Training
We've all heard the argument that women train in the same way as men. Well, that's not true.
Sure, if women want to make radical changes to their bodies, they should work on getting strong and building muscle and stay away from stepper classes and prolonged aerobic exercise...just like men. However, when it comes to building the exercise program and the actual exercise choices, there is a list of things women need to consider to get stronger, improve their bodies and stay injury free.
Training for body development
When it comes to sculpting the body for the competition stage or simply looking better, women have slightly different needs than men. Men naturally want to look broad and develop a muscular chest and broad latissimus. If you suggest this look to a woman, she will probably run away and never touch a barbell again. Women generally want good shoulders, arms, calves, abs and legs, as well as a shapely butt.
Men don't need to do a lot of isolation training to develop a great body. If they focus on getting strong using the big three basic exercises then they will generally get good results, but many women find it hard to pull and push hard and they often become arm dominant in these exercises.
This is the reason I recommend more isolation training for women - especially for the upper body. For example, I will incorporate two arm days per week into the training plan. Since women have smaller muscles, they can train them in isolation more often without having to worry about longer recovery periods.
Here are some general points regarding areas of interest for most women:
Calves
Women should train their calves 4 days per week in both vertical planes. A great pair of calves looks great on stage or in a dress and will help make large quadriceps and leg flexors look more proportionate.
Shoulders
The most noticeable thing about a woman's chest shouldn't be a big pair of pecs. I don't think I'm being sexist when I say that 90% of women wouldn't be too happy if you told them they had great pecs.
Instead, women should do heavy pressing movements primarily with dumbbells (more shoulder stability and activation) in addition to more frequent isolation training for their shoulders. Men usually isolate their pecs with variations of crossover cable pulls, the butterfly machine and descending sets of pressing exercises, while women should skip all of these and instead perform more shoulder isolation exercises or bodyweight exercises with high repetitions.
Abdominal muscles
Men can build great abs with heavy squats and heavy deadlifts alone. Women can achieve a good base shape with these exercises, but they still need isolation training for this area. They should therefore integrate a heavy ab day and a volume ab day into their program, where the abdominal muscles are trained at the end of each upper body training session. These can be trained in the form of triple sets or supersets with other muscle groups.
Gluteus
If you perform squats or train legs three to four times a week, you will automatically build up a great gluteus. However, it's still a good idea to incorporate a few bodyweight glute bridges into your warm-up and emphasize pushing off the floor with the outside of the feet during squats for better glute activation.
Creating a training plan for women
Most men use either three full body workouts or two upper body and two lower body workout days as part of a split program, while bodybuilders tend to train each muscle group once a week. Women can cope with a higher training frequency and can recover better, which is why I like to start each training session with a lower body exercise.
Different goals will obviously decide different types of workout programs, but for women who just want to look good, build strength and stay healthy, something like the following would work great:
- Day 1: Heavy squats, 1-2 x push/pull *, isolation training / fat burning circuit
- Day 2: Single leg exercise, 1-2 x push/pull, isolation training / fat burning circuit
- Day 3: Heavy deadlift, 1-2 x push/pull, isolation training / fat burning circuit
* Either 1 to 2 push and pull exercises in the form of individual sets or 1 to 2 push and pull exercises as a superset
Examples of heavy squat day exercises include traditional squats, box squats, box front squats, wide stance squats, etc.
Examples of pressing exercises include overhead presses, close grip dips and Arnold presses, while examples of pulling exercises include lat pulldowns, pull-ups, upright rows with dumbbells and deadlifts.
Examples of heavy deadlift day exercises include trap bar deadlifts, rack pulls, straight leg deadlifts and traditional deadlifts.
A 4 or 5 day split might look like this:
- Day 1: Heavy squats, single leg, leg flexor/gluteus focused workout, isolation training.
- Day 2: Single-leg, quadriceps-focused training, push/pull, isolation training
- Day 3: Deadlift, quadriceps-focused training, isolation training
- Day 4: Single leg, leg flexor/gluteus focused training, push/pull, isolation training
- Day 5: Sprint training, strongwoman training (tire flipping, battle ropes, sled pulls, sled pushes), isolation training for lagging muscle groups, walking, mobility training
The key aspects of any training session are to train the lower body first and finish the workout with some type of isolation exercises or circuits. The quadriceps, leg flexors and gluteus are trained frequently throughout the week but with different intensities and movement patterns.
Strength for women - the three major basic exercises
1 - Squats
Volume and intensity are crucial for developing strength in squats. Most men respond well to a high volume or high intensity program, but women respond better to a mix of high volume and high intensity, while at the same time they will not suffer from recovery issues as much as men.
Unlike men, when testing their maximum weight, women don't usually exceed the 95%+ mark of their predicted 1RM unless they have just started training. For example, a woman could easily perform 4 to 5 repetitions at 80 kilograms and then fail a repetition at 85 if her predicted maximum weight for a repetition was 90 kilograms. Women tend to either be able to perform a repetition with ease or not. They don't seem to be able to force repetitions with their last ounce of strength like men. However, this "deficiency" allows women to train more often at high intensities without having to worry about overtraining or CNS overload.
Women also benefit from training squats, bench presses and deadlifts more frequently than men. A woman could train squats at 90%+ of her maximum weight for 3 to 4 weeks in a row, whereas a man would typically reach his maximum performance after 2 to 3 weeks and then need a recovery period.
Women also need a heavy weight on their back for psychological reasons. Men tend to be rather unfazed by a heavy bar on their shoulders, while women often fail when attempting a heavy weight as they are not used to the feeling of a heavy bar with a weight close to their maximum weight.
I therefore like to use a conjugate system with my clients in combination with volume on dynamic days and additional supportive training. As they become more experienced, this becomes less of a problem if they have never used a maximum weight in a competition or strength test before.
2 - Bench press
Women often don't have the same chest muscles as men and need to rely more on their triceps, shoulders and back. For this reason, strong triceps and good mobility are key for women to perform well on the bench press.
Developing a big arch using mobility training (back, ankles, hip flexors and shoulders) will reduce the amount of work the chest has to do and shift more load to the triceps and shoulders. The downside of this is that women tend to be more prone to shoulder injuries. This is where preventative training, good supportive training and adequate shoulder warm-up are crucial.
