted state, which has to do with the levels of different hormones that affect fat loss - not how empty or full your stomach is.

When you eat food, your body's insulin levels rise and it begins to break down, absorb and use the nutrients you've just consumed. This is also known as a "postprandial" state, which can last for two to six or more hours depending on what foods and how much of those foods you ate at that meal (9).

At some point, your body is done processing the food and your insulin levels drop to a low, stable baseline where they remain until you eat again. This is also known as the 'post-absorptive' phase.

Your body switches back and forth between these different phases every day. If you exercise after your body has processed your last meal and your insulin levels have dropped back to their baseline, this is training in a fasted state. Of course, there is nothing wrong with exercising while your insulin levels are elevated and your body is still processing your last meal. Any workout will burn energy, which will support your weight loss efforts. What many people don't realize, however, is that exercising in a fasted state has some unique fat loss benefits.

1. scientific research shows that training in a fasted state increases both lipolysis and the rate of fat oxidation (10, 11)

This means that when you train with low insulin levels, your body is able to mobilize and burn more fat during your training sessions than it does when insulin levels are elevated.

2. scientific research shows that blood flow in the abdominal region is increased when you are in a fasted state, which helps to burn stubborn fat in this area (12).

As you know, one of the problems with stubborn fat - and in particular fat in the abdominal area - is reduced blood flow to these areas and training in a fasted state can help overcome this problem.

However, training in a fasted state also has a major disadvantage: it increases the rate of muscle breakdown (13). This is undesirable because if you break down too much muscle during exercise, your body will not be able to keep up with the repair, causing you to lose muscle over time.

Another disadvantage of training in a fasted state is poor training sessions. Many people have less training energy and a reduced training focus when fasting, which means they are unable to maintain the level of physical and mental intensity they are used to.

As you can see, training in a fasted state can be a double-edged sword. It's good for faster fat loss, but it's not so good when it comes to maintaining existing muscle mass and having fun with your workouts.

3. perform high-intensity interval training

High-intensity interval training - HIIT for short - is a training method in which you alternate between phases of maximum intensity and low intensity. The basic idea is simple: during the high-intensity phases you push yourself as hard as possible and during the lower-intensity phases you try to catch your breath and prepare for the next sprint.

The bottom line is that HIIT is significantly more effective for fat loss than traditional cardio training at a constant low intensity. For example, a study conducted at the University of Western Ontario found that subjects burned more fat doing 4 to 6 30-second sprints (with 4-minute rest periods between sprints) than walking on a treadmill at an incline for 60 minutes (14).

If you do the math, this is quite impressive. 17 to 27 minutes of high-intensity interval training resulted in greater fat loss than 60 minutes of traditional cardio - and these results have been replicated by other studies (15).

The science is pretty clear: if your goal is to burn as much fat as possible in the shortest possible time, HIIT is the way to go. Although the exact mechanisms underlying this benefit are not yet fully understood, scientific studies have isolated some factors (15) and show that HIIT:

Increases your metabolic rate for up to 24 hours.
Improves muscle insulin sensitivity, which helps your body to better absorb and utilize the food you eat (instead of storing it as fat).
Increases your muscles' ability to burn fat for energy.
Increases your growth hormone levels, which aids fat loss.
Increases catecholamine levels, which mobilizes more fat.
Reduces appetite after exercise.

HIIT workouts don't need to be longer than 20 to 25 minutes to be effective, and shorter cardio workouts help maintain muscle and strength better (16).

4. train with heavy weights

I'm a big advocate of heavy weight training with basic exercises and this type of training offers two great fat loss benefits:

1. it helps you maintain your strength and muscle mass in the context of a calorie deficit.
2. it dramatically increases your basal metabolic rate for several days after the workout (17), and scientific research shows that this type of training can burn hundreds more calories than lighter weight workouts (18).

References:

Source: https://legionathletics.com/how-to-lose-belly-fat/

By Michael Matthews

May 09, 2019 Gigas Editorial approx. 13 min

What 22 studies say about the best way to build muscle Part 2

Having covered training frequency and different training splits, the right number of sets per muscle group and whether high or low reps are better for building muscle in the first part of this article, in this second part of this article I will talk about the crucial importance of progression, the ideal repetition speed, the length of rest between sets, muscle damage & soreness and the need for good training planning and consistency.

How to get your muscles to grow

No matter how many sets and reps you perform, it's important that you train hard and focus on increasing your training performance over time.

What exactly do I mean by this?

According to the famous legend, Milon of Kroton began by carrying a young calf on his shoulders every day. The legend says that he took the calf on his shoulders and went through a great stage. As the animal grew, Milon became stronger. At some point, he was strong enough to carry a full-grown bull.

And so the concept of gradual progressive overload was born. This concept is based on the idea that if you want your muscles to grow, you need to continually increase the demands you place on your body.

If you do the same exercises with the same number of sets and repetitions with the same weights for the next 5 years, nothing will happen.

