Bodyshock: Alternative Routine

Posted by Shane on May 26, 2010 in Experiments, Workout Routines | 0 comments

As I mentioned in the outline of my first workout experiment, I want to make use of “muscle confusion” to increase my gains. The idea is to switch up the training routine as soon as a performance plateau is reached. This should reduce habituation and “force” your muscles to keep growing in order to adapt to the new situation.

Here’s the alternative routine that I’ve been using for the upper body split the past week (you can see the original routine here):

The exercises are all performed as supersets.

I’m only doing this routine for a few times before switching back to the original routine, but with different weights than before.

The Bodyshock experiment will conclude in just a few weeks and I’ll publish a full report and progress pics once it’s done.

Repetition Ranges

Posted by Shane on May 1, 2010 in Workout Theory | 0 comments

The question about what rep range to train in is a subject that has lots of rumours and also a fair amount of scientific evidence surrounding it. Generally, the distinction is made between low, medium and high repetitions. In this article, I want to give a quick rundown of each of the rep ranges and their respective benefits and drawbacks.

Low Rep Range

This range is anything from 1 to 6 or 7 repetitions. If you are using an amount of weight for an exercise that you can only lift a handful of times, then this is clearly a high weight-load for your body. In this repetition range, the weights will feel heavy, even during the first rep of the first set.

Low repetitions with lots of weight are ideal for building strength. The emphasis here is on “strength” not “volume”, in other words, for pure body-building, a higher rep-range is the better choice.

Training with low repetitions takes less time than training in a higher rep range. This can be a positive or a negative aspect: On the one hand, it saves you time, but on the other hand, a shorter workout can mean overall less stress on your system and therefore a weaker growth impulse.

Another downside of a low repetition range is that with the kinds of huge weight-loads you’ll be using, there’s a higher chance of injury. Obviously, you have to be especially careful when lugging around these kinds of weights (especially when doing free-weights exercises).

Medium Rep Range

This rep range is between 8 and 12 repetitions. This is the bodybuilding repetition range, as 8-12 is ideal for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth). You won’t see the strength gains you get from doing lower reps with higher weights, but you’ll certainly look like, you’re growing stronger.

The benefits and drawbacks here are pretty obvious: If you’re after bigger muscles, this is the rep range to go for. If actual strength increase is more important to you, then this rep range is not ideal.

High Rep Range

This means anything above 12 repetitions. Doing more than 12 reps of an exercise will usually take longer than 30 seconds and that’s about where the threshold lies for what can be called “strength training”. If an exercise lasts longer than that, you’re already entering “cardio” territory, from a biological perspective, at least.

This doesn’t mean that a higher rep range has no merits, of course. If you are using low weights and doing more repetitions, your body simply has to recruit different resources to keep you going.

One thing that needs to be addressed is a common misconception: High rep ranges do not build “lean muscles” rather than “bulky muscles”, as is often claimed. High rep ranges simply stimulate less muscle growth, but you can’t really influence the shape of your muscles with a particular way of exercising.

In conclusion, for most people, low to medium repetition ranges are ideal. In any case, mixing things up and changing rep ranges from time to time is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself.

HIT: High Intensity Training

Posted by Shane on Apr 29, 2010 in Advanced Workout, Workout Theory | 0 comments

I briefly mentioned in a previous post that HIT, or High Intensity Training is a training method I followed for more than a year, ending not too long ago. It’s a very peculiar and in many circles a much-debated workout method. In this post, I simply want to go over what HIT is all about and share some of my experiences with it.

High Intensity Training: The Basics

I guess the main thing that sets it apart is the fact that when you are doing HIT, you only do one set per exercise, per week.

Yes, I’m serious. You do one set of, say, bench presses today and then don’t do any more bench presses until the same day next week.

The idea here is that with high intensity training, you put your muscles under absolutely extreme stress, creating a huge growth impulse, and then you give the muscles a loooot of time to recover and build.

