Breaking a Sticking Point

Sticking points are the worst. You train and stay the same and just keep training and staying the same. There are different philosophies for overcoming a sticking point. In this article, I will discuss some of these philosophies.

Blast Through it

One philosophy for overcoming a sticking point is to blast through it. There are lots of articles and training courses that help people break sticking points. Most of them advocate training more or training harder in order to wake your body up so that it will respond. If you haven’t been training hard enough, blasting through a sticking point may work for you, but if you have already been training hard or too hard, then finding another way to over-train isn’t going to work for very long.

Train Less

Another philosophy is to go in the opposite direction and try training less during a workout, or to train less often. Sometimes it works; especially if you have been training too much or too often. But if you haven’t been training too much or too often, trying to find another way to avoid over training will probably not help for very long. A lot of the guys who advocate doing less in each workout and working out less often will also tell you to train with more intensity and push your sets hard while giving yourself plenty of time to recover. No doubt, this philosophy has worked for some, but for others it was futile attempt to improve. It can easily turn into both over training and undertraining. Over training because sets are pushed too hard and the nervous system rebels, and undertraining because there is not enough training volume or training frequency for many people to maintain an anabolic state.

Utilize a Training Cycle

Then there are philosophies which utilize a mixture of different types of training in some sort of training cycle. I have found some success with this methodology and it felt like I hit the jackpot for a while with this type of training. There are endless loading and deloading schemes, and a kazillion ways to mix various types of training into a cycle. I’ll share one that worked for me.

I used moderate weights that allowed eight to twelve reps and I did a variety of exercises that amounted to ten to twelve sets for each body part. I used a fast training pace with moderate intensity where there was no straining and pushing to failure. Each body part was trained twice per week and I used this type of training for just one week. For the next two weeks, I switched to short, low volume workouts consisting of two sets per body part, high intensity training where sets were either done to failure, or near failure using 12 to 15 reps at the start of the week, and six to eight reps at the end of the week. A high training frequency was used that consisted of hitting each body part five days in a row. It worked really, really good for about two cycles and then it quit working, so I did break a sticking point, but I created another one in the process. I recommend this type of training for people who need a new body in six weeks as opposed to people who want to make training progress for months or years.

Little By Little

The final philosophy that I will discuss has more to with just making progress little by little in order to get unstuck, rather than to hit the jack pot and make an incredible breakthrough to overcome a sticking point. Using this method, you don’t look for big results in the next week or in a month; you just try to make a little progress in the next week or month without training in such a way that will cause your progress to come to a stand-still after a brief breakthrough. This is the type of training that I advocate with Precision Point Training. It’s not designed to give you a big burst of strength, it’s just designed to help you gain little by little without getting stuck.

One thing I am coming to believe is that there are several variables that can contribute to gaining strength. When your training includes a little of all of these variables, you don’t over work any one aspect of your physiology, and progress is more predictable. With this in mind, your workouts should include: sufficient (not excessive) training volume along with speed and force development using light weights; medium and heavy training for strength development; and moderately light training that allows you to hit your marker rep at around 12-15 reps. I believe that this is generally more effective than just focusing on one type of training.  Along with this, avoid producing muscle fatigue that causes your strength to decline during a workout. Train while you are strong, as long as you are strong, but no longer than while you are strong. Be consistent and remember that you don’t have to blast through a sticking point; you just need to start making a little progress and keep doing that over and over again. Best of training to you. 

 

 

That Feeling

 A couple years ago I was watching a youtube video of Leroy Colbert who is considered by many to be the first man to build 20 inch arms, and he did it before steroids were available to use. In the video, Leroy said something that would have barely registered as having any significance during my early days of working out with weights. It had to do with a feeling that he had when he trained. That feeling let him know when to stop training and it seemed to tell him how much and how hard to train.

 There was a time in my past when training was all about finding out how many sets and how many reps a lifter did and then copying his sets and reps scheme. The concept that I refer to now as “being in the right training state” was not a concept that had entered into my mind. But with the huge variations of training information that swarmed around me, I was forced to think beyond training in simple terms of doing a certain amount of sets in reps. That’s why Leroy’s comments about having a certain feeling while he was training majorly caught my attention in this video. You can listen to his comments about this in the videos below.

 

 

Written version of Leroy’s Comments.

“I just had that you know…, it’s like something fascinating because you just know when you did enough, when to rest and when to stop, no more.  It’s not a number that you wrote down, I just knew it was enough for the day.

 Some of those guys spent a whole day training their arms completely oblivious to the rest, recovery aspect of training.  They thought the more they would do, none of them ever got nowhere near me because they didn’t have that feeling. I could tell you the truth, I don’t know where that feeling comes from. If you paid me a billion dollars, I don’t know (how), I just know.  I said, well that’s enough for now.  And then I continued to train and continued to grow and added different exercises to the routine.  And just kept growing and growing.  Of course that’s the thing that we instinctively knew and a lot of people don’t know today.”

 “If you want to continue to grow, you got a have a feeling of when to go next.  If you stay too long, it’s detrimental to your growth, if you train too hard it’s detrimental to your growth and not a soul in the world can tell you that but yourself.”

Others Who Had a Great Feel for Training

 I believe other bodybuilders and lifters had a tremendous feel for training, and sensed how hard to push to get into the right training state that would enable them to succeed. In my reading about Bill Pearl, I believe he had a great feel for training that allowed him to improve little by little, year after year for many years without steroids, which is something that is rare. I believe Ed Coan and others had that special sense and feel for training as well.

 Why do I bring all of this up? Because that feeling is illusive. I needed a system that would help me stay on track and not train too hard or too easy, but to hit a workout just right. For me that system turned out to be the principles that I teach in accordance with Precision Point Training (see the basics of PPT if you are not familiar with Precision Point Training principles). Precision Point Training tells me how far to push into a set, how many sets to do, and how often to train, and it works better for me than trying to get a magic feeling.

 Even though that magic feeling is hard to zero in on, I don’t discredit it, because it’s a simply a way that a lifter can know that they are in the right training state to achieve results. If you can tap into that feeling and make it work for you on a consistent basis, then keep utilizing it as a training method. However, if finding the right training state for consistent results seems illusive, my suggestion is to learn how to use Precision Point Training as it is a training state based method. Best of Training to you.  

 

Adaptation by Adding Reps vs. Adding Weight

John was a brand new to weight training and could only bench press 100 pounds for 8 reps. He was advised to keep on using 100 pounds until he improved to the point where he could perform 10 reps. Once he had achieved this new strength level, he was advised to add on 5 pounds and start the same process again with 8 reps and 105 pounds. At this point in John’s training, he is using a good strategy for progression.

Steve was immensely strong and could bench 400 pounds with 8 reps. For Steve to use the same strategy of progression by increasing reps like John is doing would not be smart. Perhaps Steve used this strategy effectively when he first began weight training at a much lower strength level, but at his current strength level, trying to add reps to a set is no longer nearly as effective as it once was. Let’s take a further look at the differences in the process of adaptation for people who have different strength levels like John and Steve.   

The amount of reps a lifter can do with a given weight has been shown to be closely related to amount of weight they are using in relationship to their one rep max (click here to see one rep max calculator). Studies have shown that when most lifters increase their strength by two to three percent, they will be able to add another rep onto the maximum number of reps they can do in a set with a given weight. If we go back to our example of John who can do 100 pounds for 8 reps, his max bench press is probably about 125 pounds. In order to be able to improve the number of reps that he can perform from 8 reps up to 9 reps, he will need to increase his strength by about 2.5 percent. In John’s case, an increase of strength of 2.5 percent translates into a little over 3 pounds. In terms of his one rep max, it must increase from 125 pounds to 128 pounds before he will be strong enough to increase from 8 reps to 9 reps with 100 pounds. A three pound increase in strength is very attainable, especially in the beginning stages of lifting. So once again, increasing the number of reps is a reasonable form of progression for John.

Now let’s look at what will happen in Steve’s case if he uses the same strategy. If Steve can bench press 400 pounds for a one rep max, this will translate into a one rep max of approximately 500 pounds. Steve and John are the same in that they both must increase their one rep max by about 2.5 percent in order to add on another rep. However, Steve and John are very different in terms of what 2.5 percent of their one rep max equals. For John, 2.5 percent of his one rep max at 125 pounds equals a little over 3 pounds. For Steve, 2.5 percent of his one rep max at 500 pounds equals 12.5 pounds. Whereas John only needed to become 3 pounds stronger in order to be able to increase from 8 reps to 9 reps, Steve is at a strength level where he must become 12.5 pounds stronger before he will have the ability to increase from 8 reps to 9 reps. This makes the strategy of progressing by adding on reps increasingly difficult as an effective strategy for progression when a lifter reaches higher levels of strength. Most people don’t increase their strength level by intervals of 12.5 pounds.

What lesson can we learn from this in terms of figuring out an effective method for progression? Basically, once you reach a one rep max of over 200 pounds for a given exercise, you will have to increase your strength level by over 5 pounds before you can add on another rep, and the stronger you become, the harder it becomes to add on reps to a set. You are better off progressing by adding on weight once your one rep max has reached over 200 pounds. For example, for an elite, world class lifter who can squat close to 1,000 pounds, it would be hugely important to add weight to a set rather than reps to a set as a form of progression. At his strength level, it would take a 25 pound increase in strength before enough strength is gained to add on a rep to a set.

One of the biggest problems I see with a lot of gyms is that the smallest weight plates that they have are 5 pound plates. This requires a lifter to increase the weight they are using by a minimum of 10 pound intervals. The consequence of this is that it almost forces lifters to progress by adding on a rep before trying to add on weight, and this is a terrible strategy of progression for lifters who can lift a lot of weight. So if at all possible, you need access to small plates of 2.5 pounds or less, in order to have an effective plan for progression. If you don’t have small weight plates, you can probably find them online and order them. For exercises such as curls and lateral raises, lighter weights are generally used and adding reps will work fine as a method of progression. However, if you can do over 200 pounds in the bench, squat, deadlift, or any exercise, you’re better off adding on a small amount of weight in order to progress. Give it a try and best of training to you.     

 

Adaptation and Precision Points

In the next few articles, I will be discussing the importance of setting the body up for an easy adaptation to strength. Often times people train in a way that will make it hard for their body to adapt. Adaptation is easy when an adaptive reserve is high, but the reserve will run low as training progresses and strength increases. This is why I believe in Precision Point Training. It’s designed to pinpoint training variables that will allow a strength adaptation to be as easy as possible.

Putting the body in a state of emergency is often the method that is used for causing the body to make a strength adaptation. No doubt this method works for a while. However, it often quits working because the body can’t overcome the emergency stress when workout stresses are always kept at a maximum. Precision Point Training does not cause this to happen. An emergency stress is not required for an adaptation. Instead of an emergency stress, the body only requires an adequate stress for adaptation. Finding the threshold level of training that will trigger an adaptation is the key to setting the body up for an easy adaptation as opposed to a difficult, or impossible adaptation.

Thresholds to Adapatation

So what is the threshold level of training stress that is adequate for allowing an easy strength adaptation? The answer is that there are several of these key thresholds; I call them Precision Points. They are also transition point. If you truly identify Precision Points in your training and give them time to work, it makes life so much easier in the world of strength training.   

Why are Precision Point so powerful when it comes to adaptation? Because Precision Points ask the body to make small, attainable adaptations instead of huge unattainable adaptations. The body is able to make huge adaptations early on in training, but not forever or we would all be lifting over a thousand pounds within a few years of training. Small adaptations that can be made over and over again is the answer to gaining strength over sufficient time. Small adaptations can be made at transitions points (also referred to as Precision Points), where there is a sudden transition in physiological state. That transition is noticed in training by simply identifying when there is a sudden transition from easier to harder.

Easier Is What the Body Wants

Easier is what the body wants. Harder is what the body wants to avoid. If you cross a threshold from easier to harder during training, stop. Don’t go farther and farther past that transition point, it’s not necessary. Going just a small amount past the transition point into a harder state will cause the body to want to transition back into an easier state. How can the body transition back into an easier state? Simple. It can adapt by getting stronger. Getting stronger will make the workout easier and your body will be able to avoid crossing over the transition point. If you find enough transition points and implement them into your training, gaining strength doesn’t have to be nearly as difficult as a lot of people would believe (unless they are lazy and think that any exercise is hard).

Where are the points where easy adaptation can occur?:

Stop at the point where reps transition between easier and harder. This means stop at your marker rep when rep speed and rep rhythm begin to decrease.

Stop at the point where sets transition between easier and harder. This means stop when you reach a set where your strength is decreasing as evidenced by a decrease in the number of reps that you can do compared to earlier sets.  

Try using weights that are at 40%, 55% 70% and 85-95% of your one rep max:

Doing sets of 10 reps with 40% of your one rep max is a transition point where it becomes easier to do more sets with less effort. Two or three sets per workout makes a positive difference. It’s good for increasing training volume and building speed and better nerve signals to your muscles. Caution: Do not use high reps at 40%. Limit the reps to 10 or you will get an endurance adaptation instead of a strength adaptation.

Using about 70% of your one rep max is often a transition point where rep speed will start to slow down more than previous increases in weight. It is excellent for building strength and muscle.

Hitting your marker rep while using 55% of your one rep max allows you to reach the limit of your creatine phosphate system before transitioning into the more difficult lactate system. This will probably permit you to do 12-15 reps before hitting your marker rep. Caution: While one set is good, doing more than one set in the 12-15 rep range on a regular basis is a wonderful way to lose strength.      

Lifting becomes significantly more difficult at about 85%-95% of your one rep max, depending on the exercise. This percent range is good for strength. There is often a very noticeable change in rep speed at this weight percentage. Find the edge of that change in rep speed and train right there. Don’t use a percentage of weight where your rep speed slows way down or adaptation will start to become harder in the long run. Easy adaptation is better in the long run.

As I say, if you put enough training variables together where easy adaptations can occur, your life will be much easier in regard to training progress. More on adaptation next time. Best of Training to you.

 

 

 

The Pump and Precision Point Training

I know there are power lifters and weight lifters who are not concerned about getting a pump from their workouts. While many of them do want to gain some size to aid in the process of gaining strength, they often do so by emphasizing the use of heavy weights and lower rep ranges which are not known for producing much of a pump. However, there are some who feel that a substantial pump can play a role in enhancing strength gains. Of course bodybuilders are known for craving the sensation of getting a pump and depend upon it for maximizing muscle size.

For those who believe in the benefits of getting a pump during a workout, I am going to address this issue within the context of Precision Point Training. One aspect of Precision Point Training is that developing fatigue is avoided. Reps are only continued within a set as long as they can be done forcefully. When there is a sudden decrease in rep speed or rep rhythm, the lifter terminates the set. In addition, if a lifter notices that they have reached a set where they are no longer at full strength in comparison with previous sets, the lifter stops doing sets for that exercise and body part. Bodybuilders and lifters may find it hard to get a pump under these conditions because a pump often is often achieved by pushing hard into a set and doing a lot of sets. With this in mind, I have some suggestions for those who would like to get a pump while using Precision Point Training.

First of all, most people are not going to get much of a pump from using heavy weights and low reps. In order to get a pump, a weight range that allows you to hit your marker rep between twelve to fifteen reps is helpful. This must be done on a regular basis if you want to train your body to get pumped. For me, this means using the twelve to fifteen rep range a minimum of three times per week, and I’ll get an even better pump from hitting twelve to fifteen reps five times per week. Having said this, I must warn you that doing more than one set of twelve to fifteen reps for an exercise has always backfired for me and caused a loss of strength if I kept it up for more than a week and a half. One set worked really well, two sets did not. More explanation is needed.

I’ll give you an example of how I would use the twelve to fifteen rep range when doing the bench press. Before I use twelve to fifteen reps, I would start benching for two or three sets using light weights that are less than 50% of my one rep max. I’ll stop each of these sets at 10 reps and won’t even come near my marker rep. Then I’ll increase to a weight that will allow me to do a set of five to eight reps before reaching my marker rep. I know from experience that that I will only be able to do one more set before my strength starts to decrease which will make it my last set. So for my final set of the bench press, I decrease the weight enough to allow me to perform fifteen reps before reaching my marker rep. I am then done with that exercise and body part. Other people may be able to do more sets than I can before losing strength, but the main point is that if you are going to use the twelve to fifteen rep range in every workout, only use twelve to fifteen reps on the last set of an exercise, and stay within the boundaries of your marker rep.

For those who want some additional strength and size in your arms, you can also consider getting a pump in your biceps and triceps by doing extra workouts for your arms only. It’ll be a short workout. If you’re like me and you don’t have time to go to a gym for extra workouts, you can get a pair of dumbbells and do the extra workouts at home. Just do one or two sets for both dumbbell curls and triceps extensions while using a weight that will allow you to hit your marker rep at around twelve to fifteen reps. You should be able to do the whole workout in six to seven minutes tops, and can do it three to five times per week. Take a week off from extra workouts every three weeks. The extra workouts are likely to cause your arms to respond by pumping quicker and easier than previously by doing this.

Maybe you’re like me and you don’t place a big priority on getting a pump, but sometimes a change is helpful and the methods that I just described may give your muscles a boost if you want to give them a try. Best of training to you.  

 

 

 

The Importance of Readiness

This is the final article that addresses the concept of an SRRR profile which stands for four factors that include: Stimulation (how you train), Recovery, Retention, and Readiness. The SRRR factor that will be discussed in this article is Readiness.

Readiness refers to a lifter being in a physiological state in which his or her body is ready to progress. There are two main factors to consider in regard to readiness. The first is that the joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles must be ready to withstand a weight training stress while remaining healthy. If a lifter is placed in an unfamiliar position that their body is not ready for while using a heavy weight, injury can result. Lifts such as the dead lift, full squat, clean and jerk, and the snatch, all have the potential to devastate the back, the hips, and the knees of untrained lifters who have not taken the time to slowly work their way into the required lifting positions using light weights first. This holds true for any lift. When it is evident that a lifter’s body is handling a given lift without any negative side effects while using light weights, then weight can be systematically added over time.