This is because the training you are doing is below the stimulus threshold required to stimulate growth. Your training is a challenge to which your body has long become accustomed. As a result, it will not build new muscle.

Within certain limits, a muscle will grow in direct proportion to the amount of work it has to do. And while there are many ways to increase muscle work over time, the following three ways are the ways I recommend to most people in most cases.

The most common method of progressive overload involves increasing the weight while keeping the number of reps per set in the same range. Here is an example:

Workout 1: 8 reps with 50 kilos
Training session 2: 8 repetitions with 52.5 kilos
Training session 3: 8 repetitions with 55 kilos

This does not mean that there is a perfectly linear relationship between strength gains and muscle mass gains. If you double your strength with every exercise, you will not automatically double your muscle mass. Nor does it follow that increasing your muscle mass by 100% will increase your strength by the same percentage.

The most muscular and bulky guys are not always the strongest and the strongest are not always the most muscular. However, it's rare to see an extremely muscular guy who doesn't also have tremendous amounts of strength.

Option number two involves performing more repetitions with the same weight. Here is an example:

Training session 1: 6 reps with 50 kilos
Training session 2: 7 repetitions with 50 kilos
Training session 3: 8 repetitions with 50 kilos

Let's say that your current training program consists of 3 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions of a certain exercise. You start by performing 3 sets of 8 repetitions. Over time, you continue to increase the number of repetitions until you are able to perform 3 sets of 12 repetitions. At this point, increase the weight, start again with 3 sets of 8 repetitions and repeat the whole process from the beginning.

If you manage 12 repetitions in all three sets, this serves as a signal to increase the weight. As long as you don't manage this, you continue to use the same weight. The third option is to increase your training volume. The most popular way to do this is to perform more sets for each muscle group. This could look like this:

Week 1: 8 sets per muscle group per week
Week 2: 10 sets per muscle group per week
Week 3: 12 sets per muscle group per week

For reasons I'll explain in a moment, you can't keep increasing the number of sets forever and expect to keep growing. If your training volume is too high, this will hinder your gains.

As time passes and you eventually find yourself near the upper limit of muscle mass your body can build, the rate at which you improve will slow down. Progress will no longer be made from training session to training session, but from week to week and later from month to month.

You will not make progress with every single training session. To do this forever would be impossible and there will be times when you will move the same amount of weight for the same number of sets and repetitions as the previous training session.

In addition, an effective training program will include a planned, intentional reduction in sets, reps and weight. Think of this as taking one step backwards before taking two steps forward.

However, your focus should always be on increasing your training performance over time. You need to give your muscles a reason to get bigger or you will forever be stuck with the same amount of muscle mass you have now.

If you feel mentally and physically fresh, motivated and hungry and are making progress in the gym, then you are on a path that will eventually lead you to more muscle.

Make sure you choose multi-joint exercises that allow you to move a large amount of weight. The best exercises in each movement category are the following:

Horizontal press: barbell flat bench press, barbell incline bench press with 30 degree incline, dumbbell flat bench press, dumbbell incline bench press with 30 degree incline, push-ups
Horizontal pull: Seated rowing, dumbbell rowing, inverse rowing with your own body weight
Vertical pull: Pull-ups, close lat pulldown with an underhand grip, wide lat pulldown to chest
Vertical press: standing barbell shoulder press, standing dumbbell shoulder press, seated dumbbell shoulder press
Quadriceps dominant lower body exercises: Squats, split squats, leg presses
Leg curl dominant lower body exercises: deadlift, Romanian deadlift, leg curls

Should I do my reps fast or slow to grow?

How fast or slow should you perform each repetition?

With very few exceptions, extremely slow movement speeds offer no significant advantage compared to simply lifting and lowering the weights in a controlled manner (16).

However, pure movement speed is not everything. When training with very heavy weights, the movement may look slow, when in fact the exerciser is trying to move the weight up as quickly as possible. It is ultimately the amount of weight used that slows down the repetition speed.

If you were consciously trying to move a very heavy weight slowly, you probably wouldn't be able to move the weight off the floor at all. The only way to move such a weight is to try to move it fast.

It's also the case that some exercises are better suited to faster movement speeds than others. You should not try to perform dumbbell curls at high speed and a deadlift is not really a deadlift if you move the bar up slowly.

Bodyweight exercises such as dips, push-ups, inverse rows and pull-ups, as well as most isolation exercises, are better performed at a slightly slower speed. But for pretty much every other exercise, the optimal repetition speed for building muscle mass involves moving the bar with as much force as possible. You then lower the weight in a controlled manner.

There is no need to count the number of seconds it takes to perform each repetition. Just concentrate on moving the weight from point A to point B and forget everything else.

How long should you rest between sets?

The scientific research on this topic is not entirely clear.

As a rule of thumb, longer rests (2 to 3 minutes) are better for muscle growth than shorter rests of 60 seconds or less (17, 18). Shorter rests between sets (60 seconds) also appear to decrease post-workout protein synthesis compared to longer rests of 5 minutes (19).

