Current Bodybuilding Training Thread 2.0

Bigger Stronger Leaner
484

I instinctively do a deload week. The only time a deload week is planned is when I have a business trip or vacation planned and I know there is either a) no gym nearby or b) I wil literally have zero time to workout. Those weeks I don’t workout at all with the exception of some pushups and crunches, maybe a run if I can swing it.

The instinctive deloads come when I don’t have energy when I wake up or I’m just not recovering like I should. I keep lifting during those weeks, but I never go to failure, I cut back on volume, and don’t have any intensity, really.

During both types of deload weeks, I try to keep calories the same. That way, in my mind, my body will recover faster and better from the “extra” food. Obviously, I cut out as many intra- and post-workout carbs if there are no workouts or if the workouts are not intense and shorter.

485

Usually end up traveling for whatever reason every 2-3 months so just plan breaks around that. When I used to do it I think a reduction in training for a week worked well. But really, bodybuilding aside at least a week or 2 off per year for travel/other reasons unless your trying to be an ifbb pro or something

486

IFBB pros take breaks too. They’re not superhuman.

487

Whoa!!! Spoiler Alert! :grin:

488

Don’t tell Arash though.

S

489

Not sure I’m qualified to add to this thread yet, but I start by asking what feels overloaded? Is it CNS, metabolism, joints, all three? If I’m lagging recovery, I take a metabolic deload, my training looks like what you described (single, then low volume). If it’s my joints, high reps. If it is my CNS, I might just do a bunch of sled work and body weight stuff. If it’s all three, I will take something to help me sleep and take a couple days off.

490

There can be a lot of variables that can make you feel overworked, or just drained. Poor sleep, low eneergy or strength levels, a general sense of irritability, or even the obvious aching joints. Some issues you might not even notice, chalking them up to just too much work comittments or changing weather etc.

S

491

So true!! My body weight was “magically” jumping up at seemingly random times, until I started adding comments about “real-life” to my training log. Then I realized all these magical weight gains came when life got stressful (impending layoffs announced at work, brother getting a divorce, getting a new boss, etc.) It helped me realize I needed to adjust my diet and training at those times, and not just “power through.” And it alos helped me realized I needed to chill the f— out and R-E-L-A-X!

Show me a hypersensitive natural bodybuilding champ, and I will show you a genetic freak.

492

When we were prepping rob stein this past spring, we noticed his weight jumping up unexplainably in terms of a simple energy equation. In eventually addressing the possibility of stress and the subsequent rising hormones creating a water issue… Problem solved! :slight_smile

S

493

Serenity now!!!

I think that could be my new training cue.

494

I’ve read some things by Clay Hyght and Thibs about various “types” of reps. Tell me if this is minutiae, but how do you perform your reps? Are you accelerating as fast as you can on the concentric? Do you apply just enough force to perform the movement with the given weight? Does it depend on the movement? Does it even matter how it’s performed as long as the target muscle is being worked? I feel like I apply just enough force to move the weight with the intended muscle. Clay Hyght - “The concentric can, and should, be done a bit more explosively to recruit the maximum number of motor units – even for those training for hypertrophy.”

495

I usually perform my concentric portion relatively explosively for both my assistance/isolation exercises as well as my compound/strength lifts. Whether I’m moving 20lbs or 200lbs I’m trying to move it as quickly as possible. The eccentric portion is more dependent on the particular lift whether or not I will focus on a slow negative. I will use slow eccentric on most isolation exercises while only using slow eccentric on the odd strength exercise for a little change or to hammer a sticking point.

I’m not at all saying this is the best way of doing it, just how I tend to perform my exercises.

496

I usually do the explosive intent on all my big lifts, and “constant tension” on my ISO stuff (flies, raises, curls, lunges, etc…). Too much momentum in the bottom once the weights drop and you lose a lot of tension as the top it seems like

497

Alright… 2 more questions that I think I may have tapped out the body building questions

  • Do you guys like an Arm Day, or do you tack them on as secondary body parts to a more major day (Back/Bi’s for examle?

  • What are some of your favorite intensification techniques, by body part or even exercise if you like (drop sets, rest/pause, etc…)

498

Lonnie, Little, thank you. Yea, when the weights are light, explosivity is sometimes best reserved, I agree.

As far as arm day, I don’t have a preference really. It changes for me. Now I have an arm day and do some cardio on it cuz an arms workout is relatively short.

499

I’ve been doing shoulders and arms together recently. I feel like I get a better pump doing arms separate of the traditional “back and bis” “chest and tris split.”

I think @Brickhead mentioned a while back that you can hit muscles indirectly multiple times a week on a “once every 5-7 days split.” I feel like by splitting your chest day from your arm day or your bicep day from your back day you manage to fulfill this principle.

