pistachio
Member
To follow on from my thread on diet / nutrition, here are my thoughts on training and workouts. As with my other thread, it is somewhat scatterbrained, I hope you can follow it and find it useful and or interesting. Most of the information here is geared more towards people aiming to get as muscular as possible, although many of the points are relevant for people who train purely for strength also. Any questions, hit me up.
Goals
This is one of the most important things. People generally have goals when it comes to fat loss, or muscle gain etc, but don’t always have goals when it comes to workouts. Before you go into the gym, you should have a goal that you want to achieve during that workout (or at the very least, know what you are going to do or what goal you are working towards).
Every time I have gone to the gym either not really knowing what I’ve wanted to do, or without any real purpose, I have had a shit workout. The opposite is true when I go in with a goal in mind.
Set programs such as PPP can be fantastic for this purpose, simply because they give you a weight to do each workout. However it doesn’t have to be a powerlifting or strength oriented program. Years ago I did a HST program. My diet and other facets of my training weren’t great, but thanks to the program, my workouts were.
Note that it is not the actual program here that is important. It is simply having a goal before you go into the gym. People talk about visualising your workouts beforehand, and I believe there is some merit to this, but I also think that most people don’t have time to be thinking about the gym all day outside of the gym. I think having that goal, and having a look at it before you go to the gym is sufficient. Then on the drive to the gym, I may visualise completing that goal.
Failure
My thoughts on failure are pretty simple. You should be able to train without a spotter. I have a training partner, but we never spot eachother, we never need to. If you want to go past failure, do a drop set. I love doing drop sets, but again, I will not do these to failure either. Going to failure to me seems like an added risk of injury for very little benefit. Provided you are constantly getting stronger, or getting more reps, you will get bigger and your muscles will develop. You don’t need to develop your ‘failure’ strength to achieve this. Plus, I’ve read that it puts increased strain on your CNS, which may or may not be true, but regardless I just don’t think going to failure is necessary.
Testing 1RMs is the obvious exception to this rule. I don’t like to do this too often however (PPP works nicely for me here as I am only really doing this about once every 2 months).
I should note here that when I was younger, I went to failure every set, always followed by a few assisted reps from a squatter (‘come on, one more, it’s all you bro, all you!’). I have, by far, made the best progress in my whole training life in the last couple of years. I have not once done any assisted reps in that time. If I have wanted to really finish off the muscle, as mentioned above, I will use drop sets.
Generally, other than my last working set for an exercise, I will always have one rep left in the tank.
Longevity
I believe that the longer you stay in the game, the better and better it gets. Your bone density improves, your blood flow improves, your heart and muscles strengthen, you become stronger etc. This is only a short section, but the point I want to make is that you should always bear this in mind with your training. The patient lifter who trains for many years will achieve far better results than the over-zealous lifter who rushes into it and gets injured or overtrains.
Rep ranges
I have tried most rep ranges over my training history, and I have settled on a few methodologies here:
- 5x5 to build up strength quickly, or to get back to strength quickly after a break. In my opinion, this is only really suitable when you can increase the weight weekly, or fortnightly (i.e. noob gains or muscle-memory gains)
- 10/8/6 for nearly everything else, with the one exception being calves (typically sets of 12 or 15). Particularly accessory work I find well suited for this rep range.
I like 10/8/6 as I’m still not convinced what rep range works best. The high rep set warms everything up nicely, while also getting a bit of a pump, and the 6 rep set is usually heavy enough to develop some strength.
I don’t like doing too many heavy sets (with the exception of deadlifts because I HATE high rep deadlifts) as I feel that I focus more on moving the weight than hitting the muscles I am trying to hit.
Occasionally, I’ll do sets of 10 with a lighter weight when I want to try to isolate a muscle more and minimise the use of other muscle groups.
