by Lori Gross, PTA, ATC, RPT, NSCA-CPT CSCS,
and Thomas Incledon, PhD(c), RD, LD/LN, RPT, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
So you recently started bodybuilding and are enjoying the positive changes you see in your body composition, general health, and mental attitude. Of course, you began with the basic movements and routines, but now you are looking for some other ideas. Learning and incorporating new techniques into your training program is essential to stimulating muscle growth and preventing boredom. Kick your training up a notch and take it to the next level with these innovative suggestions.
Functional Circuit Training
Tired of losing that hard-earned muscle while you’re trying to lose bodyfat? Get down from the Stairmaster and start circuit training with weights. “You get a big bang for your buck with this extremely metabolic-type of training,” says fitness champion Clorinda Bassolino of Clorinda’s One on One Fitness in Deltona, Florida. Compose your circuit of one lower body exercise (ex: squat, lunge, deadlift), one chest/shoulder exercise (ex: bench press, overhead press), one upper back exercise (row, pulldown) and one abdominal exercise (ex: crunch, hanging leg raise). Take a weight that you can normally lift 10 times and only perform 5 reps for each exercise. Move from one exercise to another without stopping to rest. After completing the first circuit, repeat. Start out with 5 circuits and progress up to 10 circuits as your conditioning improves. For variety, add in sprints, jumps, push-ups, and pull-ups. These short, simple circuits promote a cardiovascular effect while helping you keep your size.
Short Rest Periods Between Sets
Stop checking out the girls’ latest g-strings or the guys’ string tank tops between sets and start checking your watch. Most weightlifters and powerlifters know that to make maximal gains in strength, muscles need to be rested well before the next set begins. But to increase muscle size, short rest periods of 30-60 seconds are the way to go. Short rest periods stimulate more growth hormone than longer rest periods. This maximizes muscle growth and fat loss. Use the 30-60 second technique or try a work-rest ratio of 1:1, where you rest between sets for the same amount of time it took you to perform that set.
Superset Agonist/Antagonist Muscle Groups
Want to decrease your workout time, yet still increase your volume? Then do supersets with movements that oppose each other. For example, superset bench presses with barbell rows, leg extensions with leg curls, and bicep curls with tricep pushdowns. Another name for this technique is “push/pull.” Supersetting exercises that use the exact opposite muscles gives the first group of muscles time to rest while the second group is working. Training muscles that surround a joint creates stability around that joint and prevents injuries.
Balance Training
Do you miss hopping, jumping, skipping, and playing with balls like when you were a kid? Then incorporate balance training into your workout program. Not only will balance training improve body awareness, it can also expose weaknesses between your right and left sides of your body. Correcting these discrepancies will allow you to lift heavier weights, which can translate into bigger muscles. Try doing single leg squats without holding onto to anything. Vary the position of your free leg for each set so that it is in front of you, beside you, and in back of you. To make this even more challenging, try holding dumbbells in each hand. How about doing squats on rockerboards or foam rolls? Any uneven surface will do. Challenge your upper body by putting your hands on a stability ball and do push-ups. For the ultimate body balance challenge, try kneeling or standing on a stability ball and pressing some weights overhead. Don’t have a stability ball? Well, that’s what old tire tubes are for. Forget floating down Grandma’s stream. Instead, stand on the tube while performing weight-training exercises for a down-home balance experience.
Tempo Changes/Pauses
Variety is the spice of life, so mix it up a little in the gym. Forget the old school recommendations of 2 seconds on the concentric and 4 seconds for the eccentric. Perform the exercises you were doing, but change the tempo. Do all of the reps very quickly, or very slowly, or one quick and one slow. Use pauses on the eccentric movement and vary the number of pauses and the hold times. For example, during the lowering or the eccentric portion of a pull-up, try to pause 3 times and hold 5 seconds at each pause. Or after the eccentric portion of the bench press, pause the bar on your chest for 3-5 seconds and explode off your chest for the concentric movement. Have your training partner vary the pause times and just cue you when to lift. Very spicy, indeed!
Explosive Power Movements
Learn what the Olympians know: to increase power, strength, and speed, perform explosive power movements like power snatches and power cleans. Get a good coach who can teach you the proper technique behind these useful exercises. Pick one exercise and do it early in the workout session when you are fresh. Keep reps to 5 or less and perform 3-5 sets. Initially, your goal is to learn proper technique, not to see how much weight you can lift. Let your technique or coach be the guide for increasing the weight on the bar. It takes some time to learn these exercises, but the return is well worth the investment.
Increasing the Overload
Traditionally, supramaximal weights were handled only during negative-type movements like lowering a heavy weight very slowly or partial movements like lifting a heavy weight over a shorter range of motion. Time to come out of hibernation and see what’s outside the cave. Thanks to Louie Simmons, Dave Tate, and the Westside Barbell training methods, here’s a useful strategy to tap into the benefits of overloading. Try hanging chains off your bar while squatting. As you descend, the weight gets lighter (more chain is in contact with the ground). As you ascend, the weight gets heavier (less chain is in contact with the ground). This can be done with many exercises like bench presses, rows, and deadlifts. Use chains with fi inch link sizes or greater with hooks or clamps to attach to the barbell. This can be found at most home improvement stores. Another option is to use heavy elastic surgical/rehab tubing or bungee cords. Attach one end to the bar and anchor the other end to the floor.
Wave Work Sets
Are you trying to push past a weight plateau? If you are having trouble lifting a particular weight, or if you want to progress to a heavier weight, this technique is for you. Let’s say that you’ve been squatting about 215 for reps, but just can’t hit 225 yet. Do your warm-up sets first, then perform a wave like this: 175x5, 195x5, 215x5 with a 3-5 minute rest periods between each set. Rest for 3-5 minutes and perform the next wave of: 185x5, 205x5, 225x5. Do the wave on any exercise and wave bye-bye to your old personal records and welcome in all-time personal bests.
Double Stimulation Weight Sets
For some real variety and cutting edge training, choose the Double Stim method. Head strength coach at the University of Pennsylvania, Rob Wagner, M.Ed., C.S.C.S., says that a double stimulation workout places a high demand on the neuromuscular system, which leads to great gains in strength, speed, and power. Perform 2 warm-up sets of a movement. Next, perform a segment of one set for 5 reps, rest, and then perform a set with a heavier weight for 1 rep. Repeat this segment 2 more times. If you know how much you can lift one time (1RM) use the following percentages and reps:
Warm-up: 60%X5 reps, rest, 70%X5, rest (optional third warm-up set of 75% x 3, rest)
Segment 1: {80%X5 rest 90%X1} rest
Segment 2: {80%X5 rest 90%X1} rest
Segment 3: {80%X5 rest 90%X1}
Rest periods should be 3-5 minutes. Focus on lifting the weights as quickly as possible.
Rest
Wait a minute; this is an article on training, right? So why are we mentioning rest? We can’t rest; we’ve got too much muscle to build and too little time! Well, that’s precisely why we need to rest. “Recovery should be planned into every training session and weekly routine,” says IFBB Pro Charles Kemp. Charles’ pre-Olympia routine includes plenty of passive recovery like sleeping and eating and some active recovery like basketball. “The passive recovery allows the muscles time to grow and heal from the damage created during grueling training sessions,” he says. And active recovery can prevent or decrease physiological and psychological burnout. So get plenty of rest and you’ll have the energy to incorporate all of these new training suggestions and take your training to the next level!
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