|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LATEST NEWS |
The over training myth- It’s time to stop the nonsense and start progressing! by Jason Rickaby The over training myth- It’s time to stop the nonsense and start progressing! By Jason Rickaby- Author/Published columnist and Lifetime natural Body builder. I’ve been reading some really poor articles on some sites recently, most of them about weight training and how to progress in this great sport of ours. These articles are usually written by armchair body builders, those with a product to sell without understanding the athlete, or the sport they are mainly targeting. Though I’m a shareholder in PhD Nutrition, I’m a natural body builder first. I’ve been a natural body builder and in love with the iron game for 12 years now, I’ll never change. I’m constantly looking for the best way to add half an inch to my biceps and I’ve spent the last 12 years researching every possible way to do this. That’s why it angered me the other day to se an article written on training cycles by an armchair weight trainer. The article recommended training 3 times per week, with 2 exercises per day and 6 sets per day, a total of 18 sets per week?? ! All in the name of “be careful you don’t over train” and “only train one body part every week”. Damn, is this out dated concept of over training still around in the year 2006? Obviously it is, though I thought we’d moved away from that notion, sometime around the time TV was invented. Let’s get this straight. Read through the natural body building discussion forums and speak with the top competitive natural body builders of the day, find out how many times per week they train and how many sets they do. I train 5-6 times weekly, I hit a body part every 3-5 days and each session will contain between 20-35 sets. That’s around 150 sets per week, 9 times more than recommended by “the experts”. Fivos Averkiou, PhD athlete and British and UK Champion body builder stands a solid 200lbs at 5 feet 9 with abs, he trains 5-6 times per week. World Champion Peter Chown only 3 weeks ago weighed in at a lean-ish 16 stone 8lbs at 5 feet 10 inches tall, Pete trains a body part twice every week. Recent NPA Yorkshire under 18 natural body building champion and user of PhD Nutrition products, Ryan Broomhall trained twice everyday in the lead up to his victory. Ryan was more muscular and in better condition than 90% of fat guys in the gym with 20 years training experience. Now ask yourself, who do you believe? The armchair expert with 12 inch arms and a degree in marketing, or the athlete who gets out into the big bad world and does the hard work, reaping the rewards? It’s time to set the record straight, over training very rarely happens if:
Of course there are varying degrees of volume training. Not for a moment am I suggesting that a working man with 3 children trains twice everyday, it’s just not feasible, in this situation, it could lead to burn out. However, very few of us don’t have the time to train at least 5 times per week for 1 hour. What you fit into those 5 hours of training decides how you will look. Study most guys at the gym. They’ll do a half-hearted set, put the weights down and talk to their mates for 2 minutes, then have a drink of water, then stare around the gym looking for the nearest person to impress, or ogle (if it’s a woman) then they may eventually get down to their next set. In that time, you should have had at least 3 sets done, performed your work and moved onto the next exercise, or set. If you’re serious about building a lean, muscular physique, the least you can do is the following: Monday- Chest and triceps (set total 16-20) Even this approach hits a minimum of 90 sets per week. There are of course variations on this approach. You can couple two major body parts, or you can split the body in half and only hit the gym 4 times during the week, (yet ensure the volume and frequency are met) and cycle your intensity throughout the week, such as: Monday- Upper body- Minimum 5 sets each for chest, back, delts, triceps and biceps- all heavy- rep range 5-8. Again this approach is one I’ve used in the past with great effect. I used to laugh when guys tell me I’m over training, as they suck their fat stomachs in and push out their flabby chests. Sure, training 3 times per week with 6 sets per workout will increase your body weight, it may even increase your bench press….for a short while. It will also increase your need for pants with larger waist measurements and help you lose your abs in record time. It’s hard to admit it sometimes, but low volume work is the easiest ticket to becoming a couch potato. It’s time to decide whether you want to look like an athlete or a fat guy who works out? The choice is yours. |
||
|
|||
