Category: 2014

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“Bro Science” versus “Science”: What works best? 2014

As a natural bodybuilder I am very aware of the different training advice and information advocated online, in the media and in gyms around the country.  What I have discovered is that there is so much information (good and bad) out there that you have to be a critical thinker and separate the Science from the Bro science.

Now before I continue I want to explain the difference between Bro Science and Science.  Bro Science is the term given to ideas or principles within bodybuilding circles that are not necessarily based on scientific research yet they are perpetuated by the media, drug users or genetic freaks who grow from anything, or if they have some scientific merit the facts have been warped to suit whoever is looking to gain from it.  For example common Bro science ideas I hear in regards to bodybuilding are: “You need to train 5-6 times per week”, “You need to get 3-4 grams of protein per kilogram a day to grow”, “Don’t have carbs after 4pm” or “You need to do cardio to get lean for bodybuilding competitions” to name a few.

Compare that to Science which is the search and use of knowledge and understanding of the body and how it grows by following a systematic process based on evidence.  Simply put you experiment with different variables over time to determine what gives you the best outcome and in the case of bodybuilding the most muscle with the least amount of fat.

So how do we know that the workouts we are doing are the best for us?  Who do we listen to and why?  Consider this for a moment.  Who knows your body better than anyone else? YOU DO!  So the best way for you to make progress is to start with some basic training and nutrition information from credible sources and experiment in a systematic manner to determine what works the best for you.

The variables you need to consider when devising a routine are:

  • Exercise selection & technique
  • Frequency of training
  • Duration of sessions
  • Sets and repetition ranges
  • Rest
  • Recovery ability- affected by how much you sleep, nutrition, stress, work……….
  • Age
  • Past injuries
  • Strengths and weaknesses in terms of muscle balance and proportion.
  • Structure and leverages
  • Motivation levels

Next time I will discuss how I have experimented with training to find what worked for me so that you can hopefully find you own best way to make gains.  If you haven’t made progress for a while don’t spend years of your life training a certain way based on hearsay or Bro science, become your own experiment now and be happy in the knowledge that you are training in a manner that helps determine what works best for you and is actually based on real Science!

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My favourite 5 set leg work-out! 2014

The leg workout I am going to describe to you today is one that I have done on and off for the last 3 years.  It’s short, brutal, efficient and effective!

Now for a lot of people out there this may not seem like enough work, but if you truly push yourself on all the working sets – you will definitely see progress- maybe even some of the best gains of your life.

I suggest you train legs every 4 to 5 days and alternate between this and your normal leg routine every second leg workout- so this workout is done once every 8-10 days.

The first exercise is the Squat.  Perform two warm up sets with 50% and 70% of your working weight for 5-10 reps each.  Now load on a weight you can normally get 12-15 reps for and shoot for 20 reps on your first working set.  If you make 20 reps you will add 2.5 kg in the next workout. If not stay on that weight until you do. Have no longer than a minutes rest then shoot for 10 reps on the second set.

Once you do this you will realise that even 2 sets can feel like a workout!  However we now move onto deadlifts- 2 warm up sets of 3-5 reps, 50% and 70% respectively, then one working set of 5 reps.  Have about 30 seconds to 1 minute rest in between these sets.  If you reach 5 reps you will add 5 kg in the next workout.

Honestly a lot of people could stop right here and that would be enough to stimulate the development of their legs from top to bottom, however I find tacking on 2 sets of leg press calf raises (for those who need more calf size) for 20 reps, 30 seconds rest, then 10 more reps with the same weight beneficial for me.  Again once you reach the target rep goals add 5 kilos to the leg press next workout.

In short:

  1. 2 working sets of Squats 20, 10 reps
  2. 1 working set of Deads 5 reps
  3. 2 sets of Leg press calf-raises 20, 10 reps

I would just like to mention that your Squat and Deadlift technique must be on point for each rep.  If you cannot perform another rep in good form stop.  Remember there is always another workout to improve your performance (Not if you get injured through sloppy form though).

So there you have it- my favourite 5 set leg work-out.  5 sets of honest hard work that will augment your current leg training programme and help you become a stronger and bigger athlete!

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Reach your peak in 60 minutes a week. 2014

                          NABBA Nationals 2004

I have talked about abbreviated training before, but my latest experiment is worth mentioning.  My 3-4 workouts per week collectively take approximately 60 minutes to complete and have given me gains as good as any other training routine I have completed over the years.  Here is my current workouts from my training log:

Monday 10 Nov Chest & Back, Workout time= 13 minutes

  1. DB Incline Bench 37.5 kg for 17, 8, 6 super-setted with DB Rows 37.5 kg 20, 10, 8
  2. Wide Pull downs 150 pounds 13, 8, 6

Wednesday 12 Nov Shoulders & Arms:  Workout time = 15 minutes.

