Post by Steve Gardener on Dec 30, 2006 19:40:11 GMT
Train according to your needs not someone elses
Just recently a buddy of mine (19 plus stone Alf Squires) was at my gaff and as usual there was a couple of bodybuilding magazines on my dining room table. Alf was flicking through Muscle & Fitness and passed comment on one of the routines he saw.
I replied that it is, for the most part, a need on the part of younger guys to be led around rather than lead. But even in guys who ought to be old enough to know better there can still be a tendency to need a routine created by someone else for them. In the lastest (as I write this) Workout magazine (an industry rag) one article comments that many trainees, indeed they said the majority, do not have a structured routine or targets that they are aiming for.
It seems suprising to me that that might be the case when I find it easy to put something like that together. Sets, reps, exercises etc etc are easy. Here's how:
Time limits
Be they work, social life, cleaning the house whatever you should have an idea of when and where these things are gonna take place. allow for birthdays, holidays and times when the gym is closed and work out when it is best for you to workout - or simply when you have the spare time. Running my own company and having 'free' access to two gyms, one of which I have a key to, means I can train when it suits me regardless yet prefer (at the mo) mornings between 9.30 and 1200 noon. Find your best time and make that a part of your schedule. It will be too easy if your training is seen by you as an add on to find other things to do - it is now a part of what you do and that should be that.
Don't use the same routine as training partners unless it suits your needs.
There are two good guys training at Gymnantion. One is a natural meso-morph (natually muscular) and the other is mostly exto-morphic (tall and slim). The meso-morph has his own website and states on there that he seems well suited to high volume workouts. His ecto training bud does all the same sets, reps and exercises (if not the same weight) as his mate. But is that the right thing to do? Not in my opinion. A lower level of sets, reps and deffo overall volume would suit him a lot better. They can still training together and help each other out but the small change I am suggesting would reap huge rewards for the ecto.
If less or more work suits you than the guys and gals you workout with then change the stuff YOU DO to suit YOU. Get the best from the stuff you do not from what works for them.
Magazine routines
Ok only if aimed at the average Joe. While knowing the exact sets and reps of a bicep routine might be useful as a means of knowing how the latest Mr Olympia built his peaks if the routine doesn't suit you then it's little more than a means of bodybuilding general knowledge - your specialist subject on Mastermind if you will. If you must read such articles look for how he gets so much from the numbers, what effort he puts in, what nuances he uses to get the most from curls. Perhaps the turning of his wrist, contracting at the top and so on.
Sometimes the best routine for most is the one which is 100% different from the one they use now. If low reps does you usually then try a hi rep system for 6 weeks. The change back.
Finding out what works for you
This can be a life long process and so in the short term a good solid routine made up of the core compound movements will always be a god bet. Make copious notes in your training log (get one or make one now if you don't have one already) and note when tired and when the best workouts took place. Slowing a pattern will develop. For example although I don't do them often overhead tricep extensions with rope handles really stretch my triceps and they are always sore the day after. Ditto if I follow my pullovers with benching. Mick Hart calls pullovers a 'bridging' movement as they work both back and triceps in his opinion and so having them bridge between rowing and then bench gets double the bubble from the movement. See if this works for you and if so make a note of it then you'll be able to look back through the log and see what works for you and what does not.
In conclusion
Ultimately you need to do what works for you - not follow the herd blindly and crossing your fingers and hoping you'll end up better, bigger and stronger than when you started.
Just recently a buddy of mine (19 plus stone Alf Squires) was at my gaff and as usual there was a couple of bodybuilding magazines on my dining room table. Alf was flicking through Muscle & Fitness and passed comment on one of the routines he saw.
I replied that it is, for the most part, a need on the part of younger guys to be led around rather than lead. But even in guys who ought to be old enough to know better there can still be a tendency to need a routine created by someone else for them. In the lastest (as I write this) Workout magazine (an industry rag) one article comments that many trainees, indeed they said the majority, do not have a structured routine or targets that they are aiming for.
It seems suprising to me that that might be the case when I find it easy to put something like that together. Sets, reps, exercises etc etc are easy. Here's how:
Time limits
Be they work, social life, cleaning the house whatever you should have an idea of when and where these things are gonna take place. allow for birthdays, holidays and times when the gym is closed and work out when it is best for you to workout - or simply when you have the spare time. Running my own company and having 'free' access to two gyms, one of which I have a key to, means I can train when it suits me regardless yet prefer (at the mo) mornings between 9.30 and 1200 noon. Find your best time and make that a part of your schedule. It will be too easy if your training is seen by you as an add on to find other things to do - it is now a part of what you do and that should be that.
Don't use the same routine as training partners unless it suits your needs.
There are two good guys training at Gymnantion. One is a natural meso-morph (natually muscular) and the other is mostly exto-morphic (tall and slim). The meso-morph has his own website and states on there that he seems well suited to high volume workouts. His ecto training bud does all the same sets, reps and exercises (if not the same weight) as his mate. But is that the right thing to do? Not in my opinion. A lower level of sets, reps and deffo overall volume would suit him a lot better. They can still training together and help each other out but the small change I am suggesting would reap huge rewards for the ecto.
If less or more work suits you than the guys and gals you workout with then change the stuff YOU DO to suit YOU. Get the best from the stuff you do not from what works for them.
Magazine routines
Ok only if aimed at the average Joe. While knowing the exact sets and reps of a bicep routine might be useful as a means of knowing how the latest Mr Olympia built his peaks if the routine doesn't suit you then it's little more than a means of bodybuilding general knowledge - your specialist subject on Mastermind if you will. If you must read such articles look for how he gets so much from the numbers, what effort he puts in, what nuances he uses to get the most from curls. Perhaps the turning of his wrist, contracting at the top and so on.
Sometimes the best routine for most is the one which is 100% different from the one they use now. If low reps does you usually then try a hi rep system for 6 weeks. The change back.
Finding out what works for you
This can be a life long process and so in the short term a good solid routine made up of the core compound movements will always be a god bet. Make copious notes in your training log (get one or make one now if you don't have one already) and note when tired and when the best workouts took place. Slowing a pattern will develop. For example although I don't do them often overhead tricep extensions with rope handles really stretch my triceps and they are always sore the day after. Ditto if I follow my pullovers with benching. Mick Hart calls pullovers a 'bridging' movement as they work both back and triceps in his opinion and so having them bridge between rowing and then bench gets double the bubble from the movement. See if this works for you and if so make a note of it then you'll be able to look back through the log and see what works for you and what does not.
In conclusion
Ultimately you need to do what works for you - not follow the herd blindly and crossing your fingers and hoping you'll end up better, bigger and stronger than when you started.
