This is for Jerry Marin, sorry it took so long to respond....but you did ask me hey...this thing that you have obsessed about for 20 years....talk about it! Ha, so here ya go.... My opinion is to get away from isolation exercises like curls and tricep extensions, in favor for big compound lifts. Also, I tend to gravitate towards One Lift A Day regiments. Meaning, instead of 4 x 10 of 4 diff exercises per bodypart....Ill do 4x10, 4x7, 4x5, 4x3, 4x1 of a single movement going up in weight after every 4 sets. So, lets say its deadlift...those first two load (or 8 sets) are serving the purpose of priming the central nervous system for the heavier sets, but also hypertrophy. The middle 4 sets are in that strength/hypertrophy sweet sopt...and the last two loads (or 8 sets) are just pure maximal strength lifts. So, theres some pros and cons to this approach. Pro is, I put a little bit of work towards the often-times conflicting goals of muscle growth, and strength gains. The two are often antagonistic bc growth is typically achieved at a higher rep range (and lighter weight) than strength gains. The lighter the load, the longer you can bear it...and conversely, the heavier the load, the less you can do with it. In other words, at lighter loads you can keep you muscles under tension LONGER, but the tension is less INTENSE...the heavier the load, the more INTENSE the tension, but for a SHORTER duration. So rule of thumb, is growth tends to be maximized at a trade-off point....at the loads for which the reps you can handle are in the 7-12 range. Maximal strength maximized at the heaviest loads you can move 1-3 times. Dynamic strength is sort of the middle ground, how heavy can you move multiple times...so thats where the 4-6 rep range work comes in. Remember, its not really about the number of reps....its the load for which that number of reps is all you can safely do. The load leads, the reps follow. Ok, so the pro of my structure is that I put a little bit of gas towards all those different slightly conflicting goals...hypertrophy, dynamic strength, maximal strength. The con is that Im not maximizing in any of them. Also, its this amount of volume that makes it where one lift really is going to fill up the whole training session....so whatever Im getting out of that day, Im getting it from what the front squat, or the power clean or whatever, has to offer. So think of each training day as a session in that particular movement. Each day is not arm day or shoulders day, but rather one of the following: Back Squat, Front Squat, Overhead Squat, Pullup, Power Clean, Squat Clean, Power Clean and Jerk, Squat Clean and Jerk, Deadlift, Dumbbell Snatch, Bench Press,etc. Last thing, the rep scheme that I mentioned...take it as a guide, not chiseled in stone commandments...some movements have a skill component to them, and so you may not have as wide of a range of loads that you can safely do to cover all that ground, just adjust accordingly to the demands of the lift. Also for calesthenics stuff like pullups, what I tend to do since Im not varying the load (except maybe when I have a big breakfast...ha), is just do a crap-ton of sets of 5 or so varying handgrips. Alright man, hope that long-ass explanation gives you some ideas to apply to your training, youve done freakin awesome inspiring work on your transformation so far....and BELIEVE me....if anyone knows the therapeutic power of a barbell to keep the demons at bay....its me. Good Luck Jerry.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 15:15:46 +0000