Next 4 : Truth of Fiction? A Look at Bodybuilding Maxims :
"It's all you!"
Whenever
I hear someone yelling this in the gym, I always look over to see
someone struggling to pull a bar off of his partner. As my colleague Dr.
Sal Arria likes to point out, most people can easily lift a 45 pound
bar with two pinkies. So the next time you tell your partner that you
hardly helped him at all, think again.
"I don't want to get too big" (In my best Jerry Sienfeld)
Is
this really a problem for people? This statement comes predominately
from females who put shoulder pads in their blouses. Go figure. Could
you imagine enrolling in a course or beginning some new endeavor saying
"I'll do this as long as I don't become too successful."? Don't use fear
of success as an excuse for not training.
"Strength built quickly is lost quickly"
In
the strength training community, it is generally accepted that high
intensity strength training will increase strength quickly, but this
strength tends to be "unstable," or quickly eroding. High volume
strength training increases strength slowly, but strength gained in this
manner tends to be more "permanent."
These
two observations support the concept of periodization, where a high
intensity "peaking" cycle follows a high volume "foundational" cycle of
training in order to exploit both types of adaptations. Incidentally, if
you have strength trained for many years, you'll be able to take a few
months off, and be able to maintain your strength and body composition
quite well. Beginners can't afford to do this however.
"Quality before quantity"
This
is a beaut of a universal truth. It applies to a workout just as much
as it applies to a year or an entire athletic career. Let's say that you
can perform about 6-7 pull-ups, but would love to be able to do 3 sets
of 10 someday. Most people simply try to add reps (quantity) every
workout, which usually leads nowhere because it doesn't make you any
stronger.
A
better approach would be to use lower reps (i.e., higher quality)- say
down to 2-3 reps per set (which may require that you use additional
weight hooked to a belt), and then gradually, add sets. After 3-4 weeks
when you can do in the neighborhood of 10-12 sets of 2-3 reps, try one
all-out set for reps and see what happens. I know you'll be happy with
the result!
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