The second aspect of readiness simply refers to a lifter’s body being in a state where it can be stimulated to make progress from workouts. It almost sounds like recovery but is not necessarily the same. It is possible that a lifter can recover his or her strength after a workout, but not be in a state where their body is ready to make any progress. In other words, they are stuck in what I refer to as a steady state where their strength has leveled off.

To further explain the need for readiness, we can look at the example of Bruce. For instance, Bruce may be recovering his strength after each workout, but finds he is stuck at the same strength level. Even if Bruce tries longer recovery times, he still doesn’t gain and may even lose strength. The reason is because Bruce keeps using shock training and his central nervous system is over taxed and has shut down his ability to gain. For those of you who are familiar with Precision Point Training concepts, Bruce has run into the Pattern That Kill Progress (please see the basics of PPT page on this website if you desire more explanation in regard to the Pattern That Kills Progress). Even though Bruce may be able to recover his strength within 72 hours after a workouts, he may need several weeks of easier training before his body is willing to gain again. He may even have to back off and lose a little strength in order for his nervous system to fully recover to the point where it will permit his body to become stronger.

 If Bruce trains hard enough to cause an adaptation, but not so hard that he runs into the Pattern Than Kills progress, then his body is more likely to stay in a state of readiness where it ready to gain. The biggest culprits for destroying the body’s state of readiness consist of the following: a lifter who constantly trains above 90% of their one rep max, constantly training to failure and using forced reps, doing too many sets.

Training success is dependent on each of the four SRRR factors working properly. For example, if you focus too hard on stimulation (training), then recovery may suffer. If you focus too much on recovery by waiting longer between workouts, then detraining and loss of strength could occur. If you have poor retention, you will have to train more often which makes recovery more difficult. If readiness does not come easily for you, then training too hard will run you right into the Pattern That Kills Progress. A lifter who is superior in even one of the SRRR factors has an advantage, and a lifter who is superior in all four of the SRRR factors has it easy. They will be able to succeed with just about any type of training. Most people are not this fortunate.

One way to balance the SRRR factors is to use Precision Point Training. This means train hard enough to cause an adaptation, but no harder than necessary. This makes it easy to recover quickly and enables people with poor retention to train often enough to avoid detraining. Training that is not overly long or hard also keeps the central nervous system healthy so that the body can stay in a state of readiness where it is willing to adapt little by little to training stresses. Regardless of what form of training a lifter chooses, it has to be in agreement with their own SRRR profile if they are to succeed. This means if your training is working, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, think through the SRRR factors and which one(s) may need some correcting. Best of training to you.  

 

Strength Retention

     I’ll never forget walking into a gym for a workout and seeing a heavily muscled man doing squats. He wasn’t the biggest or strongest lifter I had ever seen, but he was definitely one of the most muscular men that I had seen in that particular gym. When I finished my workout and went back to the locker room, there he was getting dressed right next to my locker. We struck up a conversation and I learned that his name was John. I found out that he had hurt his shoulder and had decided to quit training for a while. He said this was his first workout in nine months. I was shocked by this and said to myself, “If this is what you look like without working out for nine months, I wonder what you looked like when you were working out.”

     I had a similar experience with a personal trainer who trained people at the gym where I worked out. He had been training people there for several months. I had seen him instructing clients and helping other people exercise, but I had never seen him working out himself. One day I was conversing with him and he told me that he had trained seriously in the past, and had been a competitive bodybuilder, but he hadn’t worked out in two years. What baffled me was that he was still built like a competitive bodybuilder and had an amazing physique. I remember telling the guy that he had a lot left over from his previous workouts.

     Why would I bother to tell you this? Because in this article I am addressing the topic of Retention, which is the second R in the SRRR profile. When it comes to retention, I am amazed by some people’s ability to retain strength and muscle between workouts. The two examples that I described previously in this article are examples of people who have tremendous ability in the area of retention. Of all of the SRRR factors, retention is my absolute worst. If I don’t work out, the little bit of muscle I’ve developed quickly evaporates and my strength plummets.

      What exactly is retention? The way I’m defining it is the length of time a person can maintain full strength and muscle mass after full recovery is completed. In the last article I discussed that some people can stay in a state of anabolic recovery for a longer period of time than others. In other words, some lifters may be able to stay in an anabolic or adaptive state of recovery where they are still gaining muscle mass or strength for 72 hours or more after a workout. Having a long anabolic recovery time is different than retention. Retention doesn’t begin until strength has peaked at full recovery. If a lifter can continue to maintain their strength level after full recovery even though they aren’t working out, they have good retention ability. Some seem to have remarkable retention, while others don’t retain at all and need to work out as soon as full recovery has been reached.

     One thing that is important to consider is that retention may vary from one body part to another. For me the first thing to go during a layoff is my bench, the last thing to go is my squat. Perhaps you have had times when you had to take a layoff and observed a difference in how much strength was lost when comparing one exercise to another.

     There’s no way to know what kind of ability you have to retain strength and muscle mass after you have recovered from a workout unless you learn from experience. Having the ability to retain strength is a definite advantage. The longer you can wait between workouts, the less likely it is that your muscles will become desensitized to workouts. Increased muscle sensitivity to workouts makes them more likely to respond without running into the pattern that kills progress (please refer to the basics of PPT page if you don’t know what the pattern that kills progress is). Being a good retainer also gives you a lot more room for error in terms of how many days of rest you can take between workouts compared to someone who has poor retention ability. A final benefit is that if your training is starting to wear you down, being a good retainer gives you the advantage of being able to back off on your training frequency without any loss.

     The other side of the coin is that you may not have good retention. Even some of the best lifters and bodybuilders who are able to get bigger and stronger than almost everyone else have poor retention and quickly lose significant strength and muscle mass when they quit working out. The first Mr. Olympia ever was Larry Scott. He claimed that when he quit training, he atrophied down to a small size that bore little resemblance to a Mr. Olympia body. He said that when he lost all of his size, people would occasionally recognize him and ask, “Weren’t you Larry Scott?”

     The lesson from all of this is to train according to the qualities of your own body. If you are not a retainer, then don’t be tempted to imitate someone else who may be blessed with excellent retention ability. Train the best way for your body and let your own body do the talking in regard to what is best. Best of training to you.

 

 

Important Aspects of Recovery Part 2

 

In my earliest years of weight training, I had the philosophy that the longer I worked out, the better results I would get. It didn’t work. I was not aware of how important recovery was for training success.  One reason for this is that I started in the late 70’s when the concept of high volume training was at its zenith.  Within the bodybuilding world, Arnold Schwarzenegger loved doing tons of sets. Within world of strongman competitions and powerlifting, no one was more dominant than Bill Kazmaier, the possessor of an immensely muscled, massively strong physique. Kaz also used very high volume training. I point this out because some people seem to have extraordinary recovery ability.

I believe that recovery ability is hugely influenced by the degree of hormonal stimulation in response to a workout, and the degree of increased muscle sensitivity to those hormones. These factors are what cause the body to utilize incoming nutrients after a workout to facilitate recovery which leads to an increase in muscle size and strength. The question is, how big of a spike in anabolic hormones is occurring within a lifter’s body, and how long does the increased level hormones stay elevated?

A bigger spike in anabolic hormones than normal and greater muscle sensitivity to those hormones than normal will allow a lifter to recover from a longer or more intense workout. In addition, the longer those hormones stay elevated and the longer his muscles stay sensitive to those hormones, the longer the lifter can stay in a state of anabolic recovery before needing to work out again. It is possible that some of you reading this are above normal in these aspects of recovery. The only way to find out is to experiment with high volume training and with different recovery periods between workouts. However, not everyone has exceptional recovery ability.  

The important thing about recovery for anyone wanting to gain strength is that it is anabolic recovery, or strength-adaptive recovery. Anabolic recovery means that a lifter has recovered beyond their previous level of strength or muscle mass. If a lifter is becoming stronger without gaining any additional muscle mass, they are experiencing strength-adaptive recovery. Anabolic recovery and strength-adaptive recovery are the kind of recovery that lifters desire if they are trying to improve.

Not all recovery leads to improvement. People often assume that full recovery will always lead to improvement. I disagree. There is such a thing as steady state recovery, which means that a lifter will only recover their strength or muscle mass to the same level of the previous workout. It doesn’t matter how long they give themselves to recover, their body does not want to make an adaptation, it just stays the same in regard to strength and muscle size. For anyone who is stuck at a constant strength level, they are experiencing steady state recovery.

Severe overtraining or lack of nutritional intake can lead to a state of catabolism, which means the body fails to recover the strength level it possessed in previous workouts. A catabolic state is one of the worst things a lifter can experience as their efforts to grow stronger are actually causing them to grow weaker. 

If high volume, or high intensity, or any type of traditional training methods are making it difficult for you to recover, I suggest that you try Precision Point Training. With Precision Point Training, you focus on quality reps that can be done with near maximum rep speed and rep rhythm. When doing a set, as soon as rep speed and rep rhythm start to slow down, the set is terminated. You only repeat sets of an exercise as long as you can do as many quality reps as you could on the first set of an exercise. The idea is to only train as long as you can without developing fatigue to the point where strength and rep speed are compromised. The training is hard enough to stimulate strength, but not so hard that recovery is difficult. For many people this will mean that they can workout more often in comparison with other training methods. The workouts are sufficient to cause an increase in anabolic hormones and can be repeated before those hormonal levels decline. This is one strategy for achieving anabolic or strength-adaptive recovery.   

The last thing that I would like to address in regard to recovery is that you may find that recovery is easier when you vary the amount of weight that you use. When you constantly use the same weight over and over, you tend to use the same pattern of nervous system firing and the same energy pathways within the muscles over and over again until burnout occurs. Using a variety of weights within a workout, or over several workouts over the course of a week can help prevent this problem.

Finding your optimum recovery time will take some experimenting because we are all different. There isn’t a one size fits all formula for recovery, so I would be cautious about listening to anyone who insists that everyone must work each body part twice per week, or once per week, or three times per week or whatever magic number they think should apply to everyone. Experiment, listen to your own body, and let results speak for themselves. Best of training to you.   

 

 

Important Aspects of Recovery

Over the past few articles, I have been discussing the various components of the SRRR profile. The letters SRRR represent the components that consist of:

S=Stimulation of strength

R=Recovery from a workout

R=Retention of strength between workouts

R=Readiness of one’s body for stimulation of strength

     For the last two articles we have been considering the various factors that are involved in the S component which stands for stimulating strength. In this strength training article, we shall consider the first R which stands for recovery.

      Of all of the components of the SRRR profile, recovery seems to be more of a moving target than any other as it can vary greatly according to how you train, and according to how your own physiology works. Because of this, there is a wide degree of variance in the approach people take in regard to recovery. During their weight lifting heyday, the Bulgarian lifters were known to do the same exercise three times per day, six or seven days per week. Of course this much training is not even a consideration for most people who have a normal daily schedule. At the other extreme are people who believe that the longer you wait between workouts, the more you will recover in order to be assured of gaining strength. These are the guys that may work a body part once every ten to fifteen days. In most cases, this goes beyond recovery and transitions into a state of detraining where maximum strength is lost, not gained.

In my way of thinking there are at least three aspects to recovery. These consist of:

1. Regaining the energy components that fuel muscle contractions such as ATP creatine phosphate and glycogen.
2. Rebuilding muscle fiber tissue (protein synthesis).
3. Giving the nervous system time to recover its ability to fire with full force in order to produce maximum muscle contractions that lead to maximum lifting strength.

     My big issue with these three aspects of recovery is that they don’t necessarily occur at the same rate and this can complicate recovery. Research varies in its findings in regard to the recovery of energy components that fuel muscle contractions, but some of the most recent studies show that it occurs within 24 hours after a workout provided that sufficient carbohydrates are consumed after a workout. Insulin sensitivity is highest for two hours after a workout which greatly aids in reloading the muscles with glycogen when carbohydrates are ingested, so eat carbs soon after working out. 

     Protein synthesis must also occur in order to rebuild the muscle fibers that have suffered damage from working out. One of the key factors to protein synthesis is the increase in anabolic hormones that are naturally produced by the body in response to working out. Some of these hormones include testosterone, growth hormone, insulin and insulin growth factor 1. I’m sure we are all different in regard to the level that these hormones increase, and the length of time that they remain increased in response to a workout. Nonetheless, Brian Haycock who is the founder of HST, which stands for Hypertrophy Specific Training, believes his research indicates that these natural anabolic hormones generally stay elevated for 36 hours after a workout. This is the window of time where protean synthesis is most active.

     Nervous system recovery must also be considered for recovery. This can vary greatly according to the severity of the workout. A fairly easy workout will make it easy for the nervous system to recover within a day, but serious strength athletes often do strenuous workouts. When it comes to strenuous workouts, one of the most common power lifting perspectives is that is takes 72 hours for the nervous system to recover, and if the workout is severe enough, it can take even longer than that.

To summarize the amount of time it takes for the 3 different types of recovery:

1. Replenishing muscle fuel: 24 hours
2. Rebuilding muscle tissue: 36 hours
3. Nervous system recovery: 72 hours

     The above example is by no means a rule of how recovery works for everyone. But it demonstrates a potential problem that can occur with recovery. In the example above, if your muscles stop growing after only 36 hours, but you have to keep waiting for a total of 72 hours for your nervous system to recover, then you’re muscles will be needing exercise at the same time that your nervous system needs rest. In this instance, the different aspects of recovery are out of sync with each other. However, if someone is fortunate to possess the physiology that allows their level of anabolic hormones to remain elevated for 72 hours to match the recovery time of their nervous system, then they have it made in terms of recovery. If you are such a person, then you can workout hard and give yourself 72 hours of recovery without any loss in muscle. What if you are like me and are not so fortunate?

     For me the solution was precision point training. Please refer to the basics of PPT and other articles on this website if you are uncertain as to how precision point training is done. It provides training that is hard enough to elevate the level of your anabolic hormones, but the training is not so severe that recovery of the nervous system takes 72 hours. This means you can fully recover and workout again before the increase in anabolic hormone level takes a dive. It also allows the different aspects of recovery to fall into sync with one another.

     In the end, each person must find a recovery period that works for them as we can compare successful lifters and see that they have used a great variety of recovery times. The main thing is to find a way of training and recovering that allows the various aspects of your recovery to compliment each other. More on recovery next time. Best of training to you.     

 

What is the Best Amount of Weight to Use?

How much weight should you use to gain strength? There are all kinds of philosophies. The one rep max method, which was popularized by Ivan Abadjev was the primary component of training for the Bulgarians from the 1970’s and 1980’s when their weight lifters dominated the world. Some of the best East Europeans and Russian lifters are said to have preferred doing most of their lifts in the 70%-80% range of their one rep max. Powerlifters who use the Westside Method generally focus on two workouts for the bench press and two workout for either the squat or dead lift. The first workout for each exercise is a speed day, and the second workout is a one rep max day. For the speed workout, they generally use 50% of their one rep max the first week, followed by 55% the next week, and 60% the third week. When doing their max effort day where they shoot for a one rep max, of course they use 100% or near 100% of the maximum weight they can use for a lift.  Another common method for deciding how much weight to use is the gradual progressive overload method. Lifters use this method by starting out with a weight that allows for about 10 reps and increase the weight each week until they reach a week where they are doing a one rep max. If we look at all these examples, there are a lot of variations in regard to how much weight that people like to work out with. The same could be said for bodybuilders.

Generally lifters who want to increase their strength insist on focusing on using heavy weight during their workouts. Nonetheless, if you take a closer look, you’ll see a lot of light lifting that seems to sneak its way into strength training. You may not be familiar with it, but powerlifting coach Louie Simmons believes in using the repetition method to compliment the other training that the West Side power liters use in what is often considered to be the strongest gym in the world. The repetition method consists of doing a lot of reps with as little as 30% of a lifter’s one rep max. Louie says the great Vasili Alexeyev, who was a world record holder in the clean and jerk, used the repetition method. Bud Jeffries who is a strong man competitor and a one thousand pound squatter believes in using lots of light weights along with heavy weights to gain strength. The list of bodybuilders who have used light weights is also extensive including Sergio Oliva and Rory Leidelmeyer who would use up to 100 reps per set on occasion. John Brown used over 50 reps per set on occasion. Johny Fuller went through a period of training where he always used 32 reps, and one of the most eye piercing physiques that I have ever seen belonged to Serge Nubret, who worked out with weights that consisted of less than 50% of his one rep max, yet he was massively strong for his bodyweight.

So how do you find out which weight range works best for stimulating strength. If you are like me, there is no single weight range that always works best so I integrate various weight ranges into a workout. This has always worked better for me than using just one weight range in each workout. My ability to retain the benefits of using a given weight range is awful, which means I regress if I neglect light, medium or heavy weights for very long. Others can train successfully for several workouts just focusing on one single weight range, whether it be light, medium, or heavy. In view of our individual differences, there are different methods that can be used to diagnose if there is a weight range that seems to be especially effective for stimulating strength in a given individual.

For people like me who need a variety of weights in every workout, light medium and heavy can be used in every workout, but the amount of light, medium, and heavy can be varied from one week to the next. For example, a person could emphasize light weights during each workout for one week while doing a smaller amount of work with medium and heavy weights in each workout. During the second week, medium heavy weights could be emphasized while doing a smaller amount of exercise with light and heavy weights. During the third week, the emphasis could be on heavy weights while doing a smaller amount of exercise with light and medium weights. If strength seems to go up during a given week, it may be an indicator that the weight range that is being emphasized is effective at building strength for that person’s body.   

