From Lee Boyce | 04/10/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/8-workout-mistakes-youre-probably-making

Here's what you need to know...

1. Don't fatigue your core between strength exercises. Save ab workouts for the end of your training session.
2. Consider your height and weight when performing metcon workouts.
3. After you've done a strength training session for one exercise, anything else you do in the name of strength is nothing more than conditioning training.
4. Some supersets do more harm than good. Pairing exercises that exert the same forces on the spine is a recipe for disaster.
5. You can't train multiple attributes (strength, flexibility, conditioning, etc.) at the same time. Choose one goal and train for it.

1 - You train your abs in the middle of your training session

Direct training for the core is a classic "interlude" that is often performed as a "filler" between sets of barbell exercises or between two barbell exercises.

Even if you have learned to avoid sit-ups and crunches with upper body rotation and the ab exercises you perform are sophisticated and target your weak points, the timing of when you perform these exercises is what matters most.

Remember that workouts damage muscle fibers and ultimately leave muscles in a state of exhaustion. That's the last thing we want to do to our core between exercises that rely most heavily on the core.

Stop doing hanging leg raises between sets of deadlifts or squats. Even if you don't feel that your performance will decrease as a result, know that you'll be in a better position if you separate these exercises. It is always wise to choose pairs of exercises that support each other.

The lesson: Save your ab workouts for the end of your training session.

2 - You use silly supersets

Pairing exercises in supersets can do more harm than good. Pairing exercises that exert the same forces on the spine or other weight-bearing joints can be a bad idea - especially if you have a history of or are prone to injuries in these areas.

Classic squats and overhead barbell presses, for example, subject the spine to the same compression forces, so it's not so smart to combine these exercises as supersets. The whole thing might not sound like a big deal, but after 4 or 5 rounds, your lumbar spine might be telling you a different story.

Instead, use supersets that allow one exercise to positively influence performance on the other exercise and vice versa. When performing barbell presses, pairing this exercise with pull-ups or lat pulldowns is a smarter move because vertical pulling pulls the spine apart and exerts decompressive forces on it while simultaneously stabilizing the shoulder blades, which can improve stability when performing the press on the following set.

The lesson: Think twice before pairing two exercises together. Think about the impact these exercises have on your skeleton.

3 - You don't take height and weight into account with Metcon

I have a love-hate relationship with any "reps for time" challenges. I recently performed a two minute bodyweight squat challenge. For this I loaded a barbell bar with 115 kilos and did as many squats as I could in 2 minutes.

Needless to say, I was flattened. In the truest sense of the word. Looking back, however, it's clear that I was at a disadvantage compared to many other people with different body types but similar strength ratios.

Put me (a 194 cm tall strength athlete) next to a much smaller exerciser doing bodyweight squats and I will guarantee you that he will do more reps - simply because he will take less time than me for each repetition.

But this goes even further. Many Metcon (short for "metabolic conditioning") workouts will place aggressive demands on rest intervals compared to training volume.

A well-trained 194 cm tall strength athlete with a body weight of 120 kilos and good conditioning will simply have a harder time with 30 second rest intervals than a well-trained 175 cm tall strength athlete with a body weight of 80 kilos and good conditioning.

It is simply too much to ask a larger person to keep up with such parameters without taking size into account.

Programs like German Volume Training require closer observation to find the "sweet spot" where the amount of weight moved depends on the height and weight of an exerciser, so that adequate exhaustion can be achieved without reducing the weight too much. Bigger and heavier guys should stay closer to the 60 to 65% range, while smaller guys can train in the 70% range.

The lesson: Consider your weight and height when performing metabolic conditioning workouts. You'll still get the same workout effect without becoming a case for the emergency room. And if you're a big exerciser taking on a challenge like this, know that smaller guys will probably beat you. Use challenges like this to improve your fitness and have fun with it.

4 - You overdo it with corrective exercises

"Corrective exercises" are those trendy exercises and techniques designed to improve your posture and correct imbalances or movement patterns.

This is good, but corrective exercises should complement your program, not dominate it. If you want to see results, you need to train with weights for most of your session and not spend all your time in the gym doing something for preventative maintenance.

As a general rule, you should choose one area per training session to focus on for corrective exercises and do no more than two exercises for that area. This will ensure that you keep the primary focus on the essentials.