I also recommend a slightly tighter grip to my strength athletes to isolate the triceps more. Elbow position is also very important in conjunction with wrist position and general posture.
3 - Deadlift
Of the three major foundational exercises, deadlifts are the exercise that is most similar for both genders in terms of the way I would incorporate them into the training program. However, for women, I tend to use sumo deadlifts rather than conventional deadlifts, which is especially true for smaller women.
Women are generally smaller than men and performing sumo deadlifts allows them to use this to their advantage as they only need to move the bar up a shorter distance compared to conventional deadlifts. Sumo style deadlifts are also more balanced in terms of the muscle groups that are used simultaneously.
Women generally don't seem to be particularly strong in one specific area and tend to be strong throughout the range of motion rather than having one muscle group that stands out. Conventional deadlifts emphasize the hamstrings and lower back more, making it necessary for an exerciser to be stronger in these areas.
Injuries
Due to biomechanical factors, women are more prone to injury in certain areas. For example, women are more likely to suffer anterior cruciate ligament injuries than men. Part of the problem is that women often have an excessive pelvic tilt and a slight valgus position of the knees, which basically means that their knees point inwards.
This increases their risk of osteoarthritis in the knees (wear and tear of the joint) and the risk of other knee problems, such as anterior cruciate ligament injuries and knee pain.
Women also often suffer from problems with patellar guidance due to tightness around the hips and slow or inactive gluteus or leg flexors. A lot of women walk around in high heels for long periods of time. This puts more stress on the quadriceps and doesn't allow the gluteus and leg flexors to work as much as they should during simple activities like climbing stairs, standing and running.
As a result, women should perform squats more often with flat shoes and do more hip flexibility training during their warm-up, while doing some additional gluteus and hamstring exercises during their leg workouts. This will help prevent some of the most common complaints of knee pain and back pain in women, which are usually the result of too much forward pelvic tilt, weak hamstrings and tight hips.
Here is a brief summary
- Increase your deadlift weights by using a continuous progression. If grip strength is your weak point, start strengthening it by using 1 finger deadlifts.
- Dramatically increase your bench press weights using heavy overloads. Use more weight than your maximum weight for partial repetitions and then work your way up to a full repetition with this weight.
- Get stronger in all exercises by using progressive range of motion training. Use heavier weights and a smaller range of motion and then increase the range of motion to full range of motion.
How the greats built strength
Strength athletes from the beginning of the last century until the seventies were more imaginative. Perhaps this was because they were not influenced by many of the ideas that poison training ideology today. They achieved amazing results and for the most part could not rely on performance enhancing substances. These guys were thinkers. Strength training was a fringe sport and so they had to try out for themselves what worked for them and what didn't. They experimented to find more effective ways to get bigger and stronger. The result is a treasure trove of amazing resources - resources that most of today's strength athletes don't use. With the help of science, we now understand why certain methods work. The most effective training methods were developed decades ago. Sadly, in an era where everyone wants to achieve everything with as little effort as possible, these discoveries have been lost in the sea of easy, cosmetic pump training. But if you're truly interested in results and willing to put in the work, you should look at what the pioneers of strength and muscle building have done.
Here are three training strategies that will help you get results. They're unconventional, but if you're honest, you should ask yourself if conventional really works for you.
1 - Hermann Goerner: Deadlift ramp
Grip strength is always important - and especially if snatching, deadlifting and pulling are important to you. One method I really like for building grip strength quickly is Goerner's continuous ramp.
Who was he?
Hermann Goerner was a strongman from the early 20th century. Among other things, he could deadlift 330 kilos ... with one hand. He also deadlifted 270 kilos with a 2 finger grip. Can you imagine his grip strength?
What did he do?
To improve his grip strength, he used a continuous ramp that looked like this:
- Start performing deadlifts with only the index finger of each hand. Perform sets of 3 repetitions, increasing the weight with each set. Work your way up to the maximum weight with which you can perform 3 repetitions using only one finger on each hand.
- Continue to increase the weight but move to a two-finger grip per hand. Using this grip, work your way back up to your 3 RM weight.
- When you reach your maximum weight for a two finger grip, move to a three finger grip per hand and work back up to your 3 RM weight.
- Then move to a regular full grip: Double overhand grip (no mixed grip) and work your way up to your 3 RM weight. From there you can continue to increase the weight using a hook grip or a mixed grip.
This approach will significantly increase your grip strength in a very short period of time. You will experience dramatic results within 4 to 6 training sessions. Use this method twice a week for the fastest possible results.
2 - Chuck Sipes: Heavy Overloads
Who was he?
Sipes won the Mr. America title in 1959 and the Mr. Universe title in 1960. He also competed in the Mr. Olympia competition several times. He was one of the strongest powerlifters of his era - especially when it came to bench presses and curls. With a body weight of just under 100 kilos, he bench-pressed 260 kilos - without a press shirt. Chuck was a bodybuilder who trained hard.
What did he do?
One of his favorite ways to increase his bench press strength was through heavy overloads - he used much more weight than he could bench press for a full repetition and either performed partial reps (going either halfway up, or a little further up) or static holds with an even heavier barbell with his arms extended but elbows not hyperextended. I did my heaviest bench press using this technique. The overloads can strengthen the muscles (they still contract, even if it's not a full range of motion contraction). They can desensitize your guarding mechanism, allowing you to use more of your potential strength over time, prepare your nervous system for the next set, and will even make a max weight seem lighter in comparison.
How to use this method?
- Gradually work your way up to your first heavy work set. This means performing 3 to 4 progressively heavier bench press warm-up sets until you are finally ready to perform your first heavy set.
- Use 25 to 35 kilos more than your first heavy set. Prepare yourself, lift the weight from the rack and lower it about half a centimeter - just enough to prevent hyperextension of the elbows - and hold the weight in this position for 10 seconds. Do three of these sets. If the weight feels quite light after 10 seconds, use a little more weight on the last set or two.
- Perform your heavy sets. Since this method is used to build strength, 1 to 3 reps is ideal. I like the 3/2/1 wave system, but a more linear progression such as 2 x 3, 2 x 2, 2-3 x 1 also works well. Conclusion: Perform 3 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions in this way.
- Increase the weight by 15 to 20 kilos compared to your heaviest set and perform partial repetitions where you move the weight over the lower third or both lower thirds of the range of motion. Go down as far as you can while maintaining control of the bar. Perform 3 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions in this way.
