Progression of exercises

Progression of exercises needs to be done in your programming. If progression of exercises does not exsist, then plateaus will occur.

Most people go in and do the same exercises over and over again. If the same exercises are used, growth and strength will not occur because the body will adapt to the constant stimulus.

Variation of exercises must occur. If you work out three days a week don’t do the same exercises each day. Lets say you program looks like this. Every time you work out it is,

Back Squat

Bench

RDL

Pull ups

That is a pretty solid program, but it will only work for as much time as it takes for your body to adapt. So that could be one day, but the next should look some thing like this.

Deadlift

Incline Bench

Front Squat

1 Arm Row

This way you are still working the same muscle groups, but there is variation in your exercises to improve joint stability and not constantly working the same parts of the muscles all the time.

The same should be done each work cycle. Every 3-8 weeks new exercies should be used. Again vartiation is needed for growth and strength. So lets take it one step farther.

Deadlift now lets switch to the Elevated Deadlift to work on the stalling point

Incline bench switch to the closed grip bench to work on the triceps to improve the bench press.

Front squat switch to the Bulgarian split squat it is a great quad developer just like the front squat and more difficult

1 Arm row switch to the wide grip low row for a different back training stimululs.

As long as these rules are followed success will happen. Remember intensity is everything and to progress you exercises.

Until next time,

Adam

I Hit 350 today

I hit a 350 pound deadlfit today. I was doing some heavy singles at 90% and finished at 350. I felt pretty good today. I felt like I could have done more, but that will come in a couple of weeks. Check the site tommorrow for an article on training.

Until next time,

Adam

Plateau Busting

Do you ever get stuck on a certain lift and do not know how to break past that plateau? Have you been stuck on the same bench press, squat, or deadlift weight for months now?

Over the next couple of weeks I will be discussing some ideas for plateau busting that certain lift.

The first will be intensity. Do you use the same set and rep scheme every time your work out. If you are always training at 3 sets of 10 reps, then eventually your body will adapt and will see no reason to change or become stronger. After your body has adapted, it will always use the least amount of muscle mass possible to complete the lift.

The same can be said if your rep scheme is 5 sets of 5 reps. If you read my article about Intensity is everything you will understand why. If you constantly train in one rep scheme it will only hypertrophy those muscle fibers and after a while you will tap out on all your strength in those fibers.

If you constrantly lift in the neural range, then after you see no gains in a couple of weeks try the Neural and Hypertrophy range for a while. When lifting in the Neural range you will only see sarcomere growth, which is functional growth. Now give your body some sarcoplasmic growth to induce further gains.

Same for the Hypertrophy and endurace range. If you constantly train in this range there will only be sarcoplasmic growth. Try the neural range for a couple of weeks for some sarcomere growth.

Here is an example

Guy A Typically trains in Hypertrophy and Endurance Range

1. Squat 4×12

2. RDL 3×10

3. Walking lunges 2×12

Has not seen growth or increase in strength in 2 months. This is what he should do for the next month.

1. Front Squat 5×4

2. Elevated Deadlift 4×5

3. Bulgarian Split Squats 3×6

After a month I gurantee they will see growth and strength increases if their diet is ok and stick to the program.

Guy B. Typically stays in the Neural range

1. Bench Press 8×3

2. Weighted Pull ups 8×3

3. Incline Bench Press DB 4×5

4. 1 arm row 4×5

Has not seen growth or strength gains in two months

1. Closed grip Bench 4×8

2. Low Row 4×8

3. Floor Press 4×6

4. Wide grip low row 3×12

After a month he will see an increase in strength and growth because of a new stimulus.

Remember, intensity is everything, but it must be manipulated for your strength and mass goals.

Come back on Thursday for the next excert on progression of exercises.

Until next time,

Adam

Great Memorial Day

I had a great memorial day today. I went and worked out in the morning. I had an ok training session. I just was not feeling it today so I did not go at as high of  intensity as I normally would. Some days you have it and other you don’t. If you don’t I suggest to still train hard, but don’t go for a 1RM or RM on each lift.

Then it was off to the in-laws for a cookout. I watch what I eat for the most part. I make sure to get enough protein consumption on my lifting days. I ate a hamburger; I didn’t ask how lean the meat was. I didn’t want to be too picky. So I ate a hamburger and a hotdog. I know hotdogs are not the greatest. Anytime you see mechanically separated pork, chicken, and beef on a label it can’t be good.

We played a little basketball, so there was some physical activity going on. Swimming was going to happen, until the weather did not agree with us. Still it was a great day. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day.

There will be some articles posted this week. Make sure to come back and check them out.

Until next time,

Adam

Lifting and walking the dog

Yesterday I had a short lifting day. It did not consist of much but, it was an efficient work out. I felt great because I actually slept in. It went a little some thing like this.

Speed squat 10×2 @ 50%

Walking lunges 4×6

Glute Ham 3×8

Ab wheel 3×12

It was a short and sweet work out. I lift heavy on Monday and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are less intense, to let the body recover from the hard days.

