James... so ive heard some interesting (good) things about your training methods. I was wondering if you would like to define your methods and elaborate on them for everyone to see?

You mean aside from the beer, cigarettes and sleep deprivation? (my staples)

I would be happy to give you a rundown of my training methods- philosophy.

I am super short on time right now but check back on the thread for some juicy tid bits.

Be sure to fasten your seat belt (could be a rough ride)

LOL no... I know your diet secrets! been following them for years Im interested in your training

Ok these are some of my training methods.
Mostly my own learned through trial and error. If you have never heard anything like it before…. Its because I am not that in touch with current training technique. lol
I am only sharing what I personally do, that is working very well for me.

I very much believe in the less is more approach when it comes to tapping into your bodies recovery abilities.
In other words train enough to stimulate growth without over training.

This results in training each body part once every seven days. Even if I am tempted to train earlier, I don’t. Full recovery is to important.

The most important thing in relation to developing muscle is the mind muscle connection- or contraction.

This is all important to me. Contracting my muscles fully during each rep has made all the difference in my physique. Not that I am a huge guy… but I have been making good progress. I have gained 10 lbs just since I have been posting on this forum.

I now believe I can become fairly well developed. I am working on the 220-230 range. At 5’9 this will be the look I want. I have already achieved the look I thought I wanted…. Now I want more. LOL

I train each muscle in the body from traps to fore arms to calves. Everything gets worked. A fully developed body looks awesome. I go for even development in all the muscle groups.


My rep range stays high for all body parts. This does not necessarily mean easy light.

It means light enough to hit my target rep range and get the contraction that is needed to stimulate growth in the target muscles. This (target rep range) will vary for different people.
I do not care about getting stronger for the sake of having strength. I up the poundage only to stimulate more growth. (contracting fully)
I have discovered that new growth can result from very small increases in weight.

Whats more, I have discovered that the stimulation that increased weight produces can be milked for loger than I thought.
In other words if I bump the weight a small amount, say five or ten pounds, this will cause new growth. This new growth can be relized for quite a few workouts before I have to bump the weight again.

That means that if I up the weight to soon (just because it feels “light” now) I could miss out on gains I could have attaned had used that same weight- for a longer period of time.

I may get arguments on that point^^^.... but its what I am experiencing.

I believe this will allow me to reach a larger size in the long run.

I think you can work up to some respectable poundage using a proper contraction. Though I think there is a limit. Once you hit a certain poundage, you can not fully contract the muscle in each rep.
This is not something I am interested in.

That’s one reason I don’t train “heavy”, my heavy would be to much weight to properly work the muscle. I would not get the feeling or contraction I need to stimulate the development I am after.

I am bodybuilding…. Not power lifting.

Ok that’s it for this post. If your interested I will go into the specifics of my routine in the next post.
God I could say alot…lol Unlike some of you lucky bastards, I do not have a computer job. No way in hell I could type it in one shot. I could speak volumes on diet too.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you have. About anything at all...

MORE MORE MORE!

seriously... good stuff.... but yeah... i need more detail, when you get the time of course...

Subject:

Mind-Muscle connection.

AF, start that thread in this section please.

For some reason, index page access to the OT section isn't working tonight.

AF? You still there?>

Another positive aspect of training light is joint preservation. I believe lifting heavy weight causes tremendous wear and tear in your joints/body.

A lighter load translates into more years of being able to train effectively and injury free.

So not only will I develop a better looking physique, I will be able to maintain it longer.

Lucky me.

Ok, lets get to workout specifics.

Lets talk about sets (we will tackle reps in the next post) As much as I have time for now.

I keep my total sets per body part on the low end of the scale. (in a single workout)

This means for muscle groups like bis, tris, quads, hams, traps, 3-5 sets. That would be for the entire workout. Many workouts I have performed say 3 sets of squats and three sets of stiff leg deads and called it a workout.

