I've done alot of reading since my last post and I've changed my mind on how I'm going to change this program moving forward. Once I read over both articles from Christian Thibaudeau I decided to incorporate these techniques into my current program. Here are the links to both articles if you want to read them.
The Best Damn Workout Plan For Natural Lifters
The Best Damn Workout Plan for Natural Lifters Part 2
In a nutshell the guidelines of the program where, train each muscle group more frequently (3x a week), less workout volume per session, maximize the intensity for the work sets, different types of muscle stimulation and a modified push/pull routine split.
What I'm going to do, train each muscle group twice per week (no change), less workout volume per session, maximize the intensity for the work sets for my accessory work, different types of muscle stimulation for my accessory work and no changes to which day a body part is trained.
The main lift for each training day will remain unchanged except volume may be decreased depending on how I feel that workout. What is going to change is how I currently approach my accessory work. Accessory work is everything I do after the main (1st exercise) is done.
The exercises I use for accessory work will use different muscle training techniques. The three techniques I will concentrate on for now are the rest/pause sets, cluster sets and myo reps. From what I read on the blog from the guy who created myo reps, essentially these and mTOR activation are doing the same thing. But he does not recommend this technique for lower reps/heavy weight.
His name is Borge Fagerli and he is a top level Norwegian strength coach.
Link to WTF a myo rep is
Myo-reps in English
He also had a good blog on less volume. So for people that like to crush themselves with volume have a read.
Are you doing too much volume?
So rest/pause sets and cluster set training are excellent for promoting strength and hypertrophy gains but like all great techniques they really suck when your doing them. Anybody that says THAT WAS ENJOYABLE after completing a proper rest/pause set or cluster set did NOT do it properly. They are normally only done for short periods of time due to them being hard on the central nervous system. But with how Christian set it up with low volume I think is the bomb. It will allow you to use these type of high intensity techniques and not sink yourself into a pit of over training.
I'll explain what I mean and show you the difference.
Example 1 below is how I normally would do my accessory work on Day 2.
Front Squat 135 x 10, 185 x 10 RPE 7, 205 x 8 RPE 9, 225 x 6 RPE 9
RDL 135 x10, 225 x 10, 275 x 10 RPE 5, 325 x 6 RPE 8 , 325 x 6 RPE 9, 325 x 6 RPE 9
Example 2 below is how I did it today.
Front Squat rest pause set last set only 135 x 10, 185 x 10 RPE 6 , 225 x 4 RPE 7, 235 x 6 RPE9, x 3, x 2, x 1
RDL rest pause set last set only 135 x 10, 225 x 6, 315 x 4 RPE 7, 315 x 6 RPE 9, x 4, x 2
All the sets leading up to the rest pause set are preparing me for the one all out set. I DO NOT take the set to failure,I leave one rep in the tank, rest 10-15 seconds crank out more reps this time to RPE10, rest 15 secs repeat until I achieve the total amount of reps I got in the first set. For the front squat my first set was 6 reps at RPE9, it then took me 3 more sets to achieve 6 more reps.
Comparing the after effects of both examples. How do I measure it, simple of course remember I subscribe to KISS. How I feel after the workout for a couple of hours. After the workout in example 1 my energy levels where in the tank for hours after the workout. After the workout in example 2 my energy rebounded much quicker following the workout.
As I go along in the following days and include myo reps in my workout, I will explain how it all went down and repost my workout with the differences to the accessory work.
Highlight today
Squat 385 lbs x 1
Chase your goals gym rats.
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