Just been having a read of all of Chad’s training routines and I’m unfamilira with quite a few of the exercises he mentions.
is there anywhere on this site or elsewhere that will tell me or even show me how to perform these exercises?
and how do you workout your 1 rep max?
Try using the search engine. Click on “search”. Click on “search site”. Type in the name of exercise, etc., click “search”. Look at articles. Click on one that looks promising. Read it.
For a great resource on exercises and their variations, check out elite fts’s exercise indexes. They are d.v.d.s that show you how to do a buttload of exercises with good form.
Unless it’s a very basic exercise, i’d look on T-Nation for more through treatments of the various movements. I’ve gotten some of the best information on proper execution of the bench press, deadlift, and squats here on T-Nation.
Crowbar
Check www.exrx.net for some exercise descriptions.
They also have a 1RM calculator, but I’m not so sure about the accuracy.
The only way to be sure what your current 1 rep max for a particular exercise is, is to test it. There are calculators and tables around, but they are not particularly reliable. The problem is that they rely on an assumed ratio of your 1 rep max to (say) your five rep max. However, because people vary in the proportion of fast twitch/slow twitch muscle fibres they have (and even in the same person, different muscles will vary in proportion)the ratio assumed is just someone’s guess at what the average might be.
Some people can do 20 reps with 80% of their 1 rep max. Others can only do 5. As well as fast twitch/slow twitch ratio, the level of muscle fiber recruitment you are capable of will also influence what your 1 rep max/5 rep max ratio is.
You can use tables or calculators as a (very rough) guide, but IMHO they are not really much use. Really, the only way is to test yourself. Of course, once you have established your 1 rep max once, you could find out your 5 rep max at the same time. If it is (say) 90% of your 1 rep max then you could assume that, for that exercise, the ratio is going to stay fairly close to 90% for quite a while. This will save you having to test your 1 rep max all the time. However, you couldn’t assume that the same ratio applies to other exercises. You would expect the ratio for calf raises to be different from that for bench press, for example.
thanks all
I’m not a newbiew to training btw, its just some of the exercise names I’ve never come across before hence me asking for any sites etc that show me what the exercises are.
and cheers sharetrader, some good info there.
on the routines am I suppost to add weight to each exercise every session? and how do I know if my 1RM has improved?
do I have to test my 1RM every so ofetn and increase the weight on the exercises in the program to match?
sorry, I have a couple more questions.
looking at the ABHP program:
10 sets @ 3 reps of 80% of 1RM
if you fail after your 1RM doesn’t that mean you will probably fail on the 3 reps making that a 3 rep max?
I’m confused as you can probably tell.
You should be able to move 80% of your 1RM three times without failure. For example: if your 1RM on bench is 200, you should be able to do sets of 3 at 160 without failing. The same applies to the 5x10 days. If you can press 200, doing sets of ten at 120 should not be impossible
thanks for clearing that up.
my next question is, how often should I be upping the weight?
I noticed that it states on day 7 you do deadlifts for 3 reps @ 80% of your 1RM then the next deadlift day it states do 5 reps @ 60% of your 1 RM.
is the weight supposed to have increased or do you keep it the same?
anyone?
come one people, someone must know?
it depends. In ABBH you keep the weight constant with all 10 set exercises. Meaning whatever you press in 10x3 you keep for 10x4 and 10x5. with the 5x10 protocol, you increase the load by 2.5% each week.
thanks mate
so you don’t actually increase the weigh in any training session until you start the 5x10 ?