Or for bis and tris, three sets of barbell curls and three sets of lying tri extentions. That’s it. Workout over. (yes only 3 sets for the bodypart)

For shoulders, back, fore arms and chest I perform more sets. These groups are complex and need work from more than one angle to completely hit the muscle. You may say that about the other groups (hit them from more than one angle) and I do(sometimes)…. Just not in the same workout. (I am not that advanced yet). I still keep it very basic, using compound exercises geared toward adding mass. Nothing fancy…. yet.

So following that train of thought, something like standing barbell curls (mass builder) would be sufficient for my entire bi workout at this stage of my development. I am not worried about concentration curls or whatever at this point.
I am still effectively building mass with a basic compound movement.

This being an effective formula for adding the last 30 pounds to my frame…. I will continue to use it for the next 20 lbs.

So I would keep sets to 3-4 per exercise for a body part requiring more than one exercise.

Say its back, it would be 3-4 sets of bent rows and 3-4 sets of pull ups (palms out). That would be the workout. ( I train traps on a separate day) I also throw in 2-3 sets of stiff legged deads on back day.
1. to warm up the low back
2. to bring out the development of the low back
Back gets more working sets than any other body part. 8- 10

Or shoulders, it would be say 4 sets standing barbell military press and 3 sets upright rows (done in super set) That would be the workout.

Chest would be something like 3 sets pull overs with a 3 sets of a pressing movement or dips. (I do pull overs in every chest workout)

This should give you an idea of the volume of sets in a workout (though only one piece of the training pie) minus going into reps (next post)

Some of you guys may think this number of sets is not enough…. Haha, I guarantee that it will make perfect sense after the next post…. Reps and intensity!!

I will also go more into the exercises and how I perform them.

Remember, I am only skimming the surface here... pressed for time. I will have more time soon. Anything you would like me to elaborate on... feel free to ask.

Holy fuckchop!



More words in his posts to this thread than all of his previous posts combined!

See, I am having a positive influence on y'all!

<or, we have hit a resonant chord in our resident artist>

Good posts!

Very informative James. I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to let us know what works for you. Thanks.

Again, nice description and explanation of your routine, James!

I have been training one body part per week for the last several months. I have had okay gains.

I got some new home equipment (7' barbell, 5' ez-curl bar, 2 DB handles, 255 lbs. of plates). I already had a Weider Crossbow, a set of 25 lbs. DBs, and a set of 30 lbs. DBs.

I am going to finish the rest of my gym membership and then start working out solely at home. I need to get a power cage and an adjustable bench. That way I can do squats and bench press.

BTW, how do you manage to get the bar on your shoulders to do heavy squats? Do you have a rack you set it on? I can't imagine pushing 250-300 lbs. overhead and placing on the shoulders.

I penciled out my new home workout routine, and surprisingly it VERY closely resembles your set/rep range and exercise choices.

I am going to do more of an HST-style routine. I am going to train every muscle group 3x per week. 2-3 sets for each muscle group. For example...

(sets x reps x weight)

Standing BB curl
2 x 10 x 70 lbs.

Lying tricep extension
2 x 10 x 60 lbs.

Bent-over BB row
2 x 10 x 135 lbs.

Lat pulldown (on Crossbow until I get a cage to hang from)
2 x 10 x 160 lbs.

Standing BB overhead press
2 x 10 x 100 lbs.

DB side-lateral raise
2 x 10 x 25 lbs.

Bent-over DB lateral raise
2 x 10 x 20 lbs.

Flat bench press (on Crossbow util I get a bench)
2 x 10 x 160 lbs.

Incline bench press (on Crossbow until I get a bench)
2 x 10 x 160 lbs.

Deadlift (until I get a cage to do squats)
2 x 10 x 185 lbs.

Stiff-legged deadlift
2 x 10 x 135 lbs.

DB single calve raises
2 x 10 x 30 lbs.

Weighted ab crunch (using Crossbow)
2 x 10 x 80 lbs.

This is what I had penciled out for my first week's workouts. I'm sure I will vary it every other week, or so.

It seems that I've made the best gains in the past by using higher rep routines.

It's VERY hard not to lift everyday with the equip just sitting there, staring at me 24/7.

Also, what angle do you keep your back on bent over rows? I have mine as close to parallel without rounding the back.