Another strategy is to focus on just using light weights at the start of a training cycle and gradually increase the weight each week. You have to do one lift at about 90% of your one rep max to test your strength at the end of every week in order to see if there is a weight range that is especially effective for you.  

The last approach that you can take is to do two workouts that emphasize one weight range, followed by one workout that utilizes the other weight ranges. For example, you could do two light workouts in a row followed by a workout in which you use both medium and heavy weights. You would then do two workouts in a row where you only use medium weights, followed by one workout where you use both light and heavy weights. You can then do two workouts in a row where heavy weights are emphasized and you follow this with a workout that includes the use of light weights and medium weights. The objective is to see if emphasizing a given weight range that is used for two workouts seems more effective for producing strength than other weight ranges.

My last bit of advice for finding effective weight ranges isn’t for everyone, but I’ll put it out there for those who have the means and the desire to do it. My advice is to start out with just 40% of your one rep max for a given lift. Make a video of yourself doing just one rep and blast it up hard. Add on 10 pounds and take a video of yourself doing another rep. Keep adding on 10 pounds and keep taking a video of yourself doing one rep where you are pushing the weight up with maximum force until you have added on enough weight to reach the  max weight you can lift. Play your video of each rep back in slow motion at one quarter speed. Time each rep that was done at each weight with a stop watch. Write down the time it took to lift each rep at the different weights. Look for any weights that cause a sudden shift in rep speed. If you come to a weight where rep speed starts to slow down more rapidly compared to the previous 10 pound increments, take special note of all such weights. If you can graph it out, it’s even better. A given weight that seems to mark a point where rep speed suddenly slows down more than at previous weights is a clue. You want to train right at the breaking point where rep speed starts to slow down more than previous, as you may find it to be a precision point in terms of choosing an effective amount of weight to use. Best of training to you.   

 

 

Individual Differences In Stimulating Strength

     In my last article I introduced the concept of everyone possessing their own SRRR profile. The four letters within SRRR stand for four strength training factors that should be considered. These four factors consist of Stimulation-Recovery-Retention-Readiness. In this strength training article, I will be focusing on the first factor, which is stimulation. Stimulation refers to the workout variables that tend to stimulate a positive strength response in a given lifter.

     The whole point of considering an individual SRRR profile is to explore the possible differences that exist in regard to what will bring success for various lifters. Of course I advocate Precision Point Training, but Precision Point Training allows for differences from one lifter to the next and I also recognize that there are many lifters who can succeed quite nicely without using Precision Point Training concepts. This being true, I will explore some possibilities in terms of different types of workouts that lifters may use to stimulate strength in a favorable way.

     The most basic type of training that I know of is referred to by some as minimalist training. Minimalist training is the minimum (or least) amount of training that a lifter can do and still make progress. It is generally done by training each body part once per week and often consists of one workout per week. In this case, a lifter would choose three or four basic exercises such as the squat, bench press, bent over row and overhead press. The lifter uses easy warm up sets to pyramid their way up to a target weight for each of the exercises. The target weight can allow for as many as ten reps and as few as one rep. Minimalists often use progressive loading where weight is added and reps are decreased from one week to the next. Some lifters train to failure with minimalist training and others don’t. Workouts can also be divided into upper body workouts and lower body workouts so that each body part is covered once per week over the course of two workouts. There have been some phenomenal accomplishments, and even world records that have resulted from this type of training. For some people it is the ticket to stimulating strength.

      The next step up in the amount of training is a method that is similar to minimalist training. It is known as HIT. which stands for High Intensity Training. HIT demands that a lifter take each set to failure unless they are doing a warm-up set. The amount of sets required for each body part is usually limited to one to three sets and the workouts are intended to be brief. The amount of weight used generally allows for five to ten reps. Recovery is often stressed when using HIT training, so body parts are generally trained no more than twice per week, and as little as once per week. HIT also has other names such as “Heavy Duty” training and is often connected to Nautilus training. This low-volume, high intensity type of training became extremely popular in the 1970’s and into the 1990’s. Some top bodybuilders and sports teams have used HIT and it seems to work like magic for some people.

     Perhaps the most common type of training is what I would refer to as moderate and moderately high volume training. I am defining moderate volume workouts as workouts that consist of three to eight sets per body part, two to three times per week. The amount of weight used can vary and allow for one to fifteen reps according to the goals of the lifter. I’m guessing that more people use this type of training than any other. Ten to twelve sets per body part would be what I would refer to as moderately high training volume. Competitive bodybuilders often use this type of training volume in the offseason to build muscle mass. I would estimate that the moderate and moderately high training volume workouts have worked for more people than any other type of training.

     High volume training where up to 20 sets or more per body part is also used as a workout strategy. Weight lifters and power lifters generally avoid such high volume, but many bodybuilders have succeeded with high volume training. Of course high volume training often backfires on those who try it and results in over training where a lot of work is done with little results to show for it. However, it can’t be denied that there are some who have found great success with high volume training.

     If you have tried any of the methods discussed and are still making progress with the method you are using, I would advise that you continue to use it. However, if you have run into a dead end, you can also try Precision Point Training which is designed to help you find the limit of your ATP creatine phosphate energy system without exceeding it. When using Precision Point Training you train hard enough to stimulate strength, but no harder than necessary. You can determine where to stop a set when you notice a convergence of the following conditions:

 

Rep rhythm and/or rep speed slows down,

You tend to pause longer between reps,

It becomes more difficult to exhale while lifting weight,

The weight suddenly becomes more difficult to lift.

 

     Sets of an exercise can be repeated as long as you are as strong as you were on your first set. If you can’t do as many reps as you could on your first set of the exercise you are doing, stop doing sets. This type of training is not overly fatiguing, which makes recovery easy and will often allow each body part to be trained three or more times per week, but this is not a rule and everyone must find their own training frequency. You may also wonder how much weight should be used in workouts in order to stimulate strength. That will be discussed in the next article. Until then, the best of training to you.

 

 

Determining Your SRRR Profile

We are not all the same. Many of us already know that, but still become enticed by the idea that if there is a Mr. Mega Body or Mr. Mega Strength out there and we should train exactly the way they do. I don’t think that this is always a bad idea. If I were just starting out with training, I would rather train like someone who is getting results than someone who isn’t. But what if you or I train like an elite lifter but fail to obtain the outstanding results that they are obtaining? We have three choices as to how to respond. One choice would be to get discouraged, give up and quit. A second choice would be to keep training the same way. A third choice is to try a different way of training. I like the third choice the best. If I am doing something that is not working, I have nothing to lose if I try something else that doesn’t work. At the same time, I have something to gain if I find out that it does work. If do try a new way of training, what approach should I use to figure out the best way to train?

     There are four basic ways to approach training when trying to determine how to train. The four approaches consist of:

1. Imitation
2. Exploration
3. Modification
4. Education

     Imitation refers to imitating the training that someone else is doing. Exploration refers to random exploration of trying new training strategies. Modification refers to modifying a version of training that someone else is doing or suggesting, and it can also refer to modifying a training method that you have already tried. Education refers to learning about physiology or scientific studies and applying it towards strength training. All approaches have their pros and cons, but at this point I am going to focus on the fourth approach, which is to experiment within the context of sound physiological principles. My favorite way of doing this is to experiment according to what I refer to as an SRRR profile. Everyone has their own SRRR profile. An SRRR profile consists four factors which include:

Stimulation (S)

 Recovery (R)

 Retention (R)

Readiness (R)

      Stimulation refers to the type of workout that does the best job of stimulating strength or muscle growth in a given individual. Recovery refers to the amount of time a person needs in order to fully recover from a workout as well as how well they can recover from workouts of varying amounts of intensity. Retention refers to the amount of time that a person can retain strength or muscle mass after they have recovered from a workout. The last R refers to Readiness which is an evaluation as to whether or not a lifter’s muscles and body are ready to handle a given workout. It also refers to the question of whether or not their body is ready for a positive adaptation. A positive adaptation means becoming bigger or stronger because anabolic stimulation and anabolic recovery are occurring as opposed to steady state stimulation and steady state recovery when the body only has the ability to regain its previous level of strength, but cannot exceed it.

     Learning how to train and recover in such a way that maximizes all four of an individual’s SRRR factors can take more than a lifetime if there is no basis for experimenting in order to find an optimum straining strategy. While I believe that precision point training provides a starting place for discovering a personal SRRR profile that will translate into a training strategy, I believe that there are some lifters who possess an SRRR profile that allows them to succeed apart from using precision point training. These are the types of lifters that I would like to discuss as this article comes to a close.

     It is possible for a lifter to have superior ability in any of the SRRR factors. If a lifter has superior ability in regard to the Stimulation of strength or muscle mass, then designing a precise workout for strength is not as necessary. A larger variation of workouts can be done with positive results than within the normal lifting population. This is the type of lifter who can succeed with a minimum of training, or a lifter who can do a workout that is designed more for endurance training, yet it still results in a gain of strength or muscle mass. A lifter who is superior in the area of Recovery will be able to withstand more training and/or will be able to recover quicker than normal. A lifter who is superior in the area of retention will be able to rest between workouts for a longer time than normal without losing strength or muscle mass. And a person who is high in the area of readiness will possess a body that is consistently ready to adapt to workout stress in a progressive manner.  

     Training progress will come easier for a lifter who is well endowed in any one of the SRRR factors. Those who are well endowed in any one of the SRRR factors may see their training progress take off when they train in a way that favorably corresponds to their SRRR profile. Most people who engage in weight training are not so fortunate to be high in any of the SRRR factors. In my next article, I will explore the first SRRR factor, which is stimulation and the variables that can be considered for stimulating strength. In the mean-time, best of training to you.        

 

 

 

 

The 6-15 Routine

 Of all of the precision point training routines that I’ve tried, one of the best routines for my individual physiology is what refer to as the six-fifteen routine. At times, I have used it over and over again with little variation form one workout to the next, yet it is consistently productive. I know that are those who believe that frequent change is necessary, but I believe that when the conditions are right, doing the same routine again and again from one workout to the next can be effective. I’m not saying that change is wrong, bad, or ineffective, I’m just saying there are conditions when frequent change in training is not nearly as necessary as some may believe.

For anyone who trains at a very high intensity and frequently trains to failure or uses maximum weight for a single rep, I do believe frequent change in training is necessary. Changing the amount of weight or changing the exercise will also change the way in which the body is stressed. If this isn’t done, the body will be stressed at a very high intensity in the same way again and again and the physiological components that are being stressed the most will become over trained and fatigued. On the other hand, if training stresses are changed, the body will be stressed in different ways instead of the same way, and the same physiological components won’t be as likely to burn out and cause training progress to cease.    

Although frequent changes in training can be beneficial, I don’t think that it is nearly as important when training is targeted with a precise level of intensity in mind. If precision points such as the marker rep and marker set (whether it be in the form of full sets or mini sets) are used, then training is hard enough to cause an adaptation, but not so hard that the body falls into the pattern that kills progress. Precision points will help the body to avoid becoming exhausted to the point where it will want to shut down from the same training stresses.

 Back to the six-fifteen routine. I have used it for several months at a time with little change from one workout to the next. The routine does have variety because the amount of weight used differs from one set to the next within a workout. However, from one workout to the next, the routine stays the same except that it becomes easier over several weeks until a little weight can be added. The way I do the six-fifteen workout is to simply do a few easy warm-up sets of an exercise, and then increase the weight to the point where my marker rep falls on the sixth rep. After completing the set, I give myself at least three minutes before repeating the same exercise (although I do other exercises for other body parts in the meantime) and then do my second set of the same exercise with a lighter weight that allows for 15 reps before hitting my marker rep. That’s all for each body part.

Doesn’t sound like enough? You’re right. It wasn’t enough training when I only did this routine three times per week, but when I switched to doing it six times per week, the workouts started getting easier and easier as I gained strength. I know that all of this sounds wrong and that within the thinking of many people I broke the rules in regard to how to work out correctly.

According to the traditions of how to work out correctly, I didn’t do enough training because I only did two sets per body part and I stopped on my marker rep instead of pushing to failure. On the other hand, others might say I trained too much because I trained my whole body six days per week. According to many experts, this is bad! All that matters to me is that it worked.  Of course, everyone is different, which is why I have found that the physiological guidelines of using the marker rep, the marker set, and the 3-4-5 (or in my case 6 days), or the 3-2-1 method can be used to diagnose a productive training state on an individual basis. The big point of all of this is that I found that there is a context in which using the same training routine day after day can be productive when the conditions are right, which means your intensity level is targeted around precision points.

Having said all of this, I remind you that changing your training can often be effective. However, if you want to try a single routine that you can repeat again and again, you can try the six-fifteen routine, where you warm-up and then do a set for six reps, and your last set of the same exercise is for 15 reps. If you can do more than two sets while at full strength, keep repeating sets of six reps until reach the last set of the exercise and do 15 reps for the last set. Apply it within the context of your marker rep, your limit set, and a training frequency that works for you. We are all different, but if you choose to give it a try, the six-fifteen routine done on a repeated basis may prove to be effective. Best of training to you.

 Boost Your Training with Mini Sets

 

I remember a story about Arnold Schwarzenegger who was straining under a heavy weight to the point where he was about to have to terminate his set. Then his training partner whispered in his ear something like, “Keep going Arnold, Sergio wouldn’t quit, he would do three more reps.” When Arnold heard this, he somehow conjured up super human powers and managed to grind out four more reps. When he finished the set, he replied to his training partner, “Sergio does only three more reps, Arnold does four.” It sounds like an awesome story and motivated me to push myself to train to failure and beyond with forced reps, rest pause reps, and giant sets with no rest between sets. I figured that results were in direct proportion to how hard you pushed yourself.

At some point, I began to question the training strategy of training to failure. There were so many people who proclaimed it was the only way to train, but I heard many others warn that it would burn you out. This being the case, I began to experiment with varying degrees of training stress during a set of an exercise. Eventually I came to the conclusion that training to failure often appears to be more effective in the short run, but training short of failure delivers more consistent results in the long run. Even so, I didn’t know where to stop during a set until it dawned on me to stop when fatigue causes rep speed or rep rhythm to slow down.  I call this the marker rep because it marks a stopping place during a set.  

Even though I believe that the marker rep is a good place to stop during a set from a physiological point of view, there is a sense in which I also believe in other methods. One of them is called the mini set method. When using the mini set method, you stop well before the marker rep until you reach a set where rep speed slows down on the last rep.  Let me explain how mini sets work.

Defining Mini Sets

A mini set is simply a partial set instead of a whole set. A whole set consists of pushing yourself to do reps until you reach your marker rep. When you do a mini set, you stop at a designated point before you reach your marker rep. For example, if you can use a given weight for 10 reps of an exercise before reaching your marker rep, you might only do 3 reps or 5 reps when doing a mini set, which is way short of your marker rep. If you continued using mini sets, you would eventually reach a set where fatigue accumulates to the point where the last rep starts to slow down in speed or rhythm, just like a marker rep. At that point, you would stop doing any more sets for that particular exercise and body part. You may already be familiar with the saying that you can use a weight that allows you to do 3 sets of 10 reps or you can use that same weight for 10 sets of 3 reps. The latter is an example of using mini sets.

The advantage to using mini sets is that they enable you to avoid fatigue because you always stop the set before fatigue sets in. For this reason, mini sets allow you to stay within the most powerful energy system within your muscles (the ATP creatine phosphate system) while you are training. Improving the ATP creatine phosphate system will help you gain strength better than by emphasizing other energy systems which include the lactate system and aerobic system.

Using a Series of Mini Sets

You can use the mini set system by using an equal amount of rest between sets for time periods of 45 seconds up to three minutes, or you can use very short rest periods within a series of mini sets. An example of a series of mini sets would be if you know you can do 12 reps of an exercise before hitting your marker rep, you may choose to do a series of 4 mini sets consisting or 3 reps each for a total of 12 reps. This would constitute one mini set series. Using our example of a series of 4 sets for 3 reps, the rest time between each mini set would only be 15 to 20 seconds (or whatever time period you choose). This would allow for the same training volume without as much fatigue.  After the series is complete, you would rest for at least three minutes before coming back to the same exercise, at which point, you could repeat another mini set series. You can keep on repeating series of mini sets until you reach your marker rep, either at the very end of a series, or at some point during a mini set series. When you reach a mini set series where you hit your marker rep, stop doing any more exercise for that body part.

Using Mini Sets with Light Weights

In a few of my previous articles, I mentioned that light weights can help to build strength, but only if the light weights are used properly. In my opinion, using mini sets is the proper way to use light weights. For example, you could choose to work out with only 40% of your one rep max weight. If you push all the way to your marker rep while using only 40% of your one rep max, you will reach a very high rep number within a single set, and will be over emphasizing your lactate system. This can majorly work against you if your main goal is to build strength. However, if you use mini sets of no more than 10 reps per set, you can do several mini sets while staying within an emphasis on your ATP creatine phosphate system while avoiding a lot of fatigue within the lactate system. This is how to aid the strength building process when using light weights.

Using Mini Sets with Heavy Weights

Mini sets can also be used for heavier weights. For example, if you are using weights that will only allow you six reps before hitting your marker rep, you can use mini sets of 2 reps each and keep repeating them until you reach a mini set where your last rep slows down. If you use mini sets wisely, they can add training volume and variety, and help you to gain strength. Best of Training to you.

 

 

How to Pyramid Your Poundage for Best Results

During my first year of weight training which was way back in 1979, I didn’t even know that the concept of pyramiding your poundages existed. Of course pyramiding your poundages and reps refers to starting out with a light weight on the first set which is done with relatively high reps, and then increasing the amount of weight and decreasing the amount of reps on each successive set. An example of a pyramid for an exercise would be as follows:

Sets  x  reps    weight

1       x   12        100 pounds

1       x   10        120  pounds

1       x   8          140  pounds

1       x   6          160  pounds

1      x    5          200 pounds

 

When I started into my second year of training, I read some weight training literature and discovered that most lifters and bodybuilders used the pyramid method for basic exercises. When I applied this concept, my strength took off. It was a nice change because I had no training knowledge at all in my first year of training and had barely made any progress.

