I appreciate the input but I’m extremely hesitant to “back off” during my 3-4 week bulking cycles. Especially for a type “A” personality, blasphemy. Nah, just kidding; kinda.
No, the reason I’m hestitant of backing off is even though it is physically and emotionally draining, I am seeing results. That is the crucial factor here, I am seeing results. It’s not like I’m bringing this intensity to my workouts and I’m staying the same size.
As a tall ectomorph, it seems that this is the type of training that forces me to grow because after 3 years nothing else has worked that well unless I bring this type of intensity.
Maybe I am going overboard a smidge, a lot, or not at all. I’m not sure. But let’s get more specific about one of my leg days during this bulking session for all to see.
Quad-dominant day:
After proper warmup,
3 sets of 20 rep squats with my 10rm; at least 5 to 6 minutes rest in between each one. By the third set of 20, I’ll be lucky if I bang out 15.
2 sets of seated calf raises with 5 to 6 drop sets until I’m down to about 45 lbs (start with reps of 12, and each drop set is about 5-6 reps each).
2 sets of leg extensions for between 8 & 12 reps.
As you can see, I only do 5 sets for legs and 2 sets for calves. However my reps end up in the 70 - 80 range. Which is actually high for me. On typical workout days I usually end up in the 9 to 11 set range and total rep range of 45 - 60 reps.
20 rep squats are excruciating to go through but I don’t do them very often. On another bulking cycle, I won’t do any 20 rep squats. It may be 10 sets of 3 or 5 sets of 5 but I typically up the weight until I can barely bang these out. Then I will follow up with a couple of drop sets on hack squats and some jumping squats to finish them off.
I’m definitely interested in any input you can give. After 4 years of reading every article and most of the training posts on this site and applying concepts I have learned I thought I had a pretty good understanding of intensity as it relates to resistance training but maybe I missing something.
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I was just highlighting that you were making the common mistake of equating “intensity” with “working hard.” Running marathons is hard, but is by no means intense. I was simnply viewing “intensity” in the context of the discussion at hand, and in terms of my thoughts (see below) on the situation. With that in mind, intensity is percentage of 1RM.
No I don’t. Most of the the year my work outs consist of low rep, heavy weight (> 80% rm) compound movements (squats, deadlifts, chins, bench, dips, etc.). The last couple of bulking cycles I’ve decided to take advantage of a different protocol than I usually follow which included higher reps and more sets of them. This led to some additional hypertrophy that I was pleased with. I will now switch gears back to 10X3 or 5X5 protocol training.[/quote]
This caught my attention right away. While the 10x3, etc. programs certainly have their merit (especially with novice lifters), I’ve found that you have to be very careful with how often you employ them with experienced lifters. That’s a lot of volume at a very high percentage of 1RM.
Look at it this way…it sounds as if you’ve built a decent base of strength throughout your training career. It’s fair to assume that a lot of this strength has come as a result of neural adaptations; essentially, you’re more efficient and successful at force production. While this is obviously great for your strength, you have to consider that it’s also very demanding on the neuromuscular system. Basically, a 3RM load is MUCH more demanding on an experienced lifter than on someone with only one year under the bar. I don’t know of many powerlifters who use 8x3 protocols, do you? Hell, I only deadlift heavy once a month, and it’s usually just 2-3 singles above 90%! You need volume for hypertrophy, though, so you’ve got to do it occasionally; just be cognizant of the fact that you’ll need downtime more often, especially if you’re a bit older.
I think that this is one of the reasons that Chad’s programs are so effective; he doesn’t have you hitting the same heavy rep range each session. Moreover, he gets you in and out of the gym quickly; there’s no unnecessary work that can compromise recovery. Finally, sets aren’t taken to failure, which in itself is extremely detrimental to recovery.
I’ll close by saying that my approach to backoff weeks, volume prescription, and overall loading parameters are extremely influenced by both training and chronological age.
I’m definitely interested in any input you can give. After 4 years of reading every article and most of the training posts on this site and applying concepts I have learned I thought I had a pretty good understanding of intensity as it relates to resistance training but maybe I missing something.
I was just highlighting that you were making the common mistake of equating “intensity” with “working hard.” Running marathons is hard, but is by no means intense. I was simnply viewing “intensity” in the context of the discussion at hand, and in terms of my thoughts (see below) on the situation. With that in mind, intensity is percentage of 1RM.[/quote]
I completely agree with this. I can see you’re reaction by how I wrote my post. I guess I view intensity in two ways. In the literal sense which is a percentage of 1RM. But also intensity from working harder than normal. During bulking sessions, I do work harder so to speak.
You definitely bring up some good points here. I only have 3+ years of consistent, smart training under my belt (thanks T-Nation). Yeah, I worked out when I was a younger man but we didn’t have the Internet back then for training info and I was doing too many squat rack curls inconsistently.