Too often, corrective exercise is a great way to tell weak people overall that they shouldn't do the difficult exercises that are causing them problems. Make sure you're not bad at an exercise just because you don't do it often enough. Corrective exercises are worthless if none of them are transferable to the exercises they are supposed to correct.

The lesson: Prioritize the big exercises. No one is in "perfect balance" or ever will be. Address your weak points, but don't forget what's really important.

5 - You train for strength on more than one exercise per session

If you talk to powerlifters, you'll notice that they all train in a way that emphasizes one exercise per training session. The goal of your strength training sessions is to train your CNS so that you can function as efficiently as possible when you want to perform maximal efforts, hopefully resulting in a new personal best.

This is when speed training, training with paused repetitions and other training methods are helpful. The remainder of a given training session usually consists of support exercises to address weak points and muscle groups where progress is stagnating.

Let's apply this logic to a recreational strength athlete who is not a powerlifter but still wants to get stronger. Performing a solid 8 x 3 training session on a pressing exercise or deadlift is a great start and provides ample volume specific to the motor units.

However, things take a turn for the worse when you try to repeat these near-max efforts with a second big exercise on the same day. Not only will your focus and explosive energy diminish due to CNS fatigue, but the weights you move will likely drop substantially - possibly to a degree where they are no longer ideal for strength training in terms of 1 RM percentages.

After you've performed a workout on strength for one exercise, anything else performed in the name of strength will, by default, no longer be a conditioning workout.

The lesson: When training for strength, stick to one exercise and then either perform supporting exercises or use higher reps on the other big exercise on the plan.

There's nothing wrong with following up an 8 x 3 deadlift training session with a few sets of bench presses with 10 to 12 reps. Your nervous system and your performance will thank you.

6 - You kill your grip strength on back day

You can only move as much weight as you can hold. In most gyms, I see a lot of exercisers using grip aids. People often don't realize how much grip strength is saved by using grip aids. By doing this, grip aids allow you to perform back-to-back exercises that would compromise grip strength every day of the week.

And I'm not even talking about supersets. A training session consisting of deadlifts, pull-ups, seated rows, single-arm rows and face pulls sounds pretty great, but you've performed five pulling exercises in a row and this is likely to reduce the quality of exercise execution on at least the last two exercises.

But that's not all - your forearms and hands will be giving you the finger during the last 30 minutes of the training session.

Mass addicts need to think about isolation when it comes to back training sessions and the idea should be to not allow anything to stop you from properly stimulating your back muscles on back day.

Grip aids allow more freedom, but this takes things too far in the opposite direction. It is a better idea to train without grip aids whenever possible, as this will have a positive impact on overall strength and the neuromuscular junction. Training without grip aids can be more effective for building muscle mass than trying to isolate the muscles with grip aids.

Having said that, the solution to the problem of diminishing grip strength on back day is simply to perform other back exercises in between heavy pulling exercises that are not extremely dependent on grip strength. Here are some possibilities:

• Pullovers
• Pulldowns with outstretched arms (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v19jtxrL7SI)
• Side raises bent over

The lesson: Forget the grip aids and train the old-school way! You'll save your grip strength if you take a second look at the order of your pull exercises on back day.

You can also boost your performance with boosters such as the Valhalla Vikingstorm from the Gods Rage range.

7 - Not using your common sense and not training intuitively

For some, deviating from a given training program is worse than unfriending someone on Facebook. In the face of this fear, exercisers force themselves to do exercises that cause pain or do things that don't work well for their body.

At a certain point in their training career, an experienced exerciser will be able to recognize what works for them and what doesn't. For example, I've noticed that lying leg curls don't work well for me. Even seated leg curls are a better alternative to avoid unwanted stress on the knees.

If you suffer from musculoskeletal issues or just have general weaknesses in performance or body development, there's nothing wrong with making one or two minor modifications to a program to ensure you get the results you want while maintaining your safety.

In addition, physiology varies from day to day. If you're not feeling "strong" on a day when you have heavy sets of two reps planned, then it won't hurt to perform sets of 3 reps instead and reduce the weight by 5 to 10% that day. You are still training for strength.

The lesson: Be aware of how you feel during a training session and your rate of perceived exertion and be mindful of injuries or weaknesses from your training history.

