lundi 30 mai 2016
Don’t Believe Everything You Read About Training
Sometimes I read articles over at T-Nation, and I wonder if
there are other people like me in the world; people who are left shaking their
heads in disbelief. Every week I get a spam email from the site promoting their
new products and giving me a round up of their latest articles. Usually I
scroll through them, just in case a.) there’s something funny in there or b.)
there’s an article by someone worth reading (Cosgrove, Cressey, etc…basically
the people who I know personally, and could call on the phone if I have a
training question). In the case of T-Nation, as is the case with the internet
in general, you can’t believe everything you read. But in the case of T-Nation,
at least you can laugh at it. I’ll admit that occasionally, there’s a good,
new, up-and-coming author on the site – but mostly the articles all read like a
nightmarish paint-by-numbers:
* Introduction/Snarky Comment
* Joke
* Information
* Joke
* Information
* Snarky Comment/Conclusion
* (Note: If the article is by T.C. Luoma, the Editor in
Chief there’ll also be a stipper reference and an
airbrushed photo of some
random girl)
But my real question is “does anyone actually believe the
stuff they read on T-Nation?” Does anybody care? This week (or last week, I
suppose), an author, writing about the the pros and cons of each of the
mainstream training philosophies, made the statement that a “Top-level
bodybuilders are the highest-paid competitors in strength sports.” Bodybuilding
is a “strength sport”? It has no component where any kind of strength is on
display, at all…how does that make it a strength sport? And, depending on how
we define “strength sport” I would say bodybuilding is nowhere near the top
paid.
The conclusion of the article was to mix and match various
training philosophies – a surefire way to be terrible at everything. If you’re
a rugby player, train like one. If you’re an MMA fighter, then train like one.
In another article, which described an exercise called the
“Turkish Get Up,” -look it up if you’re not familiar with the movement – the
author tells us: “Using a dumbbell is “easiest”, but it’s a popular exercise
with the kettlebell crowd and old school strongmen would actually one-arm a
barbell, sometimes using loads more than their bodyweight.” Anyone who’s ever
done a TGU knows that the leverages applied during the movement would make this
impossible. It’s not a matter of strength, it’s a matter of leverages – you
wouldn’t be able to complete a certain portion of the movement if you were the
same weight as the load you were using. Literally, anyone who has done the
movement would know this. The ignorance of the readers is implied and exploited
by statements like this (as is the ignorance of the author).
And finally, this is actually a commentary from a roundtable
article I was a participant in:
T-Nation: …is it possible to get over-stimulated before
lifting or before an athletic event?
Author: One I’ve
witnessed was a case where a guy had been working his way up to a 350-pound
bench press over a period of time. About two weeks prior to his max day, he was
easily pressing 340 for three or four reps, yet when the day finally came, it
was very obvious to me that he was all over the place. He was pacing back and
forth, couldn’t hold a thought, was easily distracted and, in
general, just
very anxious and nervous. Keep in mind this is a very calm person who’d never
acted this way on a max day.
Time came for him to start working his way up to his
potential max and I could see that he was certainly suffering from excessive
CNS stimulation. A quick sign to me was his extreme and abnormal shaking while
taking the weight off the rack with lighter weights such as 185 and 225. He
simply couldn’t focus and was so nervous he was barely able to press 315
pounds.
I finally asked him if he had taken anything. Sure enough,
he told me he’d taken 75 mg of ephedrine and 400 mg of caffeine along with
three grams of tyrosine. I finally gave him some orange juice with some lemon
and some crushed ascorbic acid to speed the clearance of ephedrine.
So, we’re to believe that a T-Nation author saw a guy in his
gym who was maxing out, and he walked up and gave the guy some O.J. + Lemon +
Ascorbic Acid. Has this ever, in the history of gyms, ever seemed possible? Do
you think this could ever conceivably happen at any gym you’ve ever been in? Of
course not.
If you can’t believe half of what you read on sites like
this, at least you can laugh at most of it.
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dimanche 29 mai 2016
A Day In The Life With Jason Poston
Follow Jason Poston for a day during his preparation for Mr. Olympia
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Gain Muscle Weight – A Serious Growth Program Review
Controversy has always been a great promotional tool.
I guess I’m going to be a little controversial in this article. But I’m not doing it to draw attention to myself or to sell something. No, I’m doing it with the hope that I can help you. Maybe you’ll be able to avoid some of the frustration that I’ve experienced.
Even though I know that I’m going to open a can of worms with this, I’m not going to be too controversial. I won’t tell you to knock off a convenience store so that you can run down to Mexico to get the “Steroid du Jour”. So if you’re hoping for a really controversial issue, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. (Sorry, that’s not my style.)