  1. Omni DB row* 30 kg for 20, 18, 12

* One arm hybrid side/row raises alternated with 3 different angles: bent over, 45 degrees & upright.

  1. Reverse Grip BB Shrug 80 kg for 18, 12, 8
  2. Omni Curls 17.5 kg for 16, 10 (1 set DB curls, 1 set Hammer curls) & 1 set cable reverse curls for 5-10
  3. Omni extensions 1 set of triceps push downs, 1 set of push outs & 1 set of DB pullover extensions 30kg for 11.

Friday 14 Nov Legs:  Workout time = 14 minutes

  1. 1 legged leg press 100 kg 20, 15, 10
  2. 1 legged leg press calf raise 100 kg 20, 12, 9
  3. Leg curl 2 sets of 5-10
  4. DB 1 leg stiff legged deadlift 14 kg 10, 10

Sunday 16 Nov Chest & Back: Workout time = 13 minutes

  1. DB Incline Bench 41.5 kg for 14, 7, 6 super-setted with DB Rows 45 kg 17, 10, 8
  2. Pull ups BW 12, 8, 6

A few added notes:

I do 1-2 quick warm up sets for my first exercise.

Stretches after workout may take 5-10 minutes.

Rep range goal; Set 1 =15-20, Set 2 =7-15, Set 3= 5-10 (depends on the exercise).

Rest periods are 10 deep breaths.

The 3 workouts are continuously rotated with a workout completed every second day.

My alternate leg workout is Squat, Deadlift and Calf raise.

The cool thing is over the last 2 months doing this routine I have been able to add weight or complete more reps on all exercises every workout, get a great pump and feel awesome at the end of the workout too.

Now if you have minimal time to train, need a break but don’t want to take one, struggle to recover from workouts or just want a change, give this training regime a try and be surprised at how little you need to do to make progress.  I wouldn’t have believed it was possible myself until I tried it.  I now challenge you to train 1 hour a week to reach your peak!

 

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Do you need to get any bigger? 2014

Classic Men’s 2008. I weighed 64.7 kg

I ask this question because it seems to be one of the main reasons people never reach their goal of achieving a physique they are happy with; whether they want to look good for the beach or compete in bodybuilding.  Often they have a fixed idea of what they want to weigh based on unrealistic expectations derived from bodybuilding magazines, claims made on the internet or the person they see at the gym who is using more than just food and natural supplements.

Another side to it is that people often believe that they can “bulk up” and gain a lean muscular physique faster through force feedings and eating junk followed by a “cut”.  This can work for a few gifted or “enhanced” athletes, but what usually happens is the majority of the weight gain is fat. So they then have to work extremely hard both physically and mentally to lose all the excess weight- sometimes with no gains to show for it at the other end.

Staying relatively lean through the muscle building process is better for several reasons; it allows you to see your progress and provides a better picture of what needs to be worked on in terms of weaknesses.  There is less chance of losing the hard earned muscle you have gained and ironically when you are leaner and lighter you often look bigger as the separation between individual muscles and the increased differential between the waist and shoulders creates the illusion of more size.

So what is the best way to achieve a beach body or competitive physique for a natural athlete?

Firstly we need to have realistic goals of what can be achieved naturally; below are some yardsticks to measure yourself by:

As covered in a previous article; Steve Reeves, a bodybuilding icon before drugs became widespread, presented a simple formula for calculating the ideal muscular body weight for your height. (Probably around 8-12% body fat which would be a good beach body look).

Height   Weight (pd)   Weight (kg).

5’5”            160               72.7 (note- professional bodybuilders can weigh 95kg+ with 5% body fat at this height!)
5’6”            165               75
5’7”            170               77.2
5’8”            175               79.5
5’9”            180               81.8
5’10”          185               84
5’11”          190               86.3
6’0”            200             90
6’1”            210               95.4
6’2”            220              100

Martin Berkhan, the creator of leangains.com suggests that a lot of natural athletes, when dialed in for a bodybuilding contest (around 5-6%), are not far off this formula: “Height in centimetres – (96-102) = bodyweight in kilos.

