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Here`s what I had to say about this nice milestone on X.
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Now let`s get into the meat of today's article.
You will learn about some of the latest findings in resistance training.
The goal is always to get the best results possible.
Frequency and intensity
How heavy to lift
Training to failure
Partial reps
Exercises
Exercise plan
Frequency and Intensity
We want to find a balance between maximum results and a packed calendar. Sometimes you will be at the lower end of sets per week, sometimes you may find the time to do more sets.
How many sets should you aim for within the course of the week?
Dr. Brad Schoenfeld is a well-known researcher in the field of exercise science, particularly in resistance training and muscle hypertrophy.
Schoenfeld research team has found that anywhere between 10 to 20 sets bring the most hypertrophy gains.
Our body's reaction to the training stimulus put upon it differs from one person to the next.
While some can get away with only 10 sets per week, other people need a higher stimulus.
Find what works for you.
As a rule of thumb: The more advanced, the higher the need for more volume.
It is important to note that beginners should not strive for high volume, you need to have a certain level of expertise before ramping up the volume.
Beginners should focus on familiarizing themselves with movement patterns.
Which means?
The compound lifts, Deadlifts, Benchpresses, and Shoulder Presses take a while to perfect.
Make sure you have the pattern down first. This will ensure proper form and reduce the risk of injury. Once you have mastered the movement patterns, then you can start increasing your volume to reach the 10-20 sets per week range.
How Heavy To Lift
Different rep ranges yield different results.
Higher reps with lower weight increases your muscular endurance (15 +), higher weight and lower number of reps (<6) lead to strength gains and hypertrophy lies in the middle (6-12).
This is both true and not.
6-12 reps form a good compromise between time under tension, reps and weight.
Interestingly, you can achieve similar hypertrophy results with different rep ranges.
This means that you can build your muscles with a three different kinds of reps ranges.
The caveat is that higher weights and lower reps are harder on the joints and you will need to do more sets to achieve the same hypertrophy.
One way to both use reps and weight as hypertrophy boosters, Plotkin suggests that you increase the number or reps first and then add weight.
For instance, if you start with a weight that you can lift only 8 times, you should add reps in the next week until you arrive at 12 reps. Then you are ready to add weight.
Train To Failure, But Don't Always Go To Failure.
It's important to push yourself during your workouts to see progress, but constantly training to failure can lead to longer bouts of recovery.
While most trainers recommend going to failure at every set, Pelland and his time deviate from this.
He recommends having 2 to 3 reps in reserve at most sets, except for the last one where you go to failure. This ensures that you are challenging your muscles and allowing them to be fully recovered at your next training session.
New Growth Hack - Partial Reps
Partials have earned a bad reputation in training history.
Why?
We have all seen videos, where people crank out the last 2-3 reps with momentum and bad form. These don`t lead to further gains.
If however, you lift the weight in a controlled manner but do not deviate from the proper form by using momentum, partials can squeeze out that extra effort from your muscles.
For example, if you are doing bicep curls, instead of completing the full range of motion by bringing the weight all the way up to your shoulder, you can stop halfway and focus on squeezing your bicep muscles before lowering the weight back down.
This extra time and effort spent on those partial reps will help stimulate more muscle growth in your biceps.
Milo Wolf and his team focused on partials vs. full range of motion.
Full range of motion is what we were told to do.
The reason for that is that we want to be strong over the whole range of motion, not just in certain parts of an exercise.
Or put in other words: Use the strength curve in the best way possible.
You can combine the full range of motion and partials…
2 ways to implement the findings
Use partials at the end of your workout
Use partials for 50% of your set
Not every exercise lends itself to doing that.
For instance, compound moves can get dangerous when done to failure.
At least have a spotter.
Chest flies, lat pulldowns, cable lateral raises, incline dumbbell curls, triceps cable pushdowns are a better way of doing them.
One more thing: The biggest resistance that a muscle is exposed to is at the beginning of an exercise, in the lengthened position.
Picture this: You sit on a bench at a 45-degree angle, doing biceps curls. Now you lift the weight only partially but still get huge benefits because you curl from a lengthened position.
The caveat: Partials are for people who have been training for a few weeks.
Beginners learn the movements by doing them in full range of motion.
Exercises
You can mix and match from the exercises plan below and put together your own training plan.
Are these the scientifically best exercises?
No. They are based on my experience. They work.
Sample exercise plan: The plan consists of a simple push and pull method. This ensures that you hit every muscle group twice within a little more than a week.
You start the week with a Push day (or Pull) 2 days later continue with pull, 2 days later get back to push day….. that ends up being 3 sessions per week. Advanced lifters can increase to 4 sessions.
Mix in your cardio sessions and you are good to go.
The Exercise Plan
Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Quads, and Calves):
Barbell Squats - 4 sets x 8-12 reps
Flat Press (Barbell, Dumbbell, or Machine) - 4 sets x 8-12 reps
Dumbbell Lateral Raises - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Cable Lateral Raises - 3 sets x 12 reps
Overhead Extensions (Barbell, Dumbbell, or Cables) - 3 sets x 12 reps
Leg Presses - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Seated Leg Curls - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Straight Leg Calf Exercises - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Pull (Back, Biceps, Hamstrings, and Glutes):
Deadlifts - 4 sets x 8-12 reps
Pull-Ups - 4 sets x 8-12 reps
Rows (Barbell, Dumbbell, Machine, or Cables) - 4 sets x 8-12 reps
Incline Cable Curls - 3 sets 12 reps
Preacher Curls - 3 sets x 12 reps
Stiff Legged Deadlifts - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Bulgarian Split Squats - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Hip Thrusts - 3 sets x 8-12 reps
General Warm-up: Use any cardio machine, bring your core temperature up, and prepare your joints.
If you are familiar with dynamic stretching, use dynamic stretching exercises instead of the cardio machine.
This method is better because the exercises mimic your workout exercises more closely.
Warm-up-Set: Aim for 15 reps (lighter weight), when you go for 12 reps in your working set, 10 (lighter weight), when you go for 12 reps in your working set.
Tempo: 2-1-1-1
Eccentric (lowering the weight) - 2 seconds
Pause - 1 second
Concentric - 1 second
Pause - 1 second
Pause: for 1 - 2 minutes between sets
Partials: use them for 50% of the set, see chapter partials for general guidance on how to use them.
If you want, you can use supersets:
Combine
Barbell squats and Flat Press
Leg presses with seated leg curls
It would be great to hear if this exercise plan works for you, if you struggle with anything and about the progress you make.
🧐🤔 Hey here ist Kristina 👋 do you also share videos. Don't talk, act. If you know what I mean 💪