Quote (Canadian_Man @ Nov 28 2011 04:26am)
Sure thing
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=345358141#p345358141You state on the final set of an exercise to do 85% of your current max (I presume it would be based on your estimated 1 rep max given your current fatigue level). So I get to something like regular curls, and I am doing my last set, which should be supersetted with hammer curls. So I curl let's say 5 reps of 30 pounds. Then I rest 5-10 seconds. I get 2 and a half more reps out. Then I have to decide whether I wait 10 seconds and go and do hammer curls, or if I do the 50% dropset of regular curls first before going to the hammer curls.
As you've laid it out, it makes sense for a non supersetted routine.
Also, I've gotten a lot of criticism by Burns on this routine (I made a non-serious thread as I sometimes do just saying I'm glad I get to hit things twice a week). Do you ever find yourself having to defend your position on your mass training routine? I'm not speaking against it, since I'm still continuing it at the moment, but as someone who has knowledge based on tidbits I've accumulated from people like yourself, it's difficult for me to really defend the lifting routine. It goes against everything I've learned up until now. What I'm trying to emphasize is that I'm just somewhat confused, since there's so many differing opinions out there. Considering your advice has so far helped me greatly, I'm more than happy to continue taking your advice, and I'm not speaking against it... just trying to figure out better how to defend the lifting routine you've given me if I were having an every-day conversation with another lifter. All I could say to someone else right now is "it works for me" -- but if they were to tell me "once a week is more than enough for a particular muscle group, and anything more is not very smart", I wouldn't know how to argue against it.
OK no problem, I understand now.
On all SUPERSETS you will NOT be doing the standard set.
Instead for supersets you will be doing this:
Set 1 - Exercise 1, 10 seconds rest, Exercise 2
30-60 seconds rest
Set 2 - Exercise 1, 10 seconds rest, Exercise 2
30-60 seconds rest
Set 3 - Exercise 1, 10 seconds rest, Exercise 2
30-60 seconds rest
Set 4 - Exercise 1, 10 seconds rest, Exercise 2
30-60 seconds rest
Set 5 - Exercise 1, 10 seconds rest, Exercise 2
You will go up in weight each set until you hit 85%. For ALL other exercises (not supersets) conduct those in the way described in the routine.
OK now to explain the hypertrophy plan...
The old saying goes, there is no such thing as overtraining - just undereating and undersleeping. This is 100% true. As long as you are getting 8-9 hours of sleep per night and eating the proper diet with satisfactory calories (with a proper balance of carbs/protein/fats), you will grow as much as your body will allow.
To explain hypertrophy in a nutshell - here we go. In order to build muscle tissue, one must first BREAK it down in the form of micro-tears. These tears are caused by the stress/trauma inflicted during weight-lifting. As you tear these fibers, the body will attempt to repair them the moment you stop working out, but won't efficiently be able to repair them until you sleep. During the time at which you stop working out until you go to bed, you need a good supply of nutrition to fuel your body's repair process. During this time, feeding is CRITICAL. You could literally starve the whole day before a workout, take some BCAA's before, then eat like a king for the rest of the night and still grow. During the time of sleep,the body breaks down proteins into amino acids and proceeds to repair these muscle tissues. It usually takes about 2-4 days to fully repair an area with satisfactory nutrition and sleep.
This being said, training ONE muscle group per week may work for some with very resistant recovery. Some people have better recovery than others and need to train muscle groups 2x per week for maximum benefit. The idea that every workout works for everyone is bogus. It depends on the person - but moreso it depends on their diet and sleep pattern.
Moving along, hypertrophy shocks the body by sustaining so much trauma to the muscles that it also spikes IGF and Test production. This will yield greater results when recovering assuming that everything else is in check.
However the body is always right. If you feel so fatigued/sore on the 4th day (the day right after the day of rest) then you might want to take one more day before proceeding. Let your body dictate when you are ready to proceed with training. This intense form of training has been used by MANY bodybuilding greats over the years. Granted you will NOT build as much strength with hypertrophy as 5x5 or 3x5, etc - you can expect modest strength gains along with large muscle size/volume gains.
The body doesn't know days/weeks/months/years - those are man made. The body only knows sleep and nutrition. Assuming you give it enough of each - it will recover much faster and can thus become far more efficient when doing hypertrophy.