Table of Contents | Category Listing for Weight Training
The Question:After I gave my weight and strength info. I noticed your program designed for me for the Body Mass a medium weiight -high repetition style workout.
For example, my maximum bench is around 360 and I do 5 or so reps with 315 ,but your bench routine calls for me to do around 15 reps with 200,180,etc.
Will this help me build mass? Perhaps it will. Since I can gain decent muscle mass with medium-heavy weight in the 8-12 rep range but then I plateua out on the size gains.But my strength does keep increasing.
So will the higher reps and lower weight instead produce better muscle size and density? But will I loose strength,doing it this way. Such as on my bench press. Sometime I notice I loose strength when I try high rep routines here and there.
What is the happy medium? Especially since I do need to loose the fat at the same time. I have been doing aerobics after my workouts,not excessively,which have been working, but again my size gains are stahled.
Again perhaps this is another reason for yourhugher rep's lower weight routine for me. But again will it still allow for strength and size and fat loss simulatneously? The Answer:Your body seems to respond best to variation. You mention that you can improve size or strength with certain workouts but eventually your progress will stall. If you do higher reps you seem to improve in size but your strength goes down if you do this type of workout for too long. Also, you can improve in strength if you do lower reps and more weight but then you start to lose some size. Everything you say here points to a pretty classic training paradox that all advanced trainers eventually go through. What I must say is that there is no perfect way.
You must first decide what you want to do and you must stick with it even if you feel that some other area might not be doing as well.
At some point you will have to make a decision. If you want strength you need to train for strength. You would then want to choose one of the Strength and Power programs. If you want size you must train for size. You would then want to choose one of the Bodybuilding Mass programs. Granted, you may lose some strength on the Bodybuilding programs and you may also lose some muscle shape or size on the Strength and Power program. You simply can't maximize strength or size without training specifically for each.
Nothing I have said here is anything new to somebody who has been training for awhile. However, what lots of people do not know or at least do not do is to organize their training for a whole year. This is the key to long term (and overall) success. Your training year needs to be broken down into (4) three-month cycles. Three months or 12 weeks is a great segment of time to really maximize a physical goal like strength or size. Here is an example of a great yearly training schedule:
1st Macrocycle (3 Months) – 5 Day General Fitness program
2nd Macrocycle (3 Months) – 4 Day Strength and Power Advanced program
3rd Macrocycle (1st 6 weeks) – 5 Day Bodybuilding Mass EXPRESS program. (2nd 6 weeks) – 3 Day Strength and Power EXPRESS Advanced
4th Macrocycle (3 months) – 6 Day Bodybuilding Mass Program
This yearly schedule takes into account specific preparation phases, strength and power cycles, bodybuilding hypertrophy cycles, resting phases, etc.
These combinations may seem long but if you think about it, every top bodybuilding or strength athlete cycles their training into yearly phases that are broken down into specific macrocycles. Most people know these macrocycles by the names "Off-Season", "Pre-Season", and "In-Season". I believe this is truly the best way to maximize your potential. Give it a shot!
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