Then it was a walk with our dog Cinnamon. She is a 9 month old golden retriever. She is a great dog, but really sucks at walking on a leash. It is like getting a forearm work out just walking her because of the constant pulling. We probably walked about a mile to a mile and a half.

She is getting better at not pulling, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Have a great Memorial Day. Until next time,

Adam

Working out and disc golf

Yesterday I had a pretty tough workout, then I went to play some disc golf.  I’m surprized I actually didn’t play to bad because it was an upper body day.  My workout looked like this.

Floor Press 6×5

Weighted Pull ups 6×5

1 Arm rows 4×8

DB incline bench 4×8

Ys 3×12

It took about an hour to complete and I was drained afterwards. Then it was off to play disc golf. I would not call myself a great player just a little above average. It depends how I’m putting. Some days I have it and others I don’t.

We played doubles with a couple of rookies. It was fun, but not much of a challenge. I remember when I was a rookie; I would not have been much of a challenge eigther. I think in doubles we shot four under, then we played the back tees and I shot three over. Not a bad day overall.

Until next time,

Adam

Random thoughts

1. Do I really want to go see the new Terminator movie? I just don’t know if I want to or not.

2. Movies to not go see, G-force. A movie about crime fighting gerbils. No, I’m not kidding.

3. I hate doing single leg work and abs, but it must be done.

4. If I had a million dollars, I would retire from work for a couple of years.

5. I only go on facebook to play mafia wars. Lame I know, it is such an addictive game.

I hope everyone has a great three day weekend. Enjoy your time off; spend it with friends and family.

Until next time,

Adam

Intensity is everything

Intensity is everything when it comes to lifting weights. If there is no intensity, how can you expect to see growth in weight or strenth.

First there is the 1 to 5 rep range. This is pure neural training. Not many reps can be preformed here because of the high intensity. This is the best rep range if wanting to increase strength with little to some muscle mass gained.

This style uses the Type II B muscle fibers. These are powerful fibers that are only used for heavy and or explosive lifts. There are also type II A fibers. They have the ability to act like type II B fibers or type I fibers, which are purley endurance fibers.

Here the type IIA fibers will start to act like the type II B fibers, which will help make you stronger and more explosive, if the right training parameters are used.

Here, there will be more sarcomere growth, which is the working part of the muscle fiber. Your muscles will be harder and have a more dense look to them and not a bloated look to them.

The 5-8 range has two qualities to it, neural and hypertrophy (growth). With this rep range there is still some neural qualities because at five reps you should still be lifting about 85% of your 1RM (1 rep max), but there are hypertrophy qualites because at eight reps there is more volume used than the 1-5 rep range.

The 8-12 rep range also has two qualities, hypertrophy and endurance. This is the range most bodybuilders stay in. It is great for growth, but the growth is sarcoplasmic growth. The sarcoplasm is what surrounds the cell, and has fluid in it. With training in this style the fluid will increase, and the sarcomere is decrease in size.

Here the type II A fibers will start to act like type I fibers. Bodybuilders have the highest percentage of type I muscle fibers compared to other anaerobic athletes. Pretty much it is high intensity endurance training.  

Finally there is the 12 plus range. This is pure endurance training. This will be used for someone training for pure endurance. This style uses your type I muscle fibers, which have a slower twitch time, and are not a strong or powerful as type II.  

References

Polquin, Charles  Polquin Principles p. 24 1997

Siff, Mel  Supertraining p.55-58, 68 2004

Adam, pumping iron

I was back in the gym today. I thought I was not going to be able to squat today because someone was in the squat rack again. I asked if I could work in with him and he obliged.

Today was a pretty good training day. I am still fresh from my two week deload. Ask me in a couple of weeks how I’m feeling, after some high volume and high intensity lifts.

Today’s workout looked like this.

Heavy front squat 8×1

Speed deadlifts 8×1

Single leg movement 3×6

Abdominals

It took about an hour to do. I was pretty spent after it.

Until next time,

Adam

Fix that squat.

I see people all the time who have no idea how to squat. They go under the bar, with too much weight, and it actually hurts me to watch them squat.

The squat gets a bad reputation because people over the years have preformed it wrong. It is not a bad exercise;

any and all exercises can be bad if preformed with poor, sloppy form. So lets fix that problem.

First, put the bar on top of the shoulder blades and squeeze them tight. This helps create a shelf for the bar. Next, bring the hands close together, this will help keep the chest up as you descend.

Find your foot placement. It will be different for everyone. Some people will be closed stance squaters, and others will have a wider stance. Just play with different placements to see which one is most comfortable.

The first movement is to push the hips back, not bend at the knees. This will keep unwanted stress and strain off the knees.

Keep the lowerback tight the entire time while doing the movement. Don’t allow it to flex, spinal flexion is a horrible thing to have happen with a bunch of plates on each side, so keep that back tight.

After the hips have been pushed back, start to bend at the knee, while keeping the chest up. Descend until the thighs are parallel to the ground or lower. As you can see in the last picture, I should be about 3 to 4 inches further in depth; this is the case with most squatters.

Once in this position, drive up through the heels and keep the chest up. This allows you to use the glutes more, which is a huge advantage over just using the hamstrings and quads, which most squaters do, and finish the lift.