Hi Friend,
If you've been lifting weights for any length of time, you're familiar with one of the most critical training principles that contributes to the stimulation of strength and size. What is it?
Injecting variety into your workouts.
And in most cases, adding some spice to your strength training can be a good thing. Why? Because variety helps you avoid stagnation in your routines and promotes continued gains.
Only there is a problem... Many trainees, when looking to make changes to their workouts, really mess this one up.
For example, they'll often swap exercises for a given body part when they feel like it. Or they'll switch to the latest whizz-bang workout when they grow bored of their current routine.
Yet variety is more subtle than that. You don't have to make massive changes to your program to see continued gains.
Writing in "Hardgainer," John Christie talks about variety in its most basic form, detailing how he routinely adds 50 to 80 pounds of muscle on his trainees.
Here is what he has to say:
"If we define variety as 'something different', then 201 pounds is different to 200 pounds. There you have it, variety in its most simple form - a variation of load. When I start trainees out, the only change from workout to workout is more weight on the bar. The addition of more weight is enough of a change to allow the body to continue to be stimulated from workout to workout."
Small changes like this can make a BIG difference, as John explains:
"By simply utilising single progression on a group of compound exercises using a fixed set and rep goal (say two work sets of five), I've had great success putting 50 to 80 pounds of solid meat on beginner-to-intermediate trainees, in a couple of years."
What you have here, is abbreviated training stripped down to basics - but more importantly, you see a system where progressive overload is your primary focus...
Or, like John Christie said, it's variety in its most simple form.
Oftentimes, the simplest things really do work best. In this case, adding a little iron to your bar every few workouts is all you need to spice up your strength training.
Until next time,
Squat for Glory!
Lee
P.S. Looking for a stress-free way to add strength and size?
To discover how the Doug Hepburn Method can add 120 pounds to any major lift in a single year, see...
The Doug Hepburn Method for Size and Strength
+++++
You Are Subscribed to Ordinary Joe Muscle Building
c/o Sitesell, Inc.
1000 Saint-Jean Boulevard
Suite 702
Point-Claire, Quebec, H9R 5P1
Canada
|
| |
