Work on your volume and strength without adding unnecessary discs!

Adding weights to the barbell is one of the keys to gaining muscle mass and strength. However, constantly trying to add weight can also be the reason why you fail to get bigger and stronger. Sound crazy? Let me explain.

Adding weight is very important for achieving gains. But even effective training and recovery periods will reward you with only a slight increase in strength. For most of you, this improvement is less than the smallest weight you can add to the axle, assuming the smallest size disc you have is 2.5 pounds.

Even a 5 pound increase in weight (2.5 pound discs on each side of the axle) from workout to workout is not sustainable. If that were the case, we would all be adding 250 pounds on each exercise every year.

Now, you may think you are gaining 5 to 10 pounds each week. That's because:

1. You're more efficient at the exercise. Your technique has improved, allowing you to use more weight even though you're using about the same amount of force. Or you never used low reps before, so you were inefficient at them, and now you're improving.
2. You've brought your series closer to failure. For example, if last week you did 225 for 3 reps (two reps left in reserve) and this week you stepped up and did 235 for 3 reps (one rep left in reserve), you only gained 4 pounds of strength, not 10.

HOW FAST CAN YOU GAIN STRENGTH?

There are individual differences, of course. It also depends on your nutrition and recovery. Assuming all is well, the following numbers roughly apply to most people:

• Newbies: 2.5 to 3% per week
• Beginners: 1.5 to 2% per week
• Intermediate: 1.0 to 1.5% per week
• Advanced: 0.5 to 1.0% per week
• Elite: 0.25 to 0.5% per week

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ADD TOO MUCH WEIGHT TOO QUICKLY?

Your gains could stop. And the idea that you have to keep trying to add weight to the trapeze will lead to several things:

• Gradual deterioration of technique: using a body sway or twist to get the weight up.
• Failing reps more often and not recovering from the workout because you hit failure too often.
• Loss of strength due to poor technique and subsequent loss of neurological efficiency. This results in poor recovery and central nervous system fatigue which reduces excitement in the muscles.
• Compensating for the loss of strength by trying to get stronger with stimulants or simply psyching yourself up to go crazy, leading to a higher risk of burnout.
• Increased risk of injury.

Don't act like none of this ever happened to you. It happens to all serious athletes. Here's the thing: You should only add weight when your body is ready for it.

How to do it? Load in increments. Before I describe this, I need to set the record straight by explaining something called "training for strength".

MAXIMIZING STRENGTH CAPABILITIES

Performing a relatively high volume of lifting work below your max is a neglected way to get stronger. Some call it "improving your rhythm", others "training for strength".

Use loads around 75-85% of 1RM for low rep counts (3-5), keeping a good 2-3 reps in reserve. This is done for a high number of sets.

Main benefits:

• Significant improvement in technical efficiency.
• Improvement in neurological factors involved in force generation: muscle fiber engagement and speed of engagement, intramuscular coordination, intermuscular coordination, down-regulation of protective mechanisms, etc.
• Improved information transfer: the more often you do a movement, the easier it is for your nervous system to perform it efficiently, and therefore requires less preparatory work.
• It will allow you to perform these movements with less fatigue accumulation by performing them more efficiently.

Despite what people think, it is possible to build quite a lot of muscle using a strength approach. However, you need to make a few adjustments. In traditional strength-skill work, your rest intervals are quite long - about 3 to 4 minutes. This way, you will fatigue yourself as little as possible.

However, if you want to strengthen more muscles, shorten your rest periods to 90-120 seconds. This incomplete recovery time will force you to engage and stimulate more muscle fibers throughout the workout.

In other words:

• Strength work with low fatigue accumulation = strengthening, but not bulking up.
• Strength work with moderately high fatigue accumulation = strengthening and bulking.

The advantage of the first option (low fatigue)? It can be performed more often, while the second requires more rest between work sets. The higher frequency promotes faster neurological improvement.

The second step to ensure muscle growth is to increase the volume of work. This is where the "gradual increase in volume" approach comes in. If you're not pushing your sets anywhere close to failure, you need more volume to induce muscle growth.

How many sets exactly? Let's get into it.

GRADUAL LOADING METHOD

Progressive loading means that you stick to the same weight for a certain period of time. When you eventually add weight, you add more weight. Here's one way to do it:

• Week 1: Conventional Reps
• Week 2: During each eccentric repetition (lowering phase), one 3-second pause: halfway through.
• Week 3: Two 3-second pauses during each eccentric repetition: in the top third of the repetition and in the middle of the repetition.
• Week 4: Two 3-second pauses during each eccentric rep: in the middle and lower third.
• Week 5: Three three-second pauses during each eccentric repetition: in the upper third of the repetition, in the middle of the repetition and in the lower third.
• Week 6: Two three-second pauses during each eccentric repetition: in the upper third of the repetition and in the middle of the repetition. And one three-second pause during each concentric (deadlift) repetition: top third of repetitions.
• Week 7: Two three-second pauses during each eccentric repetition: in the upper third of the repetition and in the middle of the repetition. And one three-second pause during each concentric repetition: in the middle.
• Week 8: Two three-second pauses during each eccentric repetition: in the bottom third of the repetition and in the middle of the repetition. And one three-second pause during each concentric repetition: in the middle of the repetition.
• Week 9: One three-second pause during each eccentric rep: top third of reps. And two three-second pauses during each concentric repetition: in the middle and upper third of the repetition.
• Week 10: One three-second pause during each eccentric repetition: halfway through. And two 3-second pauses during each concentric repetition: in the middle and upper third.
• Week 11: One 3-second pause during each eccentric rep: bottom third. And two 3-second pauses during each concentric repetition: middle and upper third.
• Week 12: Three 3-second pauses during each concentric repetition: lower third, middle and upper third.

Perform 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps with your chosen weight, resting about two minutes between sets, and do not use an RPE (rate of perceived exertion) higher than 8 in any set.

WHAT WILL THIS PROGRAM DO FOR YOU?

Well, let's say that after 12 weeks you were feeling frisky and you added 30-50 pounds to your axis and returned to your normal rep tempo. These would feel much easier than they might normally because you'll not only be stronger, but you'll have better body stiffness, better technical efficiency, and better active stability.

Now on to my other favorite approach to adding volume using the same weight - a progressive approach to volume/density that I refer to as "progressive volume addition."

METHOD OF GRADUAL ADDITION OF VOLUME

The premise is simple: Perform a high number of sets with a low number of reps (3 to 5), always leaving at least 2 reps in reserve. By gradually adding sets and shortening rest intervals, you make the workout harder and more demanding on the body.

Use the same weight for all working sets in each week. Use this style of training for the 3-4 basic exercises in the workout. Train four days a week using two different workouts. Here is a sample template.

WORKOUT A: DAYS 1 and 3

• A. Squat variation
• B. Bench press variation
• C. Horizontal deadlift variation (I like the Pendlay deadlifts below)
• D. Vanity exercise (single-joint exercise for one group you want to emphasize).

TRAINING B: DAYS 2 and 4

• A. Hip flexor variation (deadlift or weightlifting exercise)
• B. Overhead press variation
• C. Variation of vertical pull
• D. Vanity exercise (single-joint exercise for one group you want to emphasize).

WEEK 1

• Program 1: 4 x 5, 180 seconds between sets, with about 2 reps to spare.
• Program 2: 4 x 3, 180 seconds between sets. Same weight as in workout 1

WEEK 2

• Program 1: 5 x 5, 165 seconds between sets
• Program 2: 5 x 3, 165 seconds between sets

WEEK 3

• Program 1: 6 x 5, 150 seconds between sets
• Program 2: 6 x 3, 150 seconds between sets

WEEK 4

• Program 1: 7 x 5, 135 seconds between sets
• Program 2: 7 x 3, 135 seconds between sets

WEEK 5

• Program 1: 8 x 5, 120 seconds between sets
• Program 2: 8 x 3, 120 seconds between sets

WEEK 6

• Program 1: 9 x 5, 105 seconds between sets
• Program 2: 9 x 3, 105 seconds between sets

WEEK 7

• Program 1: 10 x 5, 90 seconds between sets
• Program 2: 10 x 3, 90 seconds between sets

A few notes to clarify things:

• The program is unchanged. Stick to your choice.
• Program 1 refers to the first "A" workout of the week and the first "B" workout of the week. Program 2 refers to the second "A" workout of the week and the second "B" workout of the week.

For example:

• Monday: Programme A, first training session
• Wednesday: Program B, first practice
• Friday: Program A, second training
• Saturday: programme B, second training

The second set in each program, which uses 3 sets instead of 5, resembles a "light" workout in the division between heavy and light sets. This is a lower load workout where you focus even more on technique. Also, since the recommended split has workouts on two consecutive days (Friday/Saturday), you want to program the workout with a lower stress level.

At the end of seven weeks, the weight you've been using should feel so easy that you'll need to increase it. You should then start a new cycle using 25 to 40 pounds more weight, depending on the exercise.

Although this is one of the most "gentle" ways to gain strength, it also works well for building muscle mass by adding volume and density. However, I admit it is somewhat boring, but ask yourself if you prefer fun or progress.

LONG-TERM IMPROVEMENT

This type of program can work for any level of athlete. It allows beginners to better develop technical mastery of basic exercises. For advanced exercisers, it allows them to continue to progress without forcing them to develop compensations because they accidentally add weight faster than their rate of improvement. Intermediate exercisers gain the most because both of these benefits apply to them.

This type of program requires more intellectual commitment on your part and is not for everyone. But for those who commit to it, the reward is better long-term progress.

Source: www.t-nation.com - Get Bigger and Stronger: The Step Loading Method
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