No problem filling those days inbetween lifting workouts, Shakes.

It's called CARDIO!

You get your ass to the gym (while you got that membership) and you do 20 min HITT cardio every other day.

Guarantee the weight gains you get will be lean and mean.

Must have: one day off for nothing but rest.

But wait, even then, there is something you can do: guided visualization.

If AF will kindly kick start that thread, we can begin to talk about what it can do to sharpen up that mind-muscle connection.

This is a not so often dicussed part of the intensity term that James mentions...

Guys, this stuff is of the top of my head…. I am sure I will leave some things that I do out. I am explaining my thinking as much as anything at this point. If you want to know something specific, ask.

Before I get into the number of reps I do in a given set, I would like to talk about intensity.

What makes a set intense? When would I want to increase intensity as opposed to dropping back the intensity a few notches?

This is all instinctive for me as it should be for anyone training intensely.

I mentioned pieces of the training pie, this is an important one.

This would be second in order of importance (to me)…. Right behind contraction.

So what increases the intensity of a set? Adding weight to the bar? Cutting time in between sets?

Yes these increase intensity but there is something else that is important to me (made a huge diff in the mass I gain)….aside from progressive resistance(necessary) and cutting rest time . the intensity of the contraction.

You could also say, increasing the mind muscle connection along with the contraction. They are two characteristics of the same beast (the way you effectively perform a rep)

Without learning how to increase-strengthen-improve these elements, I would argue that upping the weight and decreasing rest time will not be as effective as they could be.

This is very much something mental manifested physically. So the increased intensity of the contraction would be the manifestation of enhanced (intense) mind muscle connection.

Make sense? I think that’s all I have time for now. I will talk more about intensity and rep numbers later today if I have more time.

For me building mass starts in the mind.

Shakes I will answer your Question about the squat when I talk about number of reps performed….

Please elaborate on the connection between intensity and contraction.

How is one different than the other.

Did you learn to develop intensity?

Do you visualize what you are doing - is this intensity?

We will also discuss this in the mind-muscle thread, as they are highly rated.

Hint: there are 3 types of visualizations.

Before workout, to prepare the muscle group for loading and work.

During contractions, to reinforce physical ennevation of tissue mass.

Post workout, to speed blood flow, improve repair signalling, and start repair processes. Decrease DOM.

Woe betide those who jump at the chance to call this bullshit.

OK, so intensity is the *full* engagement of the motor-reflex active fiber bundles within a muscle and muscle group (including extensors, if we slow down both eccentric and concentric actions).

Contraction is the use of intensity along the full range of motion for that muscle/muscle group for a select training motion.

Gotcha.

So we take two resistance weights for a particular motion and group.

Lets say, bent over 1 arm rows.

The first weight is moderate (60% of 1RM). We do 15-20, slowly going through the motion, holding and sqeezing to feel that muscle at the top and slowly releasing, but not all the way (keep scapula engaged so as not to involve other muscle groups). We warm up the muscle, and we also "memorize the motion" feeling it and visualizing it at the same time.

Then we go to a heavier moderate weight (70-75% of 1RM) and we do 12-15 reps. This time, because of the higher resistance load, as we strive to keep form, we "feel" the muscle less, more new fibers are engaged. Again, the motion is slow, controlled, and we seek to feel/visualize as much as possible.

We do 2 sets to stimulate maximally.

Then we drop down to the lower resistance weight again. Now we do our 15-20, and we feel/see the muscle group much easier now. We engage more thoroughly.
The muscle motor reflex excitatory pathway is being reinforced and refined (now that more fibers are activated).

Note that these muscles fibers WILL be activated as secondary muscles in other exercises, so it's not strictly true that they have a complete rest for a week.

Instead, they have sufficient rest to repair and respond in time for the next stimulus set (the secondary exercise).

Therefore, timing of primary and secondary engagement is important (how you set up your weekly routines, and how those are varied over the course of a month minicycle - periodization being important here as well).

But wait, before we cover new territory...we have neglected rhythm.

Gotta have it. How is it important here?