Hi Friend,
Would you like to make the best gains of your life? Sure, you would. A sudden size-surge of brawny, new muscle is the stuff of dreams.
Yet building muscle is never easy. Ask anyone who's been training for any significant length of time and they'll tell you it takes persistence, hard work, and a never-say-die attitude.
But that's not all. If you want to make continued progress in the gym, you're going to need to mix things up. Why? Because performing the same old routine month after month only works for so long.
Like strength coach Dan John famously quipped, "Everything works… for about two weeks!"
Ring the Changes with Mr. America
We recently talked about the need to ring the changes on your workouts and explained why employing endless modifications to your training can become counterproductive.
This led us to a simple solution:
Be subtle. Change things, a little. (A small variation will often be all you need for continued gains.)
For example, try modifying your grip. Alter the angle of your bench. Swap your barbell for dumbbells. Switch the order of your exercises...
The secret? Mix things up, a little.
Another way you can mix things up, is with a combination of high and low repetitions. Shown to increase strength significantly more than traditional low rep training, this style of program is ideal for anyone interested in maximising muscular strength and size.
Mr. America Doug Brignole is a fan. He adopted a combination high and low rep program in 2007 and achieved some of the best results of his life.
He has this to say:
"At that time I had been strength training consistently for 25 years (I started in 1982) and had tried pretty much every training program that had come down the pipe. Changing to a combination program was the single best change I've ever made in terms of increasing strength. Despite being in my mid-40s and many years past my prime I was able to increase my strength to the level it had been at during my mid-20s. Too bad I didn't discover this 25 years earlier!"
Mixing up your rep ranges is easy to do. Doug suggests replacing a couple of your low rep sets with density-style training drop sets. This would see each body-part workout now looking something like this:
- 2 sets x 8-10 reps
- 1 set x 20 reps
- 1 set x 40 reps
Doug is now in his 50s, and has found emphasising density-style training helped push his bodyweight to almost 220 pounds. These results are amazing for an advanced bodybuilding veteran. Exciting stuff!
Ready to get growing? Then give Mr. America's high-rep combo routine a try!
Until next time,
Lee
+++++
You Are Subscribed to Ordinary Joe Muscle Building
c/o Sitesell, Inc.
1000 Saint-Jean Boulevard
Suite 702
Point-Claire, Quebec, H9R 5P1
Canada
|
| |