When I first began to use the pyramid system, I instinctively used a very light weight on the first set, and even though I added weight from one set to the next, the first three sets were always easy, the fourth set was only moderately hard, and the fifth set was very hard. I did it this way because I wanted to have enough strength in reserve to be strong for my final set in which I used a heavy weight. If only I had kept training that way I could have made progress better than I did. However, I started hearing about the high intensity training methods and it sounded so good and so logical and scientifically sound that I thought I was an absolute fool if I didn’t use high intensity training. Since I believed that high intensity training had to be right, I bought into the idea that the 5^th set of my pyramid was the only set that was producing any positive effect on my strength, and the other sets were too easy to make any difference. If anything, they were working against me; at least that’s what I thought, so I eliminated the easy sets from my training and only did hard sets to failure.

One of the reasons I made the switch was that I never really had the opportunity to see champions train. At our current time in history, internet videos give you a view of how champions train. If I had seen some of them train, I may have quit listening to the hype about how hard they train and simply observed their training for myself. If I had, I think I would have discovered that a lot of them trained the way that I instinctively used the pyramid method when I first began training; in other words, the first three sets are easy, and the last one or two sets are harder. Even so, I don’t know if my ego would have allowed for any easy sets when training in a gym amongst other lifters.

When I started into college in 1981, I switched from training in a home gym and went to the campus gym. It was loaded with Olympic bars and lots of 45 pound plates. I also took a weight training class during the second semester of that first year. It seemed like a big deal to always be seen with the 45 pound plates on the bar. Starting out with twenty-fives on the bar was a sign of being a beginner or a weakling, and starting with tens on the bar was cause for total humiliation and deep embarrassment. Even if your max strength for one rep was 160 pounds, it was more respectable to start out with a 45 pound plate on each side of the bar for your first set than to warm up with those dinky little 25 pound plates or 10 pound plates on the bar. Of course this does away with the first three sets being easy. A lifter who has not developed much strength will be struggling on their first set with 45’s on the bar.

Fast forward to the 2000’s when I could watch Ronnie Coleman and Ed Coan train on internet videos. These were lifters that I was told trained hard to reach their elite level of strength. They had surely put forth more effort and out worked everyone else. How could it be any other way? At first I didn’t think of it as a little odd that they both started out on their basic exercises with one 45 pound plate on each side of the bar for their first set. Of course they kept on adding and adding and adding more weight until they were using mega weight. They were doing five hundred pound benches for reps, and 800 pound squats and deadlifts. Then it dawned on me that it’s a little different for them to start out with a 45 pound plate on each side of the bar for their first set than it was for me to start out with a 45 pound plate on each side of the bar. For Ronnie and Ed, starting with a 45 on each side of the bar meant they were using about 25% of their one rep max on their first set of the bench press, and a mere 15% of their one rep max for the squat and deadlift. I had to stop and consider if I was anywhere near the same ballpark in regard to how they were using the pyramid method, and I wasn’t.  Regardless of the hype about how hard they trained, they were starting their first sets of a pyramid much easier than I was.

Depending on who you talk to, some consider those first several easy sets as part of the workout when they list the number of sets and reps that they do for an exercise. Ronnie himself would say that he does multiple sets of an exercise. However, there are others who would watch Ronnie and wouldn’t count the first several easy sets; they would just be considered warm up sets and wouldn’t even be mentioned when listing how many sets and reps are done for an exercise. In other words, some people who watched Ronnie Coleman pyramid his poundages for the bench press would have said he did five sets while others would have said he just did one set because the first four sets were just warmups.

I remember reading that Ed Coan just did one or two sets for an exercise when training the squat, bench and deadlift. Then I saw him train on an internet video and he did oodles of warm up sets starting with 135 and kept adding weight to each set. What I saw was much different than what I pictured in regard to how he worked out because there were so many sets leading up to his heavy lifting. Someone else could have just as easily said that Ed did eight to ten sets of each exercise, but somehow those so called warm up sets must have been considered irrelevant in regard to his strength development. A similar incident occurred when I watched an immense bodybuilder train. He was famous for supposedly only doing a few sets per body part and only training each body part once per week. Then I saw him train on youtube. What he called three total sets were actually three different exercises that were each preceded by multiple warm up sets with the weight increasing in the typical pyramid training manner. Other observers would have said that he was doing a total of 12 sets per body part, but this bodybuilder only counted the last set of an exercise because that was the only set where he  pushed himself to failure. In his mind, the last set was the only set he did. I’ve learned that watching a lifter train can be night and day different than the impression that I get after reading about how they train.

You can see that some call the first sets of a pyramid warm-up sets that aren’t listed in a workout. Others count them as valid sets and list them as part of a workout even though they may be easy. They believe that those easy sets count as part of the total workout and have a training effect on a lifters strength. In other words, those easy sets are part of what is helping them to get stronger. My personal opinion is that those so called warm-up sets do have a cumulative effect and play a role in one’s strength development, but they need to be used correctly.

I read a scientific study that said pyramiding weights doesn’t work because it will make a lifter tired by the time they work their way up to the heavier weights for an exercise. I thought to myself of course it doesn’t work because the people in the study were using a version of the pyramid method where they were already pushing themselves to near failure on the first set with high reps. Unfortunately some people will hear of this scientific study and think that it has been scientifically proven that pyramiding their poundages is always bad, but hopefully we can see that it does work if it is done differently than the way it was done in the study.

Although it’s not a rule written in stone, I believe the first sets of a pyramid should be easy, not hard. If I were to give guidelines for how to use the pyramid system, I would say that weights of 50% or less of a lifters one rep max should be used on the first two sets with no more than 12 reps on the first set and no more than 10 reps on the second set.  The third set shouldn’t be any more than 60% of a lifters one rep max and no more than 7 reps. In my way of thinking, the first few sets of a pyramid can have a positive effect on the nervous system and on force production that I discussed in my last two articles on proper use of light weights and acceleration vs. deceleration of a rep. After doing the first three easier sets at the start of a pyramid, then push the next set to the point where the marker rep is reached. Keep repeating work sets until you reach your limit set (click here if you don’t know what a limit refers to). As an alternative, if you know that your limit set falls on the third set (just using the 3^rd set as an example, it may be different for you), you can even do three different exercises and pyramid up for each exercise by starting with easy sets and finishing with just one hard set where you reach your maker rep for all three exercises. If you are going to use the pyramid method, that’s how I recommend doing it. Start out light and easy, and finish the pyramid hard by hitting your marker rep. That seemed like a lot of explaining, but I hope it helps. Best of training to you.   

 

Rep Speed Acceleration vs. Deceleration

 

Your nervous system plays a huge role in how strong you are. In regard to your nervous system, it’s basically like this, the more forcefully your nervous system can fire, the more you will be able to lift. One variable that you can focus on to help your nervous system fire more forcefully is rep speed and the ability to accelerate the speed of the lift throughout a lifting motion. 

When considering rep speed in the context of acceleration, there are four types of rep speed. The first type of rep speed is when a lift is accelerated with increasing speed throughout the whole range of motion of the lift. The second is partial acceleration which means that part of the rep is done at a fairly constant speed, but usually the last part of the range of motion exhibits acceleration. The third type of rep speed is simply when a relatively constant lifting speed is exhibited throughout the whole lift. The fourth type of rep speed is a rep that exhibits deceleration (slowing down) at some point during the lift.

It is my belief that out the four types of rep speed, being able to accelerate the lifting speed through either part of the lift, or all of the lift, will have the most positive effect on programming your nervous system to fire forcefully. As weight increases for a given exercise, it becomes more and more difficult to accelerate the lift. There will come a point at which additional weight will cause the lift to be done at a fairly constant speed throughout the range of motion, and more added weight will cause deceleration during the lift.

Being able to accelerate the bar (or whatever form of resistance you are using) during a lift means that your body is basically doing what your nervous system is asking it to do. Your nervous system is telling your body parts that are involved in the lift to go, and they are going when they are accelerating. Once the weight of a lift increases to the point where there is no acceleration, your body is on the edge of failing to do what the nervous system is asking it to do.  When weights increase enough so that deceleration occurs during a rep, then the body is failing to do what the nervous system is asking. It’s at this point that the nervous system is saying go, but the body parts that are performing the lift are slowing down instead. Under these circumstances your body is acting in contradiction to what the nervous system is telling it to do. When this happens, I believe the nervous system is receiving negative feedback from the body which can be draining on the nervous system.

If you take a video of yourself doing an exercise at a variety of weights, and play it back in slow motion while watching carefully, you will be able to detect the maximum amount of weight that you can use for that lift while still having the ability to accelerate through the lift. You may find that this particular weight is a good weight for challenging your muscles without having a negative effect on your nervous system.  If you can further detect the weight at which deceleration first begins, take note of this. Why? Because too much training with weights that cause deceleration during a rep can burn your nervous system out. You will often find that many strength training programs limit heavy lifting to a part of a lifting cycle, or to one workout within a week rather than to lift heavy in every workout. Consider focusing the majority of your training on weights that allow the ability to accelerate throughout the lift, and use the heavier weights that cause deceleration to a lesser extent. Best of training to you.    

 

 

The Correct Use of Light Weights for Strength Specific Endurance

I have mentioned in some of my past articles that the body makes adaptive choices according to what

it thinks will make an exercise stress easier. If a strength adaptation is the best way to make an exercise stress easier, then the body will choose strength. If your body thinks that endurance, or speed, or flexibility, or staying at the same strength level, or getting weaker is the best way to make an exercise stress as easy as possible, then it will choose whichever option is best for making the exercise stress the easiest. I have also said to avoid giving your body the option of an endurance adaptation because it often nullifies a strength adaptation. However, there is what I refer to as a strength specific endurance adaptation. It’s the type of endurance that will help your body get stronger.

Most endurance training is focused on helping a person’s body to get better at training longer instead of stronger. Of course for strength training, we want stronger, not just longer. But there is the right type of longer that will help your body get stronger. Training longer in the lactate system or aerobic system is the wrong type of longer. Training longer within the phosphocreatine system is the right kind of longer that leads to strength specific endurance. Clarification and explanation are needed at this point.   

There are two ways to train the ATP creatine phosphate system for endurance. One way is to give your body the maximum level of endurance within the ATP creatine phosphate system that it can handle within a set of an exercise. This amounts to stopping at the limit rep or the marker rep, which is the point in a set where rep speed begins to decrease. If you gain strength by doing this, it will help you train one rep longer without transitioning into an emphasis on the lactate system. I know that one rep longer is only a slight improvement in endurance, but it is one type of strength specific endurance that leads to stronger.

A second way to maximize endurance within the ATP creatine phosphate system is to employ a strategy that I have not discussed in any of my articles yet. This strategy is employed by using relatively light weights with forceful lifting for as many sets as possible before strength diminishes. The weights used for this type of training definitely need to be less than 50% of your one rep max and as low as 35% to 40%; and even lower than that when doing the squat or dead lift. The weights need to be light enough to allow you to do at least 60 reps during a workout without producing fatigue. Of course this is impossible if you try to squeeze all 60 or more reps into one or two sets. However, if you spread the 60 or more reps across many sets by limiting the number of reps to no more than ten per set, you can stay within the ATP creatine phosphate system. You can keep repeating sets until you feel yourself weaken, or you reach a set where the last rep of your set slows down in comparison to the previous reps.

When you train in the manner just described, you may find that as you improve, you are able to add on sets without losing strength during your workout. In addition, you may find that one of the reasons you can add on sets without weakening is that you have become stronger, which is strength specific endurance.   

 At this point, I must issue a word of caution in regard to using light weights for building strength: the misuse of light weights can kill your strength training progress as fast as anything. Going for the burn and training to failure on a regular basis with light weights can cause a training disaster if your goal is to gain strength. It is also important to understand that light weights work much better when medium and heavy weights are used as well.

There are strong people out there who incorporate the use of light weights into their training. The great Serge Nubret was a bodybuilder who built a fantastic body of just over 200 pounds and he was also capable of a 500 pound raw bench press. He accomplished this by training primarily with light weights and a small amount of heavy weights. Some of the West Side Barbell powerlifters include the use of light weights in their workouts by using what they refer to as the repetition method. Bud Jeffries is an enormously strong strongman competitor who often incorporates the use of light weights into his workouts. So if you are looking for something new to try in your training, you can try implementing light weights in a strength specific manner into your workouts.  Best of training to you.

 

Training Deceptions

I believe there are training deceptions. What do I mean by training deceptions? I am referring to anything that cab mislead us to believe things about training that are not really true. Most training deceptions are partially true and are based on things that lead to effective training part of the time. Out of all of the training deceptions, I believe there deceptions that occur because we are mislead in our understanding in regard to the experiences of others and, and I believe there are training deceptions that occur because we are mislead by our own training experiences.

A Summary of Training Deceptions

There is an old story about six blind men who did their best to describe an elephant. Each of them was at a different location in relationship to the elephant. Since they couldn’t see, they described the elephant according what they could feel when they touched the elephant. The blind man who was located on the side of an elephant described the elephant as a wall. Another blind man was located in position to feel the elephant’s tusk and describe the elephant as being similar to a spear. Another touched the elephant’s trunk and described the elephant as being like a snake. The blind man located at one of the elephant’s legs thought an elephant was like a tree trunk, while the blind man who touched the elephant’s ear thought an elephant was like a fan. Finally the blind man who touched the elephant’s tail declared that an elephant is like a rope.

One of the morals to the story is that each man was right, but none of them were completely right. There is a big picture as to what an elephant is like, and these men were each able to experience a small part of the elephant, which they mistakenly interpreted as what the whole elephant was like. Why do I say this? Because experiencing a small aspect of something can deceive you into thinking that the small aspect of what you experienced is true in all cases. I believe this is what happens in strength training and is the reason why the variation of training ideas is obnoxiously diverse. Many people interpret strategies that work for a short time as strategies that will work all of the time. These are what I refer to as training deceptions which I am going to summarize in conclusion to the previous series of articles on training deceptions.  

The common deception

The common deception occurs when people start out by pushing themselves extra hard in training and it works really good in the beginner and intermediate stages. It will keep working really good until strength increases to the point where the metabolic demand of workouts will overtake the anabolic supply of recovery power. This is when pushing extra hard quits working. However, the memory of past progress from extra hard training becomes lodged in the mind of the lifter and it becomes inconceivable to him that he has reached a point where he needs to change to a different training strategy.

The Shock Training Deception

When the conditions are right, shock training can cause a temporary boost in strength and muscle mass even in experienced lifters. This is because the body is trying to make the severe training stress easier. However, this is usually temporary. If shock training continues, it leads to the pattern that kills progress. This occurs when the body keeps trying to become stronger in order to make the training stress easier, but workouts never do become easier with continued shock training.

The Undertraining Deception

Undertraining can be effective when it is done after overtraining. Overtraining will program the body to recover at a rate and magnitude equal the metabolic demand of severe workouts.  When this is followed with less severe undertraining, the body can easily overcompensate with a surplus of recovery and grow stronger.  However, the body eventually reprograms itself to only recover as much as what is required by the easier workouts. Don’t be deceived into thinking that sudden results that are produced by doing only one set per body part means that you should always use one set per body part, because it often stops working.

The Champions Deception

A person who has a naturally high level of anabolic hormones will be able to push harder and gain longer than others who are trying to imitate his training but can’t imitate his naturally high level of anabolic hormones or number of muscles fibers.

 The Chemical Deception

People who use performance enhancing drugs are achieving an anabolic state with their drugs rather than with training.  However, people who don’t use those drugs are often so impressed with a drug users results that they imitate a drug users training without realizing the type of training they are doing won’t work unless it is accompanied with performance enhancement drugs.

The Growing Deception

Adolescents who workout would get stronger even if they didn’t workout because they are growing. An adolescent may use a training method that they thought was the ultimate way to train. However, they may find it stops working when they reach maturity because the automatic strength and growth that occurs as a result of growing up has now shut down.

The Seasonal Deception

The seasonal deception occurs when people only train for a season of a few months out of the year. Every time they start training they make fast progress by going full bore because they are just regaining strength that they had lost in the off season. The speed at which they can regain strength makes them believe they have found a magic method for gaining strength. The problem is that the training only works for the length of the season and often stops working well before the season is over.

Train Smart

My advice is to train smart. See the big picture. People use all kinds of extremes because there are times when extremes work and they perceive those times to be the entire picture, but an extreme that works is usually a small part of the whole picture in the context of time. A balanced approach to training will give you more in the end. Balanced training means training as long as you are strong during a workout. Stop training when you cease to be strong during a workout. When you finish a workout, don’t train again until you regain full strength, but don’t wait past the point when you’ve regained full strength. Best of training to you.    

Deception #4 The Seasonal Deception

 

The seasonal deception is one of the easiest self-deceptions to fall into for athletes, especially seasonal athletes that respond well to strength training. People who like to look good during the summer when they go to the beach but don’t care how their body looks the rest of the year can also fall into this trap. The seasonal deception occurs when a single season athlete decides that they need to do some strength training to get into shape for their particular sport as the season approaches. A few weeks or a month before the season starts, they really train hard to be ready for their sport. Since they haven’t trained for eight or nine months, their muscles have atrophied and their strength has gone into decline. When they begin to train again, their body acts like a beginner’s body, meaning that it quickly responds to weight training. The quick results are even more dramatic for anyone who has previous weight training experience as there will be a degree of muscle memory which speeds up strength gains even more. Measurable results are predictable almost every week and weight training seems to work like magic. Both coaches and athletes look like training geniuses that have the secrets to gaining strength. Their secret is simply to push hard each time a workout is done.

