building muscle mass
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Grammaton, you have it partially right.
Heavy weight, high sets, low reps build strength and functional hypertrophy
Moderate weight, low sets, high reps build structural hypertrophy (mass), but little strength
If you're just concerned about muscle mass, then you'll want to do some failure (A set), and high repitions. You'll want maximal contraction, maximum pump, and include some heavy lifting. You'll also want to pay attention to TUT.
Orrrr....
1. Include a maximal static contraction in the fully contracted portion of isolated movements.
2. Flex your muscles as hard as you can during every single inch of every rep.
3. Some of you exercises should include a loaded stretch in the starting position.
4. On your last exercise you should use whatever method you can to get as big a pump as you can
5. Despite all this, still include osme heavy lifting in your training plan.
You'll want high volume/controlled eccentric and a lot of isolation exercises. 50-70% of your training volume is spent on hypertrophy work, limit strength accounts for 20-30%, and power work for 10-20%
Got all that? Google what you don't understand; get back to us with what information you can't find after that. Keep in mind this is primarily for just gaining mass and little strength.
Heavy weight, high sets, low reps build strength and functional hypertrophy
Moderate weight, low sets, high reps build structural hypertrophy (mass), but little strength
If you're just concerned about muscle mass, then you'll want to do some failure (A set), and high repitions. You'll want maximal contraction, maximum pump, and include some heavy lifting. You'll also want to pay attention to TUT.
Orrrr....
1. Include a maximal static contraction in the fully contracted portion of isolated movements.
2. Flex your muscles as hard as you can during every single inch of every rep.
3. Some of you exercises should include a loaded stretch in the starting position.
4. On your last exercise you should use whatever method you can to get as big a pump as you can
5. Despite all this, still include osme heavy lifting in your training plan.
You'll want high volume/controlled eccentric and a lot of isolation exercises. 50-70% of your training volume is spent on hypertrophy work, limit strength accounts for 20-30%, and power work for 10-20%
Got all that? Google what you don't understand; get back to us with what information you can't find after that. Keep in mind this is primarily for just gaining mass and little strength.
Grammaton said:
I don't think it is wrong to say low weights high reps build strength because any lifting, if done responsability will help build strength. But the key to gaining muscle mass is high weights low reps. The key for muscle endurance is the low weight high reps. A mixture is good if your training to be an overall athlete/fit person but for runners they use low weights high reps(except sprinters) and body builders throw on the high mass and do low reps but they also make sure that thier time intervals between each lift is not a 5minute rest like some kids do at the Y when they throw on way more than they should be lifting
Okay, let's break this down. Yes, doing any weight training will get you stronger, but...
When we're talking about building strength, we're talking about building absolute strength or what we commonly refer to as our 1RM. Increasing this type of strength requires increasing our speed and our absolute strength. You can increase strength through higher reps if done explosively (no TUT...just move that bar up and down as fast as possible in the 40-60%1RM), and ballistically in the 20-30% 1RM.
If you will look at mass building techniques, it's built around moderate weight for moderate reps (8-12) and the goal is to get that "pump" more than to break "PRs." You will gain a lot more mass (considering you are eating for mass) by working in the moderate rep range more than you will in the low rep range.
Low reps are 1-6. Moderate reps are 8-12. And high reps are 15+ with the reps missing falling somewhere in between.
When we're talking about building strength, we're talking about building absolute strength or what we commonly refer to as our 1RM. Increasing this type of strength requires increasing our speed and our absolute strength. You can increase strength through higher reps if done explosively (no TUT...just move that bar up and down as fast as possible in the 40-60%1RM), and ballistically in the 20-30% 1RM.
If you will look at mass building techniques, it's built around moderate weight for moderate reps (8-12) and the goal is to get that "pump" more than to break "PRs." You will gain a lot more mass (considering you are eating for mass) by working in the moderate rep range more than you will in the low rep range.
Low reps are 1-6. Moderate reps are 8-12. And high reps are 15+ with the reps missing falling somewhere in between.
Sure, TUT is time under tension (tempo) and PR is the initials for personal record, such as I just got a new PR in squats.
For a breakdown of TUT, here is a link http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa37.htm
For a breakdown of TUT, here is a link http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa37.htm
evolution said:
Are you talking about for MASS you need a lot of isolation exercises and high volume? What is a controlled eccentric? Thanks
Yes, we're referring to mass. Keep in mind that a persons physiological makeup such as whether they are fast, slow, twitch fiber mixed and their strength discrepecies will have a play in how one grows also (not to mention eating, but that's another subject).