A program is not the same as a personal trainer who knows you well, so you should be careful when following a training program.

8 - You perform a CrossFit workout

Your program includes corrective exercises for four weak points, mobility exercises before each training session, a sprint day, a day of explosive plyometric exercises, three strength days, three days of cardio after strength training, and promises mass gains based on cumulative volume.

This is the kind of program that won't get you anywhere.

Trying to get results everywhere will get you results nowhere. Proper training will always involve relative trade-offs - and that's the truth.

If you want to train for muscle mass, then you can bet your mobility will decrease. If you want to train for strength, you can bet that your conditioning and cardiorespiratory fitness will decline. If you're all about flexibility and conditioning, then you'll probably lose some mass and maybe even some strength.

Olympic weightlifting? Say goodbye to forearms like tree trunks like you used to build during a bodybuilding workout. I think you understand what I'm getting at.

People who are professionals in their discipline would use different training styles at the same time all the time if all elements of fitness could be improved at the same time. But that is not the case. The closest thing to this is called CrossFit and I'll let you decide if it's worth it.

The lesson: Pick one goal at a time and go for it. The world will keep spinning even if you go 6 or 8 weeks without a given phase of training.

Related blog posts:

>> 7 reasons you're still weak or fat

>> 9 training concepts that don't achieve much

Here's what you need to know...

1. Powerful looking shoulders will have the biggest impact on your overall appearance and even make your waist look smaller.
2. Remember to train bodybuilder style and avoid training like a grandmother. To get stubborn shoulders to grow, use a range of intensity techniques.
3. The pump serves a purpose. To get the most out of it, you need to activate the muscles and load them up with nutrients beforehand.
4. Build slow-growing shoulders by giving them at least one dedicated training day in the gym.

The V-shape turns heads

It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. Bigger shoulder muscles will make your waist look slimmer and give you that coveted V-shape upper body that tells the world you don't miss workouts.

Broad shoulders turn guys into guys and gals into athletic women. The best bodies feature a shoulder girdle that makes the waist look small.

Some have even gone so far as to calculate the perfect shoulder to waist ratio using classic bodybuilders. The best look is achieved when your shoulder circumference is 1.618 times your waist circumference.

However, you don't need to get out the tape measure. It's enough to know that one of the most important things you can do to improve your physical appearance is to build up your shoulder muscles.

There's just one problem with this. Some people are genetically punished with slow-growing shoulders. But we can make the most of our genetic potential in shoulder development by avoiding these training pitfalls.

5 reasons your shoulder muscles stop growing

1. you forget to train like a bodybuilder

Performing just one exercise for the shoulders won't cut it. This approach may be fine for strength, but not for hypertrophy.

So if you are married to shoulder presses and only perform shoulder presses for the shoulders, then your shoulder mass and shape change will stagnate after a while.

You need a variety of exercises to maximize all three shoulder muscle heads (anterior, lateral and posterior shoulder muscle head). You also need to use as much weight as you can tolerate at a range of different repetition ranges - not just the 1 to 5 range.

Remember that building muscle means increasing time under tension, using descending sets and mechanical descending sets, and knowing when to train with heavier weights and lower reps and when to train with slightly lighter weights and slightly higher reps.

2. you train like grandmothers

Yes, controlled (and even slow) eccentric repetition - the lowering or negative phase of the movement - is an important component of hypertrophy. But exercisers challenged by their shoulders often forget the importance of the concentric or lifting phase of the movement. They move the weight up with the speed of a grandmother.

Remember that a fast concentric tempo can recruit high threshold motor units, which have the greatest potential for muscle growth.

If you struggle with speed, pay more attention to the lifting phase. Move the weight up explosively and lower it back down to the starting point in a controlled manner.

Tip: De-emphasize the eccentric phase by counting each repetition at the beginning of the repetition rather than on the way back to the starting position.

Moving the weight up should feel powerful - even if there is a smooth transition from concentric to eccentric phase. Less Tai Chi, more Muay Thai.

Yes, using a steady cadence can be of value when performing multiple reps, but if you're letting an extra slow tempo stop you from increasing the weight, then you're doing something wrong.