2 Likes
500

[quote=“Lonnie123, post:497, topic:221850, full:true”]
Alright… 2 more questions that I think I may have tapped out the body building questions

Do you guys like an Arm Day, or do you tack them on as secondary body parts to a more major day (Back/Bi’s for examle? [/quote]

I never had to do a specific arm day. That’s NOT to say that I figured my arms would grow just from doing compound work for Chest and Back. However, there was such a good amount of overlap, that I was able to get by with them pre-warmed up, and then focusing on what most people would consider pure bodybuilding movements for them.

I do think that some people benefit from a specific “arm day” though. I’m working with Rob Stein again for his upcoming contest season, and we’re planning on bringing up his pipes. In breaking down his schedule, I suggested keeping a basic back/biceps day and a shoulders/tricep day, BUT also adding a day to his split specifically focused on bis and tris. This gives him two chances each week to focus on the guns, but in a different manner at each session.

I think intensification techniques have their place, but are not the end all be all, or an absolute requirement to hypertrophy focused training. I love pre-exhaust work, but over the years have shifted from the traditional super-set approach to more of just sequencing my exercise selection in a certain manner.

Drop sets are great, so long as you actually use them to still work the muscle, none of that just swinging weights around wildly as you continue to fatigue thinking that you’re getting something productive out of it. Also, while I used to look at drops as simply prolonging the set as you were no longer fresh enough to continue with the heavy weights, I now look at them as getting a mechanical overload/tension benefit from the heavy portion, but then getting a metabolic hypertrophy stimulus from the dropped (lighter) portion. Overthinking? Maybe, but the days of “I lift things up and put them down” are over -lol.

S

501

I personally love having arms on their own day. I feel that giving them their own day allows me to have better focus for intensity, and I’m able to use heavier weight with better form and contractions. I usually throw calf work and some shoulder work on my arm day for the same reason.

I’m also very torso-dominant, so splitting arms onto their own day helps me focus on making them grow more. Some people, like @The_Mighty_Stu or @BrickHead are more limb-dominant (legs, arms, shoulders). Well…actually, @The_Mighty_Stu is just blessed overall…but ya’ll get my point.

I don’t actually like implementing intensity techniques frequently. I enjoy keeping my rests shorter and just working harder in general. Trying to hit 3x8 where you actually end up getting 3x8,7,6 is pretty damn intense on its own, for example. However, when I do go for intensity techniques, it’s usually something like:

Arms, Delts: Supersets
Arms: Slow negatives
Chest, Back, major leg lifts (squats, leg press, etc): Drop Sets
Back, minor leg lifts (curls, extensions, etc): Iso Holds (held contractions)
Chest, Back, Arms, Delts: Unilateral work without rest (so…do all reps for left side, do all reps for right side, do all reps for left side, do all reps for right side…but don’t rest in-between)

2 Likes
502

I’ve been helping this new kid out in the gym recently. Whenever we happen to be working out at the same time, he sort of follows me around. It’s cute…I think…? Anyway, last week, I was doing an arm workout where I’d do supersets…but for the same muscle group. For example:

DB Preacher Curls supersetted w/ Incline DB Curls
Cable Skullcrushers suppersetted w/ Cable Pushdowns

Just examples. But, the kid was kind of confused because he thought that you were “only supposed to do those for opposite muscle groups” from what he’s heard of YouTube. I told him not to take YouTube fitness people as gospel, and I explained that I was doing a workout where I was chasing an extreme pump rather than heavy-ass weight and that doing super sets for the same muscle is a good way to achieve that result in a relatively short amount of time. He then wants to dive into the specifics of super sets.

So, commonly (as a beginner), you do super sets with differing muscles (tris/bis, chest/back, quads/hams, etc). In said super set, you’d do a normal set (rep scheme 8-12) for the muscle and then immediately do another typical set (rep sheme 8-12) for the other muscle group…then rest. He explained that to me, and I said…yes, that’s typically correct. He then asked me a question that I didn’t know how to answer 100% correctly (because his logic was pretty solid).

He said something like: Well, if you are doing regular length sets in a super set for different muscles, would that mean that, for a super set for the same muscle, you’d do two sets of 5 to equal one set of 10 so that you’re doing a normal length set for the same muscle?

My answer was that I wasn’t doing that because I was chasing the pump…and higher reps helps do that. I told him to experiment with that concept and see if he liked it or not, and then he’d know if it’s good or not.

But I wanted to ask the bodybuilding community here at large if anyone has experimented in such a way with super sets for the same muscle group. Not really looking for advice…I do these and I love them…I’d just never even considered this kid’s point of view. What does everyone think?

1 Like
503

Like most things, it depends. Thibs stuff on mechanical drop sets fits in this category, as would contrast sets. When I was powerlifting, Brad Gillingham showed me a technique of doing a heavy double on the bench, followed by a big set of 8-10 with a narrower grip. Those just blew up my triceps. I think the idea is you can hit different fiber types in the same muscle by fatiguing the fastest to recruit, then following up to hit the others. A single set of 10 would do something like that, but to a lesser degree than a contrast would.