Bodybuilding vs Powerlifting
Anybody who knows me knows I train to be a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter. However I believe the best gains can be made by incorporating both training methodologies. I don’t like pure powerlifting style training, simply because it seems to me that you will inevitably get injured. I also feel that I am probably too late in my development to start from there (certain muscle groups would inevitably shrink from lack of training). If I was starting from scratch however, I would utilise either a strength or powerlifting program until I attained a certain level of physique.
More importantly though, I love a good pump and I love bodybuilding type workouts. And the single best way to ensure you hit the gym every day is to ENJOY it. If full on strength programs gets you off and ensures that you keep hitting the gym every day, then go for it.
All that said, I would say my training style at the moment could probably be best described as a strength program with lots of assistance work. There are very few ‘bodybuilding’ exercises in there. Almost all exercises I do are compound and are mass builders.
Lagging body parts
For any natural trainer, certain bodyparts will lag over time. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are neglecting them or not training them hard enough. Genetically, everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Even if you train everything equally, over time, the gap will grow. As part of my sculpting this year, I have taken stock of my physique and my weaknesses in particular. My strategy has been to prioritise my weaknesses and train them first. E.g. My side and rear delts were lagging noticeably. I began training them twice a week and at the START of my workout. Shoulders have made tremendous progress this year and are finally starting to get up to scratch, although are not yet quite up to par. Same story with legs, although they have still not responded as well as I would like (although my training partner is complaining about his legs growing too much under the new program). I will keep experimenting with this.
Split vs Full body
For beginners, I strongly advocate full body workouts 3 times a week until a certain level of strength or physique is obtained. I attribute a lot of my imbalances to my early years of split workout training.
Once you reach a certain level however (which will vary from person to person), full body workouts IMO no longer allow you to adequately hit all muscles. From this point on, split workouts are the way to go. I have tried full body workouts in recent years and they have never ended well.
Personally I have never really gained very well at all from full body workouts, possibly because I started them after all my noob gains were already used up. But also because I just don’t enjoy them. This leads onto my next point.
Enjoyment
I’ve mentioned this a few times. Enjoyment is a big factor in consistency. The more you enjoy your workouts, the more likely you are to keep at it. This is particularly important for beginners, as while it is easier for more experienced lifters to derive motivation from their past improvement, many new lifters often give up before any significant (and motivating) gains are achieved.
If the workouts are enjoyable, you are more likely to persist through this initial period until real gains are noticed, in which case motivation becomes far easier to obtain. I think of it as a cycle of motivation – you make gains which make you motivated which gives you more gains which gets you more motivated.
Differences in training during cutting and bulking phases
In short, there doesn’t really need to be any. It’ll be easier to gain strength and break PBs on a bulk, but that doesn’t mean you have to train for it. Similarly, just because you are cutting doesn’t mean you can’t try to get stronger, merely that it will be harder to achieve. I like to just be consistent and keep training the same.
One thing I would recommend however is not to change your routine drastically when cutting. In particular, do NOT start lifting lighter (i.e. higher reps). You want to maintain as much muscle as possible on a cut, this will be best achieved by at the very least maintaining your strength, or trying to get stronger. By forcing your muscles to pull their weight, you give them a reason to stick around when the calories start dropping.
However, as mentioned in my other thread, I believe clean bulking is the way to go, in which case ‘cutting’ should only take up a very small portion of your year anyway, depending on how clean your bulk was. These short periods should be business as usual, simply with less calories.
On a similar note, cardio levels do not need to change either. All we are concerned about is calories in versus calories out. If you can’t stand to eat any less food, then sure, do some more cardio.
Personally, I never do any specified cardio. Ever. I can lose weight on close to 3000 calories thanks to my muscle mass, so it is not necessary for fat loss. And personally, I think that 1-1.5 hour workouts 4-5 times a week is plenty of exercise. Include some drop sets in there and some skipping at start and finish and I think that is sufficient to keep you fit.
Conclusion
There are lots of different factors to consider with your training, but you need to take a holistic approach of solid training, adequate recovery and proper nutrition. Training is probably the easiest of the three.
It doesn’t need to be complicated, consistency is far more important than complexity. And patience is a virtue.