3. forgetting to increase your training load

Do you habitually grab the same pair of dumbbells when you train shoulders? If you're using the exact same dumbbells week after week, try doing a few reps with dumbbells that are one step heavier than the dumbbells you've been using.

You may well surprise yourself and find that a few repetitions turn into a full set of 8 to 10 repetitions.

Don't worry if you can only manage two or three repetitions. Just do what you can and then reduce the weight to a weight you can handle better. Next time, try to do four repetitions before reducing the weight, then 5, then 6, and so on.

4. you pinch during a set

Some exercisers finish their workout sets when they have several more reps left in the tank.

Try rest-pause when you feel your muscles start to become fatigued. Pause briefly at the lowest point of the movement, take a few breaths and perform a few more reps before finishing the set or moving on to lighter weights for a descending set.

You will be able to work your shoulders and move the weight up explosively and have the energy to perform more repetitions. You may well feel your shoulders working even harder if you have to start the concentric phase without momentum from the previous repetition.

If rest-pause is not possible, then simply perform a few more repetitions with a lighter weight through descending sets.

5. you don't feel the shoulder muscles working

It is possible for an exerciser to perform a demanding shoulder training session and still barely feel their shoulder muscles being activated. It is as if the work has been done but the shoulders have slept through the training session.

Training the shoulders directly after a hard chest day can be the cause of this. Your chest will be activated during pressing exercises and you won't feel your shoulder muscles because your pecs are "screaming" too loudly. (And yes, women have this problem too).

The simple solution is to separate chest training from shoulder day in your training schedule, or you can train chest and shoulders on the same day, prioritizing shoulders first if they need a higher priority.

Another possible reason that you may not be able to create a mind-muscle connection with your shoulder muscles is that you are simply going through the motions. Wake up your shoulders, try to pause at the point of maximum contraction and consciously tense the shoulder muscles hard. Optimize your exercise form when you are in this paused position until you can feel stimulation in the shoulder muscles.

Then slowly lower the weight back down to the starting position and try to perform a few more sets with isometric pauses until you start to feel the tension. The rest of your reps should set your shoulders on fire - in a positive way. These pauses work really well with cable exercises like face pulls.

Hypertrophy training for the shoulders often burns and hurts - but make sure it hurts and burns in the right places. Not in your pecs, not in your biceps and not in your trapezius.

The pump is functional

It's not just good for selfies and poses in front of the mirror - achieving a muscle pump serves multiple purposes.

Pumping blood (and the nutrients it carries) into the muscle plays an important role in hypertrophy. The better you pump blood into a working muscle group, the more potential for growth that muscle group will have.

This means two things:

1. Techniques like the bodybuilding techniques described above that give you a stronger pump give you a greater chance for shoulder muscle growth. This means that training programs that lack such techniques are limited in their ability to make your muscles bigger.
2. The pump relies on nutrients being available to be pumped into the muscles. Have you ever gone to the gym starving? Muscles that lack nutrients do not reap these benefits. They suppress muscle growth when there are no nutrients available to be pumped into the muscles you are training.

This means that if you're obsessed with fat loss and are training on an empty stomach and empty glycogen stores, you can't expect to see stubborn shoulder muscles (or any other muscle group) grow. In fact, this is a perfect recipe for atrophy.

What's the best thing you can pump into your working muscle cells? Anabolic and insulinogenic nutrients. I use a high quality product with functional carbohydrates and hydrolyzed protein to fuel my muscles before and during training.

A dedicated shoulder day

The following training program should be performed on a dedicated shoulder training day. This is a very strenuous specialization program that should be performed once a week. If your shoulders are particularly stubborn, you can add some less strenuous shoulder training to another training session later in the week.

Shoulder presses with double descending sets:

Arnold Presses and shoulder presses will prepare your shoulders for the rest of the workout. Use a mechanical descending set to transition from Arnold Presses to dumbbell shoulder presses and then perform a descending set with a reduction in weight. For mechanical descending sets, do not reduce the weight, but use a slight modification to the exercise that allows you to perform more repetitions after reaching muscle failure.

Warm up

Choose a weight that is heavy enough to work your shoulders. Perform 10 to 15 clean repetitions with this weight. If you can do a lot of reps with ease, then your warm-up weight is too light and you should use a heavier weight.

You should feel tension in your shoulder muscles even when using your warm-up weight. Keep your warm-up weight within reach.

