Tag Archives: Information
Are you making sense or just making noise?
Filed under Fitness, Nutrition & Health
Three important lessons you can learn from athletes & apply them to your life.
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Gem 1
I finished reading a coupe of good books this weekend.
Once again clarity of training thought has been restored.
Along with various stones getting uncovered to reveal knowledge.
Given this fact I thought I’d share some of the little gems over the next few days for those who are perhaps a tad up in the air with their training currently.
Gem 1 – Manipulation of reps for optimal strength gains.
*If you want the short version skip to the end*
The reps you choose will dictate not only the weight you use but also the overall training stimulus.
Optimally if you’re aiming for size/strength then you’ll be looking at utilising sets of 1RM-12RM (100%-70% – typically, this can change as one gets stronger and it also changes exercise to exercise).
Each rep you add increases the intensity of loading by roughly around 2.5%, although as mentioned this can differ once people get stronger or in those who have a high degree of training pure neural drive/facilitation – e.g. powerlifters.
Now we should all know this, however we’re all guilty of going in and hitting the same set/rep ranges day in day out with little to know variation.
This is why many of us stagnate.
The most optimal way to train is with varied rep/set ranges in blocks of accumulation/intensification as this means you can overload your systems, rest-recover-adapt and repeat.
If strength/size is your goal, well, actually if you have any goal really, you need to wave the volume/intensity.
For example:
7x5RM will elicit a very different physiological response to that of doing 4x9RM given the total loads lifted will be drastically different in terms of intensity, even though volume is equated.
For starters you’ve got more MUA (motor unit activation) in higher loads 1-5RM has been shown to offer the most bang for your buck in this regard.
When it comes to training the more of the muscle you can recruit the more benefit you’re likely to get.
Yet staying with one for too long will only lead to stagnation and potently overtraining. Especially with loads of that magnitude.
The energy systems used will vary as well, so Anaerobic Alactic 1-5RM, Anaerobic Lactic 6-12RM and Aerobic 13-20RM to briefly touch on that.
^^ It’s wroth looking into further if you are curious.
Rest periods will also be different which will further change the hormonal response of the body for example, resting 60-90 seconds has been shown to have a positive effect on growth hormone production, while 3-5min has been shown to have a greater effect on testosterone levels.
So apart from obvious intensity differences what else is going on?
If you load with a sub maximal weight you will find the MUA is lower and will take far more time to achieve as you will need to ramp up the volume to provide the fatigue necessary to achieve full recruitment of the muscle.
While not a bad way to go it can lead to burn out rather quickly if your recovery is not on the nose (I speak from experience).
Or you can simply warm up and lift heavier loads for repeated efforts instead and get a better response with less overall volume, to a degree, there’s always a caveat to these things.
You can’t do the above forever, more on that later.
Given what I’ve just written here is a little technique you can utilise a nice little trick of the body to make sure you’re firing from all cylinders from the get go, here is how you may do it:
Intensification Block Protocol – Rest pause sets:
Ramp to a heavy 1RM for the day
Rest 15 seconds & drop 2.5%
Do one rep using 97.5%
Rest 15 seconds & drop 2.5%
Do one rep using 95%
Rest 15 seconds & drop 2.5%
Do one rep using 92.5%
Rest 15 seconds & drop 2.5%
Do one rep using 90%
Rest 3-5 min & repeat for 3-5 sets
Now this would work well being punt in an antagonistic super-set A1-A2 – Bench Press – Weighted Chin up.
This means you’d do A1 using the entire RP protocol, rest 3min then do A2 followed by another 3min rest, then back to A1 for 3-5 sets.
That would be your entire workout for the morning, you’d potentially pop back later in the day for some accessory work at 4-6×6-8RM for a couple more pairings.
You would also use this for perhaps 2 week blocks of a toal of 3-4 sessions depending on your training age, recoverability and overall fatigue management.
Apologies, I’ve waffled a tad (as I do).
So what does this jumble of information mean for you?
In short it is this:
*Vary your rep ranges for the best possible gains.*
Here is a quick example of how to wave the rep/set for some decent gains:
Week 1-2: Int – 3-5x5RM
Week 3-4 Acc – 4-6×6-8RM
Week 5-6: Int – 3-5x4RM
Week 7-8 Acc – 4-6×5-7RM
Week 9-10: Int – 3-5x3RM
Week 11-12 Acc – 4-6×4-6RM
Deload
Again this is all info you can find if you do enough digging.
The above is one example, you literally have hundreds of methods to utilise, so why stick with just the same ones when you can learn more and optimise your training, eh?
How do you plan yours or your clients reps/set protocols and how often do you wave them?
In fact how much have you read in to this?
It’s something I’m learning more about as the days go on, there is almost no end to the nuances involved, yet it’s certainly fun learning about them and WHY things work the way they do.
Such a nerd, 😂
Ross
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Make progress with one set!
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1-2-3 for you & me
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50/50
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5 Reasons people need a framework to succeed –
1 – Most don’t know what they need to do and as such need it clearly signposted
2 – It helps people feel less pressure, basically they can blame the structure for failure rather than themselves
3 – Things such as accountability and more responsibility become easier to administer
4 – Recorded data makes for a great confidence booster to show them how far they’ve come
5 – It teaches them how to achieve success on their own
Now there are those rare people who don’t need a framework to make their own success, if you’re one of them then we’ll see each other at the top. If that’s not you it’s not a problem, just ask for help and it will be yours.
Short & simple today.
Enjoy,
Ross
Filed under Fitness, Nutrition & Health
Too good not to share
I came across this article while browsing through the inter webs for knowledge and it’s too good not to share.
Christian Thibaudeau is one of my favourite and his knowledge is phenomenal, you’ll enjoy this read.
I will certainly be giving this a go as I am currently short on time in my own training.
Ross
Filed under Fitness, Nutrition & Health
Butt Hurt to Commence in, 3…2…1…
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