How can you get such a strong growth impulse with just one set? High Intensity Training has two factors to it, that make it extremely intense:

1. Perfect Execution
   You do each repetition of an exercise with meticulously perfect form and you do the repetitions very slowly. This means: Absolutely no cheating or yanking the weights, no excessive tension in any body parts not directly involved in the lifting and lots and lots of pain in your muscles.
2. Going Beyond Failure
   Following most training methods, repetitions are done to failure. I.e. you keep pushing until you just can’t move the weights anymore, no matter how hard you try. That is the point of muscle failure and the point where a set ends. In HIT, you go beyond that point.

That second one needs some extra explanation. After all, how can you go beyond failure?

Going Beyond Failure

There are several techniques used to help you go past failure in HIT. Here are some of them:

• Human Assistance
  For some exercises, this is quite a simple option. Everyone knows the spotter can help out a little on that last rep, when you’re doing bench-presses. With HIT, the spotter will wait until you reach the point of failure and then ever so gently support you for another two to three reps.
• Pyramid Training
  Another method is to immediately lower the weights after failure is reached, and do a few more repetitions with the reduced weights. With machines, you can have a spotter who removes one or two plates for you and with free weights you can prepare one heavier and one lighter set and then switch between them as quickly as (safely) possible.
• Very Short Breaks
  This final one is a method you can even use on your own: Once you’ve reached the point of failure, go back into a neutral (non-tense) position, wait for five seconds and then have another go at completing as many sets as possible.

My Experience With High Intensity Training

Doing HIT training is a pleasant experience for about six and three quarters of the week and then an absolutely excruciating experience for the rest of the week, starting with the beginning of the workout and ending an hour or two after it’s finished.

I was surprised at how much strength I gained during my time doing High Intensity Training. I sort of assumed that doing only one set a week would have me stagnating, at best, but I made as much, if not more, progress as I did with volume training before. Another thing is that while the training itself is extremely intense, my body felt good and undamaged during the non-workout days of the week. With volume-training, I always feel some kind of an ache or pull, even during the rest-days.

The most interesting aspects of High Intensity Training are probably the psychological ones, though. For one thing, it’s simply extremely difficult to train as hard as is required. Without someone spotting for you, spurring you on, correcting you and shouting in your face to do one more rep and not be such a whiny little bitch about how much it hurts, I don’t think it’s even possible to get there. On the other hand, your attitude towards an exercise is quite different if you know that this is the one and only set you’re going to do all week. You always go in determined to “make this one count” – and you come out wondering why the hell you are doing this to yourself.

Bottom line for me: I think High Intensity Training is an interesting and effective method. At least to mix things up a little, I recommend anyone to give it a try.

Cut Down on Gym-Time, Build More Muscle

Posted by Shane on Apr 27, 2010 in Blog, Workout Theory | 0 comments

Image via Wikipedia

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like spending too much time at the gym or working out at home. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy working out with weights. But it’s something I like doing for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. Any longer and I start to get fed up with it.

Here are three workout techniques that help you save time while also ramping up the overall intensity of your workout. In other words: More sweat, more muscles, less time.

1. Split Training

This is a really simple one and many people split up their exercise days. You can do split-training simply by working out certain muscle groups on one day and other muscle groups on another day. For example, in my current workout, I train my upper body on Mondays and Thursdays and my Legs and lower body on Tuesdays and Fridays. This way, each muscle gets worked twice a week, with enough rest in between workouts. At the same time, splitting the exercises up like this keeps each individual workout short.

Of course, this type of split training means that you’ll be going to the gym more frequently, but staying for a shorter period of time. This might seem like a disadvantage, but I prefer it for two reasons: First, I find it easier to do something every day or almost every day than doing something twice a week. I work out five days a week (Saturdays I do a “bonus” workout) and that’s quickly become a habit. If you go to the gym only once or twice a week, it’s much more difficult to form a habit.
Secondly, shorter workouts fit into your day more easily. You can probably fit a split-workout into your lunch-break and still get lunch. A full body workout? Not so much.

