"Where Training Science Meets Training Reality"
I swore I wouldn't post on another weight training forum because I don't like the general attitudes most of them have, but this one seems different [ed. note: reference to The Strength And Size Forum].
I been involved with weight training since 1987 when a friend convinced me to get back into it. After starting again the way I used to as a teenager with multiple sets and exercises per bodypart as all the bodybuilding stars did, I discovered a book called High Intensity Bodybuilding by Ellington Darden. This book opened the door for me into real, honest productive training.
In this book Darden explained the problem of over training and I understood the idea behind it right away. Some things I didn't agree 100% with - like not splitting a routine and doing the same one three days a week - but I knew what he was getting at. I revised my own split routine to drop the volume and increase the intensity. I went from four days a week to three, dropping the number of exercises from three or four per body part to two and the sets per exercise from four to three and eventually to two. Just the thought of doing 'so little' per bodypart scared me into really doing each set hard.
I right away made gains - immediately became stronger and began looking different. Like I said, I knew the idea behind this low volume/high intensity made all the sense in the world , it was just Dardens way of introducing a higher volume trainer to low volume I didn't agree with. Too big of a decrease too soon, in my opinion. I figured that you had to LEARN HOW to beat yourself up with less exercise and it would take time to become efficient at it. My idea and goal was to start of with a split routine consisting of 16 sets - total. As I would learn to train harder and harder I would progress to the lower volume of sets/movements and finally the three days a week to two. My goal was to be able to have one set of six to eight exercises completely wipe me out. But I knew it would take time.
Over the years of following this plan and reading all I could I came across material by Dr Ken Leistner. His routines on paper were brutal and was the next step for me. I had my eye on a routine he wrote up in the old 'Iron Man' he called 'The Look Of Power '. It was three day a week routine consisting of a push-pull routine of mostly compound exercises that made my eyes roll around in my head just reading about it. I promised myself that the coming fall when it cooled off and had myself in top shape that I'd tackle that routine.
My first shot at that routine began with a 50% set of squats , followed by stiff legged deadlifts, dips, and shrugs being next. I remember not even being able to stand up for the shrugs let alone hold a loaded barbell and that the dips I did - or tried - were a disgrace. I was shaking like I had a fever and layed down and fell asleep on the cold tile floor to avoid throwing up. When I woke up in a daze I realized I truly found out what hard traing was. Though alittle embarrassed at my self for being unable to get to the fourth exercise , I was also delighted because I knew what was down the road for me when training like this.
In the next couple sessions I was not only getting through the routines but adding weight to the bars and cutting the time down it took to do the routines. Soon these 10 - 12 set HIT routines were too much and in order to progress I had to cut back on the numvber of movements per workout and training days per week to two. I could no longer recover doing this stuff three days a week. I learned pretty quick of exercise selection and order and made up my own routines that worked best for me.
In the years that followed my discovery of high intensity exercise I progressed to my goal of hitting the exercises so hard that no more than six or seven compound exercises - one set each to positive failure - was all I could do correctly twice a week. Sometimes that even had to be reduced to six times a month ( Mon, Fri, Wed ) but that seemed too long of a break between workouts for me - it seemed I got lazy and lost my 'edge' or focus of attacking the workouts with that kind of spacing.
The next step I thought was Super Slow. Sounded like the next step up in intensity and progression for me. I bought Hutchins book and read about it . At first I couldn't get past my ego of seeing the smaller weights and this resulted in not giving SS an honest try. A year later or so I was ready to really give it a try. I remember using two day a week training of about 8 sets. The routine would consist of a compound movement follwed by an isolation for the same body part; one set each. The cadence was 10/5 and rep guide numbers were six for legs and four for the rest of the body which amounts to roughly a minute and a half for the legs and a minute for the upperbody.
These workouts were brutal ; I felt every bit as wasted as on my previous HIT training except my muscles would pump like never before! I knew I was going to make fantastic gains with this Super Slow stuff.
Funny thing though ... in the next six months I seemed to be losing size and weight. I figured the looser clothes and lower number on the scale was bodyfat loss. I didn't want my 'ego' getting the best of me as it did with using smaller weights when I first started SS so I continued. It all hit me one day when a few of us (non workout friends) were standing around and one of the guys was talking about starting to workout. One of the others replied that he would never stick with it and pointing to me said;
"If he (ME!) quit working out, you'll never stick with it. He was really into it before and was (WAS!) really built before ( BEFORE ! ) . WHAT ??!! Quit working out ? WHO quit working out ?? What the F*** ... I was training harder than ever!