Questions
Alright, that’s all that I could think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there is more, I’ll edit this later if I can think of anything else noteworthy to mention.
Goals
This is one of the most important things. People generally have goals when it comes to fat loss, or muscle gain etc, but don’t always have goals when it comes to workouts. Before you go into the gym, you should have a goal that you want to achieve during that workout (or at the very least, know what you are going to do or what goal you are working towards).
Every time I have gone to the gym either not really knowing what I’ve wanted to do, or without any real purpose, I have had a shit workout. The opposite is true when I go in with a goal in mind.
Set programs such as PPP can be fantastic for this purpose, simply because they give you a weight to do each workout. However it doesn’t have to be a powerlifting or strength oriented program. Years ago I did a HST program. My diet and other facets of my training weren’t great, but thanks to the program, my workouts were.
Note that it is not the actual program here that is important. It is simply having a goal before you go into the gym. People talk about visualising your workouts beforehand, and I believe there is some merit to this, but I also think that most people don’t have time to be thinking about the gym all day outside of the gym. I think having that goal, and having a look at it before you go to the gym is sufficient. Then on the drive to the gym, I may visualise completing that goal.
Failure
My thoughts on failure are pretty simple. You should be able to train without a spotter. I have a training partner, but we never spot eachother, we never need to. If you want to go past failure, do a drop set. I love doing drop sets, but again, I will not do these to failure either. Going to failure to me seems like an added risk of injury for very little benefit. Provided you are constantly getting stronger, or getting more reps, you will get bigger and your muscles will develop. You don’t need to develop your ‘failure’ strength to achieve this. Plus, I’ve read that it puts increased strain on your CNS, which may or may not be true, but regardless I just don’t think going to failure is necessary.
Testing 1RMs is the obvious exception to this rule. I don’t like to do this too often however (PPP works nicely for me here as I am only really doing this about once every 2 months).
I should note here that when I was younger, I went to failure every set, always followed by a few assisted reps from a squatter (‘come on, one more, it’s all you bro, all you!’). I have, by far, made the best progress in my whole training life in the last couple of years. I have not once done any assisted reps in that time. If I have wanted to really finish off the muscle, as mentioned above, I will use drop sets.
Generally, other than my last working set for an exercise, I will always have one rep left in the tank.
Longevity
I believe that the longer you stay in the game, the better and better it gets. Your bone density improves, your blood flow improves, your heart and muscles strengthen, you become stronger etc. This is only a short section, but the point I want to make is that you should always bear this in mind with your training. The patient lifter who trains for many years will achieve far better results than the over-zealous lifter who rushes into it and gets injured or overtrains.
Rep ranges
I have tried most rep ranges over my training history, and I have settled on a few methodologies here:
- 5x5 to build up strength quickly, or to get back to strength quickly after a break. In my opinion, this is only really suitable when you can increase the weight weekly, or fortnightly (i.e. noob gains or muscle-memory gains)
- 10/8/6 for nearly everything else, with the one exception being calves (typically sets of 12 or 15). Particularly accessory work I find well suited for this rep range.
I like 10/8/6 as I’m still not convinced what rep range works best. The high rep set warms everything up nicely, while also getting a bit of a pump, and the 6 rep set is usually heavy enough to develop some strength.
I don’t like doing too many heavy sets (with the exception of deadlifts because I HATE high rep deadlifts) as I feel that I focus more on moving the weight than hitting the muscles I am trying to hit.
Occasionally, I’ll do sets of 10 with a lighter weight when I want to try to isolate a muscle more and minimise the use of other muscle groups.
Bodybuilding vs Powerlifting
Anybody who knows me knows I train to be a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter. However I believe the best gains can be made by incorporating both training methodologies. I don’t like pure powerlifting style training, simply because it seems to me that you will inevitably get injured. I also feel that I am probably too late in my development to start from there (certain muscle groups would inevitably shrink from lack of training). If I was starting from scratch however, I would utilise either a strength or powerlifting program until I attained a certain level of physique.
