The fundamental principle underpinning all successful strength training programs is increasing LOAD over time.
Basic gym training/bodybuilding sort of pays lip-service to increasing loads. The generally popularised method is - to state it another way - do several sets with 80% of 1rm (about 8 reps) and build up your reps each week until that weight equals 75% of 1rm (about 12reps). Then increase the weight to 80% of your new 1rm and repeat. Or something in that vein. (NOTE: '1rm' is short for '1 repetition maximum'; or the maximum load that the subject is capable of lifting just one time).
Standard powerlifting cycling is based, typically, on building up LOAD each week from 50% 1rm to 105-110% 1rm over 8-12 weeks. Most basic Olympic Lifting programs are very similar.
Periodisation is (very basically and typically) 8-12 week 'periods' of training within defined ranges of percentages of max load (eg 8 weeks with 50-65% 1rm then 8 weeks with 70-85% 1rm then 8 weeks with 90-100% 1rm). And mostly the loads (or similar measure of training intensity) increase methodically during each 'period'.
The popular "Westside" Powerlifting system is all about regularly encountering 100% 1rm (max effort days) and trying to beat previous 1rm every 2-4weeks.
HST, High Intensity, DogCrapp training etc etc are also based on regularly increasing loads over time.
The consistent principle is that LOADS get pushed up to new max's and then cycled back and built up again. Really, the only substantial arguments among the various systems are over the volume of work and whether to train to failure.
At Biologic Labs, our approach is to build up training loads over 4-8 week cycles. We build up from about 65% 1rm up to a new 1rm over the course of the cycle. Within that basic structure we might pyramid sets up or down at each workout; we might taper volume from high to low as weight increases; we might do overloads with partial reps at every workout; or use any number of different approaches. BUT, the fundamental principle still remains that training loads get heavier at each workout over a training cycle until going for a new 1rm.
Where we mostly differ from the other systems is that we push every weight to absolute failure over a very broad load range (60-100% 1rm). This load range means our reps range from 1 to 50! Yes, we FAIL on 30-50 rep sets; we don't just get a burn and stop when loads are light.
Before every set we do, we use a calculator that predicts our 1rm from the number of reps we achieve with a lesser weight. With this calculator we can target the exact number of reps we need to beat our previous 1rm (or calculated 1rm).
For example, if my 1rm is 100kg and I am about to lift 72.5kg then my calculator tells me 13 reps equates to a 99kg 1rm and 14 reps equates to a 101kg 1rm. So I know I MUST do 14 reps with 72.5 to prevent going backwards on my previous max. And if I can get 17 reps then I've acheived a 105kg 1rm.
We have devised our own, very accurate calculator for doing this but there are many calculators on the web that allow you to calculate your 1rm performance on the basis of doing a certain number of reps with a weight. There is even a conservative 1rm calculator with the iPhone App: Gym Buddy.
In order to consistently beat performances, we use 'effective' form. That is, fast, explosive reps, cheating progressively more and more as absolutely necessary to keep the set going rather than stopping or getting forced reps. In fact, we hate forced reps (ie getting a 'spot')! Our calculator tells us what our 1rm is using the same form. If we get a 'spot' then our calculated 1rm would include getting a spot and that isnt a 1rm!
Because we're trying to beat previous bests on every set of every exercise, we typically train 2-3 days per week only. You can't beat every performance by training every day. And we NEVER do the popular 4 sets of 4 exercises. We can't imagine a program more unsuitable for consistently beating performances and making progress!
So the answer to all training questions is that: WEIGHT TRAINING is about WEIGHT! Its not 'rep training' so don't look at rep ranges to shape your programs.
- Select a group of exercises that cover the major movements (ie leg pushing, back pulling, a row and a chest/shoulder girdle pushing movement).
- Then plan a methodical increase in your training poundages over a period (4-12 weeks) in order to achieve a new 1rm on those exercises
- Each workout, lift the weights you've planned for as many reps as you can get even with deteriorated form (so long as its safe and repeatable; there is no place for throwing weights in a manner thats not progress-able).
Monday 17 August 2009
You know more than you think!
Training programs and systems are all either based on science or the unrepeatable, voodoo result of one unusual person. Clearly science is the better way to go. But virtually every scientifically based program gets bogged down justifying itself on the supposed physiological processes occurring inside your body; processes that you will never, ever see, measure, prove or affect; processes that take care of themselves!!!
Understanding how your body works is all very well and good; but its mostly irrelevant to how you should train. Because whatever does or doesnt apparently occur within your body, everybody already knows what outcomes matter and, mostly, how to achieve them. Let me illustrate:
- if you can't lift any more weight by the end of a year of weight training then your training failed outright. You KNOW this! It doesnt matter how many amino-acids, pre and post workout shakes, nitric oxide boosters or testosterone boosters you took; it doesnt matter how good your form was; how big you pumped, how sore you got or how much you sweated. You will look exactly the same because you are exactly the same. If you'd changed you would be able to lift more!
