Oh man, I'm bouts to spit some mad truths about how to design your own damn workout training programs!!
ACUTE VARIABLES
No this is not a horrible disease that will make you bleed out of all of your orifices, this is the single most fundamental component of program design!
So what are they and how do you use them? Well it goes a little something like this...
*Repetitions
*Sets
*Training intensity
*Repetition tempo
*Training volume
*Rest interval
*Training frequency
*Training duration
*Exercise selection
"Sweet lord! That is a big list"! Well Steve, how the hell else am I going to explain this in excruciating detail? EH HEM (clearing my throat an putting on my super smart professors spectacles).
REPETITIONS
A repetition or rep, is one complete movement of an exercise (squat down and back up = one rep). You will use reps in conjunction with repetition tempo (which we will talk about in a minute) to adjust the "time under tension" (how long it takes you to complete reps and sets). How many reps you do has a direct effect on how the body is going to adapt to your training stimulus. Here is a list of reps you will want to use for specific results.
Muscular endurance: 12-20 reps
Hypertrophy (muscle growth): 6-12 reps
Max strength: 1-5 reps
Power: 1-10 reps
All of this is centered around a big scary phrase called "the law of specificity"
I know I know...it hurts. Basically this law states that the body will
adapt specifically to the demands you place on it. Of course there is
some debate on this but, in general you don't get big muscles by doing
endless sets of high repetition exercise, in the same way you wouldn't
do super low reps with heavy weight if you are trying to increase your
muscular endurance. TRAIN FOR WHAT YOU WANT. Don't just go to the gym
and bag out reps without any kind of plan. This law also explains why
you can't just jump on a treadmill and get "toned" as people so often
like to say...because they normally have minimal muscle under their fat.
Therefore the treadmill only serves to make them more skinny, WHICH IS
DEFINITELY NOT "TONED".
SETS
A set is a group of consecutive repetitions. Here is where you are really going to start understanding program design. ALL of "the laws of specificity"directly effect one another and will guide you on how to tweak them. The specific adjustments of sets in relation to reps is as follows...
*Muscular endurance: 1-3 sets of 12-20 reps
*Hypertrophy (muscle growth): 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps
*Maximal strength: 4-6 sets of 1-5 reps
*Power: 3-6 sets of 1-10 reps
Do you see how the number of reps directly effects the number of sets you will perform based on your desired outcome? In general, the higher the reps the lower the amount of sets you will perform, which will keep you in the optimal stimulus range for how you would like your body to adapt.
Please note: Generally, the higher the reps in each category the lower the number of sets. Example:
For hypertrophy most people would not want to do 5 sets of 12 reps...it would look more like 5 sets of 6-8 reps or 3sets of 10-12 reps.
INTENSITY
With regard to working out, this word is thrown around like a carton of eggs in the hands of Justin Bieber at his neighbors house. So let me explain what I am referring to when I say "intensity" in this article.
Intensity: An individuals level of effort compared to their maximal effort. Meaning?? The amount of weight you are going to use compared to your one rep max (1RM). Don't know your 1RM? Not to worry! Just pick a weight that you know you will fail with by the time you have reached your target rep range...Easy as pie right? No nerds or calculators required! Just to be clear...Intensity is referring to the amount of weight used.
As you have probably guessed, your sets and reps will directly effect the intensity (weight) being used. And because my fingers are not yet bloody stumps from all of the typing here you go...
*Muscular endurance: 1-3 sets of 12-20 reps @ 50-70% 1RM
*Hypertrophy (muscle growth): 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps @ 75-85% 1RM
*Maximal strength: 4-6 sets of 1-5 reps @ 85-100% 1RM
*Power: 3-6 sets of 1-10 reps @ 30-45% 1RM
Again (now I'm starting to sound like a broken record) intensity is intimately effected by ALL other variables!
REPETITION TEMPO
This one seems pretty unimportant, but ignoring this one is like telling your annoying younger brother that he can't play super ninjas with you and your buddies...Cuz you know he's going to go tell mom, and you know, pissed off mom is gonna kill the fun. Sure she won't squash the good times forever, but it's defiantly going to delay your accent up the side of Mt. Moshimoto in search of your ultimate ninja power....
At least a few of you have to be shaking their heads on that one LOL!
Ok what I mean is, not taking advantage of seemingly unimportant variables like this will only slow your progress, and besides...who doesn't want to be a super ninja? (ok,ok, I got off topic again).
The list below will be labeled as follows...The eccentric portion or negative (when doing a biceps curl the eccentric portion of the lift is when you lower the bar down) will be represented by the first number. The second number will be representing the isometric portion of the lift (when you are holding the bar at the top of a biceps curl, called an isometric contraction). finally the third number represents the concentric or positive portion of the lift, (curling the weight up).
*Muscular endurance: 4/2/1
*Hypertrophy (muscle growth:2/0/2
*Maximal strength: As fast as can be safely controlled
*Power: As fast as can be safely controlled
REST INTERVAL
This one should be a no brainer, even for you Steve. The rest interval is the time you take between sets. This one needs very little explanation...JUST DO WHAT I SAY...(kidding...kind of).
*Muscular endurance: 0-90 seconds
*Hypertrophy (muscles growth): 0-60 seconds
*Maximal strength: 3-5 minutes
*Power: 3-5 minutes
TRAINING VOLUME
"Training volume" is the total amount of work performed during a workout (total number of repetitions).
The most important thing to consider with volume, is that you can't sustain high volume with high intensity for extended periods of time. Otherwise you run the risk of injury or dare I say it...OVER TRAINING! So if you are really pounding say 90% your 1RM for 50 total reps per exercise, you won't be able to keep that up without injury or burnout. I'm not going to list the volumes as they are already incorporated into the lists above.
"Oh feeeeeewww! The windbag is finally done ranting!
NO I'M FREAKIN NOT STEVE!
TRAINING DURATION
Here is yet another variable that is pretty straight forward, it can refer to two things...
*Total amount of time spent during workout (excluding warm up/cool down).
*Length of time spent in a training phase
Workouts in general shouldn't exceed 60-90 min.
For the most part, training phases last around 4 weeks. A training phase is a set weekly workout plan that outlines how you are going to use the acute variables over those four weeks. Once your body stops responding, this is the time to change something to keep getting results.
The most awesomely bad mistake most people have around program design is changing all of the variables all at once, or jumping all over the place, doing different workouts every week or worse...every time they hit the gym. Why is this bad??? For one, this makes it very difficult to track progress. And two, the old adage "If it isn't broke, don't fix it". If the plan you are using is getting results, stick with it until progress stops!
Almost nothing pisses me off more than this "TOTAL BODY CONFUSION" craze with a different workout every day, with some dude on a video screaming at you on a dvd to punch the air in your living room. Guess what? That dude on the video probably didn't get that body by doing what he's telling you to do...
EXERCISE SELECTION
Ok fine, I'll wrap this up! Obviously you need to choose exercises that fit the goals you want to achieve. However, I am a big believer in sticking to compound free weight exercises that train movements, not individual muscles. examples:
*Dead-lift
*Squats
*Bent rows
*Bench press
*Pull ups
*Dips
In conclusion...Don't be a stupid head, stick to a plan and workout intelligently!
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