More importantly though, I love a good pump and I love bodybuilding type workouts. And the single best way to ensure you hit the gym every day is to ENJOY it. If full on strength programs gets you off and ensures that you keep hitting the gym every day, then go for it.
All that said, I would say my training style at the moment could probably be best described as a strength program with lots of assistance work. There are very few ‘bodybuilding’ exercises in there. Almost all exercises I do are compound and are mass builders.
Lagging body parts
For any natural trainer, certain bodyparts will lag over time. This doesn’t necessarily mean you are neglecting them or not training them hard enough. Genetically, everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. Even if you train everything equally, over time, the gap will grow. As part of my sculpting this year, I have taken stock of my physique and my weaknesses in particular. My strategy has been to prioritise my weaknesses and train them first. E.g. My side and rear delts were lagging noticeably. I began training them twice a week and at the START of my workout. Shoulders have made tremendous progress this year and are finally starting to get up to scratch, although are not yet quite up to par. Same story with legs, although they have still not responded as well as I would like (although my training partner is complaining about his legs growing too much under the new program). I will keep experimenting with this.
Split vs Full body
For beginners, I strongly advocate full body workouts 3 times a week until a certain level of strength or physique is obtained. I attribute a lot of my imbalances to my early years of split workout training.
Once you reach a certain level however (which will vary from person to person), full body workouts IMO no longer allow you to adequately hit all muscles. From this point on, split workouts are the way to go. I have tried full body workouts in recent years and they have never ended well.
Personally I have never really gained very well at all from full body workouts, possibly because I started them after all my noob gains were already used up. But also because I just don’t enjoy them. This leads onto my next point.
Enjoyment
I’ve mentioned this a few times. Enjoyment is a big factor in consistency. The more you enjoy your workouts, the more likely you are to keep at it. This is particularly important for beginners, as while it is easier for more experienced lifters to derive motivation from their past improvement, many new lifters often give up before any significant (and motivating) gains are achieved.
If the workouts are enjoyable, you are more likely to persist through this initial period until real gains are noticed, in which case motivation becomes far easier to obtain. I think of it as a cycle of motivation – you make gains which make you motivated which gives you more gains which gets you more motivated.
Differences in training during cutting and bulking phases
In short, there doesn’t really need to be any. It’ll be easier to gain strength and break PBs on a bulk, but that doesn’t mean you have to train for it. Similarly, just because you are cutting doesn’t mean you can’t try to get stronger, merely that it will be harder to achieve. I like to just be consistent and keep training the same.
One thing I would recommend however is not to change your routine drastically when cutting. In particular, do NOT start lifting lighter (i.e. higher reps). You want to maintain as much muscle as possible on a cut, this will be best achieved by at the very least maintaining your strength, or trying to get stronger. By forcing your muscles to pull their weight, you give them a reason to stick around when the calories start dropping.
However, as mentioned in my other thread, I believe clean bulking is the way to go, in which case ‘cutting’ should only take up a very small portion of your year anyway, depending on how clean your bulk was. These short periods should be business as usual, simply with less calories.
On a similar note, cardio levels do not need to change either. All we are concerned about is calories in versus calories out. If you can’t stand to eat any less food, then sure, do some more cardio.
Personally, I never do any specified cardio. Ever. I can lose weight on close to 3000 calories thanks to my muscle mass, so it is not necessary for fat loss. And personally, I think that 1-1.5 hour workouts 4-5 times a week is plenty of exercise. Include some drop sets in there and some skipping at start and finish and I think that is sufficient to keep you fit.
Conclusion
There are lots of different factors to consider with your training, but you need to take a holistic approach of solid training, adequate recovery and proper nutrition. Training is probably the easiest of the three.
It doesn’t need to be complicated, consistency is far more important than complexity. And patience is a virtue.
Questions
Alright, that’s all that I could think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there is more, I’ll edit this later if I can think of anything else noteworthy to mention.