In some ways, I think this is all great and wonderful. I don’t think that pushing an athlete to go all out every training session is a bad idea if it is only done during the length of a sports season. It may be one of the best ways to go as knocking yourself out is often an effective short term strategy, but it can also be deceiving. By the end of the season, strength gains will often either dramatically slow down or stop. But coaches and athletes can get hooked on a way of training that initially seems to produce quick, dramatic results for athletes who return season after season. The only problem is that it quits working for a person who trains beyond the length of a season. What compounds this problem is that all out hard training isn’t taught as something that only works for a season. It’s often taught as the way to train both now and forever more.

To keep on gaining, a lifter will often have to change their strategy to stay within the boundaries of reps that are done at near maximum speed, and only doing the number of sets that can be done while in a state of maximum strength. Wiping an athlete out with severe weight training sessions may be a good way to teach them how to push themselves and exert effort for their sport, but it’s not the best way to gain strength if done on a continuous basis year round, or year after year. It’s ok to train very hard during the course of a season, but don’t be deceived into thinking that the quick results are an indicator that it’s the best way to train if you plan to train for longer than a season.

Deception #3

Better Results are Always Due to Better Training

There are situations where a lifter may be lifting too hard for optimum strength gains but they are obtaining better results than others. This leads people to believe that they should train extra hard as well. In this third section on training deceptions, I will discuss three common circumstances where this can occur.   

The Champion’s Deception

A false perception can occur when a lifter who has a very high anabolic zero point uses a training method that is based on harder and harder training.  Because of their high anabolic zero point, they can use this type of training to obtain championship results.  A tell tail sign of this occurring is when a champion becomes huge in a few years but never grows any bigger or stronger in the following years of consistent training.  While it is true that a champion does reach an anabolic zero point where they cease to make progress, they do it at a much higher point of strength and muscle mass than normal.  Nonetheless, it’s easy to fall for the champion’s deception by believing that the champion who is training harder than anyone else has found a great training secret that should be imitated.  However, the champion’s real secret is a high anabolic zero point that most people do not have who are imitating his training.  

 The Chemically Enhanced Deception

It is no secret that many top bodybuilders, power lifters, and strength athletes take chemical substances that enhance their anabolic state.  This gives them an advantage of being able to stay in an anabolic state that would not be present to the same degree through training alone.  Since they are achieving their anabolic state with the help of performance enhancing drugs, it becomes unclear as to how much of their strength and muscle size is due to smart training, and how much is chemically induced.  The biggest problem that this causes in terms of training strategies is that the chemically enhanced lifters appear to be using the most successful training strategies.  This makes other people want to imitate their training.  However, many of the training strategies that they use will not produce an anabolic effect without the anabolic drugs that they use.  People who do not use the same anabolic aides are deceived into thinking they are using productive training strategies that don’t really work when training without the use of anabolic aides.

 The Growing Deception

People who start training at a young age, along with coaches who train teenagers, are susceptible to the Growing Deception.  For example, if a lifter starts training at the age of 13, they may find themselves growing bigger and stronger until they are 18 or 20 years old.  During this time, it’s hard to discern how much of an increase in growth and strength is due to weight training, and how much is due to the natural process of growing up.  This makes it possible for a lifter who started at 13 years old to believe that their training is very effective because they grew bigger and stronger for several years.  Coaches who train young athletes may also believe this.  However, the major cause of their increase in strength could have been due to a progressive increase in physical maturity when growth hormones are naturally high.  This can lead to the “Growing Deception” since it is based on a deception that occurs during the years where a lifter is growing up physically.  The lifter ends up believing that training harder and harder is the most effective way to train because it seemed to work so well while they were growing adolescent.  However, once they reach physical maturity, the anabolic zero point sets in and gains cease.    

 

 Deception #2: Overtraining and Undertraining

Deception 2 is a tricky one as it can really boost a lifters training until it quits working. Deception two is based on shocking the body by overtraining and also by allowing the body to overcompensate by undertraining. Both overtraining and undertraining can escalate your strength for a time. If paired together, both methods can be even more effective. Even so, progress is often temporary and the progress often misleads people to buy into the deception that they have found a magic training routine because it brought sudden results in spite of the temporary nature of the results.   

The body’s initial response to overtraining is often an increase in strength as your body knows that an increase in strength will make a given workout easier. However, if the body is repeatedly shocked with overtraining after it gains strength, it will find no advantage in continuing to gain strength. If a lifter has reached their anabolic zero point, progress that occurs from overtraining will usually cause strength gains to cease within a few weeks if not sooner. A temporary benefit from overtraining can cause a training deception if it leads a lifter to conclude that such training is always the best way to train.  

Undertraining can also produce a temporary increase in strength if it is preceded by harder training. Undertraining is often called de-loading, or tapering, or cutting back. There may be other terms for it as well but it still amounts to undertraining.  Undertraining works on a different basis than overtraining. Undertraining is based on metabolic overcompensation. Less training (undertraining) does not require as much replenishment and rebuilding of the muscles. More training requires more replenishment and rebuilding of the muscles. More training programs the body to anticipate the need to replenish and rebuild muscles at a faster rate than undertraining. If a person who has been doing more training switches to less training, the body will still be in the habit of replenishing and rebuilding its muscles at the previous rate that it has been programmed respond to. This amount of replenishment and rebuilding will be more than what is demanded by the workout once undertraining is initiated. The result is that the body will be building its muscles up to a greater degree than they are being broken down by the workouts. Strength and growth will result from this. However, once undertraining has been maintained long enough, the body will begin to anticipate that workouts are less demanding and will then slow down its recovery rate to match the need of the less severe workouts. At this point, undertraining will suddenly cease to work. If a lifter thinks that a temporary gain in strength indicates that undertraining will work on a regular basis, they will be deceived.     

Many lifters use overtraining and undertraining as a regular training strategy as it leads to overcompensation. This is often times helpful to training and it does work. However, neither overtraining nor undertraining work forever by themselves. They work better when you alternate back and forth between the two. Even so, overtraining that is too severe and undertraining that is too easy will most likely backfire and stop working at some point. Programming for overcompensation can be done without overtraining and undertraining.

It is possible to achieve overcompensation by using a time period where more light weights are used followed by a time period where heavier weights are used while still staying within the boundaries of precision point training. In addition, the number or workouts per week can be manipulated. For example, if you normally do four or five workouts per week, you can cut back to two workouts per week for one week during a month. You can also manipulate the workouts within a week. For example, you can work out on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then rest two days and workout on Saturday for a total of four workouts during the week. You are training more at the start of the week, and less at the end of the week to allow for overcompensation to take place.

 One final deception that can occur with increasing training frequency is that it can make you sore when you first increase your training frequency. When you get sore, you often lose strength. But once your body adapts to the increased training frequency and the soreness goes away, you may find that the higher frequency training is more effective, even though it made you weaker for a few days when you first began. You need to give it a couple of weeks to see if it really works or not.

In the next article, we’ll talk about individual differences in regard to training deceptions. In the mean-time, best of training to you.

 Deception #1 The Common Deception

Out of all of the training deceptions that cause us to be mislead by our own training experiences, there is one that I believe is more common than any other. I call it the common deception.  It commonly occurs when a person believes that a training strategy that brought outstanding results in the past,  is proof that it will always be the best way to train. This causes a lifter to keep on training the same way based on past evidence instead of current evidence. It’s a deception that occurs most frequently to people who keep trying to push harder and heavier to improve. This strategy works until they reach their anabolic zero point. It may not be working at the present time, but if a lifter keeps on replaying the memory of how well it worked in the past, they may perpetually train as they did in the past because they are still thinking in terms of past results instead of current results.

Once the anabolic zero point sets in, it is likely that a lifter will have to stay within the boundaries of their ATP creatine phosphate system, which means to stop when rep speed starts to slow down during a set. It means a lifter can do as many sets of an exercise as they can without growing weaker at that exercise, but no more sets than they can without weakening. It may mean shorter workouts that are done more often instead of creating more fatigue in order to try to shock muscles into getting bigger and stronger. It means repeating the same amount of reps with a given weight until enough workouts are done for the reps to become easier.

In the next article, I will be discussing how the temporary benefits of overtraining and undertraining can be mistaken for effective long term training strategies.

 

Strength Training and the Steady State

 

If you look at a lifters strength level during a workout, they often workout in such a way so that their strength will start out high. At some point, fatigue sets in and strength will steadily diminish until the workout is finished. If you were to graph the strength level, it would start out high and end up low. In between workouts, the strength level would start out low right after a workout. As recovery progresses, strength will continue to increase until it matches or exceeds the previous workout. A graph of this would start low and move up to a higher point. If you look at the graph of strength both during a workout and in between workouts, it would zigzag up and down from one workout to the next. This would represent how many people train.

If we consider Precision Point Training, a different pattern would emerge. Strength would be nearly level throughout a workout. You would see strength decrease a small amount during a marker rep. However, strength stays almost even through most of the workout. At the point where strength would begin to diminish because of fatigue, a lifter stops doing an exercise, or they quit working a body part. Since a lifter stops working out right at the point where strength would begin to decrease, the lifter’s strength would be almost as high between workouts as when he is fully recovered. If you graph the variation of strength, it would show only a small variation during a workout as well as between workouts. If the workouts are done according to Precision Point Training concepts which allows for workouts to become easier over the course of an adaptation period, then by the end of the adaptation period, a graph would reveal an almost completely straight line in regard to strength level both during and between workouts. There would be a slight rise as strength increases over time

The reason I point all of this out is that Precision Point Training lets the body get into a steady state which is what the body wants. A steady state is where the laws of supply and demand equal out and the amount of supply is approximately equal to the amount of demand. Most training systems keep putting a demand on the body that is bigger than the supply of strength. The consequence is a strength debt or decrease of strength during a workout. The body also goes into a strength debt in between workouts. No workouts are done until the supply of energy is replenished. This is not an even steady state. The body continually fluctuates up and down in relationship to its strength and supply of energy. With Precision Point Training, you stay close to a steady state. The reason you stay close to a steady state is that it’s the sate your body wants to be in rather than being in an energy debt that fluctuates up and down. The body is always trying to get into a steady state. If you put it in an energy debt, it will adapt in an effort to reduce the energy debt that is created by the workout so that it can move closer to a steady state. However, most training methods cause the body’s strength and energy level to continually go up and down so that it never gets any closer to achieving the steady state it wants to be in during and between workouts.

Training that produces constant fluctuations of strength and energy prevent the body from finding a steady state that it seeks.  The body will seek any way it can to stabilize the stress to come closer to achieving what it wants, which is a steady state. At this point, it looks for an alternative steady state. Unfortunately this means your body that it will eventually stabilize your strength. Your strength level will become steady from one workout to the next. It will not increase in spite of the fact that you are pushing it to do so.

Your body has very little choice in how you work out. You can train yourself into an energy debt during a workout if you want to, even if your body doesn’t want you to. You can keep your body out of a steady state if you want to, even though your body wants to be in a steady state.  However, even though you get to choose how you train, your body gets to choose how it responds to training. When you train way outside the boundaries of a steady state, your body will eventually want to go into an anabolic steady state, which I also refer to as the anabolic zero point where no gains occur. 

You can decrease the tendency of a stall out in strength that occurs when you reach an anabolic steady state (zero point) with Precision Point Training. This is because your body stays as close to a steady state as possible during workouts and in between workouts. This is exactly what your body wants. After staying in a steady state during an adaptation period that lasts for a sufficient amount of time (the time depends on how many months or years you have been training) slightly turn up the level of training. The body will still be close enough to a steady state so that it can easily adjust its steady state to adjust to a slightly higher level of training. Once you reach the point where strength gains have ceased, even though you are pushing hard in your training, try keeping your body in a steady state during workout s and in between workouts with Precision Point Training. Your body is much more willing to give you consistent gains when you approach training in this manner.  

Even after saying all of this, I know from my own past experience with myself that for many years I would push, push, and keep pushing myself to improve. I loved training and I especially loved hard training and shock training. It worked in the beginning of my training before I reached my anabolic zero point. After reaching my anabolic zero point, shock training seemed to be effective for short periods of a week or two. I would get excited only to see those gains quickly fade. Then I would try shocking followed by tapering off. It usually meant going back and forth between gaining and losing with no net gain. I went around this same mountain again and again. If you have found a way to make this type of training work, go for it. If not, you can try what I’ve suggested in this article by applying the basics of PPT (click here for the basics of PPT).

I’ve learned that training results can be deceptive. Training for short term gains doesn’t always work for long term gains. In order to address how training results can be deceptive, I am going to writing a series on training deceptions that keep you confused and make you think you are training the best way when there are better ways. I will write on between six to eight training deceptions so stay tuned. Best of training to you.

That Got My Attention

In my early years of weight training, there were a few things that really got my attention. One of those things was Arnold’s
biceps, another was Robby Robinson’s arms, and another was Bill Kazmaier’s strength and size. I was impressed with how hard everyone said these guys trained and thought it must be the key to their greatness. When I tried imitating the kill yourself training that was often associated with their success, I was still impressed with them, but I wasn’t impressed with the lack of results I achieved. Later on, there were times when I ran into a powerlifter or bodybuilder who really got my attention, but it wasn’t a picture, or the amount of weight lifted that got my attention, it was a process that got my attention. It dawned on me that the right training process equals productive training.

I was once listening to Mark Riptoe interviewing Ed Coan along with Marty Gallagher. During the course of the interview, Marty mentioned that Ed Coan never missed a lift while training. Ed was always able to complete the number of reps that he was aiming for when using a given weight during a workout. A little later in the interview, Marty repeated again that Ed never missed a lift in training, but always competed the designated number or reps for a workout. After saying that Ed never missed, he caught himself and said, “Well almost never….” (pausing and looking somewhat unsure of himself). Ed jumped in at that point and affirmed, “I never missed.” I can only say that this got my attention. Marty also has said of Ed that in spite of the fact that he kept using more and more weight over the years, that he made his lifts look easy. How could this be true? It seems everyone gets stuck and starts missing their lifts sooner or later.  Could Ed Coan really plan his training out year after year and never miss a lift? In light of the norm of how people normally make initial progress and then get stuck, this astounded to me. It got my attention.

Another person who believed in always completing the designated number of reps was Bill Pearl. He would say something to the effect, “Always complete what you’ve started and have a little left over in the tank at the end of each set and the end of your workout.” In other words, don’t use a weight that is too heavy so that you can’t complete the number of reps your aiming for, and don’t use a weight that is so heavy that it takes everything that you have to lift it the designated number of times, but have some reps left over.

Both Ed Coan and Bill Pearl have one thing in common; they got better year after year for many years. Admittedly, Ed made very quick progress and was very strong early in his career, but as his career progressed, he was also able to able to continue gaining little by little, year after year to become even stronger. Bill Pearl was able to win the Mr. America in his early twenties at about 180 pounds, but this was before the super-sized bodybuilders came on the scene in the mid-sixties and the early seventies. Bill was able to stay at the top of the competition by slowly gaining year after year until he was in his early 40’s, by which time he was huge and had become very strong. He achieved his steady ongoing long term gains without steroids.

When I began training with weights in 1979, I had heard of Bill Pearl and was impressed with him, but there were others during that era that I admired even more. This changed when I finally saw how much Bill Pearl progressed throughout his career. Back in the late seventies, there was no internet for me to look at. Later on in about the year 2000, I was surfing the internet and came across a series of pictures that featured a progression Bill Pearl’s physique over a period of about twenty years. The pictures started with Bill in his early twenties and showed his progress every year or two until his last competition about twenty years later. I was blown away that Bill Pearl made little bits of steady progress year after year as most people including most of the top level highly gifted guys on steroids don’t make progress year after year. I was also amazed at how those little gains added up to a huge body by the time he was in his mid-thirties and early forties. He was able to put on an additional 60 pounds of lean muscle after winning his first Mr. America. I know that everyone seems to be advertising the magic way to workout that will give you a huge, strong body in no time flat, and there are plenty of stories of guys who get bigger and stronger in a hurry, but in the end, Bill has most of them beat. Seeing Bill’s continuous progress year after year majorly got my attention.

I believe both Bill Pearl and Ed Coan had tremendous training sense. Neither of them ever maxed out on their lifts and neither of them ever trained to failure. They would say that they trained for success, not failure. Some people thought that Bill and Ed made their training look easy, but they simply understood that in the long run, you have to train hard, but not too hard as it is not productive. Training at the right level of difficulty is better than training too hard or too easy. This is why I believe in using what I refer to as the marker rep, the marker set, and experimenting with training frequency until the right training frequency is found (see the basics of PPT on this website if more explanation is needed). While the amount weight and the amount of reps can vary from one workout to the next, any time you are using a given weight for a given exercise, you can use the same amount of reps that you used the last time that the same weight and exercise were used. There is a time period of several weeks where your body can get stronger without having to make your workouts harder. This is especially true if you stop at your marker rep until your strength increases enough for the marker rep to transition into a limit rep. Training in this manner will help you to gain and keep on gaining. The gains you make may not catch everyone’s attention right away, but if you keep on gaining, your improvement will eventually catch people’s attention.   

Identifying the Marker Rep: How do you see it?

An interesting study is to watch various lifters and learn to identify where their marker rep occurs. It will help you be able to identify your own marker rep and help you better understand how various people train. In the video below, you can see 10 different lifters doing as many reps as they can for 225 pounds. See if you can identify their marker rep, which refers the initial rep in the set where rep speed begins to slow down. This is a sign that the lifter is transitioning from a ATP creatine phosphate energy system emphasis into a lactate system emphasis. Three lifters were able to do over twenty reps. They are the hardest ones for me to identify in regard to where their marker rep occurs because the transition from the creatine phosphate system to the lactate system becomes less distinguishable when doing high reps. This is one reason why I don’t advocate using weights that permit you to reach your marker rep after 15 reps because it’s too easy to go into a lactate emphasis which can result in an endurance adaptation rather than a strength adaptation.