But I am going to mention a couple names and a style of training that seems to infuriate some people. Why? I don’t really know. I always thought that being open-minded was a great way to learn. But for some reason a lot of folks immediately cross their arms and close their minds when this training technique is mentioned. I NEVER close my mind to an idea that may help me progress in my training (as long as it’s moral, ethical, and legal, that is!)
So to keep you from shutting me out right off the bat, I’m not going to drop those two names or tell you about this technique. At least not right now. Stick with me for a minute.
I Learned My Lesson The Hard Way…Again!
If you’ve been reading my articles for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve realized that one of my core philosophies is basic exercises done for a few hard sets with as heavy a weight as you can handle in good form for 6 to 12 reps. I’ve found that this consistently works for genetically average folks and hard gainers. Unfortunately I had to learn this the hard way from years of wasted efforts and training with nearly zero gains.
The biggest reason that most people are not making gains is that they over-train. Too many sets, too many workouts per week, not enough recovery time.
The routines that most of the muscle mags publish every month will not only keep you from gaining, but will more than likely cause you to go backwards. You’ll lose strength and size! (That is if you are drug-free.)
So for years I’ve been warning people to stay away from the high volume routines. Most people don’t listen or don’t believe that you can make gains training with fewer sets. They’ve read the 15 to 20 sets per bodypart thing so often that they believe it’s the truth. More is always better, right?
Since I considered myself a fairly advanced trainer and had built up a fair amount of size and strength, I thought that it was time to experiment.
The Seduction Of The Bulgarian Lie
I ordered a training manual called “Big Beyond Belief – Serious Growth 3”. Man, it was a great read! The guy who wrote it was Leo Costa Jr – Mr. Credibility . It was endorsed by Tom Platz, Mr. Universe. It had all kinds of data as to why it worked. My God, this author traveled to Bulgaria and had to pledge his first-born son to extract this secret information out of those God-less Commies!
So I figured I was ready to do it.
I trained six days a week, once a day. There was an program to train six days a week, twice a day. I was planning to pick that option but my business schedule wouldn’t allow it. Oh well, I figured that I would just gain a little slower. The Bulgarians were doing the six day per week/twice per day schedule. I guess I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them.
About four weeks into the program I had tendonitis in my biceps tendon so bad that I could barely lift five pounds. I also had a constant dull ache in my lower back and shoulder joints. But I was willing to endure if I could make good gains.
How disappointed I was to find that I had lost weight, strength, and all my measurements were down, too. To add insult to injury, I got a nasty sinus infection.
The sinus infection turned into bronchitis, which then turned into pneumonia.
So for all the effort I put in over four weeks…
I Lost 15 Pounds, A Lot Of Strength, And All My Measurements Were Smaller
Those Commie bastards tricked us. It was a conspiracy to get all of us Americans smaller and weaker so they could invade!
(OK, so I’m having a little fun here, joking around, but…I promise that I’ll give you some sound training advice.)
I’ll make a long story short. After I finally recovered from my illnesses, I went back on a high volume routine. Five days/week, 15 sets per body part.
Guess what…I got another sinus infection. This was getting frustrating. Must be the time of year for those things, huh?
After recovering from that, with a little help from the Doc, I went back to the gym and decided to tackle German Volume Training. (Could that be another conspiracy, too? The Germans aren’t Commies, are they?)
This time it only took my sorry butt two weeks to realize that I had been in a constant state of over-training.
When you do more exercise and too frequent exercise than your body can recover from, it not only affects your muscles, but also your immune system. Not only is it impossible for your muscles to overcompensate and grow bigger and stronger, but your immune system is taking a beating. When it begins to weaken, you’re susceptible to catching all kinds of neat things floating through the air.
Time after time I have found…
The Biggest Reason Almost All People Are Not Gaining >From Their Weight Training Routines Is Over-Training
Most people refuse to believe that, so they keep on doing the same thing over and over again hoping it will work. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing you’ve been doing and expecting different results.
I know it’s hard to not fall into the “more is better” trap. I did it myself. And I know better! I guess I figured that since I built a fair amount of size and strength over the years training the hard-gainer way, that I could now grow from these high volume workouts. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
My good friend Paul Becker at Truly Huge was kind enough to send me an interesting book. In this book, which I will not mention…yet (your mind is still open, right?), the author used an analogy that really struck me. Actually several good analogies.
I know from experience that it only takes one bullet to kill you. (I was a police officer in a large Midwest city for 11 years). When that one bullet is well placed, it will kill you instantly. Unloading the rest of my magazine into you doesn’t kill you any deader. More is not necessarily better.