This is a lot of work. But that's the way Chuck Sipes did things - an accumulation of a lot of heavy volume. When he trained this way, he didn't use any support exercises for chest or triceps during that workout.
This setup is brutal, but it leads to rapid gains in strength. If your goal is to quickly increase your bench press strength, then perform this workout twice a week. Don't start complaining now. When Sipes focused on his bench press, he trained his chest five times a week, even if some of those workouts were lighter.
3 - Paul Anderson: Training with a progressive range of motion
Who was he?
Paul Anderson was perhaps the strongest man who ever lived. He performed standing shoulder presses (from a rack) at 200 kilos, squats at 545 kilos and deadlifts at 370 kilos and deadlifts with hooks to hold the bar at 454 kilos. He bench pressed 310 kilos and performed push presses (shoulder press with leg swing) with 254 kilos. All of these performances were done raw (without supportive equipment) and without the use of performance-enhancing substances.
What did he do?
One of Anderson's methods that always had a strong influence on my training was his progressive range of motion method. He would start an exercise with a partial repetition. For example, he would start with deadlifts from a rack at mid-thigh level. Each week he would then move the pins of the rack further down to increase the range of motion until after 8 to 10 weeks he was able to perform the exercise with the appropriate weight over the full range of motion. He used the same weight on the bar for all training weeks. This weight was his target weight for full range of motion for that exercise at the end of the training circuit, and this weight was typically about 10% above his previous max weight (less advanced strength athletes may target 15%). Each week, Anderson performed as many repetitions as possible with this weight. During the first week, the reps may have been quite high - 15 to 20 - as the range of motion was really short. However, the reps decreased over time as the range of motion increased.
The science
This method helps you to reach a new maximum weight by desensitizing the Goilgi tendon organ. You perform so much work at a supramaximal weight that your protective mechanisms (which limit the amount of force you can produce) accept the new maximum weight as something manageable. Over time, your body will allow you to move this weight through the full range of motion. You will also achieve an increase in strength and a hypertrophy effect due to the high amount of work with maximum tension.
This method works great for some exercises, but not for others. When you perform exercises from a rack, you focus less on the eccentric phase. You don't lower the barbell with the same precision and control as you would with a full movement. For example, at one point I was doing all my bench presses from a rack. By starting the movement directly at chest height, I was able to do 193 kilos from the rack. When I decided to test my regular bench press strength, I failed at 165 kilos because I wasn't able to lower the weight correctly. There is such a thing as reversing force: the force required to go from an eccentric/lowering movement to a concentric/lifting movement. If you don't train this reversal of force, you won't get stronger in this area.
How do you use this method?
For deadlifts and standing shoulder presses, you can start from a rack, as you start the movement at a fixed position on the floor for regular deadlifts and at a fixed position at shoulder height for shoulder presses. If you don't use a rack, the problem is that you have to lower the barbell to the exact correct position to be able to use the system. How can you achieve this if you are not using a rack? The first option is to use a rack, but stop the downward movement about 1 centimeter above the rack and start the upward movement at that point. If you don't make it too easy for yourself by ending the movement too early, this will work. The second solution is to use a resistance band setup similar to that with a rack. You lower the bar until it touches the band and then start the upward movement. This allows you to be more precise.
How far should you increase the range of motion? On average, no more than 5 centimeters per week. If you are working with a power rack where the holes for the pins are 10 centimeters apart, this means increasing the range of motion every 2 weeks. This is another reason why it is a good idea to use bands as markers. You can easily increase the range of motion by 2.5 centimeters or even just one centimeter per week. Remember that the smoother the transition, the better the results will be.
Tips:
First find the height of the barbell at the start position of the lifting/concentric movement and then the height of the barbell at the end position (highest point). Calculate the distance. Use two thirds of this distance, as it makes no sense to use less than one third of the range of motion. Then think about how long you want to work on your weight increase. Take that number and divide it into eight or ten weeks (the number of weeks you want to use for your progress).
Let's say your range of motion for squats is 60 centimeters. Two thirds of that is 40 centimeters. If you want to use eight-week cycles, this gives a progression of 5 centimeters per week (which is the upper limit) and if you want to use a ten-week progression, this would be 4 centimeters per week. Ideally, this method should only be used for one or two exercises at a time. If you choose two exercises, it should be an upper body exercise and a lower body exercise. Then train each exercise twice a week (even if you only change the range of motion after 2 training sessions). Perform three to four sets of maximum repetitions with the chosen range of motion per training session, using 10 to 15% more weight than your current maximum weight.
For each exercise you train in this way, continue to perform at least one supporting exercise through the full range of motion (but not the actual exercise). This supporting exercise could be the incline bench press, for example, if you are using the progressive range of motion on the bench press.
Classic hard work
Charles Poliquin once said, "Christian, if you want to learn something new about training, read a book that's 100 years old." This sparked my passion for what the pioneers of weight training had done to get bigger and stronger. If you apply their ideas to your training, you'll make progress at a rate you never thought possible before.
by Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/3-ways-to-build-old-school-strength
Is your current training program bland? Then you can use the 5/10/20 method to increase your endurance, break through plateaus and achieve an amazing pump.
Superset
Noun
- A set that includes one or more other sets
- A combination of exercises performed one after the other without a break
- The best way to get a massive pump
Ever since I started training with weights as a teenager, I've loved using supersets in my training program.
By definition, there are two primary ways to build a superset. The first is to combine exercises that target the same muscles. An example of this would be a superset of front raises and side raises for the shoulders.
The second method of building a superset is to use two exercises that are antagonistic, meaning that they train opposite muscle groups. An example of this would be performing a set of dumbbell curls (biceps) in superset with a set of barbell tricep presses lying down (triceps).
The great thing about both methods is that you can achieve more in the same amount of time in the gym and your heart rate stays high due to the shorter rest periods.
However, with these benefits comes a downside - some exercisers confuse heavy breathing with training hard and without a solid structure, you probably won't get as much out of your supersets as you think. Due to the cardio effect and inevitable muscle fatigue, it's normal for many people to scale back their efforts a little. As a result, form suffers and sets of 8 reps become sets of maybe 6 reps.
But today we are going to solve this problem!
