[quote]TD54 wrote:
I agree here. One thing that I think many beginners do is up the intensity right when they are about to fail, squeezing out a couple more reps instead of focusing on upping the weight and keeping intensity from the very FIRST rep. Maybe most beginners get the impression that the last few reps are all that count?
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There are several potential downfalls for beginners/intermediates.
Some may be doing too much volume in the areas that don’t matter as much and end up draining themselves (as you mentioned). Spending too much volume “warming up” a muscle instead of giving it just enough stimulation. You’ll see this type of thing happening in the gym where there’s a slim guy going from one station to another and simply pumping up the muscles. If instead, like you mentioned, they focussed their energies on increasing the loads every time, they would cut their workouts short and make more progress at the same time.
Then you’ll have those work up to a max load for reps, then trying to force more sets/reps out of it using the same load. A typical example of this is forced reps (something I believe was made popular in the late 80’s/early 90’s). I always remember a good meaning friend of mine telling my brother than he needed to get the most out of the last few reps of his set (despite the fact that he was already going to failure/near!). He had him doing forced reps EVERY time on top of his already intensive training routine. When he stagnated for weeks on end (he couldn’t progress in loads), I asked him “what’s so bad about simply adding weight to the bar every week?” He did this (stopped the sets at momentary failure or a rep short of it) and low and behold, he started making progress again. Note: This was while doing low-medium rep ranges. If doing high(er) rep ranges, it’s easier to recover from failure training.
Then you’ll have the guys that turn their routine into some sort of powerlifting / bodybuilding morph routine. Often when guys learn the benefits of putting their energies into load progression instead of filling their workouts with “fluff”/redundant exercises, they go too far in the other direction. They are the ones who will start preaching that you don’t need to do direct movements for certain bodyparts because the compound movements take care of them. These ones will go far too far in the little volume direction (to the point where yes, they may be getting stronger, but not much bigger). Typical programs are often touted as being for “hardgainers”. I remember reading one hardgainer book that recommended only training twice a week!
Another mistake bodybuilders can make (if they go down the “intensity is everything” route) is that they have to lower set/exercise volume that much due to the fact that while doing high intensity routines (as in, working nearer your 1RM), you cannot cope with as much volume/frequency. So, these ones once again, they do enough for strength, but not much for hypertrophy. What’s a worse situation is where these ones try to do enough volume for bodybuilding, and the same intensity for powerlifting. They end up “frazzled” in no time.
Moral of story? Sure, work up to a max load on big exercises, BUT…do enough reps with a moderate load too (for size). Focus on load progression, BUT also on enough volume.
If work capacity and force seems to be diminishing then asses your diet first. If you are gaining weight every month, THEN check other things like length of gaining stretch (if this is long, like 12+ weeks, then maybe some form of deload would be good)…the check training program frequency/volume (lower if required/within reason).