Anyhoo, I noticed within the first year I was getting pretty neurally efficient because my strength kept going up, most of my work outs were at a high intensity (>80% 1 rm), most people could not keep up with my workouts in the gym, and I felt “spent” more often than not. So I’m guilty of probably working too hard most of the time or at least pushing that line. However, I rarely go to failure on any set so I’m good there.
I have a couple of points working against me in general. First, I didn’t start getting serious about weight training until 30-31; yeah I’m still relatively young but I also can’t take advantage of the hormones of an 18 yr old either. Second, I’m an ectomorph that has a bitch of time putting on muscle, plain and simple. People may think I’m using it as an excuse but I’m not.
This is why I probably I always push myself to that borderline of overtraining to overcome these inherent challenges. I feel like I’m practically willing myself to get bigger despite my age and subpar genetics. I’m a type A personality and once I set my mind to something, I achieve it. I want to prove to myself that despite these challenges, I can achieve “hyooogeness”. Also, I can turn to others and tell them that they also can get big in spite of their ectomporph, long, lean, lanky, subpar genetic selves. No excuses!
Be careful about the Spike. It's the best stimulant in existence, as far as I can tell, but a stimulant might not be what you need if you're already tired. Spike itself doesn't have the post-stimulus downer associated with coffee and espresso, but the CNS gets fatigued all the same just by being excited all the time, especially if you're like me and end up doing all sorts of extra CNS-intensive activity when you take spike (sprinting, jumping, etcetera).
Consider Power Drive, though.
[quote]Orbitalboner wrote:
Holy mother Eric! You only deadlift once a month…How often do you squat, and how often do you squat heavy?[/quote]
Sometimes, I’ll even go 6-7 weeks. Conventional deads from the floor are tremendously draining. I still use a variety of speed pulls, rack pulls, and deadlift variations as part of my assistance work on a regular basis, though. I’ll squat 1-2 times per week (one speed, one heavy), and the “rest” is accounted for with good mornings. I’ll actually be filling you in on pretty much everything you’ll ever need to know with respect to the deadlift in an upcoming article, so keep an eye out!
I think you just need to get to a point where you realize that you don’t have to leave the gym feeling like absolute crap in order for a session to have been effective. I know how it is; before I began powerlifting, I was into the ridiculous programming that is all about getting a good pump and beating the metabolic piss out of every muscle. “Oddly” enough, I’ve grown more since I took up powerlifting, learned to appreciate supercompensation, and realized that I didn’t have to leave the gym feeling beaten down in order for a session to have been effective. Granted, I compete as a lightweight, so I really have to watch out for hypertrophy, but I’m so much denser than I was 18 months ago that you wouldn’t believe it (and I have the DEXA results to prove it).
Ask yourself if you really understand that training hard and training smart are not one in the same. For instance, I’m headed to Buffalo for the next two days to train with some friends in 1,100+ pound squatter Paul Childress’ crew. I have a meet on 3/19, though, and it’s the lower volume and intensity phase of my programming. As such, I’ll be holding back and likely just taking openers for my squat and bench. That’s training smart, but not necessarily “hard.” Would you be able to restrain yourself if faced with that same situation?
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
Orbitalboner wrote:
Holy mother Eric! You only deadlift once a month…How often do you squat, and how often do you squat heavy?
Sometimes, I’ll even go 6-7 weeks. Conventional deads from the floor are tremendously draining. I still use a variety of speed pulls, rack pulls, and deadlift variations as part of my assistance work on a regular basis, though. I’ll squat 1-2 times per week (one speed, one heavy), and the “rest” is accounted for with good mornings. I’ll actually be filling you in on pretty much everything you’ll ever need to know with respect to the deadlift in an upcoming article, so keep an eye out! :)[/quote]
Shit, no wonder i’ve been feeling so drained lately, i’ve been deadlifting heavy every 5 days…While doing a loose version of CT’s eight weeks to record bench program. Haven’t been squatting though. Is this suicide?
[quote]Orbitalboner wrote:
Shit, no wonder i’ve been feeling so drained lately, i’ve been deadlifting heavy every 5 days…While doing a loose version of CT’s eight weeks to record bench program. Haven’t been squatting though. Is this suicide?
(quote]
Again, it depends on your chronological and training age, and a host of lifestyle factors. There’s no way that I could handle pulling heavy every fifth day right now, but it wasn’t an issue when I was a newbie. Hell, nothing’s an issue when you’re a newbie! As a general rule of thumb, though, the big hip dominant movements always tend to be more taxing than the big quad dominant movements, most likely because the hamstrings especially are predominantly fast-twitch.