Years ago I developed a repetition scheme for supersets known as the 5/10/20 method. In its simplest form, it represents a superset of three exercises for a single muscle group, where you do 5 reps of the first exercise, 10 reps of the second exercise and 20 reps of the last exercise.
I typically start with a heavy multi-joint exercise that works the entire target muscle group. Immediately after the basic exercise, I move on to 10 repetitions of an isolation exercise. To finish the superset, I like to use a bodyweight-only exercise with 20 killer reps that mimic the initial power exercise.
The exercise order is not set in stone here - I often use pull-ups as the second exercise as 20 reps of this exercise would be too heavy as the last set. As long as you always perform a heavy exercise with 5 repetitions first and then perform 2 additional exercises, you are in the green zone.
By sticking to the prescribed repetition pattern, you will achieve an amazing pump, increase your endurance and break through any training plateaus you are stuck at. Without further ado, here's a 3 day killer split consisting entirely of supersets using the 5/10/20 method.
Day 1: Press
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Dumbbell bench press |
5 |
|
Flying movements |
10 |
|
Push-ups |
20 |
|
5 passes |
|
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Dumbbell shoulder press |
5 |
|
Side raise |
10 |
|
Rear shoulder muscles on cable pulley |
20 |
|
5 repetitions |
|
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Overhead tricep press |
5 |
|
Tricep press on cable |
10 |
|
Skull crushers with your own body weight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq0Mf8vAXu8) |
20 |
|
3 rounds |
|
Day 1 is the "press" training session, during which you perform chest, shoulders and triceps exercises. The first 5/10/20 superset starts with 5 repetitions of dumbbell bench presses (perform 1 to 2 warm-up sets of presses to work your way up to a higher weight before starting the first round of supersets). Once you have completed the fifth repetition, grab a lighter pair of dumbbells and perform 10 repetitions of flying movements, although you can also perform this exercise on cable pulleys.
Concentrate on tensing your chest muscles with each repetition and finish the superset with 20 push-ups. Rest for at least 2 minutes before performing the next of 5 supersets. If the 20 push-ups become difficult in later rounds, split them into several mini-sets to complete 20 repetitions.
Next is a superset for the shoulders, starting with 5 heavy repetitions of standing dumbbell shoulder presses. After the shoulder press set, grab medium dumbbells for 10 repetitions of side raises before finishing the superset with 20 repetitions for the rear shoulder muscles on the cable pulley.
This 5/10/20 superset works all 3 muscle heads of the shoulder muscles and after 5 reps your shoulders should be pretty much finished.
Day 1 ends with supersets for triceps starting with heavy dumbbell overhead shoulder presses as a power exercise. Make sure you choose a heavy enough weight that you can just manage 5 reps. Next, move on to cable shoulder presses for 10 reps and finish the superset with 20 reps of bodyweight skull crushers. During the next reps, you may perform the scull crushers at a steeper angle as your triceps fatigue. Perform 3 of these supersets to complete the workout.
Day 2: Pulling
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Lat pulldown |
5 |
|
Pull-ups |
10 |
|
Seated rowing |
20 |
|
5 repetitions |
|
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
T-bar rowing |
5 |
|
Inverted rowing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G28qN9FCKE) |
10 |
|
Lat pulldown with outstretched arms |
20 |
|
5 repetitions |
|
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Barbell curls |
5 |
|
Pull-ups with underhand grip 1/4 repetitions |
10 |
|
Hammer Curls |
20 |
|
3 rounds |
|
Day 2 is your pull training session, which consists of back and biceps exercises. The first superset starts with 5 repetitions of heavy lat pull-ups before you perform 10 pull-ups. If pull-ups as the second exercise are too difficult for you, you can also swap the order of the exercises and use pull-ups as the first exercise. Regardless of which exercise you perform first, finish the superset with 20 repetitions of seated rows. Perform 5 reps of this superset, resting for at least 2 minutes between reps.
Next comes another superset for the back. This 5/10/20 set starts with T-bar rows followed by 10 repetitions of reverse rows. To perform reverse rows, place a barbell in a power rack, lie under the bar and grasp it with a wide grip, with only your feet touching the floor. Keep your body straight and pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar, pulling your shoulder blades tightly together at the highest point of the movement.
Complete the set with 20 repetitions of lat pulldowns with arms straight and perform 5 repetitions. The last 5/10/20 superset of the day will destroy your biceps, which are already pumped up from the pull-ups and rowing. Start with 5 heavy reps of barbell curls, immediately followed by 10 quarter reps of pull-ups. For the pull-ups, only perform the upper quarter of the movement to maximize the load on the biceps. Consciously contract the biceps to the maximum at the highest point. Complete the superset with 20 repetitions of dumbbell hammer curls and perform a total of 3 rounds of this superset.
Day 3: Lower body / core
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Bulgarian split squats (per leg) |
5 |
|
Sissy squats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et5EcOFC2RQ) |
10 |
|
Lunges |
20 |
|
5 passes |
|
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Front squats |
5 |
|
Glute Ham Raises |
10 |
|
Step Ups |
20 |
|
3 rounds |
|
|
Exercise |
Repetitions |
|
Walk Outs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gYLJSdPWCk) |
5 |
|
Ab Wheels (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5MT5omGNJI) |
10 |
|
Stability Alternates (per side) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ILCyZ4FeA |
20 |
|
2 rounds |
|
The leg day starts with Bulgarian split squats as a power exercise. Grab a pair of dumbbells and perform 5 repetitions per leg. Then perform 10 sissy squats on a power rack.
Sissy squats are an old-school quadriceps exercise that is performed using only your own body weight. Grab one side of the power rack and slowly lean backwards while bending your knees. When your body is almost parallel to the floor, straighten your legs and return to the starting position. Complete the superset after 10 repetitions of this exercise with 20 lunges. Rest for 2 minutes and perform a total of 5 repetitions.
The next 5/10/20 superset starts with 5 heavy medicine ball front squats (you can also replace the medicine ball with a barbell if necessary), followed by 10 glute ham raises or leg curls. Finish the superset with 20 bodyweight step ups per leg.
After a grueling 3 rounds of this superset, it's time to finish the session with some core training. After 5 walk outs (from a kneeling position or standing if you are more advanced), take an ab wheel and perform 10 reps of roll outs. Finish the superset with 20 stability alternates per side, which you can split into multiple subsets if necessary. Perform 2 rounds.