Work sets

1. Use a heavier pair of dumbbells. If you are a man, the weight should be heavy enough that you can perform no more than 7 to 8 repetitions. If you are a woman, you should not be able to do more than 8 to 10 repetitions. If you can do more than this number of repetitions, then you should increase the weight.
2. If you are unable to perform more repetitions of Arnold Presses, perform standard dumbbell shoulder presses (without rotation) using the same weight. You should be able to perform a few more repetitions, especially if you use rest-pause between the last repetitions.
3. Without pausing, grab your warm-up dumbbells and repeat: Arnold Presses to muscle failure and then dumbbell shoulder presses.

That's one set. Perform two more sets in the same way.

Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles (side raises lying bent over) and front raises with a weight plate - descending set and superset:

Adjust the back pad of an incline bench so that your arms hang down in front of your body as you lie prone on the bench. Prepare three sets of dumbbells: heavy, medium and light. For our volume goals, "heavy" means a weight with which you can perform 12 to 15 clean repetitions.

Also place a 10 to 15 kilo weight plate within reach.

1. Start with the heavy dumbbells. Pause for a moment when you reach the point of muscle failure after 12 to 15 repetitions.
2. Without putting the weight down, perform as many partial repetitions through the lower part of the range of motion. You can use momentum on these partial repetitions as long as you feel your shoulder muscles working. If you are struggling to feel your shoulders working, try to straighten your elbows or position your wrists optimally.
3. After this, grab the medium dumbbells without resting and perform another set of flying movements for the back shoulder muscles. As soon as you start to feel fatigue, move on to partial repetitions with momentum.
4. Without pausing, grab the light dumbbells and perform another set.
5. Then stand up and perform 10 repetitions of front raises with the weight plate you prepared earlier. Move the plate up slightly above your head.
6. Repeat the whole exercise two more times.

It may be necessary to bend or straighten your elbows a little more, position your hands differently or change the angle at which you lift the dumbbells to get the tension in the right areas. Optimize the form of the exercise execution during the set if you don't feel the strain in your shoulders.

Reverse flying movements on the cable, side raises, alternating front raises as a compound set:

This is another great way to train all three shoulder muscle heads. If you prefer to do the last two exercises on the cable as well, feel free to do side raises on the cable and front raises on the cable. I prefer dumbbells because it is quicker to grip dumbbells than to set up the cable pull differently.

Don't worry if the dumbbells need to be light for this compound set - your shoulders should already be exhausted to some extent at this point.

• For reverse flying movements on the cable pulley: 10 - 15 repetitions, fast and controlled concentric movements. When you reach the point of muscle failure, perform a few partial repetitions in the lower or upper part of the range of motion. Then move on to side raises without pausing.
• For the side raise: 10 to 15 repetitions. There are several correct variations of this exercise. Choose the variation that feels best for you in terms of the joints and the mind-muscle connection.
• For the alternating front raise: Again, 10 to 15 repetitions. Try to maintain tension in the shoulder that is not being lifted.

Perform three rounds of this compound set.

Face pulls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6wTUg_tA-A)

Perform face pulls at the end of your back day if you are no longer able to do them on your shoulder day. Face pulls work the back shoulder muscles like no other exercise.

Perform three or four sets throughout the range of motion. At the end of the range of motion, try to take a deliberate pause of 2 to 3 seconds if you are having trouble feeling this exercise in your shoulders. Go until just before the point of muscle failure. Your shoulders should hurt, not your joints. Your weight should not have to be heavy to feel your shoulders.

There are several face pull variations. I like the seated variation on a cable rowing machine. Find the best variation for you. Remember to keep your elbows high when doing this.

Tip: If you train your back the day after your shoulders, this is a great time to do this exercise at the end of your workout. Training shoulders the day before back training will not interfere with your back training. And if you train the shoulders lightly again on the back day, then you don't have to worry about training the same muscle group two days in a row. Doing this can even have a positive effect on hypertrophy.

Don't neglect face pulls, as these will help you keep your shoulders healthy and you'll need healthy shoulders to keep training your shoulders hard enough to make them grow...which is exactly what will turn stubborn shoulders into impressive shoulders.

