Advanced Workout Techniques
When you begin the
transition from beginner to advanced, you will need to incorporate some
advanced training techniques. Here is a brief description of some of the most
popular ones.
--Try to
challenge yourself by putting in more exercises into your routine without
using more time. Or you can try to get the same routine done in less time.
This means less time between sets and it requires a fast recovery rate.
-- Heavy and
light days. Probably my favorite way to shock my muscles is to use heavy
and light training days. On heavy days, I use as much weight as I can for 3-4
reps and on light days I put on as much weight as I can for 12-15 reps. This
is good for me because I train 6 days a week doing each body part twice per
week.
-- Forced reps
are pretty popular. I don't like them too much but people do get pretty good
results from them. A forced rep is when you are trying to lift more weight
than you can lift by yourself and you need your partner to help you get it
up. The only time I like these is when you are at your failure point and you
just need a little help to get the last one up.
-- Partial reps
are a great way to get your muscles to burn. When doing partial bench press
reps, you should only lift the weight about 4 inches off of your chest. This
goes for any other exercise as well. Only do the first half of the rep.
(don't do these for squats- they are a waste of time).
-- Isolate
your muscles to get the most out of a particular workout. Doing leg
extensions are a great isolation workout for your thighs. for biceps I
recommend doing dumbbell curls. isolation
-- Isotension
is imperative if you want to be a competitive bodybuilder. This is when you
continuously flex and relax your muscles before, between, and after your
workout and even between reps. Practicing your posing routine is a form of
isotension as well.
-- Negative reps
are when you are lowering the weight. My favorite exercise to do negatives on
is with straight bar curls. To do this, you curl the bar up as normal then
lower it very slowly. Concentrate on holding the weight as hard as you can.
If you can hold it easily, then its not enough weight.
-- Cheating
is when you lose your form just for a second to help get you through a tough
spot in your workout. For instance, if you are doing standing military press
and you can't seem to push out the last rep and you begin to use your legs to
give you momentum to lift it, this is cheating. Keeping good form in general
is one of the most important criteria to becoming strong and staying healthy
so this type of practice should be avoided as much as possible.
-- Heavy Duty
training is when you go to your usual workout weight right after warming up.
Usually, I do a few (3-4) sets to pyramid up to my workout weight and get the
blood pumping. With the heavy duty method of training, you skip the pyramid
and go straight to the top.
-- Staggered
sets are usually used to help develop an underdeveloped area. For
instance if your calves were a little smaller than you like, you might
incorporate an extra day of calf exercises on a day that they aren't scheduled
for. So when chest day comes around you would do a set of calf raises between
each exercise you do that day. By the end of the day you may have done 20-30
sets!
-- Prioritize
your workout so that you are putting a specific emphasis on your "weak"
areas. Personally, My back could use a little more work. On back day I could
use one or more of the techniques above to help make my workout more enjoyable
and effective. I could also schedule my back day on Monday so I am more
fresh... get the point?
-- Supersets
are one of my personal favorites! This can be done two ways actually. 1) You
can superset the same muscle group. ie: doing pushups between sets of bench
press, and 2) You can superset opposing muscle groups. ie: doing pull-ups
between sets of bench press. I like doing them both ways.
-- Stripping
weight as you go is a very effective way to build muscle. This allows you to
work through your fatigue. Basically, you do as many reps as you can until
you are completely fatigued, then you "strip" some weight off of the bar and
immediately go again until you are fatigued at that weight. This is a good
way to make you feel weak, but you really get a pump!
-- I Go/You Go:
This is a pretty fun exercise especially when you and your partner are about
the same strength and size. Basically, if you are doing curls, once you are
done with your set you hand the weight off to your partner then he goes. You
can go back and forth until one of you gives up. Or you can do one, then your
partner does one, then you do two, then he does two, then three and go up to
15 or so then back down.
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