After you have completed days 1 to 3, take the fourth day as a rest day to allow your body to recover and then perform another 3-day cycle.
Change your training for optimal results
I know what you're thinking. No deadlifts? Where are the classic squats? I don't need to do bench presses?
Easy, easy. Due to the exhaustive nature of the 5/10/20 method, I don't like to use any of the heavy barbell exercises where you use a lot of weight, preferring to stick with dumbbell exercises. This exercise will not only give your body a shock, but also give you a break from the "big 3" basic exercises.
Use this program for a week or two and then go back to your normal program. I guarantee you will be able to approach your normal training with renewed energy and stamina after challenging your body with these extreme supersets.
You can also use the 5/10/20 structure for a final superset at the end of a training session instead of doing the full program, be creative. This is a tool in your arsenal that you can use whenever things get boring and bland.
Source: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/5-10-20-method-supersets
Starting Strength is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, strength training program out there. If you want to get strong, stop looking for a better program - there isn't one.
Here's how you use Starting Strength:
Starting Strength is not just a training program, it's also a book by Mark Rippetoe. When I use the term Starting Strength below, I am referring to the training program. More about the book will follow later.
As the name suggests, Starting Strength is aimed at beginners. If you have just started training, then you have a unique potential to become stronger than you will ever experience again in your training career.
We refer to this as beginner gains.
It's worth noting that even if you've spent years in the gym, that doesn't mean you're no longer a beginner when it comes to strength training. The creator of Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe, has this to say:
"You can take the average exerciser who has been messing around in front of the dumbbell racks and running on the treadmill watching TV for 10 years. You can take that guy and get him to adapt and grow. The first thing you do is have him do squats. And two days later, you can have him do squats again, but this time with 5 to 10 pounds more weight. Whether he's 25, 35 or 55, this adaptation can still happen if it hasn't happened before. Most people out there, regardless of what they may say, are still beginners."
- Mark Rippetoe
Starting Strength is based entirely on barbell training because the barbell is unique in terms of how it can be progressively loaded with weights and used safely with increasing weights.
There is of course a lot of equipment you can use to get stronger, but using a barbell and the Starting Strength system is probably the most efficient way you can choose.
Beginner gains
To get stronger, you need to move progressively heavier weights. This is called progression.
Starting Strength uses something called linear progression, which is the simplest type of progression. Basically, you increase the weight a little each day and over time this will add up to a huge amount of weight. This approach is very simple and therein lies its beauty.
There is a famous story about a Greek wrestler from the 6th century BC - Milo of Croton. He trained by picking up a newborn calf and carrying it around. He did this every day as the calf grew into a full-grown bull. That's linear progression.
Of course, you can't keep increasing the weight forever, but you can increase it a lot if you keep at it.
Most people can increase their strength to a point where they can bench press their own bodyweight, perform squats at 150% of their bodyweight and move even more weight when deadlifting.
When you start to reach these heavier weights, it will get harder. If you've never done a proper strength training program before, this will test your physical and mental strength. Go for it and you will be richly rewarded.
Structure
The structure of Starting Strength is simple, which is a good thing.
Complicated programs are either for advanced strength athletes or for personal trainers who want to impress their clients with fancy circus exercises. These programs are not for people like you and me.
To get strong, you only need a few basic exercises that train the greatest amount of muscle through the greatest range of motion your body allows and where you can use as much weight as possible.
Two workouts
If you follow the Starting Strength program, you will alternate between workout A and B:
Workout A
- 3 x 5 squats
- 3 x 5 barbell shoulder presses
- 1 x 5 deadlifts
Training session B
- 3 x 5 squats
- 3 x 5 bench presses
- 1 x 5 deadlifts
These are three sets of squats and presses with 5 repetitions each and one set of deadlifts with 5 repetitions. This means that you perform five squats in a row, put the bar down, rest for a few minutes and repeat for two more sets.
The order of the exercises is important, as squats are designed to warm up your entire body, while the following press exercises give your legs and back a rest before you finally perform your final pull exercise.
You perform these training sessions alternately on three days a week, e.g. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Choose any days that suit you best, but make sure that there is always at least one rest day between two training days. This may sound like very little training to some, but trust me - you can't skip rest days on this one.
Two example weeks could look like this:
Week 1
- Monday: squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts
- Wednesday: squats, bench press, deadlift
- Friday: squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts
Week 2
- Monday: squats, bench press, deadlift
- Wednesday: squats, shoulder press, deadlift
- Friday: squats, bench presses, deadlifts
In week 3 you start again with training session A: squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts. Simply alternate between the two training days.
Of course, you could also choose Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as training days if you prefer. Or Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. As long as you have at least one rest day between two training days so that your body has enough time to recover and get stronger, you can use any combination of days of the week.
Four phases
As Starting Strength is aimed at beginners, it starts with just four exercises. The basic idea is to start light and focus on getting into the right technique before slowly increasing the weight.
It can be tempting to get through these four phases as quickly as possible, but you won't be doing yourself any favors. The longer you stay with each phase and continue to recover and grow, the better your results will be.
Some people try to get through the Starting Strength program as quickly as possible so they can call themselves somewhat advanced exercisers. But why would you rush to get to a place where your gains will be slower? This defeats the purpose of this program. Don't you want to get as strong as possible?
You will find other setups on the internet than the one described below. I don't know which book these authors have read, but what follows is taken directly from Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, third edition.
Phase 1
- Workout A: Squats, shoulder press, deadlift
- Workout B: Squats, bench press, deadlift
Take the time at the beginning to really learn the technique for each exercise. Treat each exercise as if it is sufficiently heavy, even if it is not. Breathe deeply, grip the weight correctly, squeeze the bar and learn to work with your whole body.
At this point you should already be reading the book (see below) as it will teach you how to perform these exercises safely and effectively, which is one of the main goals of this phase.
The other goal is to adapt your body to squats and deadlifts three times a week.
This first phase ends when the novelty of deadlifts has worn off and after the initial weight increases have placed deadlifts well ahead of squats. This usually takes 2 to 4 weeks
Phase 2
- Training session A: Squats, shoulder back, deadlift
- Training session B: Squats, bench press, power clean (power transfer)
Now that the weight on deadlifts has become so heavy that you can no longer recover sufficiently if you do deadlifts every training day, it's time to replace deadlifts with power cleans on the second training day. This is a similar but more explosive exercise that will keep you growing.
