In my early years of weight training, one of the most common inconsistencies I experienced when looking for training advice dealt with training intensity. Some lifters and bodybuilders insisted that if you didn’t train to failure you were wasting your time. Others such as Bill Pearl and Vince Gironda warned against training to failure. They believed it would lead to overtraining.
After years of trial and error, I discovered that the use of training thresholds led to the most consistent long term strength gains. Training thresholds give you a basis for determining how hard and how long to train. This will be discussed in this article which is part 10 of a series of articles on weight training for hardgainers. The article is taken from chapter 11 of the book, Individualized Training Strategies For Hardgainers.
Chapter 11
Training Thresholds
Hardgainers must use training thresholds. Training thresholds help you to know how to train hard enough and long enough without training too hard or too long. If a true hardgainer doesn’t train hard enough, they won’t grow, and if they train too hard, they won’t grow; they must learn to train exactly right. Hardgainers do not have much room for error in terms of how hard and how long they train. Fortunately, there is a way to determine precisely how hard and how much to train for best results; it’s called training thresholds. If you want to know the details as to why training thresholds are effective, I refer you to three free books that you can find at www.precisionpointtraining.com. These books include:
Overcoming Strength Training Plateaus
Strength Training Thresholds; The Key to Consistent Strength Gains
Strength Training Capacity; An Individualized Guide To How Many Sets
Training thresholds are based upon identifying your capacity for strong training. If you surpass your capacity for strong training, you will transition into weak training which should be avoided. Since strong training is important, it must be explained. There are two basic types of strong training; the first is strong reps, the second is strong sets.
Strong Reps
Strong reps refer to forceful reps that are performed while maintaining the ability to use a steady even rep pace within a set. This is generally possible during the beginning and the middle of a set. However, if you push past your ability to maintain a steady even rep pace, you will begin to fatigue and your rep speed and rep pace will start to slow down at the end of a set. These slower weaker reps aren’t as forceful and are called weak reps. The dividing line between strong reps and weak reps is what allows you to identify the threshold for how hard to push a set. Hardgainers should stop a set as close to the threshold between strong reps and weak reps as possible. In other words, do as many reps as possible using a steady even rep pace and stop; do not push past this point by grinding out slower weaker reps when you grow tired at the end of a set.
The Limit Rep and the Marker Rep
I refer to the last strong rep that you can perform within a set as the limit rep because it is the limit of strong reps that you can perform. I refer to the next rep as the marker rep because it marks the first rep where rep speed starts to slow down and a steady even rep pace can no longer be maintained. Hardgainers should either stop a set when they reach their limit rep or their marker rep. Stopping before this point is an indication that the training is not hard enough, and pushing beyond this point indicates that the training is too hard.
Strong Sets
Hardgainers must also be able to identify how many sets they should perform for optimum results. This is based on their personal capacity for strong sets. Strong sets simply refer to being at full strength when doing a set. Do not repeat sets in a weakened state. If you keep repeating sets for a muscle group to the point where you can’t do as many strong reps as you normally can for a set, you have surpassed your capacity for strong sets and are doing weak sets. Assuming you are pushing to your limit rep or marker rep, you will probably be able do two to three sets at full strength as this is the norm for most people. A smaller percentage of people may be able to do four or more sets at full strength, but everyone should train according to their own capacity to repeat strong sets.
Rest Between Sets
Rest time between sets is a very important aspect of training when considering how many sets can be done at full strength. If you don’t give yourself enough rest time between sets, you won’t fully recover before doing the next set and you won’t be at full strength for more than your first set. It generally takes at least three minutes for the same muscle group to fully recover after pushing a set to your limit rep or marker rep. This means if you do a set for your chest, you need to give your chest at least three minutes before doing another set for your chest muscles. However, you may do a set for a different muscle group during the three minute period in which you are resting your chest muscles.
Once a true hardgainer understands how to use training thresholds, he can do workouts that are based on the right amount of intensity and the right amount of sets. However, a true hardgainer must not panic and try to progress faster than his body is able to adapt; this will lead to overtraining and a training plateau. A hardgainer must be patient and add weight or reps to his workouts at a rate that corresponds with the rate at which his strength improves. Pushing ahead when your body is not ready will cause you to surpass your threshold capacities for strong training. This may appear to speed up your progress, but it will eventually lead to the inability to keep gaining. More in this in next weeks article which will be part 11. Best of training to you.
Note:
Refer back to the previous nine articles if you want to read the series of chapters from Individual Training Strategies For Hardgainers that are lead up articles to this article.
Hardgainers Part 1: Four Types
Hardgainers Part 2: Physiological Characteristics
Hardgainers Part 3: Conditional Hardgainers
Hardgainers Part 4: Intensity Responsive
Hardgainers Part 5: Volume Responsive
Hardgainers Part 6: Volume Responsive Training
Hardgainers Part 7: 8 x 8 Training For Volume Responsive
Hardgainers Part 8: Misinterpretation Of Rapid Gains
Hardgainers Part 9: The True Hardgainer