Can you identify the Mark Rep of each Lifter?

 

 

How I see it:

Lifter #1: Marker rep = 13   Total reps = 16

Lifter #2 Marker rep =5     Total reps =7

Lifter #3 Marker rep =6     Total reps = 8

Lifter #4 Marker rep = 12    Total reps = 18

Lifter #5 Marker rep = 13    Total Reps = 22

Lifter #6 Marker rep = 16     Total Reps =24

Lifter #7 Marker rep = 21      Total Reps = 30

Lifter #8 Marker rep = 3         Total Reps = 5

Lifter #9 Marker rep =11  form breaking down   Total reps =14

Lifter #10 Marker rep = 15   Total reps = 20

 

Ronnie Coleman
 
If you want to see how one Mr. Olympia trains, Ronnie Coleman is an example. He does 5 sets of the bench press. See if you can identify his marker rep.

 

 
How I see it

1^st set: weight= 135:

Slows down at the end of the set but it is intentional, not because of true fatigue. He does not reach his marker rep.

2^nd set: weight = 225

Does not reach his marker rep.

3^rd set: weight = 315

Perhaps he reached his marker rep on his twelfth and final rep, but once again, I think he slowed down intentionally rather than because of fatigue and never reached his marker rep.

4^th set: weight = 405

Appears to hit his marker rep on his 10^th and final rep.

5^th set: weight = 500

Reaches his marker rep on his 4^th rep out of 5 reps.

Hopefully it is obvious that Ronnie Coleman is strong. He does several sets and a lot of reps but trains in a very positive state, not a fatigue producing state. His last set is the only one where he is really pushing. Gaining strength and muscle size does not require grinding out reps. You can get strong by training in a primarily positive state without killing yourself.

 

Anticipation

When you see circumstances in which the same thing occurs again and again, it becomes predictable. When something is predictable you begin to anticipate that it will happen. We all anticipate things in life. We know the sun is going to come up in the morning because we have experienced the rising of the sun on such a regular basis that we simply anticipate that it will rise each day. We can also create circumstances that cause our bodies to anticipate certain things as well. If we are smart, we will use our bodies’ ability to anticipate to our advantage.

If I were to always train to failure, do you think my body might start to anticipate that I always train to the point where I can’t do another rep? If I were a body, and I knew for certain that I would keep being forced to push to failure in my workouts, would that make me want to get stronger? If I were a body and I did get stronger from always going to failure, how would it benefit me? It would never make life any better because I would be maximally stressed during a workout whether I got stronger or whether I didn’t. At some point, if I were a body that were always pushed to failure, I would give up on getting stronger because I would anticipate that it would mean increasingly heavier, harder workouts that I would rather avoid. What I would do is to stop getting stronger to avoid the obvious consequence of a more stressful workout. I realize that training to failure does work for a time, but your body will eventually consider it a futile reason for gaining strength.

So how do you make your bodies’ ability to anticipate work to your advantage? First of all, make sure you keep working out at the same level of training stress for a sufficient amount of time. This means any time that you are doing a given exercise with a given amount of weight, keep using the same amount of reps for one to two weeks if you are just starting out training; three to five weeks if you have been training for over five months; and six to eight weeks if your body doesn’t adapted to make the workouts easier within three to five weeks.  How do you know when the workouts have become easier? That brings us to the next point.

If you will make yourself aware at what point in a set your rep speed slows down and becomes harder, you can keep track of this information. When you can train further into a set before rep speed slows down, you know that the weight has become easier to life and you have become stronger. Personally, I believe in stopping a set when rep speed starts to slow down as it marks that point in which your muscles are making a transition from the ATP creatine phosphate system (which is your strongest energy system), to the lactate system which invites the possibility of endurance adaptations at the expense of strength adaptations. This means your body can shift its focus from energy energy release during exercise, to energy conservation during exercise. Energy release is what is necessary for strength. Energy conservation is what is necessary for endurance. Further explanation is needed.

Watch kids run a mile in a race for the first time. What are you likely to see? They start out running at near top speed and die by about three hundred yards if not sooner. The rest of the race is either a walk, or alternating running with walking. If you keep making them run a mile week after week and year after year, they eventually anticipate that they cannot maintain a sprint for a whole mile, so what do they do? They start out at a slower pace to save or conserve energy at the start of the race so that they will have something left at the end of the race. Your body does the same thing. If you keep pushing to failure, your body knows that the end of the set will be very hard. What does your body so that you’ll have more left at the end of the set? It holds back (conserves) energy at the start of the set to help you be stronger at the end of the set. How does it do this? By deemphasizing the powerful ATP creatine phosphate system adaptations, and emphasizing the weaker lactate system adaptations which can help you sustain exercise longer without making you stronger. Another unfortunate thing for anyone seeking to improve strength, is that pushing your training to the point of fatiguing your muscles will teach your fast twitch muscles to take on properties that are more like slow twitch muscle fibers. This is not the optimum physiological adaptation for gaining strength.

If you stop your set when rep speed starts to slow down, your muscles won’t anticipate the need to hold back energy in to make it easier at the end of the set. Your body won’t be worried about saving energy to reduce the fatigue at the end of the set because you will stop before you become fatigued. Since fatigue isn’t a factor, your muscles can focus on energy production, or a full uninhibited release of energy without any fear that it will result in the discomfort of fatigue. The result is that your body can focus on lifting stronger instead of lifting longer.

To summarize all of this, since the training patterns that you establish causes your body to adapt according to the anticipated patterns, set up your training so that your body thinks that gaining strength is the best way to adapt to the anticipated pattern.  Do this by training at a consistent level of sets, reps and weight for a given exercise. By training consistently, your body will anticipate that becoming stronger will make the same workouts become easier, which is exactly what your body wants. I also suggest stopping when rep speed starts to slow down so that your body anticipates that improving your ATP phosphocreatine energy system is the best way to make the training stress easier. If you train to failure or fatigue, your body will anticipate that conserving energy and making adaptations to the lactate system is the best way to make the training stress easier. Energy release is what is needed for gaining strength, not energy conservation. If you learn how your body anticipates and use it to your advantage, you can anticipate that you will succeed at gaining strength. Best of training to you.

 

Thresholds that Mark a Transition to Easier

Over the decades of my training experience, the principles of Precision Point Training have slowly formed in my mind. One of the major things that led to the formation of these principles is the idea of thresholds. Why do I think that thresholds are important? First of all, thresholds indicate a distinct point where there is a change in how things operate. For example, when an airplane travels down a runway, it increases speed until it reaches a specific point where it is traveling fast enough to begin rising from the ground. The minimum lift off speed is a threshold that marks the speed that gives the plane the ability to do something that it couldn’t do when traveling one mile per hour slower. You can also see obvious thresholds with water. When water reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius, it changes from a liquid to a vapor. When it reaches 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius, it changes from a liquid to a sold. The important concept here is that a threshold is a point where a small change makes a big difference.

Most of the time in life, a little change will make a little difference in the outcome of things. This is not true with thresholds.  Little changes makes a big difference with a threshold. One degree of change usually makes a small difference in water as it just stays water that’s a little hotter or cooler.  However, at one degree under the boiling point, an additional degree of heat no longer makes a little difference, it makes a huge difference as water transitions into steam.

So what? How does any of this threshold stuff apply to strength training? Since I believe that the main reason that the body becomes stronger is to make the training stress easier, I look for thresholds where a little change in training makes a big difference in how hard or easy the training is.  For example, what if the maximum amount of reps that Fred can possibly do with 250 pounds in the squat is 12 reps? We will study this example one rep at a time from the first rep to the last rep of the set, and look for a training threshold. Fred starts out on his first rep without too much problem. He continues to the second, third fourth and fifth rep. Each succeeding rep may feel a little harder than the previous rep, but there is only a small difference in how hard the reps are when comparing them with one another.  Fred continues on to the sixth and seventh rep and they feel only a little harder than the previous reps. However, Fred senses on his seventh rep that the next rep is about to get harder. Sure enough, when Fred gets to the 8^th rep, his rep tempo changes and his rep speed starts to slow down.  While each successive rep only seemed to get a little harder on reps one through seven, the reps become significantly harder to a greater degree when Fred reached his 8^th rep. The ninth through the twelfth also become harder until the last rep was extremely hard and Fred couldn’t do any more. The point of this is that there is a threshold during a set where doing another rep is no longer just a little harder, it’s suddenly quite a bit harder. For Fred this happened on the eight rep.

In Fred’s case, his eight rep is a harder rep that’s sitting right on the threshold of an easier rep. If Fred’s body can make a small change in strength and give him the ability to be one rep stronger, then Fred’s eight rep will be as easy as the seventh. The small increase in strength will make a much bigger difference in how much easier it becomes between the seventh and eight rep in comparison to how much easier it becomes between the sixth and seventh rep, or between any of the previous reps. For Fred to take advantage of a threshold where the body transitions from a harder state to an easier state, Fred can use the eighth rep as a stopping point in a set for his squat workouts until a small strength increase causes the 8^th rep to become a lot easier. By doing this, Fred is amplifying the effect of training in agreement with the goal of his body, which is to adapt in order to make training stresses easier.

I believe there is another threshold where training suddenly becomes harder. This threshold occurs when a person reaches a set where they can no longer do as many reps as they could on their first set of an exercise while using the same weight. If this occurs on a lifters fourth set, they have reached a threshold where training has suddenly become harder than it was than the first three sets. I personally don’t believe the lifter should do the fourth set unless they have made the transition from harder to easier on the last rep of the first three sets. Once this has occurred, a lifter may continue using the same number of reps per set, and add on one additional set until they can complete the fourth as easy as the first three. By doing this, the lifter will once again cross the threshold from a place where training is harder, to a point where training is easier.

For those who are familiar with Precision Point Training, before I ever thought of the term “precision points” to identify the limit rep, the marker rep, and the limit set and the marker set, I simply thought of these points as thresholds where a small change of strength would make the biggest difference in how hard or easy training was within the phosphocreatine system. No type of training has ever worked great for me, but once I found a training frequency to compliment this type of training, using the concept of training thresholds worked better than any other training system I had ever tried. I believe there are other thresholds that mark a transition from harder to easier, but they still need to be discovered, or emphasized if they have already been discovered. In light of all of this, I believe that if using training threshold works at all for me, it will work for anyone who applies it correctly. Give it a try. Best of training to you. 

 
 

Things to Consider For Strength Training Recovery

I can still remember the excitement I felt as I read a book that told me that gaining strength was guaranteed if I would just follow their formula. The formula being the idea that as you get stronger, the workouts become harder. Because of this you can start out as a beginner by doing three workouts per week. As you grow stronger and add more weight to your exercises, the workouts take more of a toll on your recovery so you will eventually need to reduce your workouts to twice per week. This would eventually take you to a higher strength level which would require the need to workout once every four days, and eventually once every five days and so on. The author said it had to work and I believed it.

 I started out training three days per week until I stopped gaining strength which didn’t take long. Then I cut back to two days per week and gained no strength, so I cut back to one workout every four days and gained no strength, then once every five days and gained no strength. I finally cut back to once every six days. I thought at some point my recovery would really kick in and my strength would start moving up. After all, the longer you rest between workouts, the more you will recover and the better your workouts will work. Right? Wrong, oh so wrong. Unfortunately when I tried this idea out, it failed miserably. When I finally cut all the way back to one session every six days my strength plummeted. I had bought into another sure fire, guaranteed to work, you won’t believe how much stronger this training method will make you piece of advice that did not work.  Why didn’t it work when in all logical analyses it should have worked?

 One of the problems that often goes unnoticed when considering recovery is that there are different types of recovery that must be in sync with one another. One aspect of recovery is simply to recover the necessary energy that was lost during a workout so that full strength is regained. A second aspect of recovery deals with protein synthesis, which simply refers to the body rebuilding its muscle tissue after a workout. The problem is that these two types of recovery don’t necessarily occur at the same rate. If you do a really hard workout, we all know that it affects your muscles, but it also stresses your nervous system and adrenal glands. This will then diminish your energy level, which in turn will diminish your level of strength. You won’t regain your full strength capacity until your energy level is fully restored. At the same time that your body is recovering its energy level, a second type of recovery is occurring, as your body is also trying to rebuild its muscle tissue. However, the optimum recovery time for rebuilding muscle may not occur within the same time span that it takes for recovering your energy level.

 Rebuilding muscle tissue occurs from being in an anabolic state. An anabolic state is dependent upon your level of natural anabolic hormones, such as testosterone, growth hormone, Insulin growth factor 1, and the amount of sensitivity in the specific muscles worked to those hormones.  The hormones I am referring to are not drugs that are taken, but they are natural hormones within the body that can be elevated to higher levels as a result of working out, plus taking in adequate nutrition. A problem occurs when a person does a very hard workout, and the recovery time in terms of regaining energy takes longer than the amount of time that natural anabolic hormones are elevated, and/or longer than the amount of time that your muscles remain sensitive to those hormones to promote the rebuilding of muscle tissue.  Further explanation is needed to illustrate this.

 We can look at an example of a person who possesses the ability to maintain a high level of anabolic hormones after a workout. Such a person may benefit from a hard workout that requires 72 hours or more of recovery time to regain strength and energy. During the time he is recovering his strength and energy level, his body is also engaging in the second type of recovery where it is rebuilding (or recovering) muscle tissue. The main reason his body is rebuilding muscle tissue is because his workout has stimulated a temporary increase in his level of natural anabolic hormones and muscle sensitivity to those hormones within the muscles most recently exercised. If this temporary increase in his level of anabolic hormones and muscle sensitivity to those hormones can hold out for 72 hours, then he will be rebuilding muscle tissue during the whole time period that he is also recovering his energy level. However, if the level of his anabolic hormones does not stay elevated for most of the 72 hours, or his muscles reduce their sensitivity to those hormones, there will be a mismatch between the amount of time it takes to recover energy, and the amount of time he can maintain a muscle building anabolic state. If he is fortunate enough to have the type of physiology that can continuously stay in an anabolic state during the whole 72 hours of time that he needs to fully regain his energy, then he will benefit from a 72 hour recovery time.  However, not everyone is so fortunate.

 A problem occurs if a person does a hard workout that requires seventy two hours of recovery time to regain strength and energy, but their personal physiology only permits their level of anabolic hormones, and muscle sensitivity to those hormones only stays elevated for 36 hours after a workout, and then starts to decline way before the necessary 72 hours of recovery time is completed. When this happens, a person will eventually find themselves stuck at the same level of strength. They can’t gain the additional strength desired because the time needed for recovery from a hard workout is longer than the amount of time they can maintain an anabolic state. What is the solution? The solution is to perform workouts that are effective at stimulating both strength and the level of natural anabolic hormones, while minimizing fatigue by not working any longer or any harder than necessary. If fatigue is minimized, less recovery time is required to regain energy and a person can do their next workout before their level of anabolic hormones, and specific muscle sensitivity to those hormones has decreased.

 Hard gaining ectomorphs are often told to train less often so they can recover better, as lack of recovery is seen as the chief culprit for finding it difficult to gain strength. This may help them recover their energy, but the problem is that they may not be maintaining an anabolic state while recovering their energy. Longer recovery periods may work for some, but for many it is terrible advice that leaves them baffled because they have been taught that longer recovery times are a sure way to grow stronger, but it keeps failing. A far better solution is to do non-fatiguing workouts that are easy to recover from, and do them three, four, or five times per week. While this training strategy will work for many people, we have already discussed that there are others who may benefit from training a body part twice, and there may be some who only need one training session per week. Each person must experiment to find out what works for themselves.

 The starting place for gaining strength is always to make sure workouts are being done in an effective way. If you are not doing workouts that utilize sound strength training principles, start by learning principles that work for anyone, (check out the basics of PPT). If that is not working, look at how often you train and make adjustments if necessary. I recommend starting with three workouts per week. If that is not working, you can try doing more. If more doesn’t work, try less. If neither works, you can try alternating higher training frequency with lower training frequency from one week to the next. You can also reevaluate how you workout as well as your diet and resting/sleeping habits to make sure you are doing things right when you are not in the gym. Best of Training to you.

 
 

One Choice or Multiple Choice Workout Results?

 When I train for strength, I want to train in such a way that I create conditions that will give my body one choice; the choice being to get stronger. If I create training conditions that give my body multiple choices for how it would like to respond, it may make the wrong choice. Many people assume that when they use resistance training with either, weights, body weight, or bands, that their body will automatically choose to become stronger.  I certainly wish this were true, but experience shows that it is not.  When you use resistance training, or any type of exercise, you can easily create conditions that give your body many choices that it can make in response to a workout.  It’s important to realize that strength is only one of the choices that your body can make.  Let’s look at five choices that your body can make in response to a workout:

1. Your body can become stronger.
2. Your body can remain at the same strength level.
3. Your body can lose strength.
4. Your body can gain endurance
5. Your body can gain the ability to move faster.

 If you are using resistance training, it is likely that you want your body to choose choice number 1, which is to become stronger.  What needs to be understood is that your body does not always choose to become stronger and often chooses options 2 through 5 on the list of choices.  Your body will make a choice according to whatever it thinks will make your training the easiest.