Summary of the training session

• A1 Arnold Presses, descending set
• A2 Dumbbell shoulder presses, descending set
• B1 Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles, descending set and partial repetitions
• B2 Front raise with a weight plate
• C1 Reverse flying movements on the cable pulley with partial repetitions
• C2 Side raise
• C3 Dumbbell front lift
• D Face pulls

From Dani Shugart | 02/24/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/delts-on-fire

The 3 essential training methods for building muscle

By Travis Pollen | 04/01/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/3-essential-workout-methods-for-muscle

Here's what you need to know...

1. There are three mechanisms of hypertrophy: mechanical stress, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. If you neglect any one of these mechanisms, you're giving up a lot of potential muscle growth.
2. Mechanical tension is synonymous with muscle strength. There is an ideal point near the 1RM weight where tension is at its highest.
3. For optimal metabolic stress ("the pump"), you must maintain constant tension in the muscles by reversing the direction of movement just before reaching the hyperextended position at the highest point and just before reaching the lowest point of the range of motion.
4. To induce muscle damage, you need to adjust the volume according to your training split. Too much will give you too much muscle soreness and make it impossible for you to recover in time for the next training session.
5. The most versatile exercises are those that can be manipulated accordingly to target each of these three mechanisms. This applies to the major multi-joint exercises.
6. Use all three of these mechanisms during a single training session or cycle them throughout your training week.

The 3 ways to build muscle

Ask the most muscular guys at your gym for advice on building muscle and you'll likely get different answers:

"Just train heavy," the powerlifter will tell you.

"Aim for the pump," the bodybuilder will tell you.

"Do something different," the CrossFitter will tell you.

Each of these suggestions makes sense, but for optimal development you need to combine all three.

In fact, a 2010 review paper by Brad Schoenfeld showed that there are three mechanisms of hypertrophy - mechanical tension, metabolic stress and muscle damage - which align perfectly with the maxims above.

1 - Mechanical tension: train heavy

Mechanical tension means good old fashioned training with heavy weights. It's all about generating the most muscle power possible through the full range of motion.

You may think that the heavier you train, the more mechanical tension you generate. However, this is only the case up to a certain point. For example, a 2013 study by Pinto and colleagues found that muscle activation during isometric bench presses was lower than muscle activation when using 90% of maximum weight in a consciously induced contraction.

These results suggest that for most exercisers there is an "ideal point" below the maximum weight for a repetition (1RM weight) where the mechanical tension of the target muscles is at its highest. Adding extra weight will not increase mechanical tension and could even shift tension from the target muscles to passive structures or other muscles.

The participants in this study would therefore be better advised to work at 90% of their maximum weight and no more, as this will enable them to perform more repetitions at the same or higher tension, allowing them to achieve more time under tension.

Finding the ideal weight

When it comes to weight, the ideal point will vary from person to person and even from exercise to exercise. For an advanced exerciser with favorable anthropometrics and clean exercise execution form on a given exercise, the ideal point might be at the lower end of the 3 to 8 repetition range.

For a less experienced exerciser whose exercise execution form deteriorates when training with heavy weights - or even an experienced exerciser whose body proportions are not ideal for a particular exercise - the ideal point could shift upwards into the 5 to 12 repetition range.

Some exercises such as rowing and hip thrusts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8nFGuY77CE ) are better suited to slightly higher repetitions regardless of the exerciser's limb length and technical ability.

Pilot data has shown that gluteus activation increases almost linearly with weight for some exercisers, while other exercisers reach their maximum gluteus activation at just 50% of their 1RM weight.

For these exercisers, further increases in training weight will result in further increases in muscle activation in other synergistic muscles, but not in the actual primary muscles being targeted. However, a recent paper by Vigotsky and colleagues showed a fairly linear increase in leg flexor activation with an increase in weight in Good Mornings, suggesting that it all depends on the exercise.

How do you know where your individual ideal point is for a particular exercise? Use your intuition and let technique be your guide. If your exercise form is severely lacking or you can't move a weight all the way up, then it's too heavy.

To maximize mechanical tension, you can also use strategic pauses such as at the lowest position of the bench press, right after the start of the deadlift in deadlifts and at the end of hip thrusts.

