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Debaser
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In an effort to make some of the trainees here rethink their methods, I'd like to present an open discussion here on the typical bodybuilding split. Many of you know I'm vehemently against such a method, but I'd like to explain why I'd like to put a nail in its coffin.
First off I will define what I mean by "typical bodybuilding split." These are the routines that you find in most muscle magazines, as well as being perpetuated by the majority of people here and in most gyms. They are generally a 4-way split, but sometimes are as often as 5 or 6 days. An example might be:
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Back
Day 4: Legs
Day 5: Arms
(or any other variation)
Some make it a 5 day split and may give delts their own day. I will attempt to explain why such concepts are ludicrous.
I will start by saying that many trainees are utterly confused as to what equals growth. Assuming you are eating enough (adequate macronutrients and caloric total), the act of adding weight to the bar is responsible for most of your muscle gain. There are two contexts for this:
1. Progressive strength gain. Adding small amounts of iron to the bar nearly every session in an effort to gain strength. That 2 lbs a week you're adding might not seem like much until a year later you realize your bench press is 100 lbs greater. As a result, your chest will have gained some good thickness.
2. HST adding some new ideas into the mix. You're still adding weight to the bar, but instead of absolute strength increase, you're adding the weight more often, while at submaximal levels.
Many trainees, due largely in part to muscle magazine propaganda, mistakenly believe that growth is mostly the results of:
1. Some kind of burn or pump.
2. Lots of different exercises in an effort to "blitz" different areas of the muscle. Many of these exercises are dangerous and this whole practice could be mostly eliminated by a simple anatomy lesson.
3. "Shocking" the muscle. In an effort to "confuse" their muscles, trainees often switch routines, rep ranges and intensity constantly. Your muscles aren't as smart as many of you seem to think. This causes many trainees to make lousy or no progress, because they can't even consistantly track their own workouts. It takes YEARS to put on lots of muscle, give a routine more than 2 weeks before you judge it's efficacy.
Now, it has been established that you can stimulate growth entirely by the efforts of 1 set (by DC training, HST, HIT, hardgainer, and scientific studies). While I will concede that more sets will generally equal greater hypertrophy, there are all-important caveats:
1. There are serious diminishing returns involved. Assuming we're dealing with larger rep ranges (5+), The third set is largely unproductive, and sets thereafter will produce negligable growth.
2. The more sets you do, the more time you will need to recover.
There is an obvious synergy between these two facts. If you are doing lots of volume, you might be doing once a week frequency because that's all you CAN do without becoming overtrained. Some people do so much volume (many not realizing it) that they are constantly overtrained and make meager progress.
We then reach our final conclusion, that since 1-2 sets is quite adequate for stimulating growth, and that doing low volume grants you greater recouperative powers, we can train with greater frequency. And if you're causing growth 1.5-3 times a week, you will be light years ahead of the guy training each bodypart once a week or less.
Please present your own thoughts on the matter.
First off I will define what I mean by "typical bodybuilding split." These are the routines that you find in most muscle magazines, as well as being perpetuated by the majority of people here and in most gyms. They are generally a 4-way split, but sometimes are as often as 5 or 6 days. An example might be:
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Back
Day 4: Legs
Day 5: Arms
(or any other variation)
Some make it a 5 day split and may give delts their own day. I will attempt to explain why such concepts are ludicrous.
I will start by saying that many trainees are utterly confused as to what equals growth. Assuming you are eating enough (adequate macronutrients and caloric total), the act of adding weight to the bar is responsible for most of your muscle gain. There are two contexts for this:
1. Progressive strength gain. Adding small amounts of iron to the bar nearly every session in an effort to gain strength. That 2 lbs a week you're adding might not seem like much until a year later you realize your bench press is 100 lbs greater. As a result, your chest will have gained some good thickness.
2. HST adding some new ideas into the mix. You're still adding weight to the bar, but instead of absolute strength increase, you're adding the weight more often, while at submaximal levels.
Many trainees, due largely in part to muscle magazine propaganda, mistakenly believe that growth is mostly the results of:
1. Some kind of burn or pump.
2. Lots of different exercises in an effort to "blitz" different areas of the muscle. Many of these exercises are dangerous and this whole practice could be mostly eliminated by a simple anatomy lesson.
3. "Shocking" the muscle. In an effort to "confuse" their muscles, trainees often switch routines, rep ranges and intensity constantly. Your muscles aren't as smart as many of you seem to think. This causes many trainees to make lousy or no progress, because they can't even consistantly track their own workouts. It takes YEARS to put on lots of muscle, give a routine more than 2 weeks before you judge it's efficacy.
Now, it has been established that you can stimulate growth entirely by the efforts of 1 set (by DC training, HST, HIT, hardgainer, and scientific studies). While I will concede that more sets will generally equal greater hypertrophy, there are all-important caveats:
1. There are serious diminishing returns involved. Assuming we're dealing with larger rep ranges (5+), The third set is largely unproductive, and sets thereafter will produce negligable growth.
2. The more sets you do, the more time you will need to recover.
There is an obvious synergy between these two facts. If you are doing lots of volume, you might be doing once a week frequency because that's all you CAN do without becoming overtrained. Some people do so much volume (many not realizing it) that they are constantly overtrained and make meager progress.
We then reach our final conclusion, that since 1-2 sets is quite adequate for stimulating growth, and that doing low volume grants you greater recouperative powers, we can train with greater frequency. And if you're causing growth 1.5-3 times a week, you will be light years ahead of the guy training each bodypart once a week or less.
Please present your own thoughts on the matter.