 If your body thinks that becoming stronger is the best way to make a workout stress as easy as possible, then it will become stronger. Becoming stronger can make a weight easier to lift and this is exactly what your body wants in regard to a primary reason for becoming stronger. However, if you workout in such a way to make your body think that staying at the same strength level is the best way to make a workout stress as easy as possible, then it will stay at the same strength level.  If your body thinks that becoming weaker, or gaining endurance or speed is the best way to make the workout as easy as possible, then your body will adapt according whatever it thinks will make the workout stress as easy as possible.  This simply means that your body will take the path of least resistance, which is the easiest path, and it will do so every time; always, always, always.

You can workout harder without become stronger.  You can workout longer without becoming stronger.  You can sweat more, strain more and psych yourself more, but that doesn’t mean that your body will think that becoming stronger will be the best choice to make the workout stress as easy as possible.  Since I believe this to be true, the objective is to figure out when your body would want to choose strength as the best option for making a workout stress easier.  At the same time, do as much as possible to eliminate workout variables that cause the body make choices 2 through 5 as the best choice. 

Some people are naturally anabolic in their physiological makeup.  This simply means that when they workout, there may be many forms of exercise that cause their body to choose to become more muscular and stronger as its number one choice  Most distance runners do not develop large muscular legs from running, but occasionally you will find a distance runner who develops large calves and thighs from distance running.  Why is this true?  The answer is because their leg muscles are naturally anabolic and easily choose strength and muscle size.  The same holds true for endurance cycling, skating, or skiing as most people don’t develop strength and muscle size from endurance training, but a few do.  However the rest of us who don’t belong to those few will be much better off designing a resistance training program that will not give our bodies’ the option of favoring an endurance adaptation at the expense of a strength adaptation. 

 Some people may argue that they have done long hard weight training workouts that require great endurance and have obtained phenomenal results in terms of becoming bigger and stronger.  No one can argue with a person who has had this experience.  What I want to stress is that not everyone who trains in such a manner will experience this. Such types of endurance workouts may even have negative effects on strength for a lot of people because their physiological predisposition favors an endurance adaptation or a stabilizing adaptation (staying at the same strength level) rather than a strength adaptation.  Designing workouts that eliminate the tendency for an endurance adaptation and stabilizing adaptation would be wise for the majority of people.  How do you avoid an endurance or stabilizing adaptation that may cancel out a strength adaptation?  Here are a few guidelines: 

• Avoid using more than 15 repetitions of a set of a resistance exercise.
• Do not go for the burn.  The burn usually means that you are emphasizing the lactate system and emphasizing the lactate system gives the body the possible choice of favoring endurance at the expense of strength.
• When using more than 5 reps for a set of an exercise, don’t go to failure.  I suggest training short of failure on all sets for strength training.
• Do strong workouts.  This means training only as long as you are strong.  Quit training a body part when it starts to weaken.  You know when you are starting to weaken when rep speed slows down.  Stop training when this happens.
• Only do sets of an exercise as long as you are strong as you were on your first set.
•  If you have been doing long strenuous workouts with a long recovery time between workouts, try shorter workouts that are done more frequently.
• Read the basics of PPT for understanding precisely how to train for strength.

 If you follow these guidelines, you eliminate multiple choice options that your body can make and will increase your body’s tendency to choose strength as the best option. For more information on Precision Point Training refer to the “basics of PPT” on this website, and the book, Get Stronger with Precision Point Training.

 

Recovery

When a person works out with weights, it is important that they let their strength return before they workout again. Regaining strength between workouts is known as recovery, and the time that it takes a person to recover between workouts is what is known as recovery time. I believe recovery is quite variable and depends on the personal qualities of a person’s body, and varies greatly according to the type of workout that is done. There are also different states of recovery that a lifter can be in, and in my opinion, recovery can be easily misunderstood, so I am writing this article to bring clarity to the subject of recovery.  

Individual Differences

Perhaps the most common misconception about recovery is that there is a universal recovery time that everyone should allow between workouts. I don’t believe that everyone recovers at the exact the same rate. It is quite possible that if there are two people who are at the same strength level, and they perform the exact same workout, one may recover faster and the other slower because people are individuals.

How You Condition Your Body with Training Frequency

The next factor that people need to understand about recovery is that you can train yourself to recover faster or slower according to how often you habitually workout. For example, if a person trains their whole body three to five times per week, their recovery rate will most likely be faster than a person who trains their whole body once or twice per week, because to some extent, the body will adapt its recovery rate according  to the workout frequency that a person habitually uses.

The Difficulty of the Workout

Another factor that can go overlooked in regard to recovery is how hard a person works out.  A long workout is generally harder to recover from than a short workout. Pushing harder during sets of an exercise will make it harder to recover from than not pushing very hard during sets of an exercise. Lifting very heavy weight can cause nervous system fatigue and can be harder to recover from than lifting moderately heavy weights. Doing sets to failure with very light weights will cause extreme muscle fatigue and is harder to recover from than using moderately heavy weights. Demanding exercises such as the squat and deadlift are generally harder to recover from than doing calf raises or bicep curls that emphasize one small muscle group. In all of these examples, the harder the workout, the more recovery time will be needed.

Different Recovery states

When I listen to people and read about some of the things people say about recovery, it seems evident that they are thinking that the more you rest, the more you recover.  This is true immediately after a workout, but it is not true forever. I think of recovery in terms of different possible recovery states that include: insufficient recovery (which is not good), anabolic recovery (which is what you want), steady state recovery (sort of a bummer), and detraining which is too much recovery time (a severe bummer).  This needs to be explained and I will discuss each type of recovery in more detail.

In order to understand recovery, let’s take a look at what happens in the body after a workout. If a person has worked out with sufficient weight, volume and training intensity, the workout will stimulate the release anabolic hormones within the body. The common anabolic hormones that are referred to the most are testosterone, growth hormone, insulin growth factor 1, and insulin.  An elevated level of these hormones will accelerate the rate of muscle synthesis and repair beyond its normal rate. The body’s goal is to create more muscle and strength than what it possessed previous to the workout so that the next workout will be easier and less stressful. The amount of time these hormones stay elevated seems to be an individual matter and can be as brief as 36 hours and as long as a week. With this in mind, each type of recovery will be discussed.

Insufficient Recovery

If a person works out before their body has a chance to rebuild the muscle tissue to the full extent that it is capable of, then the rebuilding process will be incomplete and a person will fail to gain strength or muscle size. This would be considered insufficient recovery.

Anabolic Recovery

If anabolic hormones are elevated after a workout and a person gives their body time to rebuild its strength and muscle size to a greater extent than previous to the workout, then the a person is experiencing anabolic recovery. Of course this is the type of recovery that someone who is engaging in strength training is trying to achieve.

Steady State Recovery

It is important that I stress again that not all recovery is automatically anabolic recovery that results in a strength gain. Perhaps the most common type of recovery for people who have been working out for many months or several years is steady state recovery. Steady state recovery is occurring when a person workouts and their body is only able to recover to the same constant level of strength and muscle mass. In other words, the person does not become stronger between workouts. This can occur from insufficient recovery, which means working out before full recovery has occurred, or it can also happen when the demand of the workout requires a greater anabolic recovery time than the amount of time that the body’s anabolic hormones are elevated. For example, if a person works out so hard that their body requires anabolic hormones to be elevated for 72 hours in order to rebuild itself to a greater strength level, but the lifter’s anabolic hormones only stay elevated for 36 hours after the workout, then the body will not be able to rebuild itself to a greater level of strength. What often happens is that the body keeps rebuilding itself to the same level of strength and muscle mass without ever becoming stronger. It just stays the same and is caught in the trap of steady state recovery. The only solution is for the lifter to perform a workout that they can completely recover from within the time frame that the anabolic hormone levels are elevated. In other words, workout hard enough to stimulate anabolic hormones, but don’t workout too long and too hard so that a long recovery time is required.

 Too Much Recovery Time (Detraining)

There seems to be a camp in weight training circles that has the philosophy that if a person is not gaining strength they should rest longer between workouts.  The idea is that the longer a person waits between workouts, the more they will recover and the more strength and muscle they will gain. For example, if you are working out twice per week and not gaining strength, try once per week, and if that is not working, try working out once every ten days and so on. This sounds logical but what is missing from the equation is that the longer you wait between workouts, the less anabolic hormones are being stimulated, and the further your anabolic hormones plummet to lower levels, the less ability your body has to rebuild muscle and strength. Instead of building muscle, you lose muscle. Losing muscle is known as atrophy and atrophy occurs from detraining.  Detraining means muscles are not being stimulated enough to even maintain their size and strength. Once again the solution is to workout hard enough to maximally elevate anabolic hormones, but not so hard that your recovery time is longer than the time in which your anabolic hormones are elevated. Workout often enough to constantly stay in the elevated anabolic hormone state.    

Smart Training for Anabolic Recovery

What is the take away from all of this if you are aiming for anabolic recovery which is the only productive type of recovery? Hopefully you can see that training harder often backfires, and waiting longer between workouts often backfires. Training smarter is what is necessary, which is why I advocate finding your limit rep or marker rep along with your limit set (finding your limit rep, marker rep and limit set are described in the “basics of ppt” section on this website). When you do this, your training will be hard enough to stimulate anabolic hormones and easy enough to recover from within the time frame that your anabolic hormones are elevated. The result is anabolic recovery and an increase in strength! Don’t be afraid to experiment with your training frequency by doing anywhere from 3 to 5 workouts for your whole body per week, or to go the other way and try working out only 1 or 2 times per week if you are fortunate to have excellent muscle and strength retention between workouts. I generally believe that if you only train while you are strong, and only as long as you stay strong, then you avoid fatigue during workouts and they are much easier to recover from. Easier recovery often means that many of you can increase your training frequency. For more information on Precision Point Training refer to the “basics of PPT” on this website, and the book, Get Stronger with Precision Point Training.

 

Optimizing how you do Reps for Gaining Strength

The most basic thing to any weight training program is the exercise and the most basic thing about doing an exercise is doing a rep. Reps can be done in lots of ways. They can be done slow or fast, they can be done in a reactive manner at the bottom or they can be done with a pause at the top or the bottom, they can be done with sloppy form or with perfect technique, and they can be done using a full range of motion or a partial range of motion. Giving thought to how to perform a rep can save you from injury, add years to your training career, and can make your workouts much more productive.

I want to begin this discussion on how to do a rep by saying that using correct technique is very important. In some ways, correct technique depends on the goal. If the goal is to lift a lot of weight in a competitive setting, then the lifter will have to abide by the standards of legal competitive lift. However, my main emphasis when referring to correct technique is for a lifter to make sure that their body is in an anatomically sound position throughout the performance of a rep for any variation of any exercise. This article isn’t designed to explain the proper way to do individual exercises, but there are some common principles that can apply to almost any exercise in reference to using correct technique.

Principles for Sound Lifting Technique

To begin a repetition of an exercise, the initial setup at the start of an exercise is important. Before a repetition is actually initiated, the weight and the body should be stabilized by being under control and on balance. If a lifter isn’t in control of their body and the weight at the start of a rep, it will be difficult to control the weight during the rest of the rep. In general, the back and head should be straight and properly aligned for just about any exercise. Power lifters often times like to arch their back when doing the bench press, but if this bugs your back or starts to mess up your back at some point, I would stop arching. The body should be in a stable or safe posture throughout the lift. Twisting and jerking during a rep is a good way to get hurt and can lead to strength imbalances that can make you very vulnerable to injury. When doing upper body exercises, both arms should push or pull with equal force, and when doing a leg exercise, both legs should push with equal force. Be careful not to lift the bar or the weight so that it is more to the left side or the right side, but keep the weight centered throughout the rep. If a machine is being used, the machine will obviously not get off-center or out of balance, but the body can still get out of balance, so be sure that your arms, shoulders, hips and legs are positioned the same on both sides. Having one arm or leg flare out more than the other will put uneven stresses on your body that are not healthy, and having your hips or shoulders twisting or tilted can spell trouble. Do not allow your back to be rounded for any lift as this is a recipe for disaster. These common principles for lifting technique will help with almost any lift.

Factors to Consider When Lowering the Weight

How the bar is lowered and raised is another important factor in regard to the technique used for a rep of an exercise. Once a lifter has set up in their starting position, the bar should be lowered with control so that both the body and the weight are on balance throughout the entire lowering phase. Control also means that the bar or body will come to a stop right on target by stopping in the desired location at the very bottom of the lift. The speed at which the bar or body are lowered will very according to a person’s goals. Lowering the bar at a very slow speed will create fatigue and a loss of speed and power when lifting the weight back up. Pausing too long at the bottom of rep can also cause strength to dissipate, making it hard to lift the weight back up in a forceful manner The general population that just wants to gain strength for their own personal satisfaction can lower the bar in the space of one to two seconds with a slight pause at the bottom of the lift before lifting the weight back up.

Techniques used by Competitive lifters and Athletes

When it comes to the lowering phase of a rep, competitive weight lifters, power lifters, speed athletes and jumpers who are trying to develop maximum speed and power, are often exceptions in regard to how fast they lower the bar. Competitive weight lifters will almost always pull the bar up and drop into a squatting position under the bar at a fast speed to catch the weight. They will end up bouncing out of the bottom of the squat position. There are power lifters who often use reactive training and practice lowering the weight at a fast speed and reflexively blasting the weight back up. This is usually done with medium weights rather than heavy weights. Sprinters and jumpers are another group that may lower the bar (or their body) very quickly and immediately spring back up with as much force as possible to train their stretch reflex and reactive ability. These techniques are often necessary for maximum performance in competition. However, if you are not in competition, lowering the weight at a very fast speed and reflexively pushing it back up can be a risky practice that is not the best way to insure physical well-being and training longevity.

Raising the Weight and Lifting Speed

 At this point, I am going to transition into discussing what is often referred to as “positive portion of a rep” where the weight is lifted upward. I believe that anyone who wants to get stronger will benefit from lifting the weight upward with maximum force and exertion within the context of using correct form and good anatomical position. Pushing or pulling with maximum force will produce a faster rep than not pushing or pulling with maximum force. This means I believe in lifting a weight upwards as fast, or nearly as fast as possible. Of course lighter weights can be lifted faster because they offer less resistance, and heavier weights will be lifter slower the because the added resistance slows your rep speed, but the point is to lift whatever weight is being used as fast as possible. This goes in the opposite direction that many health clubs, gyms, and fitness trainers advocate, so I will explain why I believe a faster rep speed is better for building strength.

 Pushing or Pulling with Maximum Force      

There is a law of physics that states,“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  In the world of weight training, this simply means that the harder you push or pull against a weight, the harder it will push back against you. For example, you may be squatting with only 120 pounds but you have the ability to use 250 pounds. If you push as hard as you can into the 120 pounds of weight that you are using, you will be exerting 250 pounds of force into the bar and it will push back against you to a greater degree than if you only exert 150 pounds of force into the weight. What happens when you exert a greater force into the bar? It will go up faster so that rep speed will be faster.  Remember that the greater lifting force will also produce a greater force that will push back against you during the rep. As a result, your muscles will have to recruit more muscle fibers to lift the bar with greater speed. The same would be true for someone who is slowly getting up out of a sitting position as compared to exerting maximum force into the floor and springing up into the air as high as possible from a sitting or squat position. Jumping as high as possible will recruit a higher percentage of muscle fibers compared to rising slowly from a sitting position. In addition, exerting maximum force will especially stimulate the use of fast twitch muscle fibers, which can contract with more force than slow twitch muscle fibers.

Safety and Fast Reps vs. Slow Reps

I know the advice to use fast reps seems contrary to the advice that is often given by a great number of gyms, fitness clubs and trainers who advocate the use slower reps. Perhaps the biggest reason they advise people to use slow reps is that they are safer. Faster reps put the muscles under a greater stress load which makes the muscles being used more vulnerable to injury. This being said, proper exercise technique and thoughtful training progression will generally mean that fast reps can be performed safely. When caution is not used, faster reps can be harder to control and can make it more difficult to lift with proper lifting technique. In addition, people who use fast reps often lower the weight quickly (as previously discussed) and may end up “bouncing the weight” at the bottom of the lift. Bouncing the bar off of your chest in the bench press, or bouncing out of the bottom of a squat or bent over row will drive many trainers and weight room supervisors nuts because of the increased risk of injury that may occur. However, we have already discussed how to lower the bar safely and properly, so we will assume that a fast rep will not be done with sloppy, injurious form.

How to Compensate for Momentum When Using Fast Reps

Another reason that is often given for using slow reps as opposed to fast reps is that it is thought that using slow reps requires more effort from your muscles. The reasoning behind this is that slow reps remove any help that could be gained through generating momentum at the start of the lift, which will decrease the amount of force needed to complete the lift. This can certainly be true, especially with lighter weights. A person can push or pull the weight with great force at the start of the lift, and then let the momentum generated at the start of the lift, be used to help carry the bar the rest of the way up without using much effort. However, there have been power lifters who for many years now, have averted this problem by using a method that is often referred to as CAT, which stands for compensatory acceleration training. It simply means that even though momentum may be used at the start of the lift, a lifter should attempt to continue accelerating the bar speed until the completion of the rep. Doing this will require that a lifter must make a conscious effort to push with maximum force all the way through from the beginning to the end of a lift. In addition to exerting force all the way through a lift, another technique is to combine band tension with the use of the barbells. The subject of how to use bands is a whole topic unto itself (you can look at the video below for an example), but it will also effectively reduce the effect of generating momentum to decrease the effort needed to perform a lift.

Using Bands for the Squat

 

Using Bands for the Bench Press

Which is Harder, a Fast rep or a Slow rep?

Trainers and lifters who use slow reps also believe that slow reps are more effective because a slow rep feels harder to perform than doing a rep at a faster speed. The truth is that slower reps do feel harder than fast reps, but the problem is that they don’t feel harder because they are creating more resistance to push against, rather they feel harder because they create more fatigue. A fast rep actually creates a much greater stress on the muscle during the time the weight is being lifted. The greater stress of a faster rep does make the lift harder during the actual time that it is being lifted, but the greater stress of a fast rep takes place over a shorter amount of time before fatigue has a chance to build up. The absence of fatigue is what makes a fast rep feel easier than a slow rep. What needs to be understood is that fatigue is not the best type of stimulation for improving strength. The increased resistance caused by lifting with maximum force during a fast rep is what stimulates strength.

