Everyone thinks they train hard, well at least most of the people I talk to……….that is when I always get the comments of “wow, it must be nice to be so blessed with genetics like you are” or “man, what supps do you take to look like that”. Here is the deal, Genetics are important, if you have them, great if you don’t……you can outwork your genetics and there is no “magic pill” to get bigger and stronger………..well, not if you want to say you are “Natural”. Every now and then I grab these people who make these comments to me in the gym and say, ” hey, workout with me one day, I think you will like it” needless to say, no one ever volunteers to go another day :-).
I am not saying that I train harder than anyone else, but the mistake that a lot of people make is thinking that if they spend 2 hours in the gym, they are training hard. In the last three years, I have not had one workout that keeps me in the gym more than 1 hr and 5 mins and most of my workouts are done in less than 52 mins……that is kind of the magic number. Every minute you go past roughly 55 mins, your muscles start to lose their ability to fully contract, so let’s say you are training and your workout takes 1.5 hours……..two things are wrong………1, you are obviously resting way too much in between sets and 2, by the time you get to the end of your workout, your muscles might only be contracting up to 75% of their ability, so are you really making any gains at that point?
Stop working out for 2 hours……stop doing cardio for 55 minutes, it is never the time you put in that matters, it is the intensity level and strain you put on your body that matters. We all know people who have come to the gym for years and don’t look any different……don’t be those people!
Structure your workouts with varied eccentric movements and varied rest times, but never exceed more than 90 seconds in between sets……and that is a long time, I think.
Here is an example of what I am doing right now……..I will be doing this for 3 weeks. I am 7 weeks out from my next Pro Show, where I am hoping to win for the 3rd straight year!
I break my body parts down this way for this cycle:
- Monday: Back and Forearms
- Tuesday: Hams and Calves
- Wednesday: Chest and Abs
- Thursday: Quads and Shoulders
- Friday: Biceps and Triceps
Here is a sample of this workout……..every body part I will do the same way as I am describing for my Monday workout. 10 exercises, 8-12 reps per exercise, no rest in between exercise until you have completed all 10, then rest 2 minutes and repeat two more times. All exercises are done with a 3-second eccentric movement.
Back:
- Chin ups Neutral Grip
- Lean Back pull downs pronate grip mid
- Seated rows neutral grip
- lean back pulls downs neutral grip wide
- Pull downs pronate grip mid
- Machine rows pronate grip
- Hammer strength pull downs supinate grip
- Rope rows to neck
- Rope rows to waist
- Pulldowns neutral grip mid
8-12 reps per exercise, no rest, complete all 10, rest 2 minutes and repeat 2 more times. Once I am done with all 3 sets, I move to forearms and do the same thing.
I will do this for each body part…………..try it out……you will experience a soreness at the end of the week like nothing before…..remember it takes crazy training to make crazy changes.
Happy Lifting!