Here are the parameters for mechanical tension:

• Sets: 3-8
• Repetitions: 3-8 or 5-12 (depending on the exerciser and the exercise)
• Tempo: 2/0/1/0, 2/0/1/3 or 2/3/1/0
• Rest intervals: 2-3 minutes

The tempo indicates the time in seconds for the eccentric (negative) phase of the movement, the transition to the concentric phase of the movement, the concentric (lifting) phase of the movement and the transition to the eccentric phase of the movement.

2 - Metabolic stress: training for pump and muscle burn

Metabolic stress is basically the same as training for pump or muscle burn.

The key here is to maintain constant tension in the muscles by maintaining a continuous cadence (no pauses between repetitions) and, depending on the strength curve of the movement, reversing the movement just before reaching the highest or lowest point of the range of motion.

In this way, blood is pumped through the arteries into the muscles and the continuous muscle contractions prevent the blood from draining through the veins, resulting in a higher degree of metabolic stress and increased swelling of the muscle cells.

To maintain constant tension on the muscles during exercises with a descending or constant force curve (exercises that get heavier or stay the same weight during the concentric phase) such as hip thrusts and inverted rows (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G28qN9FCKE), you should reverse the direction of movement just before the lowest point of the range of motion.

For exercises with an ascending strength curve (exercises that become lighter during the concentric phase) such as squats and deadlifts with extended legs, reverse the movement just before reaching an overreach and add supportive resistance in the form of bands or chains. For an even higher level of metabolic stress, you can use strategic pauses at the lowest point of the range of motion in these exercises.

If you are training for the pump, you should perform the sets at moderate to high repetitions and short rest intervals between sets until momentary muscle failure.

A pump training session would look like this:

• Sets: 3-4
• Repetitions: 12-20+ (until momentary muscle failure)
• Tempo: 1/0/1/0 or 2/3/1/0
• Rest intervals: shorter than one minute

3 - Muscle Damage: Focus on the negative repetitions

Muscle damage roughly corresponds to muscle soreness. Muscle soreness is caused by slow negative repetitions, an extended range of motion and increased tension in the stretched position of the muscle. Changes in exercise selection can also induce muscle soreness.

However, too much muscle damage can also be disabling and counterproductive, which is why the training volume must be adapted to the training split and the training frequency. If you use a split by muscle group, where you only train a muscle once a week, you can use up to 5 sets of an exercise focusing on muscle damage - after all, you have a whole week to recover.

However, if your training split requires you to train a muscle or exercise several times a week, then you simply can't afford to get that much muscle soreness. If your muscles are not healed by the time you train them again, your performance will undoubtedly be impaired.

To induce less muscle damage in this case, but still significant to some degree, you could perform two sets of an exercise with a focus on muscle damage so that the muscle damage caused by it has healed by the time you train the muscle again.

A workout for muscle damage could look like this:

• Sets: 2-5 (depending on the training frequency)
• Repetitions: 8-12
• Tempo: 4/0/1/0
• Rest intervals: 1-2 minutes

Small modifications to the major multi-joint exercises

Although certain exercises are better suited to one mechanism than the others, the most versatile exercises are those where each of the three mechanisms of hypertrophy can be selectively targeted by slightly modifying the execution of the exercise.

By and large, the basic major multi-joint exercises - squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, bench presses, overhead presses, pull-ups and rowing - are well suited for this purpose.

Here is a list of the modifications needed in each exercise to elicit the different mechanisms of hypertrophy. Perform the exercises with the sets, repetitions, tempos and additional instructions listed below.

Regardless of the desired mechanism, perform all exercise variations with a direct focus on the target muscle. Never use a weight that is so heavy that you lose the mind-muscle connection.

Planning your training sessions

Leave nothing to chance and maximize your muscle growth. You probably already perform most of the exercises described above. All that is necessary is a small modification to the execution - be it a longer eccentric phase, additional strategic rests or more repetitions - and you will achieve maximum gains.

Since the three mechanisms of hypertrophy complement each other, it is best to use a daily undulating or non-sequential periodization scheme instead of a linear model.

Daily undulating periodization

Use the three mechanisms cyclically over the course of a week: one day for mechanical stress, the next for metabolic stress and the third for muscle damage.

Non-sequential periodization

Emphasize mechanical tension at the beginning of the training session or during the first sets of an exercise. Then move on to metabolic stress and muscle damage later in the training session or during the last sets of an exercise.

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