When to Use Slow Reps

After all the discussion on why I believe fast reps are better for building strength, I still believe in making room for slow reps. Anyone who has a sore or vulnerable muscle or joint, would be better off using slow reps and light weights when doing exercises that affect the vulnerable area. Likewise, anyone who is recovering from an injury would be better off using slow reps with light weights to regain strength and avoid reinjuring themselves. When doing warm up sets, some people prefer to start out with reps that are done at a slower speed to make sure their muscles are prepared to handle the increased resistance that faster reps present. There are also people who just like slow reps better than fast reps which I think is perfectly ok. Not everyone who is trying to improve their strength is interested in gaining maximum strength, and they may be more comfortable with slow reps.

There are several other factors that can be discussed in regard to how a rep is performed such as whether or not a full range of motion is used and how long a person should pause at the top of the lift between repetitions. Much of this is a matter of personal preference and can also be a matter of a person’s goals. Power lifters often use a power rack with a shortened range of motion to train the top portion of their lift. Bodybuilders may do just the opposite by stopping short of the top of the lift with no pause in between reps in order to keep the tension on a muscle that they are targeting. If any of these ideas are beneficial for your goals, you can use them.

Summary

The most important aspects that were discussed in regard to performing a strength producing rep, were that the rep needs to be done with sound body position while maintaining control of the weight throughout the entire repetition. Exactly how the bar should be lowered may vary according to one’s goals as discussed, but lifting the bar should generally be done by exerting maximum force into the bar throughout the range of motion that is used. This produces a faster rep, but it also places a greater load on the muscle, which results in greater strength than a slower rep. Keep these things in mind when you are working out and keep on lifting.

 

 

Training Principles and Psychology of Progression

One of the keys to Precision Point Training is to train at the right difficulty level as it allows for future progression. The right difficulty hovers around what is referred to as the transition point when using Precision Point Training. This is explained in detail in the “basics of PPT” section of this website. For now, just know that the transition point is designed to be located at a difficulty level that is between a positive training state and a negative training state. A lifter is in a positive training state as long as they can use near maximum rep speed during a set of an exercise, and they remain strong enough from one set to the next to complete the same number of reps that they could perform for their first set of the same exercise. A lifter has transitioned into a negative training state if the rep speed decreases during a set of an exercise due to fatigue, and if they can not perform as many reps for a set as they could for the first set the same exercise. The initial onset of a negative training state is where the transition point occurs and is an indicator that a lifter should stop doing reps of a set, or stop doing sets of an exercise. The level of training difficulty that I have just specified represents the training boundaries that put a lifter close to the transition point where progressive results are most likely to continue over time.

If a lifter trains just slightly past the transition point in a slightly negative training state, his/her body will be close enough to the positive training state to know that a slight increase in strength can help it transition back into a positive training state. The body will want to do this because the positive training state is an easier state to train in, and an increase in strength is the easiest way for the body to transition from the slightly negative training state into a positive training state. All the body needs to accomplish this is consistency by repeating the same workout. Constantly trying to train harder to beat your previous best is not necessary or productive. Constantly changing the exercises or amount of weight is not necessary for the transition from a slightly negative training state to a positive training state, although changing exercises and weight is not necessarily bad. The key is to consistently train at the transition point as this is what will cause the body to want to become stronger.

It goes against the advice of what many training philosophies advocate, but you can get stronger doing the same workout with the same exercises, the same amount of weight, the same amount of reps and sets, and do this over and over again, provided the workout is done at the transition point. Yes you will have to increase the weight eventually, but it doesn’t have to be every workout or every week. You may have tried doing the same workout again without ever getting results, which may cause you to think that I am out of my mind by saying you can get stronger by doing the same workout again and again. But I must remind you that it’s not by doing the same workout again and again that you become stronger, rather it’s by doing the same workout again and again in the right training state that you will become stronger. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should try it and you will be shocked that it works. Productive training may be way easier than you think. After you have had sufficient time to become stronger from doing the same workout, you will notice that the workout has become easier and you can add on two to five more pounds of weight and start the process of gaining strength again. Beginners can often progress fast enough to add weight every week or two, while people who have been training for several months or years may have to wait as long as six to eight weeks before adding on some weight. When you stick with it month after month, and year after year, before you know it you’ll be much stronger.

If you actually do the same workout with the same exercises for the same amount of sets and reps for six to eight weeks, a psychological problem can occur; the problem being that doing the exact same thing for six to eight weeks makes you feel like you can not possibly be making any progress during that time. The truth is that you are becoming stronger during this time period, but it’s not showing up in how much weight you’re lifting, or how many sets or reps you are doing, rather the increase in strength will show up as you sense the workouts are slowly becoming easier over time. If you don’t keep this in mind, you may panic and go back to trying to shock your body, trick your body, or finesse your body into a strength response with some kind of magical training cycle. The reason I bring all of this up is that if you don’t think your training through in terms of months and years, you will look for some training system or training cycle  that makes it feel like you are constantly breaking personal strength records every week, but at the end of the year, your only a little stronger. I need to explain this a little more.

There are two basic training strategies that people use that incorporate constant change and make you feel like you are getting stronger every week. The truth is that these strategies may indeed help to gain strength every week, but only in very small amounts. The first strategy is to start out with a light weight for high reps for each exercise. As the weeks progress, you keep adding on more weight while steadily reducing reps until you eventually reach a week where you can only do one rep with a maximum weight. The training cycle is then repeated over and over again with the goal being that each cycle will allow you to be stronger than the previous cycle. With this method, you feel like you are progressing and breaking strength records every week for two reasons. The first reason is that you are adding on weight to your exercises on a weekly basis and using more weight each week makes you feel as though you are becoming stronger. The second reason is that if the training is working, you will be using five to ten more pounds during the first week of the cycle than you were using during the first week of the previous training cycle. Each week you are using more weight than you were using during the equivalent week of the previous cycle and it feels like you are breaking a strength record every week. Even though you are breaking a record every week, the truth is that if you are doing a twelve week training cycle, you are breaking a record every twelve weeks. You are actually comparing the weight being used during a given week of a training cycle with the weight that was being used 12 weeks earlier during the equivalent week of the previous training cycle. All of these constant changes seem like visible evidence that you must be getting stronger every workout which is somewhat true, but the question is how much progress have you really made at the end of 12 weeks? You may find that you haven’t made any more progress than when you did the same workout over and over again that made you feel like you weren’t progressing.

The second strategy that can make a lifter feel like they are constantly getting stronger every workout or every week is to change the exercises that are used every week. If we use the example of a 12 week cycle again, a lifter may use 8 variations of the squat by changing foot spacing, the depth of the squat and where the bar is positioned on his body. They may also use 4 variations of the leg press. This would equal 12 leg exercise so that a different exercise could be done every week for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, the same 12 exercise would then be repeated.  Assuming that the lifter has truly become stronger, they will be able to use more weight for the same amount of reps when they return to an exercise 12 weeks later. As in the previous example, the lifter will feel as though they are breaking a record every week, and they are, but once again they are comparing their increase in strength with an exercise that was done 12 weeks earlier, not the previous week. The question arises again, how much stronger are they at the end of 12 weeks? They may feel like they are making consistent, visible progress every week, but was any more progress actually being made than a lifter who does the same workout over and over again, and then raises the weight after six weeks?

One of the reasons for this discussion is because people can actually be making progress from repeating the same workouts but give up too early because the sameness is giving the illusion of lack of progress, while constant change is giving the illusion of sizeable weekly progress, but in the end, consistency may be working better.

I bring this up because I believe repeating workouts can be an effective strategy when using Precision Point Training. However, a person who uses the same workout over and over again must forget trying to break a record every workout or every week, and patiently allow their body to gain strength by making the transition into an easier training state. I also think it is very important to point out that training cycles and changing exercises can be done when using Precision Point Training as long as the training is done within the boundaries of a correct training state. So if you are a person who loves consistency, you can use the same workout and succeed. If you need to see constant change to feel like you are progressing, or you simply need variety in your training to avoid boredom, variety is ok as well. Hope you enjoy your training whether you choose consistency, variety, or combination of both. If you would like a more thorough explanation of Precision Point Training, or you want to learn the basic principles of Precision Point Training, you can find this information by going to “the basics of PPT” or obtaining a copy of the book, Get Stronger with Precision Point Training. 

 

Programming for Overcompensation: Part 1

Recovering from workouts is one of the keys to gaining strength. If you merely recover in a measure that is equal to the demand of the workout, you will stay at the same strength level previous to the workout. If you recover to a greater extent than what is demanded by a workout, it means your body has overcompensated for the workout. Your body overcompensates in response to workouts in order to give you added strength to make the difficulty of the workout easier. Overcompensation is what we want. Equal compensation of recovery is not what we want.

Overcompensation happens easily when a person first starts out training for strength. As strength increases, the demand of the workout increases and it takes more recovery power to recover from the workout. Eventually, the body will find it difficult to create enough recovery power to overcompensate for a workout. This is when training must become very intentional in order to create the right conditions for overcompensation.

Using Precision Point Training is one way a person can coax their body to overcompensate for the training by setting up conditions where the body finds it advantageous to transition from a slightly negative training state, back into a positive training state. However, there is another training strategy that can be used that I refer to as programming for overcompensation. Others may not refer to it as programming for overcompensation, but the basic strategy has been around for a long time. I will be referring to programming for overcompensation in the context of using a higher training volume for a period of time followed by lower volume training for a period of time.

Higher volume training can be done by increasing the amount of sets, reps, and increasing training frequency. The higher training volume will produce a greater energy expenditure during a workout than a lower volume workout, and it will require a greater magnitude of recovery in order to replenish your energy as compared to a lower volume workouts.  In addition to this, if you do workouts more often, your body will expend energy more often, and it will require your body to recover and replenish your muscles with energy at a faster rate than working out less often.

By doing higher volume workouts and/or doing them more often, your body will be programmed to anticipate that it needs to replace the amount of energy that your workouts have demanded, and it will be programmed to anticipate that it needs to do this at the rate that your training frequency demands. At this point, your body’s recovery ability will be maximized.

Once you have programmed your body to replenish itself with enough energy to recover from high volume, high frequency workouts, you can reduce the training volume, and/or the training frequency. Even though you reduce your energy expenditure by switching to lower volume training and/or a lower training frequency, your body will still be programmed to recover and restore your energy in the amount that was needed for high volume, high frequency workouts. This will continue for a few days or even a couple of weeks after you have reduced your training volume. The result will be an over stock, or overcompensation of energy. This energy storage can be in the form of extra glycogen, ATP, and creatine phosphate stored in the muscles. In addition, the nervous system and any other system that restores your energy after a workout will tend to be enhanced from this process. The result of this overcompensation is that it makes gaining strength easier.

As I said earlier, this technique isn’t new and has been around for a long time. However, if misused it can backfire, and it is often misused. One problem that people run into is that even though training volume must be increased, it is easy to increase it too much by doing too many sets, or by doing sets of more than 15 reps that will take a person too far into the lactate energy system. Doing too many sets and too many reps can cause the body to choose an endurance adaptation at the expense of a strength adaptation. People who are naturally anabolic and have great recovery may get away with this, but those who do not possess these physiological gifts won’t. This is why I recommend staying within the boundaries of Precision Point Training principles when using higher volume training followed by lower volume training for the purpose of programming for overcompensation. Specifically, this means don’t go over 15 reps per set, and stop doing sets when you reach your limit set.

Another problem can occur when a lifter spends an extended time frame of more than a week training with higher reps and lighter weight to the exclusion of low reps with heavier weights. In this case, the absence of heavier weights will make it easy to lose strength. At the other end of the spectrum, when a lifter spends more than a week just using heavy weights and low reps to the exclusion of lighter weights with higher reps, muscle mass can easily disappear. This isn’t a problem for everyone as there are some people who have fantastic retention and can train with light weights for a long time without losing strength, and can also train with heavy weights and low reps without ever losing muscle mass.  However, if you don’t have this ability, you risk losing strength or muscle mass by only focusing on one phase of training for a long time period. This means that I believe that high volume and low volume training cycles must either be brief instead of long, or if a long cycles are used, then high volume training needs to have some integration of heavy weights mixed into it, and that low volume training needs some integration of lighter weights for more reps mixed into it.

After reading this, it is my hope that you understand what programming for overcompensation is and how you can use it to your advantage. To summarize how programming for overcompensation works, remember the following principles:

1. Start with higher volume training to maximize your recovery ability. Higher volume training can be done by using lighter weights that permit up to 15 reps, or by increasing the training frequency (i.e. number of workouts per week). If you follow precision Point training principles, you won’t be fatigued from workouts and can recover quickly enough to do up to 5 or even 6 workouts per week.
2. Higher volume training should be followed by lower volume training where heavier weights and one to six reps are used, and/or training frequency is reduced to two or three workouts per week (or even one if you have fantastic retention).
3. Avoid going beyond the boundaries of Precision Point Training Principles by doing too many sets (going beyond your limit set) or by doing more than 15 reps in a set as either of these mistakes could lead to an endurance adaptation at the expense of a strength adaptation.
4. Avoid going for more than a week without including some heavy lifting during periods where high volume training with lighter weights with higher reps are being emphasized, and avoid going for more than a week without including some lighter training with higher reps when emphasizing low volume training with heavier weights and lower reps.
5. Never forget that workout state is what makes workouts work. This means stop doing a set when you reach your marker rep or limit rep, and stop doing sets when you reach your limit set.

In the next article, I will give examples of a series of workouts that can be used to program for overcompensation. Until then, the best of training to you.

 

Programming For Overcompensation Part 2: Example Routines

In a previous article, I discussed how you can program your body for overcompensation. It simply means that you use a period of higher volume of training to program your body to replenish itself more than the amount needed when you switch over to a lower volume of training. The result is temporary overstock, (i.e. overcompensation) of energy stored within the muscles. This overcompensation of energy will help you workout better and recover easier than if you had never programmed your body for overcompensation.

High volume training simply means to increase one or more variables more of the following variables which include: sets, reps, or training frequency. Precision Point Training is slightly different in that training would take you beyond the boundaries Precision Point Principles by doing more than your limit set, or going over 15 reps for a set are avoided. I feel it is better to stay within your limit set, and stay under 15 reps, while training frequency can be increased. Decreasing volume can be done by using heavier weight for lower reps and by decreasing training frequency.

So let’s look at some examples of how you program for overcompensation while using Precision Point Training:

In this first example, higher volume training is done during week 1 by using lighter weights for more reps, and four training days per week, which will speed up the metabolism so that it will be prepared to face a greater volume than what it will actually experience during the second week when the training volume and training frequency are  decreased.

Week 1 Higher Training Volume

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L

Week 2: Decreased Training Volume

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L

In this second example, there are three levels of training volume. The first week is the highest, the second week is a medium level, and the third week utilized a lower daily workout volume, but the workout frequency is increased. This example does not neatly fit into the overcompensation model as the training frequency increases during the third week, but you may be pleasantly surprised to see that it works if you try it assuming you aren’t pushing past your marker rep or limit rep.

Week 1: High Volume Training

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 10M-10L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 10M-10L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 10M-10L
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 12M-12L Day 3: 10M-10L

Week 2: Medium Volume Training

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 8M-8L Day 3: 8M-8L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 8M-8L Day 3: 8M-8L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 8M-8L Day 3: 8M-8L
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 8M-8L Day 3: 8M-8L

Week 3: Low Volume Training

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 5M-5L Day 2: 4M-4L Day 3: 3M-3L Day 4: 2M-2L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 5M-5L Day 2: 4M-4L Day 3: 3M-3L Day 4: 2M-2L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 5M-5L Day 2: 4M-4L Day 3: 3M-3L Day 4: 2M-2L
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 5M-5L Day 2: 4M-4L Day 3: 3M-3L Day 4: 2M-2L

In this third example, training frequency is high the first two weeks in order to speed your metabolism and rate of recovery up to a faster rate. During the third week, both training volume and training frequency are cut back to allow for overcompensation.

Weeks 1 and 2: Higher Training Volume and Frequency

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 12M-12L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L Day 5: 5M-5L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 12M-12L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L Day 5: 5M-5L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 12M-12L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L Day 5: 5M-5L
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 12M-12L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: 6M-6L Day 5: 5M-5L

Week 3: Decreased Training Volume and Frequency

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L
Assistance exercises if desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 8M-8L Day 2: 6M-6L Day 3: 4M-4L

In this fourth example, overcompensation takes place within a single week training cycle. Training three days in a row with higher reps and lighter weights will speed up your metabolism and rate of recovery. The two days of rest must occur immediately after your metabolism and rate of recovery have been increased on order to create the conditions for overcompensation to occur. Once your body has stocked up on energy, it will be more than ready to handle the heavier weights on day 6.

One Week Cycle for Training for Overcompensation

Body Part Exercised	How Many Sets	Number of Reps
Legs	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: rest Day 5: rest Day 6: 5M-5L Day 7: rest
Back	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: rest Day 5: rest Day 6: 5M-5L Day 7: rest
Chest	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: rest Day 5: rest Day 6: 5M-5L Day 7: rest
Assistance Exercises as desired	Stop at your limit set	Day 1: 15M-15L Day 2: 10M-10L Day 3: 8M-8L Day 4: rest Day 5: rest Day 6: 5M-5L Day 7: rest

All of these training routines are just examples. You can use them as they are if you would like to, or you can modify them according to training frequencies that you have found work best for you.  Best of training to you.

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