- if you can bench press, squat and deadlift 100kg more at the end of a year of training then you KNOW you will look substantially more muscular than you are now.
- if you were taught bad exercise technique, never take a supplement, train only 1 day per fortnight, don't sweat and don't get a pump and yet somehow you still increase your bench, squat and deadlift by 100kg (in the same bad form) you will still look substantially more muscular than you are now.
So you KNOW that the ONLY thing that actually matters when it comes to weight training is the outcome of lifting more weight! Any counter-argument to that point is only saying that NOT lifting more is a valid alternative and you KNOW that is FALSE!!!
You even KNOW that slow, strict 'form' isnt THAT important; especially because you KNOW you can never make any strength gains lifting super slow and super strict. And you know that your supplements arent going to make you grow. You KNOW its about lifting weight!
So, lets say you find yourself in an East-Asian prison, given a gym and an infinite supply of food and told you would be released as soon as you could bench, squat and deadlift 100kg more than you can now, WOULD YOU TRAIN THE WAY YOU DO NOW?
Nobody I've posed this question to has answered 'yes'. Because everybody knows that their training isnt directed towards what matters: LIFTING HEAVIER WEIGHTS!!!!
So you KNOW what you need to achieve in the gym and you KNOW what you're doing wont achieve that. So what ARE you doing?
If you want to know the solution, just start with what else you KNOW. Ask questions to yourself and work with the answers you KNOW.
- If you want to lift as much as possible, why would you ever do 10 reps and stop if you were capable of more?
- If you want to lift as much as possible, why would you bother with exercises that nobody can lift any weight on? (eg pec deck, leg extensions)
- If you want to be as strong as possible, why aren't you doing heavy deadlifts and squats?
- If you want to be the best you can be, why do you have your mates helping you lift all your weights?
- If you want to look like a healthy, strong, muscle-man or figure-woman, why are you eating like a sparrow and running like a distance runner?
etc etc etc
The point is: trust yourself. You KNOW more than you give yourself credit for and you probably know more about what you need to know than the instructors and scientists that you KNOW are wrong!
Understanding how your body works is all very well and good; but its mostly irrelevant to how you should train. Because whatever does or doesnt apparently occur within your body, everybody already knows what outcomes matter and, mostly, how to achieve them. Let me illustrate:
- if you can't lift any more weight by the end of a year of weight training then your training failed outright. You KNOW this! It doesnt matter how many amino-acids, pre and post workout shakes, nitric oxide boosters or testosterone boosters you took; it doesnt matter how good your form was; how big you pumped, how sore you got or how much you sweated. You will look exactly the same because you are exactly the same. If you'd changed you would be able to lift more!
- if you can bench press, squat and deadlift 100kg more at the end of a year of training then you KNOW you will look substantially more muscular than you are now.
- if you were taught bad exercise technique, never take a supplement, train only 1 day per fortnight, don't sweat and don't get a pump and yet somehow you still increase your bench, squat and deadlift by 100kg (in the same bad form) you will still look substantially more muscular than you are now.
So you KNOW that the ONLY thing that actually matters when it comes to weight training is the outcome of lifting more weight! Any counter-argument to that point is only saying that NOT lifting more is a valid alternative and you KNOW that is FALSE!!!
You even KNOW that slow, strict 'form' isnt THAT important; especially because you KNOW you can never make any strength gains lifting super slow and super strict. And you know that your supplements arent going to make you grow. You KNOW its about lifting weight!
So, lets say you find yourself in an East-Asian prison, given a gym and an infinite supply of food and told you would be released as soon as you could bench, squat and deadlift 100kg more than you can now, WOULD YOU TRAIN THE WAY YOU DO NOW?
Nobody I've posed this question to has answered 'yes'. Because everybody knows that their training isnt directed towards what matters: LIFTING HEAVIER WEIGHTS!!!!
So you KNOW what you need to achieve in the gym and you KNOW what you're doing wont achieve that. So what ARE you doing?
If you want to know the solution, just start with what else you KNOW. Ask questions to yourself and work with the answers you KNOW.
- If you want to lift as much as possible, why would you ever do 10 reps and stop if you were capable of more?
- If you want to lift as much as possible, why would you bother with exercises that nobody can lift any weight on? (eg pec deck, leg extensions)
- If you want to be as strong as possible, why aren't you doing heavy deadlifts and squats?
- If you want to be the best you can be, why do you have your mates helping you lift all your weights?
- If you want to look like a healthy, strong, muscle-man or figure-woman, why are you eating like a sparrow and running like a distance runner?
etc etc etc
The point is: trust yourself. You KNOW more than you give yourself credit for and you probably know more about what you need to know than the instructors and scientists that you KNOW are wrong!
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