Hmmmmmm…so this guy (who will remain anonymous for now) says that one set, done in good form, slowly without momentum, for 6 to 12 reps, where the last rep is to total positive failure is all that’s needed to stimulate muscular growth. Any additional sets do not help stimulate more growth but actually…
Additional Sets Hinder The Growth Process Because They Make Too Many Inroads Into Your Recuperative Abilities. If You Can’t Recover From It, You Can’t Grow!
I’d heard that before but never paid much attention to it.
After reading that book, I got my hands on some articles from a cantankerous old guy who invented some weird-looking exercise machines about 20 years ago. He was saying the same basic thing.
After a two week layoff, I started on a program where I train every four days. I usually do one set per body part. For some body parts it’s a pre-exhaust set.
I won’t have time in this article to go over all the details, but I will tell you this…
I Gained Five Pounds Of Muscle In The First Week And I’m Getting Radically Stronger Each And Every Time I Go To The Gym!
I’ve rambled enough for now. I promise that I’ll reveal the whole routine in the next article.
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Shocking Shoulder Workout – I Dare You to Try It
Pre-exhaust involves using an isolation exercise immediately before a compound exercise to pre-fatigue the muscle without involving the secondary muscle groups. For example, to pre-exhaust the pecs you would do a set of pec-deck or lying dumbbell flyes to failure immediately followed by flat or incline bench press.
Shocking Shoulder Workout – I Dare You to Try It
Pre-exhaust involves using an isolation exercise immediately before a compound exercise to pre-fatigue the muscle without involving the secondary muscle groups. For example, to pre-exhaust the pecs you would do a set of pec-deck or lying dumbbell flyes to failure immediately followed by flat or incline bench press.
The idea is this: The pec-deck or flyes works the pecs
without involving the delts or triceps. So although your pecs are fatigued,
your delts and tris are fresh so you can further blast your pecs by doing a set
of bench presses immediately after the pec-deck or flyes.
I like another technique that utilizes the pre-exhaust idea
in a different manner. In this issue let’s use shoulders for example. Pick an
isolation exercise for the shoulders. I like side dumbbell lateral raises. If
you have access to the nautilus side lateral machine then that’s a good choice,
too.
Select a weight that will allow you to complete 10 to 12
reps of the side lateral raises in good form with the last rep being the last
one you can possibly complete without help. In other words, go to temporary
muscular failure. Immediately reduce the weight approx. 30% and do another set
without resting. Take that set to failure for however many reps you can
complete. Again immediately reduce the weight approx. 30% and do a third set
without resting. Take this third set to failure for however many reps you can
complete.
Now rest about a minute and do a compound exercise for your
shoulders. Let’s use seated dumbbell presses for this example.
Your shoulders should be fairly fatigued if you performed
the side lateral raises as intensely as I described.
Select a weight that allows you to complete 10 to 12 reps of
the seated dumbbell press to temporary muscular failure. The weight you’ll use
will probably be significantly less than you normally use because of the
pre-exhaust we did on the side lateral raises.
Now just like on the side lateral raises, complete your
first set to failure then immediately reduce the weight approx. 30% and do a
second set without resting. Again immediately reduce the weight approx. 30% and
do a third set to failure without resting.
This is a pretty intense technique and should probably only
be utilized very sporadically. In fact, I would recommend waiting at least 7
days before you train shoulders again after a session of Triple Drop
Pre-Exhaust.
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The Best 5 Bench Press Alternative Exercises
Perhaps you can’t use the bench press because you don’t have a spotter, or because the bench station is constantly being hogged by the same 3 gym members. Maybe you just don’t like the bench press as a muscle building exercise. Fair enough.
The Best 5 Bench Press Alternative Exercises
Perhaps you can’t use the bench press because you don’t have a
spotter, or because the bench station is constantly being hogged by the same 3
gym members. Maybe you just don’t like the bench press as a muscle building
exercise. Fair enough.
If
you’re looking to build your chest there are many great movements to choose
from. The following list features 10 quality bench press alternative exercises.
Incline
Bench Press
Believe
it or not most top bodybuilders consider the incline bench press to be the king
of chest builders. When polled regarding their favorite muscle building
exercises, you commonly see the incline bench press listed before the flat
bench press.
Chest Dips
The
chest dip was once considered the upper body squat. These days this important
exercises has become an afterthought. Learn proper dipping form and give them a
try. Your chest muscles will thank you.
Flat
Bench Dumbbell Bench Press
The flat
bench dumbbell bench press is a very underrated mass builder. But be warned,
low rep sets can feel awkward. Don’t be afraid to blast your chest with 8 to 15
reps sets on this exercise.
Decline
Bench Press
Because
of the bench angle, the decline bench press usually features a shorter range of
motion. While this tends to involve more tricep usage, it also generally allows
for the use of a greater weight making it a good chest blasting alternative.