I went home and asked my girlfriend at the time and she also said, "Oh yeah, you're not as big and muscular as you used to be - can't you see it ? I thought you were doing it on purpose. But you look still look good. You look ..... fit ".
Needless to say I IMMEDIATELY went back to my seven to eight set routines of regular speed reps and the size/strength came back like magic almost overnight. I was really disappointed that Super Slow didn't work for me as in theroy I thought it should. I did believe in it and trained hard but it certainly didn't for me. It certainly did kick my ass each time and I got the rest - weren't they the main requirements to make the gains ??
Soon I was back to where I was before the Super Slow experiment as mentioned, but hit a wall as I did before. I couldn't reduce my training anymore, could I ? To what ? I was already doing one set of six or seven movements to positive failure. What's next ... one set of three or four ?? Maybe ... but I never saw a Dr Ken routine that breif . I couldn't increase the volume ... that would be going in the opposite direction, wouldn't it ?
I then started to think about my genetic limits. Maybe I haven't progressed for the longest time because I reached my genetic limit. I didn't think so but why wasn't I getting stronger? My routines were certainly breif enough and was definately training hard.
Thinking about it , I then stopped doing one thing I've been guilty most of the of time through out my training - listening and following TO THE LETTER what my lifting mentors like Dr Ken, Jones and others said. I rarely deviated from what they said though as I had enormous respect for them. But sometimes I would feel like a small change would work out better for me.
This became true for me last year. I was still at a stall in progress of bringing my lifts up and because of this I was feeling burnt out. I always felt that I'd respond better to slightly lower reps than I had been using, but never tried them because my influences always suggested 12 for upper body and 20 fr lower. Early on I realized these numbers were not quite right for me and lowered them to 15 lower and 8 upper. Through out my training years these were the numbers I felt OK with - yet always felt I'd do even better with even lower numbers in upper and lowrer body. I just never went for it until last year. Being a rock-head like myself and thinking Jones, Darden and Dr.Ken knew what was best for me - even though I never met either of them.... Dohhh!!
Last year I was motivated to shoot for a goal of Shrug Bar Deadlifting 405 for 12 reps. I was always impressed with the McRoberts article of '400 X 20' about his deadlifting goal. I knew I'd never do it for twenty reps but figured I might have a chance at ten using a Shrug bar, which is a piece of equipment I LOVE.
I decided then on two routines of seven sets (one all out set of deadlifts followed by two sets of three other movements on day one ; and on day two one set of leg presses followed by two sets of three other movements). The guide numbers set up were ten on the deadlifts and leg press and six on the others with the second set of these being nine with a weight reduction for the second set. The weights wer enough to just allow the target rep.
One other change I made that I never did since discovering HIT - when I hit my guide number of reps in any of the movements I stopped even if I thought I could do another. If I thought I would fail at the the target number on the next rep - I stopped. I went just short of failure. Before last year you would never have convinced me to do so short of holding a gun to my head.
Last June I completed 405 X 12 in the Shrug Bar Deadlift - this was adding five pounds to the lift every week - without ever missing the five pound increase a single time and hit the goal six weeks before I thought would. I reached this seemingly unreachable goal of mine with out a problem.
This is at 48 years old and two years after being at a sticking point that I though was due to a genetic limit being reached. It's unbelievable that such a small change in rep number and stopping short of positive failure could make such a big difference in my training.
And the icing on the cake ; without trying by altering my diet which is pretty clean but by no means being a 'health food fanatic' ; my body weight went up to 183 from 176 while my bodyfat went to down to 12%. Before this if I'd approach 180 I'd start getting too much fat around my waist and the abs would start to fade. Now weighing more I'm even more defined then at 176 -7. Go figure. Aren't I supposed to be getting fatter, weaker and watch my diet even closer at 48 ?
Anyway, this isn't supposed to impress any of you guys reading this as I'm sure a 405 X 12 deadlift is old news to alot of you. But, if you asked me a couple years ago if I'd be capable of it that I would have said 'I don't think so'. I'm now shooting for that 405 X 20 I was sure I could never do. It won't be easy, but if I plan it right and not get injured, I really believe it's possibly for me next summer.
Follow the great information a few of the better people give to you , but don't read their suggestions as hard and fast laws that are carved in stone as I did. It might cost you as it did me.
Train Hard