For mass, you'll want to use failure techniques and use a lot of isolation exercises. Keep in mind that a persons training should still incorporate the "core" movements such as bench, squat, deadlift etc but you'll want to hit flyes, biceps, triceps, traps, etc in an isolation atmosphere. Personally when doing a hypertrophy block I like to superset movements between a big compound movement and then an isolation exercise, such as I would do flat bench and then flat flyes.
You'll also want it isolate muscle groups. Something like this:
Day 1-chest/back
Day 2- legs/abs
Day 3-off
Day 4-biceps/triceps
Day 5-off
Day 6-anterior/medial/rear delts
Day 7-off
Hope this helps.
For mass, you'll want to use failure techniques and use a lot of isolation exercises. Keep in mind that a persons training should still incorporate the "core" movements such as bench, squat, deadlift etc but you'll want to hit flyes, biceps, triceps, traps, etc in an isolation atmosphere. Personally when doing a hypertrophy block I like to superset movements between a big compound movement and then an isolation exercise, such as I would do flat bench and then flat flyes.
You'll also want it isolate muscle groups. Something like this:
Day 1-chest/back
Day 2- legs/abs
Day 3-off
Day 4-biceps/triceps
Day 5-off
Day 6-anterior/medial/rear delts
Day 7-off
Hope this helps.
that schedule reminds me of german volume training hahah. I tried it, it was pretty good.
what about chest / tri
back /bi
combos like that? Are those not good for mass?
what about chest / tri
back /bi
combos like that? Are those not good for mass?
It was adapted from an Optimum Training Volume, which is like the GTV, but it's set up as a 5X5 instead of a 10X10, which is much better in my opinion, but that's another deal all together.
I vary in my opinion on hitting tri's with chest and bi's with back due to already indirectly hitting those two muscle groups when you do chest and back. I prefer (in most cases and for most trainees) to hit bi's with chest and tri's with back, it really depends on the volume that you're working at. The reason why I like to split the tri's from the chest and bi's from the back is this way you get one day of indirect hit to the tri's and bi's and a day of direct hit. I'm a firm believer in the more you train a muscle the more it will grow (as long as you're using smart variables and training parameters).
However, I really think that if you want to achieve the most mass you can, the arms and calves need to have more direct work and this requires a day to themselves. This is, of course, considering that one is doing supinated grip bent over barbell rows, chins, (compound movements) in conjunction with isolation movements.
Again, these are just my personal opinions and you'll get a slightly different view from trainees, personal trainers, strength coaches etc. A lot of times you have to find out what works for you because you can end up doing to much work and cause overtraining which negatively effects mass or even gains at all.
Some other thoughts on this-
I think the arms should be trained like the bigger muscle groups (80-90% range for 4-6 reps). If you were to look at Jack Chevrier, he was able to curl 315 pounds with good form. Skip Lacour can curl 225 pounds for reps with good form and those numbers are impressive. So, in short, if you want your arms to grow, lift just as heavy as you would with any other muscle group.
I vary in my opinion on hitting tri's with chest and bi's with back due to already indirectly hitting those two muscle groups when you do chest and back. I prefer (in most cases and for most trainees) to hit bi's with chest and tri's with back, it really depends on the volume that you're working at. The reason why I like to split the tri's from the chest and bi's from the back is this way you get one day of indirect hit to the tri's and bi's and a day of direct hit. I'm a firm believer in the more you train a muscle the more it will grow (as long as you're using smart variables and training parameters).
However, I really think that if you want to achieve the most mass you can, the arms and calves need to have more direct work and this requires a day to themselves. This is, of course, considering that one is doing supinated grip bent over barbell rows, chins, (compound movements) in conjunction with isolation movements.
Again, these are just my personal opinions and you'll get a slightly different view from trainees, personal trainers, strength coaches etc. A lot of times you have to find out what works for you because you can end up doing to much work and cause overtraining which negatively effects mass or even gains at all.
Some other thoughts on this-
I think the arms should be trained like the bigger muscle groups (80-90% range for 4-6 reps). If you were to look at Jack Chevrier, he was able to curl 315 pounds with good form. Skip Lacour can curl 225 pounds for reps with good form and those numbers are impressive. So, in short, if you want your arms to grow, lift just as heavy as you would with any other muscle group.
what is eccentric?
The eccentric part of the movement is when the prime moving muscles get longer ie when you lower the weight during a bicep curl.