Try using a slightly wider than normal grip and concentrate on chest involvement
during your reps.
Incline
Dumbbell Bench Press
It
stands to reason that if the incline barbell bench press is a rock solid
variation, incline dumbbells would be a good choice as well. Make sure to use a
slight angle on your incline presses. There is no need to raise the seat past
the 30 degree mark.
Bench Press Alternative Exercises that Missed the Cut
The
following chest exercises are quality secondary chest building choices. It is
recommended that you perform these lifts after primary movements such as dips
or incline bench presses.
§ Pushups
with Feet on bench
§ Reverse
Grip Bench Press
§ Close Grip
Bench Press (More of a tricep-focused exercises, but also great for the chest)
§ Dumbbell
Floor Press
§ Cable
Crossover
§ Decline
Dumbbell Bench Press
§ Dumbbell
Flyes
§ Pec Dec
§ Hammer
Strength Bench Press
§ Incline
Bench Dumbbell Flyes
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Top 5 Arm Building Exercises Using Free Weights
Free weight exercises do not include cable, machine, or bodyweight exercises. While these types of movements have their place and can certainly build arm size, this article will focus only on barbell and dumbbell arm building lifts.
Top 5 Arm Building Exercises Using Free Weights
Free weight exercises do not include cable, machine, or
bodyweight exercises. While these types of movements have their place and can
certainly build arm size, this article will focus only on barbell and dumbbell
arm building lifts.
The
beauty of free weight barbell and dumbbell exercises is that they can be
performed virtually anywhere. You won’t need any special equipment, as even the
most basic of gyms have free weights and benches.
What
follows are 5 top free weight arm building exercises. They are listed in no
particular order.
Top 5 Arm Building Exercises Using Free Weights
Close Grip Bench Press
The
close grip bench press takes some of the stress off the chest and front delts,
and places it upon the triceps. This exercises can be performed with heavy
weight and high reps, making it an extremely effective triceps builder.
Make
sure to keep your wrists over your elbow when performing close grip bench
presses. It is a common mistake to bring the hands too close together. This is
unbalancing and places extra stress on the wrists and shoulders, making it a
more dangerous variation.
Alternating Dumbbell Curls
While
barbell curls are the more popular bicep building exercise, dumbbell curls
place less stress on the elbows and may be a better choice when trying to fend
off elbow tendonitis. Barbell curls force you to supinate your hands until your
palms are face up. This can place unnecessary stress on the wrists and elbows.
On the
other hand, alternating dumbbell curls allow you to naturally rotate your hands
and are far more comfortable. This exercise also allows for a wide range of
progression, making it a top muscle building choice.
Seated Two Arm Dumbbell Extensions
The
primary function of the triceps is to extend the arm at the elbow. For this
reason extension exercises are a good compliment to the heavy close grip
bench press.
While
standing extension variations are effective, the seated two arm dumbbell
extension allows you to move heavy weight in a more stable and controlled
environment. This exercise is best performed with some sort of bench or rest
behind your back. If your gym has a preacher curl bench you can simply sit with
your back against the pad and manuever the dumbbell into position.
Make
sure to get a quality stretch at the bottom of the movement.
Barbell 21 Curls
If
you’re going to perform barbell curls, then 21s are an extremely effective
variation. Instead of performing standard reps, 21s work 3 different ranges as
follows:
§ 7 Reps, Lower Half. Instead
of full range reps, perform 7 half reps, raising the bar only until it is
parallel to the ground.
§ 7 Reps, Upper Range. Without
resting, you now perform 7 more half reps, this time starting each rep from the
parallel point. Complete each rep by bringing the bar to your chest, and then
returning it no lower than parallel to the ground.
§ 7 Complete Reps. Again
without resting, perform 7 full range barbell curl reps.
Make
sure to experiment with grip width to see which feels best on your joints.
Lying Tricep Extensions
Anyone
that has ever performed a dumbbell or barbell pullover has noticed that the
movement also taxes their triceps. The reason for this is because
a secondary function of the tricep is to rotate the arm towards the body.
Unfortunately, most lying extension variations ignore this aspect of triceps
anatomy.
Instead
of performing lying triceps extensions by lowering the bar to your forehead,
ala a skullcrusher, you want to allow the bar travel down below your head. From
this position you will now move the bar up and complete each rep by extending
the bar completely upward.
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bodybuilding: Girl Vs Men Eating Pizza LOOL...
bodybuilding: Girl Vs Men Eating Pizza LOOL...
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Best Front Shoulder Training Guide & Workouts
The front shoulders, also referred to as the front delts (or deltoids), are known in anatomy as the anterior deltoids. The front delt head is one of three fiber groups that make up the muscle we know as the shoulder.
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