Proper steroid free training

[Realgains]

Hey RG - nice to see you around again. Thanks for the post. It looks great, and as soon as I can mentally get past doing just one or two moves for each part, I intend to try it. (And after I try WSB). I love lifting so much, I feel deprived if I have to cut it back. Maybe silly, but true. Here's a question, though. How come, on the days I only go to the point where I know I won't get another rep, or I try the next rep and fail, how come I go home feeling like I just had a stroll in the park? It just doesn't feel intense enough ...

Also, what about DL's? SLDL's are enough? Or do you just change the variations up with each cycle?

A lot of natural trainees cannot train to true concentric failure(the point were one gets stuck and fights like hell for a few seconds) on a routine basis without over training. If you want to go to true concentric failure all of the time then go ahead and try....if your weights are moving up then you are recovering.

Sometimes one gets stuck in a set and doesn't make the target reps and thats just fine and thats training to concentric failure... just don't add weight to the bar the next week....other times one just barely makes the target reps and thats fine too and quite intense really especially in the squat.

If you want intense training and think you can recover well then try the rest pause reps as per above, or the occasional forced reps or try to train to failure all the time once the initial break in weeks are over in a training cycle.

Remember the most important thing in training is weight progression and not the feeling of being hammer from a workout. I am not saying this to down play intensity but intensity has to be put in proper perspective.
If your weights are going up you will be getting stronger and bigger and the intensty is enough.

As far as the low volume and few exercises are concerned....

when you can bench 225 pounds very strictly then you are going to have big triceps, chest and shoulders for a lady...when you can deep high bar squat 300 pounds then your your entire upper leg will be developed well....when you can stiff leg deadlift 250 pounds 10 times in good form then you are going to have great hams and low back not to mention upper mid back and traps....when you can overhead press 175 pounds for 8 reps then you will have complete shoulder and tricep developement...when you can do pulldowns with 200 pounds strictly, slowly and fully then you will have big lats and biceps ... My point is you DO NOT need a lot of exercises and or sets to make great progress and in fact high volume is a death sentence for most natural trainee.

About the deadlifts...I perfer stiff leg deads and think they are a little better overall than regular deads but do the regular deads instead of SLDL for at least one training cycle each year as they are great for PURE BODILY POWER developement.
Best of luck

RG

 

[spiderwoman]

I really appreciate this post! I like the compound moves the best and have trained that way for a few months. As a mom, I like the fact that they are more time efficient than all the isolation stuff, makes workout time shorter and more productive. But, lately I've been doing too much cardio. I always thought that if you have that piece of cheesecake, then you ought to do an hour on the elliptical... [we had two Christmases here: a Ukrainian Christmas too...]
cheers!

 

[valerie]

These really are some great ideas for all of us to consider. Things are much clearer for me now. I have lowered my volume and days per training for the last 3 months and really am finally making the gains. -valerie

 

[Torchy]

Realgains...always a pleasure reading some of your insight

 

[newgirl-chargeback]

Torchy -- I agree. I love reading this man's posts.

 

[Pamela]

Very interesting information!

Thank You for taking the time to write it..

 

[Friscochick]

Great Sticky! very informative RealGains, time worth spent

 

[w84me]

great information!!! I made use of the 1lb & 3lb velcro wraps I had ... great suggestion for adding small amounts of weight.

 

[Realgains]

My brother in law is a national level power lifter and he has just added 15 pounds to his already UNREAL bench of 535 in a single training cycle of 12 weeks using MICRO LOADING. This is GREAT progress for someone that is so very close to his genetic limit.

He told me that during the last weeks of his last training cycle he added only .5 pounds per week to the bench and close grip bench for reps but that this allowed for gains that he would never have been able to get with fewer but larger increases .

Micro loading is very important once the going gets tough and especially for women who simple cannot gain at the rate of genetically gifted male.

It is said that trying to add a single rep to a set of 5 all out reps in the bench is equivant to adding 5 pounds to the bar and keeping the reps at 5...this is not possible for the vast majority of lifters once training all out. SO....adding tiny amounts of weight and keeping the reps at 5 seems to trick the body into adaptation by allowing for steady progressive overload on the muscles....at a level that the body can cope with.


www.fractionalplates.com


RG

 

[circusgirl]

Are you the author of Beyond Brawn by any chance? This book had similar advice.