After reading Chad Waterbury’s article “Frequency: The Key to Success”, I started thinking about something that Arnold wrote in “The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding”.
[I don’t have the book with me, so please bare with me – I’m trying to remember.]
I believe that Arnold felt that one of his delt heads were lagging behind. To address this, he kept a light dumbell under his bed at night and in the morning would proceed to do lateral raises (in bed on his side). It was around three or four sets (fairly high reps).
He never counted it as part of his training… in otherwords, it was supplemental.
I, like many people, want bigger and stronger biceps. So I am putting the theory of supplemental training to test.
I keep a light (25lb) barbell in my office at work. Every couple hours or so (when I have free time), I do 20-25 reps with it. Just enough for a nice pump, but I don’t kill the muscle.
After a couple weeks, there has been a noticable difference in my bicep. Nothing huge, but the extra work seems to keep blood and nutrients in there. Also, stressing the bicep throughout the day forces it to rebuild stronger (I guess).
At the gym, it’s business as usual. I don’t count the high-rep work at all. I do heavy curls, alternating, and preachers. I don’t do any high rep pump work at the gym. It’s mostly in the 8-10 rep range.
Does anybody else out there want to try this with me? Let me know what your results are. Pick a lagging bodypart and go to town. Just keep track of measurements before and after.
Pick up some dumbells and bring them to work with you (if you do office work of course). If you work outside, it should be easier.
PS. Training hasn’t gotten any harder since I’ve started doing this. My curls have started to move up, in fact.
Anyway, let me know what you think. I can’t wait for Chad’s [Waterbury] book. That guy is such a progressive thinker!