So, I’ve decided to give the Waterbury Method a shot. That being said, does anyone have any experience, recommendations or advice about this routine? For anyone who has used it, what sort of results did you get?
I fear this is not going to go well in the bodybuilding forum. Hopefully I can preempt some of it so it doesn’t get too ugly.
First, w/r/t that particular template, as with any template, everyone’s experience is going to be different. The general idea of starting each session with many low rep sets of a core lift, and then doing higher reps on accessory stuff is fine and lots of ppl do it.
I will say that I don’t agree with all of CW’s latest ideas about bar speed and stopping when bar speed slows down. Russian research, as well as the (admittedly informal and unscientific) findings of Eric Talmant and his coach, showed that the reps you have to grind out are the ones that build strength.
When they kept the volume the same but used the Tendo unit to guage bar speed, stopping sets once the bar slowed down too much, their gains were not nearly as good.
Every successful powerlifting system in existence has at least as an important element, if not the main premise, that you have to get good at grinding.
Now…I know this is the bodybuilding forum, so I will say this. Morphological changes require deep inroads into recovery.
You can crank out fresh singles and doubles with 75 percent 1RM for an hour, but you’re probably better off doing one or two sets that actually break down some tissue. Everyone needs to grind, not just powerlifters.
Note that what is logical and what is physiological are not always the same. Newfangled training theories aimed at ‘managing fatigue’ I think miss an important point. You need to carry some kind of fatigue debt most of the time.
It is not bad for you to build up a fatigue debt. You just have to make sure your recovery mechanisms can handle it…If they can, the more fatigue you are carrying, the more your gains will be once you unload it. Every succesful training system operates under this premise whether explicitly or implicitly.
So, to squarely address your question. The template may or may not be acceptable…it will almost certainly not be optimal for you. Whichever template you use, follow the basic principles of good training. Build up fatigue, work hard to recover from it, make your sets difficult, and make at least some of the reps grinders.
I’m sure somewhere nearby there is someone who disagrees with pretty much everything I just wrote.
^^^
TRANSLATION:
No matter your template, the more aggressive & intense your training at the same time making sure you’re eating enough to recover between sessions - assuming you have cut deep into but not exceeded your natural/assisted recovery capabilities…
knock yourself out. And report back here. lol.
[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
^^^
TRANSLATION:
No matter your template, the more aggressive & intense your training at the same time making sure you’re eating enough to recover between sessions - assuming you have cut deep into but not exceeded your natural/assisted recovery capabilities…
knock yourself out. And report back here. lol.
[/quote]
Yes. Thank you. I am a windbag.
Dude, I agreed with your post (whatever I could understand at least). I was just summing it up for him lol.
[quote]Ramo wrote:
tribunaldude wrote:
^^^
TRANSLATION:
No matter your template, the more aggressive & intense your training at the same time making sure you’re eating enough to recover between sessions - assuming you have cut deep into but not exceeded your natural/assisted recovery capabilities…
knock yourself out. And report back here. lol.
Yes. Thank you. I am a windbag.[/quote]