Do this for another 2 to 3 weeks to become more familiar with power cleans.
Phase 3
- Training session A: Squats, shoulder press, deadlift
- Training session B: squats, bench press, power cleans, pull-ups
In this third phase, you perform an additional 3 sets of pull-ups after the power cleans to get a little more training volume for the upper body (and build up the arms).
If you can perform more than 3 x 10 pull-ups, start using additional weights. Add 2.5 kilos per weight increase with the goal of being able to do more than 5 repetitions but less than 7 repetitions. If you can do 7 reps, then it's time to increase the weight further.
This third phase will continue for a long time - many weeks or months.
When your recovery ability begins to reach its limits and you feel you are no longer making as much progress as before, it is time to try the fourth and final phase of Starting Strength.
Phase 4
- Training session A: Squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts / powercleans
- Training session B: squats, bench press, back extensions, pull-ups
During the fourth phase, we alternate between deadlifts and power cleans in training unit A so that each of these two exercises is only trained every fourth day. This will help you to recover after these exercises.
In training unit B, we perform 3 sets each of pull-ups and back extensions with 5 to 7 repetitions as described above.
The whole thing looks like this:
Week 1
- Monday: Squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts
- Wednesday: squats, bench presses, back extensions, pull-ups
- Friday: squats, shoulder presses, power cleans
Week 2
- Monday: squats, bench presses, back extensions, pull-ups
- Wednesday: squats, shoulder presses, deadlifts
- Friday: squats, bench presses, back extensions, pull-ups
During this phase, it may be necessary to use lower weight increases for the pressing exercises. This is where mini discs can be helpful, allowing you to increase the weight by 1 kilo or less at a time.
A final modification is to perform squats on Wednesdays with a lighter weight (80% of the 1RM) to allow for better recovery. When you reach the point where this becomes necessary, it's time to stop Starting Strength and move on to an advanced program.
Five exercises
The book describes these exercises and their correct execution very well.
These five heavy basic exercises (squats, deadlifts, shoulder press, bench press, power cleans) were chosen for very specific reasons to force very specific adaptations in your body. If you want to start powerlifting or another strength sport, it may make sense to modify this list of exercises slightly, but if you want to get as strong as possible as quickly as possible, these exercises are pretty much all you need and nothing you don't need
Progression
Start with the empty bar. This might feel a little weird, but trying to move a weight you can't handle properly yet is just plain stupid.
You'll be doing squats and deadlifts three times a week to start with, which is probably a lot more often than you're used to. Each training session will use pretty much every muscle in your body, so you'll be grateful for this adjustment period.
If you really want to start with heavier weights, since you already have some experience in training heavy and often, then you should know your 5RM weight. Start with 20% less than this weight.
Once you have determined your starting point, then start increasing the weight.
As I mentioned earlier, Starting Strength uses a linear progression. In our context, this means that you increase the weight with each training session, trying to increase your strength in steady increments.
Some programs use complex periodization with high volume days, low intensity weeks, max effort sets, etc. Starting Strength uses none of this - you train and you increase the weight.
"I'm not against periodization, but I am against using periodization with the wrong population. Periodization is a complete waste of time for beginners. My rule is simple: the less your body has adapted to your training, the more straightforward the program should be."
- Mark Rippetoe
Improvements will vary from exercise to exercise and from trainee to trainee. Normally you will be able to increase your weights equally quickly on squats and deadlifts, although this increase may be slightly faster on deadlifts, while the weight increases on shoulder presses and bench presses will be slower.
In the beginning, you may be able to increase the weight of squats and deadlifts by 10 kilos and the weight of shoulder presses and bench presses by 5 kilos with each subsequent training session. So if you can successfully (with good technique) perform three sets of squats with 60 kilos, then increase the weight in the next squat training session and perhaps try to use 70 kilos.
If, on the other hand, you are unable to complete the three sets with a given weight, then try again with the same weight in the next training session. At least until you fail several times, which may be a sign that it's time for an unloading phase (see below).
As the weights get heavier and you struggle to add so much weight, start using smaller weight increases. For squats and deadlifts these increases could be 5 kilos, while for shoulder presses and bench presses it could be 2.5 kilos.
Later on, this will also become difficult at some point and you will have to work with increases of 2.5 or 1 kilo.
Of course, technically speaking, this is not a strict linear progression (k != 1), but I think you know what I'm getting at.
Unloading
Of course, you can't keep increasing your training weights forever. At some point the fun stops. Your job is to extend those initial beginner gains for as long as possible - you'll never make as good progress again.
One method you can use to prolong this process is called unloading.
Most likely, progress on one exercise will stall before the other exercises.
You will be stronger on deadlifts than squats and stronger on squats than power cleans, followed by bench presses and finally shoulder presses.
If you can no longer make progress on one of these exercises, there are four possible reasons for this:
- You're not recovering well enough between workouts. Eat more, sleep longer, take a nap from time to time and try to stress less.
- You are not increasing the weights as you should. Stop being greedy and choose smaller weight increases.
- You have added your own exercises to the program or made changes.
- You're at the end of linear progression.
Anyone can have a bad day with too little sleep, a bad boss or bad food. Don't give up because you occasionally get stuck on an exercise. Sometimes another attempt - or two - may be necessary. Therefore, do as many repetitions as possible on the remaining sets.
If you fail three times in a row or make no progress with the three sets of five repetitions, then it's time to unload. This is a kind of restart to help you attack the weights a little fresher.
Reduce the weights for this specific exercise by 10% and continue from this point in the next training session.
If you have already tried this but are stuck at the same weight limit again, then it may help to unload by 10% again, performing as many reps as possible with the lower weight until you are eventually only able to perform 5 reps again with increasing weights.
If this doesn't work, then you'll probably have reached the end of the linear progression and can move some nice weights to show off. Now it's time to move on to a more advanced program (see below)
Warm up
Warming up before a workout is important for two reasons: it can help prevent injury and it gives you the opportunity to get more routine and practice with an exercise.
Please note the following rather harsh statement: if your schedule doesn't allow you enough time for your warm-up, then it doesn't allow you enough time to train at all."
- Mark Rippetoe
A warm-up does indeed raise the temperature in your body and this helps to prevent injury. This is especially important if you are already suffering from an injury or are a little older.
