- Oct 29, 2004
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Workout Routines/Fitness Articles/News Updates
A) “TRAINING, FREQUENCY & INTENSITY" - Written by BigCanuk
Last month we looked at the implications and benefits of mental focus during training. Another piece of the puzzle to be unlocked is the frequency and intensity of the workout.
We've all heard proponents of low volume, high intensity saying that it's the only way to train. Yet we've all seen the mass mongers who do 20 sets per body part getting the results we want as well. So who's right? According to a recent study, two groups were chosen to workout. One group did the regular 3 sets of 3 different exercises per body part. The other group did one set. At the end of 3 months, the group that did only one set had better results! Unfortunately, this study only used individuals who had no bodybuilding or serious lifting experience and did not monitor critical elements such as protein intake, rest levels, etc. It does however show us some very interesting details concerning what the body responds to best.
On that note, we've known for a long time that human GH levels go up at the start of a workout but quickly diminish after about 45 minutes. That's why it's always recommended to try to finish your workout in under an hour. You can take advantage of your bodies' own natural GH levels that way. This is definitely a bonus round for enthusiasts of the low volume, high intensity workout.
I recently tried the 10 sets of 10 workout at 60% of the maximum lift for 2 weeks. I was very disappointed with MY results. I incurred 2 injuries (very minor and short lived but an injury is always something you can't enjoy.) The one was some serious pain in my knee which showed up the day after the leg workout and taking ibuprofen for 10 days was what got me through that. The other was an elbow injury from doing triceps which also went away after about 5 days. I can only assume these injuries occurred from mass repetitions. Let's face it, 100 reps for one exercise is a lot. The clincher is that I am one of those low volume, high intensity workout guys and I believe this departure was just too radical for my body to handle and it let me know that by giving me the painful injuries I mentioned. Needless to say, I went back to the low volume, high intensity again and have been enjoying my gains once more. I should also mention I was on an off cycle period when I did the 10 sets of 10 and got those injuries. We all know it's very easy to keep going and going and going when you're running on high test. but we have to realize that eventually we've got to pay the piper.
What I mean is that there is a time and a place for everything and we have to be the ones to be in tune with when and where that is so we don't overtax ourselves and wind up being broken down wondering what happened. So be in tune with what your body tells you. If it likes and responds best to 3 sets of 3 different exercises, keep with it. If it likes one set per body part, so be it. And remember as well, running on high octane will allow you to overtrain and get away with it and still get good results but not too many of us are juicing constantly either.
Those of us who only do a few cycles a year must learn to cycle our workouts in corresponding fashion as well. That's the only time and place for instinctive training as far as I'm concerned. Again, that's because you can get results from almost anything you do when you're juicing. You can't say that about a body that's clean though. Planned undertraining can take you a long way if you plan it well. I've been doing it for years and still dabbling with other styles as I feel the inclination to but keep coming back to what works best for me.
With all these points in mind, you should be able to experiment and find what your body likes best and fine tune your workout to see the results you want. -BigCanuk-
A) “TRAINING, FREQUENCY & INTENSITY" - Written by BigCanuk
Last month we looked at the implications and benefits of mental focus during training. Another piece of the puzzle to be unlocked is the frequency and intensity of the workout.
We've all heard proponents of low volume, high intensity saying that it's the only way to train. Yet we've all seen the mass mongers who do 20 sets per body part getting the results we want as well. So who's right? According to a recent study, two groups were chosen to workout. One group did the regular 3 sets of 3 different exercises per body part. The other group did one set. At the end of 3 months, the group that did only one set had better results! Unfortunately, this study only used individuals who had no bodybuilding or serious lifting experience and did not monitor critical elements such as protein intake, rest levels, etc. It does however show us some very interesting details concerning what the body responds to best.
On that note, we've known for a long time that human GH levels go up at the start of a workout but quickly diminish after about 45 minutes. That's why it's always recommended to try to finish your workout in under an hour. You can take advantage of your bodies' own natural GH levels that way. This is definitely a bonus round for enthusiasts of the low volume, high intensity workout.
I recently tried the 10 sets of 10 workout at 60% of the maximum lift for 2 weeks. I was very disappointed with MY results. I incurred 2 injuries (very minor and short lived but an injury is always something you can't enjoy.) The one was some serious pain in my knee which showed up the day after the leg workout and taking ibuprofen for 10 days was what got me through that. The other was an elbow injury from doing triceps which also went away after about 5 days. I can only assume these injuries occurred from mass repetitions. Let's face it, 100 reps for one exercise is a lot. The clincher is that I am one of those low volume, high intensity workout guys and I believe this departure was just too radical for my body to handle and it let me know that by giving me the painful injuries I mentioned. Needless to say, I went back to the low volume, high intensity again and have been enjoying my gains once more. I should also mention I was on an off cycle period when I did the 10 sets of 10 and got those injuries. We all know it's very easy to keep going and going and going when you're running on high test. but we have to realize that eventually we've got to pay the piper.
What I mean is that there is a time and a place for everything and we have to be the ones to be in tune with when and where that is so we don't overtax ourselves and wind up being broken down wondering what happened. So be in tune with what your body tells you. If it likes and responds best to 3 sets of 3 different exercises, keep with it. If it likes one set per body part, so be it. And remember as well, running on high octane will allow you to overtrain and get away with it and still get good results but not too many of us are juicing constantly either.
Those of us who only do a few cycles a year must learn to cycle our workouts in corresponding fashion as well. That's the only time and place for instinctive training as far as I'm concerned. Again, that's because you can get results from almost anything you do when you're juicing. You can't say that about a body that's clean though. Planned undertraining can take you a long way if you plan it well. I've been doing it for years and still dabbling with other styles as I feel the inclination to but keep coming back to what works best for me.
With all these points in mind, you should be able to experiment and find what your body likes best and fine tune your workout to see the results you want. -BigCanuk-
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