2. Supersets

I’ve already written a post dedicated to supersets, so I’ll make this one short. Instead of waiting for your muscles to recover between sets of an exercise, simply do a different exercise (targeting a different muscle) between sets! This means you’ll be doing set 1 of exercise A, immediately followed by set 1 of exercise B, followed by set 2 of exercise A and so on…

With supersets, you can do two exercises in roughly the same time as it would normally take to do just one. And of course, it also ramps up the overall intensity of your workout.

3. Circuit Training

Circuits are similar to supersets, but here you do sets of a whole series of exercises, all in succession. Let’s say you’re workout routine consists of eight different exercises: You can do these exercises in a circuit by starting with the first exercise, doing one set and then immediately moving on to the first set of the second exercise, followed by the first set of the third exercise and so on until you’ve completed one set of each exercise.

When you’re done with that, go back to the first exercise and do the second set. Again, with this training method, each muscle group gets enough recovery time between exercises, but the overall intensity is anywhere between tough and insane! (depending on the exercises)

No rest between sets means a harder workout in less time.

Do you have experience with any of the methods mentioned above? Which is your favourite? Any other tips on how to reduce workout time? You comments are welcome!

Top 5 Reasons to Keep a Training Log

Posted by Shane on Apr 25, 2010 in Blog, General Workout and Fitness | 0 comments

Keeping a training log may seem like a bit of a drag or even a waste of time, but it’s actually an essential element in any good workout plan. Keeping a detailed log and tracking your progress can make a huge difference to the quality of your training. Here are my top five reasons to start and keep on logging:

1. It Makes Your Training More Efficient

It may seem like having to go and scribble down data on sets, repetitions and weights in between exercises takes a lot of time, but keeping a log will probably save you more time than it takes up. The reason for this is that you’ll be able to see right away which exercise to do next, how many sets to do and how much weight you used last time you did that exercise.
You’ll also be able to gage exactly when to increase weights, which will take out some guesswork and make sure you can progress more efficiently.

2. It’s Always Brutally Honest

We like to flatter ourselves (men in particular – it’s been shown that men tend to see themselves as slimmer and fitter than they really are). And our friends and relatives also tend to honey-coat their negative messages to us. That’s great for many social situations, but not something you need when it comes to training. Your training log will always show you exactly where you’ve been making good progress – and where you haven’t. It will make any training session you miss blaringly apparent, it will show you exactly where you were lazy and left out a set or two and it will give you a clear picture of which muscle groups you are neglecting.

3. It Helps You Keep Track of Cycles

If you’re taking Creatine or other supplements, you are probably cycling them on and off, to make sure that your body doesn’t get too used to them. And, especially for intense workout routines, it’s advisable to take a one week workout-break every two to three months. It’s also very important to change up you routines every few months, to hit your muscles from different angles and make sure that your gains aren’t all just based on improved inter-muscular coordination.
With a training log, it’s very easy to just add a comment when you’re starting a new cycle and even mark the point where the cycle ends in advance. Without a log, you’re almost certain to lose track of where you’re at, especially if you’re on several different cycles.

4. It Boosts Your Ambition

Looking at your previous entry for an exercise, you almost can’t help but think “today I’ll do one rep better than last time”. And seeing how you’ve progressed in strength during the last few sessions, you’ll form goals in your mind (“I bet I can get to X lbs times Y reps in less than three months…”). And as you certainly know, having clear goals in your mind makes success that much more likely.

5. It Keeps You Motivated

Seeing you progress is a huge motivation-factor. Your log will show you the progress your making much sooner than mirrors and scales can. While it can take a long time for your muscles to bulge noticeably, you strength increase will show up on the log within weeks or even days of starting regular exercise.

In short: Keeping track of your training is important in many ways and you’ll definitely benefit from it. All it takes is a pen and a few sheets of paper. If you want to go a little more sophisticated, put together a tracking-sheet in Excel or ask about tracking sheets at your Gym. Or, if you’re the techy type, check to see if there are good training log apps for your phone (more on those in a future post).