You could warm up on a rowing machine (or cycle ergometer or treadmill) until you break a sweat and this is advisable if you are exercising in a cold environment. But this would deprive you of the second benefit of warming up: a workout of the exercises.
Instead, go straight to warming up with an empty barbell. Perform two sets with the empty bar and then use three weight jumps to get close to your working weight.
Rippetoe gives the following example of performing squats with 100 kilos:
- 2 with the empty bar (20 kg)
- 1 set of 5 repetitions with 40 kg
- 1 set of 3 repetitions with 60 kg
- 1 set of 2 repetitions with 80 kg
- Start the training session with 100 kg
Do not perform the warm-up sets too hastily just because the weight is light. Treat them like heavy work sets and concentrate on improving your technique. That's training too!
Warm-ups don't have to be complicated, but if you want someone to tell you what weights to use, you can use the Android app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.na.ss) or the iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/starting-strength-warmup/id438620117?mt=8).
Nutrition
Now for a more controversial part of Starting Strength - nutrition.
Rippetoe recommends consuming 3500 to 6000 kcal per day while doing this program. That's a lot of calories. In addition, he recommends drinking a gallon (3.8 liters) of milk every day.
"There's obviously been a tendency since 1990 for guys to think they need a six-pack, even though they don't have any muscle to speak of."
- Mark Rippetoe
Needless to say, these recommendations have caused something of an uproar.
However, most critics don't seem to have read the book. Having read the book, I believe that the actual recommendations contained in the book are quite good for the average reader.
No, not everyone should eat 6000 kcal a day and not everyone is encouraged to drink that amount of milk.
Rippetoe talks about the different calorie requirements of skinny hard gainers and fat people (which is not meant to be derogatory in this context). The former would be well advised to eat as much as if eating was their job, while the latter would be better off aiming for the lower 3500 kcal recommendation and focusing primarily on whole food sources.
The book
The book "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training" is probably the most frequently mentioned book when people are asked which was the most important book on strength training for them.
One of the most common mistakes many exercisers make when following the Starting Strength training system is not reading the book. With all the material available online like this guide, you might easily feel that it's not necessary to read the book.
But you would be wrong.
Most of this book is not about the program, but the exercises. Take squats as an example - Rippetoe spends 65 pages explaining how to squat down and stand up with a weight on your shoulder.
The exercise descriptions are amazingly detailed and cover everything from why these specific exercises were chosen, how to prepare for the exercise, to potential mistakes and how to prevent them.
By Tobias Sjösten
Source: https://www.athlegan.com/starting-strength
These Instagram butt models train smarter than you
How did they build that butt?
Instagram has become its own little microcosm. In this microcosm, there is a growing community of scantily clad, Instagram-famous girls, known in American as glute girls. You may already know this type of woman. But despite all the ridicule they get in response to their repetitive photos of their butts, they do know a thing or two about hypertrophy. And the average exerciser could benefit from this knowledge.
These women who have become famous on social media for their butt development have had to work hard for it. The butt is made of muscle. If these women were able to make it from members of the "no butt" team to internet celebrities famous for their butts, it begs the question, what are these women doing that others are not?
To find the answer, I did some research and asked around. The following is the way they build their butt and what we should consider if we want to do the same...with ANY muscle group.
1 - Balance is not a big deal for them
Balance is usually a good thing. We need a balance between work and leisure, a balanced budget and a balanced social life. However, when it comes to building a muscle group that is lagging behind in its development, balance is the last thing we need.
Glute girls don't just train their butts once a week. They train their gluteus several times a week. They work out their glutes at the gym, at work, at home, at the grocery store, at the gas station, at breakfast, at brunch, at lunch, after lunch, in the doctor's waiting room, during confession, in the shower, while shopping, before bed, and while they sleep.
Glute girls take tapes on vacation and start their day with a workout for their butt. That's the real story. That's how important it is to them.
A multiple Ms. Universe winner once said that she does a few hundred kickbacks every night with her legs extended with weight cuffs on her ankles - in addition to all the rest of her glute workouts during the week. She had an amazing butt.
Men often say they want to advance a muscle group that is lagging behind in its development and then perform a few extra sets for said muscle group once a week and think that's enough. Or maybe they dedicate an entire training day to that muscle group and believe that volume trumps everything else. Glute girls would just laugh wearily at something like that. Your efforts would be a joke to them. If you really want to bring a lagging muscle group up to speed, you have to give it a reason to grow and give it that reason often.
Remember that your body adapts. It doesn't know if you're at the gym and want to get sexy for the beach, or if you're doing physical labor. It simply adapts appropriately to the amount of work it has to do. If the amount of work is something he can handle right now, why would he grow?
If you have skinny little arms, do you really think a few sets of curls and one-arm tricep presses once a week is really going to change anything? Glute girls don't just walk into a gym and do two sets of hip thrusts once a week and think they're going to make a difference.
How many times a week do Glute Girls train their glutes and how much work do they put into each of these workouts? They dedicate at least two training sessions per week to high-volume gluteus training. That's the minimum for them. But three workouts per week is more common.
2 - You use "other" training days strategically
So they do a gluteus dominant high volume training session twice a week.
On the other days of the week, they perform band training or low-intensity systemic training.
Here's an interesting point about the "other days" where lower intensities with lower volume are used: these workouts aid muscle recovery. If you get sore muscles from an exercise and go to the gym the next day and do the same exercise again, the soreness tends to go away faster.
Pumping blood and nutrients into a damaged muscle speeds up the recovery process. Even though glute girls probably do the extra workout just for the sake of it, this lighter, less intense workout helps with recovery.
If you really want to get a lagging muscle group to grow, train it early and often. This means a minimum of twice a week, but weeks with higher frequency should be the rule rather than the exception.
3 - You use heavy basic exercises sparingly
Few things make me roll my eyes more than this whole "squat butt" mantra. When I asked them, not a single woman who really knew anything about the subject mentioned "squats" as the key factor in their gluteus development. Not one.
When I used to compete in powerlifting competitions, I saw a lot of squat butts. But believe it or not, you don't see many people with impressive gluteus development at powerlifting competitions. For the most part, powerlifting competitions are dominated by people who tend to have a flat butt.
