Optimal Training Time: You’ve got about an hour…Music and cardio
Written on 16 July 2007 by Marty GallagherIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Youve got about an hour: I have a lot of folks ask how long an exercise session should last. Experience and science both converge on this one: for someone in reasonably good condition, after 45 to 60 minutes energy starts to nosedive and the point of diminishing returns set in. There are two types of resistance training; intense and effective and not so intense and not so effective. 99% of people who take up weight training fall into the later category. Not necessarily out of laziness or because theyre bad people but because they dont know any better. No one has ever taken them aside and said, Look unless you really press the limit in various exercises nothing of any real consequence is going to occur. Unfortunately going through the motions, i.e., using the same poundage in the same exercise for the same number of sets and repetitions is going to result in little if any change. Only by pushing the body to do that which is has not done before do we trigger the adaptive response. That makes sense. Just look around when you go to the gym: if simply doing what you are capable of, if simply performing the same number of reps using the same poundage in the same exercise triggered the adaptive response, the gym would be crawling with muscle monsters. The human body does not reconfigure itself in response to sameness. The body only grows muscle and becomes stronger as a result of being pushed into new territory. Those who go through the motions, staying within their respective comfort zone can train for a long time. Those who train intensely enough to trigger hypertrophy have about an hour before the sheer intensity of the effort causes them to run completely out of energy: physical energy and psychic energy. If they dont run out of gas after a solid hour of bust-ass weight training then theyre either a Lance Armstrong aerobic anomaly (doubtful since genetically gifted endurance athletes are one in 100,000) or a person thinks theyre giving 105%.
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There’s no such thing as a dumb question!
Written on 13 April 2005 by paperboy THERES NO SUCH THING AS A DUMB QUESTION!
If you are serious about the art & science of physical renovation always ask questions!
Coach,
How often should I change progressive resistance routines? Ive been using my current program for over a year and made great initial gains using this three-day-a-week routine. For the longest time I havent made much progress on any front. Im stuck in the poundage used in the different exercises and though I train consistently I havent added any bodyweight or lost body fat. Could it be my routine? On day one I hit legs, shoulders and abs. Two days later I train chest and arms. (biceps/triceps) I take off a few days then train my back, hamstrings, light chest and arms. I usually go to the gym on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and it takes me about an hour to train. I use three sets of 12 reps. I want to add some additional muscle to my frame, as Im 510 and only weigh 165. Id like to get up to 180 but nothing seems to be working and I feel as if Im stale and burnt out. Any ideas would be appreciated.
John, Miami
The reason you feel stale and burnt out is you are stale and burnt out. One of the most consistent, mistakes novice weight trainers make is staying too long with a routine that once got them results. I never use a routine for longer than six to eight weeks and you shouldnt either. Typically a new weight trainer will start off using a progressive resistance routine and make great initial gains. Factually, when you are totally new to weight training and assuming you train reasonably hard, youll always make great gains. Its not so much that the training routine youve selected is all that fabulous its more attributable to the fact that your body is a virgin to weight training. Having never been systematically subjected to an intense progressive resistance exercise regimen when you begin serious training bang! its as if youve been shot out of a cannon. Frankly, assuming the beginner trains hard a weight-training virgin will make spectacular progress regardless the progressive training routine used.
The trainee mistakenly attributes their amazing progress to the incredible routine and develops a misguided, misplaced, counterproductive sense of allegiance to the magical routine. Thinking that this particular exercise program is sacrosanct, the trainee keeps on plugging away, using the same identical method well past the point of diminishing returns. Program effectiveness has long since been exhausted and progress is a distant memory. The key to avoiding burnout is to systematically rotate training routines. Master progressive resistance trainers have a series of contrasting training routines that they rotate on a regular basis, usually every 4 to 8 weeks. When changing a routine contrast is critical.
There is no point making slight changes to a routine that has exhausted itself. This rearranging of the deck chairs will yield nothing. The trick is to radically change the approach to shock the complacent body out of its stagnation. Sameness begets sameness and in your case I would suggest you consider changing the exercise menu and slash those reps from 12 per set to 6 across the board. This represents a radical departure from the current approach and will jolt you out of your inertia. Stick to three days a week, change exercises, slash reps and you will experience significant progress. Kick those calories up to add muscle mass. I suggest you consume a double serving of MyoPro whey protein immediately after working out.
Marty,
Whats the biggest myth in fitness? Im sure youve heard them all.
Ralph, Texas
This is easythe biggest myth in all of fitness-dom is the widely held belief that working the abdominal region will magically melt fat off the gut. I wish I had a nickel for every time Ive been asked to devise a waist routine that will trim my stomach and give me a six pack. Abdominal exercise builds and strengthens the muscles of the waistline, but spot reduction is a first class myth. If you want to develop a defined and delineated set of abdominal muscles you need to reduce the layer of body fat that lays overtop the stomach muscles.
This occurs as a result of strict diet procedures not as a result of abdominal exercise. In order to display a crisp set of abs you have to gain control over your knife and fork. Unless you reduce the body fat percentile significantly the abs will remain obscured beneath a layer of lard. You can do 1000 sit-ups and 1000 crunches each day seven days a week but if you eat too much food, if you consume more calories than you oxidize, you will never ever develop a ripped waistline. The method used by the pros is to lower food intake to the caloric breakeven point (where calories ingested and calories burned are equal) and use the caloric cost of exercise to create a slight caloric deficit.
Settle in and hold the course for a protracted period of time and over time, say four to six weeks, body fat melts away. The layer of ab obscuring fat will melt as well but not preferentially off the stomach as a result of abdominal exercise. A logical combination of diet and exercise results in a lowered overall body fat percentile. Then and only then will the detail of the gut region be displayed in all of its six-pac splendor.
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