My Perception of Weight Training in My Early Years
When I started training with weights back in the 1979, it was easy to find training information on bodybuilding. Powerlifting and weight lifting information was rare in comparison. Even so, the bodybuilders of that day advocated the need for gaining strength in order to gain size. Along with that, most of them stressed the need to train very, very hard. At that time, a very big, strong bodybuilder named Mike Mentzer was at his peak. He developed a training system called “Heavy Duty Training.” Mike’s big emphasis was on training intensity. He believed in short workouts consisting of what he referred to as “brutal training.”
According to Mike, you had to at least train to failure where you couldn’t do any more reps at the end of a set. On top of that, he believed in forced reps with the help of a training partner. When you couldn’t do any more forced reps, you could still do negative reps where someone else lifts the weight for you and you focus on resisting the weight while you lower it. The idea is to continue a set until you basically couldn’t budge the weight at all. This method of high intensity to the point of completely exhausting a muscle is what he believed to be the secret to effective training and the future of bodybuilding and weight training.
Mike was extremely logical and very persuasive when presenting his training methodology. Even today, if you read his information, it sounds like the most sensible way to train. He sold me on it. Mike wasn’t the only one who believed in brutal training. Even the guys who did lots and lots of sets expressed the need to push yourself and train to failure. I bought into it and lived in a constant state of burnout.
Finding the Right Training Intensity
I finally figured out that kill yourself training didn’t produce consistent results. I then tried a mixture of heavy and light days and it help some, but I was really just undertraining on my light days, and over training on my heavy days. It seemed to take forever to figure it out, but I learned that consistently training at the right intensity level is better than undertraining, and better than overtraining. If you stick with the right training intensity, it will eventually pay off.
Observing Ronnie Coleman
Back in my early days of weight training, I didn’t have access to youtube and the training videos that can be seen on the internet. In watching some of the top powerlifters and bodybuilders train, some of them intuitively seem to know how hard to push themselves. One of the biggest, strongest bodybuilders of all time is Ronnie Coleman. I believe that Ronnie has great intuition in regard to how hard to push himself to gain the strength and size he gained. Unlike the advice that was given in so many bodybuilding magazines that I read in my early years, Ronnie doesn’t push to the point of strain and struggle. He does push himself hard enough, but he also has a knack for knowing when to stop a set.
Relaxed Tension
Ronnie uses a nice even rep rhythm throughout his entire set. There is very little slowing down at the end his sets. He appears to use a technique that I strongly believe in that I refer to as relaxed tension. He has enough tension to lift the weights forcefully and maintain his body in the right posture, but he still appears to be somewhat relaxed as he lifts. He doesn’t focus a lot on lowering the weight slow or fight it on the way down. In fact, Ronnie doesn’t appear to fight with the weights on the way up or on the way down, he lifts them in a very natural, smooth manner.
If you watch the videos below, you’ll see Ronnie strain some at the end of the last couple of sets that he does in his back workout and when he does leg extensions in his leg workout. I also notice that when he trains his arms and shoulders (not seen in these videos), he does do some burn reps where he pauses between reps and slows down his rep speed at the end of a set. However, the vast majority of the reps that he does with basic exercises such as rows, pulldowns, and squats are done with an even rep speed using relaxed tension. When he loses that feel of relaxed tension, he ends his sets. Take a look at his training.
Back workout
Squat workout
Training Considerations
After reading this information, here are some things to consider while you are working out: 1) Are you using an even rep rhythm with nice smooth repetitions on the way up and on the way down? 2) Are you using relaxed tension and lifting the weight in natural manner? 3) Are you stopping your set when you feel that relaxed tension turn into to strain? Think about this information and consider making adjustments if necessary. Best of training to you.