If heavy squats and deadlifts were really responsible for developing impressive glutes, then powerlifting would be so full of bulging butts that you'd think Sir Mix A Lot would have used the 1992 IPF World Champions as inspiration for his title Baby Got Back.
Amazing gluteus development is the exception rather than the norm in powerlifting. And at the same time, I can go to any local competition in the bikini class and find seven hundred women with gluteus development that will make any butt built through heavy squats look pale.
"That's because one person is training for strength and the other for muscle development," some might now say.
Repeat this sentence ten times before you try to tell anyone that heavy squats and deadlifts are enough to maximize gluteus development. Then apply this knowledge effectively and understand that heavy squats and heavy deadlifts alone will most likely not give you an impressive butt.
How did the girls with excellent gluteus development use squats and deadlifts? With moderate to high repetitions. The lowest repetition range was 5 to 6 reps, but most used a range of 10 to 12 reps for 2 to 3 sets. These are bodybuilding sets and reps and not powerlifting sets and reps.
The other interesting part was that they didn't use much training volume on squat or deadlift variations. The volume they used for these exercises was moderate to low. That's right, they didn't focus their training on squats and deadlifts.
Focusing on heavy exercises with low repetitions is a very poor approach to targeting a muscle group that is lagging in its development. Not only that, Progressive Overload has a point of diminishing returns when it comes to muscle development - especially in the low repetition ranges where these abilities are largely determined by neural factors.
4 - You use an appropriate weight
Glute Girls find the perfect point when it comes to weight - a weight that generates a strong contraction of the target muscle group with each repetition. They avoid going past the point where the weight becomes too heavy to feel perfectly.
If you exceed this point, you are moving a weight that you can still handle, but you no longer feel the target muscles working. Sure, you're using a heavier weight, but the mind-muscle connection is lost.
You also train this way during basic exercises. To reiterate, progressively heavier weights are not the solution these women are using to advance the development of a muscle group.
5 - They emphasize the mind-muscle connection
If you are trying to bring a muscle group that is lagging behind in its development forward, you need to choose exercises where you can actually feel that muscle group doing the work. In general, the best exercises you can use are those that offer the opportunity to hold an isometric contraction at the highest point of the movement. This way you develop a strong mind-muscle connection.
And it's the mind-muscle connection that they all agreed is what ultimately makes the gluteus grow. How did they develop it? By achieving a strong contraction at the highest point of the movement over and over again during each training session.
So if you want to build your trapezius, it's not shoulder lifts with a 350 kilo barbell that will get you there. Rather, it's the shoulder lift with dumbbells, where you pause for 3 to 5 seconds at the highest point of each repetition and maintain a maximum contraction. These poor dumbbells with a strong contraction at the highest point of the movement will give you mass - not ultra heavy exercises with few repetitions.
6 - You train a muscle from different angles
Bodybuilders have said it time and time again for decades: fully developing a muscle requires a variety of exercises. This is another reason why squats and deadlifts are not enough for most people when it comes to developing the glutes.
Exercisers tend to get the most tension in the middle range of repetition in multi-joint exercises. And multi-joint exercises spread a large amount of tension across multiple joints and muscle groups, which is why they're so great for building an overall muscle base. But they do have their drawbacks when it comes to full muscle development and aesthetic appearance, as we naturally tend to favor and prefer to develop stronger muscles over time.
On the other hand, there are numerous isolation exercises that increase tension in a stretched or maximally contracted position of a repetition and allow us to place the tension where we want it.
The glute girls I've spoken to have confirmed that they use anything from four to eight different exercises during gluteus dominant workouts and that these exercises train the gluteus from every conceivable angle. For example, they use two exercises for the gluteus maximus where it is loaded at different lengths, then two exercises for the gluteus medius where it is loaded at different lengths and then two exercises with the same criteria for the gluteus minimus.
That's six exercises just for the gluteus. And you're only using bench presses to develop your chicken breast because you read somewhere that incline bench presses don't really target the upper chest and that bench presses are enough...which is the reason you have a chicken breast. Because to fully develop a muscle group, 99% of the time, one exercise won't be enough. Even two exercises don't seem to be enough when we talk about prioritizing a weak or small muscle group.
Therefore, use exercises that offer different resistance curves at different muscle lengths: in the mid-range, in the stretched state and in the contracted state.
7 - You are using progressive overload correctly
There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to chasing after more weight on the bar for the purpose of muscle development, but there is a caveat. This mainly applies to low repetition ranges.
Progressive overload is very important for building more muscle mass, but using it correctly is at least as important. Here is a chart that shows a very good example of this:
Data collected at Hip Thrusts shows that at 50% of 1RM weight, the first repetition activates about 40% of the maximum voluntary isometric contraction or MIVC. In contrast, 90% of the 1RM activates about 50 to 60% of MVIC.
Considering that most people are able to perform between 15 and 20 repetitions with 50% of their 1RM weight, but only 3 repetitions with 90% of their 1RM weight, it shouldn't be hard to see which weight choice will give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to hypertrophy.
The Glute Girls are not training for maximum strength. They train for maximum development. They use progressive overload mainly in the medium (8 - 12) to high (15+) repetition range.
If you want to maximize your muscle development, performing sets of 3 to 5 reps with near-maximal weight will benefit your strength development more. Focus on breaking personal bests in the medium to high repetition range rather than setting new bests with your max weight.
8 - You're in it for the long haul
Even with all of this specialization, the women who have developed a butt that has helped them become famous on Instagram have had to consistently work for it for a long time. However, if you ask the average exerciser, they'll tell you that they can't build calves because mom and dad didn't gift them with the perfect genes.
What he doesn't mention is that his specialization consists of a few sets of calf raises at the end of a long leg training session once a week. Sure, the calves can be a stubborn muscle group, but you can't expect a stubborn muscle group to grow with a few sets once a week.
If you want bigger biceps, then you're going to have to put in the marathon type of work described above to finally achieve anything. Don't think that a few months will be enough. Be prepared to specialize for as long as it takes.
The summary
- Use a weight that works the muscles, not just makes the weight move.
- Use progressive overload in the medium to high repetition range.
- Use exercises that load the muscle from different angles
- Use metabolic stress to drive most of your workouts.
- Train the muscle at least twice a week.
- Invest a few years of this to bring a lagging muscle group up to the level of development of your legal body.
By Paul Carter
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/8-lessons-from-glute-girls
