At an Intermediate stage bodybuilding means Concentrating on the Substance rather than the Detail. It means focusing on bulk rather than toning, shaping, pump or definition. It means progression rather than balancing one's body structure. It means saving energy rather than spending it on wasteful exercises. It means working the most effective exercises which are time-tested, and responsible for overall bulk and strength. The more you focus on only these, the more often you train these exercises with the perspective of Progression in mind, the more rapidly will you attain the desired body weight and overall bulk.
The more you concentrate on food, rather than protein, the more will you enjoy the life and success of an amateur weight trainee.
You should treat rest and recovery with the same dedication that you would for the other two components. This means atleast 8 hours of sleep a day, maintain a calm and tranquil mind, and space workouts in a way that would avoid systemic fatigue, and obviously localized muscle soreness. All inexperienced and novice trainees judge their next workout based on muscle soreness, and then design the exercises of their bodyparts.
A friend of mine tells me that my methods and principles of training are outdated. He says, that there is so much research going on and i am stuck with training methods of yester years. So what are these new methods of training? Yeah, ofcourse, Split routines something like this -
Day 1: Chest, biceps, abs - Bench Press, Flys, BB curls, Preacher curls, concentration curls
Day 2: Quads, hams, calves - Squat, leg press, leg curls, Deadlift, Calf Raises.
Day 3: Shoulders, Triceps, abs - Shoulder Press, lateral raises, front raises, upright rows.
Day 4: Back, calves - Pulldowns, T-bar rows, DB rows, Machine Pullovers, Cable rows, Calf Raises-Seated and standing.
Well looks interesting isn't it and very complex....right and the more complex a routine, the more it sells.
THIS ROUTINE IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATES. Why?
Simple answer actually, but simple doesn't sell. The more complex with words like ratecoding, conjugate periodization, lactate threshold, periodisation, antagonistics, overlapping body structures, protein synthesis, and what not are the favorites and people are drawn to it only till they realise that using these complex routines are complexly ineffective.
Reasons for ineffectiveness.
1. In a week, with the number of exercises and sets(volume) put in, Systemic fatigue is inevitable. Consider one workout day, Day1, Chest, Biceps and abs - Do you think you would do any less than 4 sets of each bodypart? I don't think you will justify coming and getting out of the gym within 30 minutes. You will do a lot more sets, than what your shoulders and elbows can handle. They are definetely going to get overtrained. Exercise is not Work. Exercise is intense work. The more intense the work, the less you can handle.
2. The body works as whole, and hence also rests as a whole. You just cannot work your chest one day and expect no systemic fatigue when you hit your legs on Day 2. Remember,maximum intensity cannot be generated if you are not fully fresh, both locally and systemically. And some believe that the growth stimulus is also not maximal if the intensity is not.
3. Split routines were introduced during the same time drugs were rampant in mainstream bodybuilding. Now i am not the kind who would believe, "oh that is just co-incidence".
These are enough reasons to believe that split routines/bodypart training are not as effective as working the body as a whole. I will try to convince you to work the whole body so that you see if it is really effective.
As I told in the beginning, if you are an intermdiate trainee, you have a long way to go and you have to concentrate on the substance rather than the detail. You should concentrate on Bulk rather than shaping/toning and pump. So the million dollar question, what are these bulk stimulating exercises.
a. The Major ones are - Squat, Deadlift and followed closely is the Leg Press.
b. Followed closely by these are - Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Dips, Pullups and Rows.
That is all.
Do you want your dream body sooner rather than later? Don't you think that if you can reach a 400 lb Squat for a few reps you would be much much bigger. Don't you think that the faster you reach that goal you would also be bigger faste? Don't you think that if you PROGRESSIVELY squat and Deadlift twice a week you will reach your desired bodyweight in half the time, if you would have squatted only once? If someone were smart enough, he would understand. What happens if you spend time on other wasteful exercises - you waste energy, if you waste energy you waste intensity. A BB curl is one that should go off your routine, so does a tricep curl. A workout routine where you do just Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Shoulder Press and a Row without any frills would help you reach your target bodyweight much faster i would think. This is a simple fact, but it is a tough fact, because a squat and deadlift in one workout can cause so much discomfort that you may not think of training for the next 4 days. That is good, and infact would help in growth. I personally have attained some success with this approach.
With that said, what are the conditions that would need to be satisfied?
You will only concentrate on the exercise that stimulate bulk and strength. Squat - Deadlift - Bench Press- Shoulder Press - Pullups.
If you use a BB curl and if it interferes with your grip in the Deadlift, it is no good and shouldn't be done. Understand my concern. I have nothing against isolation exercises, but if it interferes with the major movements let it rest for now. Remember it is all about progression in the big exercises, the smaller exercises will follow.
I am not married yet, but an iron friend confronted me, stating that if you had a family you would know how difficult it is to train 3 times a week, and maintain the same dedication and intensity. He also stated he had to stay awake some nights due to his child.
I train twice a week and sometimes only once every 3 to 4 days. Meaning if i train on Monday, i may train on Friday or saturday. Earlier than that, and i would torment my unrecovered body. That is the kind of intensity i am talking about. You have to go to war in the weight room. If 100 Kg was done earlier in the week, 101 or 102 needs to be done, 100 kg is no good anymore. If you don't have the confidence of 101, because of fatigue or mental stress, you might as well enter the battle ground the next day. Enough of the talk, and here is the workout.
Squat
Deadlift
Bench Press
Pulldowns
Shoulder Press
That is all, this would be done for 1 or 2 sets and all sets taken to failure. If you do a set for 10 reps, how many would you get in the second set? If you got equal or more than the first, then the first set was a waste, submaximal with respect to intensity and provided no growth stimulation, and was only there to fatigue the muscle. This is one way to train, not the only way to train, mind you. There are other more advanced methods, but these methods would only be necessary once you have reached your genetic potential, which i would imagine is far far away.
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