So for me this would be 165 – (96-102) = 63-69 kg.  As a natural athlete in competition condition I feel this a realistic goal as I look my best around this weight- usually around 60-65kg.  Obviously there will be exceptions beyond this as genetics play a large part in determining your muscular bodyweight potential. If you surpass this naturally then congratulations- awesome work!

Now that we have some realistic goals to shoot for we need to train smart by using exercises that suit our unique leverages, muscle belly lengths and can be overloaded progressively over a long period of time (see “Finding what works for you 1-4 in archived articles”).  Also using a combination of low rep (myofibrillar) and higher rep (sarcoplasmic) training should be used to maximise muscle growth.

Eat good food that meets your macronutrient and micronutrient needs to gain muscle without gaining excess fat.  I am not a fan of IIFYM (if it fits your macros) as people think they can eat junk food with little micronutrient value and think it will help them achieve their physique goals. Find out how many calories, protein, carbs and fats is required to maintain your weight now by eating meat, eggs, fruit, veges, nuts, dairy……. Then eat a little more of these foods to help the muscle building process. Augment this with a range of good supplements like whey, creatine, fish oil, vitamins and minerals. You won’t gain body weight as fast, but what you do gain will be mostly lean mass- in fact you may even gain muscle and lose fat at the same time!

Finally, I frequently see people at the gym who think they need to get bigger who really just need to get leaner and they would have an extremely impressive physique (either on the beach or for competition).  If you have been training a while, eat lots of nutritious food, use good natural supplements and are still not happy with how you look consider this- do I need to get any bigger? In a lot of occasions I would say probably not.

So there you have it, set realistic goals, train smart, eat quality food and supplements to allow muscle growth and lose enough body fat to show off the muscle you already have. Not only will you be happier with your physique but you will also be the envy of all those around you who are stuck in the mindset that they have to get bigger!

 

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Progressive Overload is the way forward. 2014

                  1998- 22 years old.

When I first started lifting weights 28 years ago I was told the only way to get muscles was to continuously lift heavier and heavier weights on the main compound movements.  So, each and every year I would try to beat personal bests in the Squat, Bench, Dead, Shoulder press, Chins and Barbell row.  For 15 years I was able to make small but consistent strength gains.  After that however my results plateaued no matter what I tried to do to increase the weight.  In reflection I am amazed at how stubborn I was and how deeply embedded that the idea of lifting heavier weights was the only real way forward, because for the next 5 years I tried to train the same way without making much if any progress.

Eight years ago I decided to use other forms of progressive overload like:

  • Progressively shortening rest periods with the same weight (going from 2-3 minute rests to 30 seconds)
  • Extending normal work sets with partial movements ( x –reps)
  • Progressive weight overload at a higher rep count. (going from 5-10 reps per set to 10-20 reps)
  • Fitting the same amount of work in a progressively shorter time frame. (Rest-pause & super-setting exercises).
  • Accentuated negatives (Increasing time to complete negatives from 1-2 seconds to 3-6 seconds).

Straight away I saw progress. This finally allowed me to let go of the concept that lifting more weight was the only way to make gains.

More recently I have used other techniques to progressively overload my muscles:

  • Extending sets by completing 2-3 exercises together; going from the least favourable leverage position to the strongest* or an isolation movement to a compound movement** using the same weight and then aiming for a specific rep goal before adding any further weight.

*An example of this is when I train triceps- I will pick a weight for “Omni triceps extensions” and begin with overhead triceps push outs, when I know I only have one more rep in the tank I go straight into triceps pushdowns and then finally into triceps push outs facing the weight stack where my upper arms are almost 90 degrees to my torso.

**I like to complete DB flys first then go straight into a DB Bench with upper arms close to the torso. Another example is going from BB Stiff legged deadlifts straight into conventional deadlifts.

  • Increasing volume from 1-2 sets to 3-4 sets.
  • Using TORQ (tension overload resistance quantity- see previous article “Let’s talk about TORQ”).
  • Completing partial repetitions*** or static holds in the “stretch position” or “contracted position”****

***My favourite exercise for this is squats- I pulse in the bottom half of the squat (just below and above parallel for 5 reps) and then aim to complete at least 5 full reps straight after.

****I hold for a two count in the bottom of any press before pushing up or holding any row or chin for a two count in the contracted position.

Although these are just a few examples, you can see there are many other ways to progressively overload the muscles.  If you have tapped out your muscle gains with traditional training methods give these ideas a try- remember-INSANITY is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  So whatever overload method you decide to use make sure it allows you to keep moving forward and the results will follow!