However, there are also studies that show no difference in muscle growth between rests of 30 seconds and rests of 2.5 to 3 minutes (20, 21).

What should you do?

Apart from saving you time, shorter rest intervals offer no muscle building benefits compared to longer rests. In some cases, they can even slow down your muscle growth. If you're not sure, it's therefore advisable to take longer breaks rather than shorter ones.

As a rule of thumb, I would recommend taking several minutes' rest between multi-joint exercises such as squats, rowing, deadlifts, leg presses, etc. that train large muscle groups. For isolation exercises such as dumbbell curls, side raises and tricep presses, which train smaller muscles, you can choose shorter rest intervals.

Does muscle damage equate to muscle growth?

It is often said that muscle growth is the result of muscle damage.

"Building muscle is all about causing damage to the muscle fibers you want to grow," writes one trainer. "It's your body's response to the muscle damage you cause during exercise that leads to growth."

Bombard your muscles with lots of sets and you'll cause apocalyptic levels of muscle damage. The more damage you cause, the better. As a result, the muscle will adapt by getting bigger and stronger.

Or so the theory goes...

Bombing your muscles to destruction seems to be a highly effective way to train, which is related to the fact that you will feel a killer soreness the next day.

It feels like it works.

However, there is surprisingly little research showing that an increase in muscle damage leads to a corresponding increase in muscle growth.

Similarly, there is no proven link between muscle soreness and muscle growth, and there is no rule that says you have to literally destroy every muscle during exercise to make it grow (22). In fact, an increase in muscle soreness does not necessarily reflect an increase in muscle damage, nor does less muscle soreness always indicate less muscle damage.

However, even if muscle damage is not a prerequisite for muscle growth, it could accelerate the process. But even then, more muscle damage does not automatically mean faster muscle growth.

If there is a link between muscle damage and muscle growth, then there is probably an ideal point somewhere between "too much" and "not enough" muscle damage. In other words, there will be an optimal amount of muscle damage, above and below which your gains will be slower than they could be.

Despite these facts, there are a lot of people out there who see muscle soreness as the goal of their training. They think that their training session must have been good if they feel sore afterwards.

A training session that is part of a program designed to stimulate muscle growth will sometimes leave you with sore muscles the next day. But that same training program will sometimes include workouts that don't produce the same level of muscle soreness.

While the feeling of soreness and stiffness may be oddly satisfying, it's no guarantee that your muscles will grow faster.

Plan your training sessions in advance

You also need to get into the habit of planning your workouts in advance. Before you set foot in the gym, it's crucial that you know exactly what you're going to do when you get there. If you're serious about building muscle, simply lifting weights won't be enough. That's why I highly recommend keeping a training log.

Probably the most important benefit of keeping a training log, and the main reason most people don't use it, is that it forces you to face the facts.

Is what you are doing getting you results? Or are you doing nothing more than simply repeating the same workouts over and over again in the hope that they will suddenly start to make a difference?

Variety for your mind, consistency for your muscles

Once you've put together a sensible training and nutrition program, the best way to build muscle as fast as humanly possible is to stick with it.

I regularly read that you should continually change your training program every few weeks to "confuse" your muscles and get them to grow.

For most people, this is a mistake. There is no point in adding variety to your training just for the sake of variety and the best way to make absolutely no progress is to constantly jump from one training program to the next. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Shawn Phillips nailed this when he said that even though variety stimulates the mind, it's consistency that stimulates your muscles. A training program built around a handful of basic exercises will always work well as long as you pay attention to the necessary progression.

Rather than continually changing your program, you are much better off varying the number of repetitions you perform.

In one study, subjects trained with weights three times a week and used either a constant or a varying training program (23). One group kept their training program constant and performed 8 to 12 repetitions in each set. The other group varied both the weight and the number of repetitions, moving from heavy weights with 2 to 4 repetitions on the first day, to moderate weights with 8 to 12 repetitions on the second day, to light weights with 20 to 30 repetitions on the third day.

While both groups built muscle and got stronger, it was the group with the varied training that achieved the best results.

Rotating exercises has its place - but only if it's part of a structured plan designed to achieve a specific goal. Simply doing a bunch of random exercises per training session makes little sense if you want to become more muscular and stronger.

But doesn't it get boring doing the same exercises all the time?

There's nothing better to combat boredom than the feeling that you're getting closer to your goals. When you see results, boredom is rarely a problem during exercise. The people who are bored are usually the ones who are not making significant progress.

Lastly, forget the whole issue of body types and genetics, there's nothing you can do about it, so there's no point in even thinking about it.

Gains in muscle mass will be slow, which means you won't notice them on a daily or weekly basis - but they will add up. Train hard, stick to your plan and in a few months you'll have more muscle than you do today.

References:

https://muscleevo.net/best-way-to-build-muscle/

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