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Volume |
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In weight-training parlance, the term "volume" refers to the overall amount of work being done per a given unit of time. Notice, we didn't say amount of weight being lifted. You see, the amount of weight being lifted is considered "intensity." With respect to volume, the amount of work being done refers to the number of exercises, sets, and repetitions you do over the course of your workout.
Many trainees steer off course when it comes to selecting a consistent and appropriate volume. Instead of using scientific periodization principles (altering your training program systematically to force improvements based on the way your body adapts), most trainees buy into the "more is better" mindset, pounding their bodies into submission with set after set of exercises that overwhelm their ability to recover.
The terms volume and intensity are also related in an interesting wayinversely. Despite what you think, you can't train long and hard. Even though long workouts feel hard, toward the end of a long workout, your true intensity (the percent of 1RM that you're working at) is severely compromised.
Therefore, it stands to reason then that if you're regularly logging 2-hour training sessions, toward the end, you can't be working very intensely. |
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Introduction to the Squat, Part 3 |
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As we start to pan our way up the body from the ankles, the next area we need to focus on when discussing the squat is the knee. The two main things we're going to concern ourselves with here are how far the knees should come forward in relation to the toes, and how they should be aligned in relation to the hips and feet. Each of these variables can have a tremendous impact on both the safety and effectiveness of the lift. As far as the forward movement of the knee goes, the farther the knee extends past the toes, the greater the shearing force the knee will be subjected to. Shearing force is simply a fancy term for the force that connective tissues (tendons and ligaments) experience when two bony structures slide across each other. In a healthy knee, as long as the person doesn't bounce or jerk to get out of the bottom position and can also keep his heels on the floor throughout the lift, this force on the knee shouldn't pose much of a problem. If however, you have any sort of pre-existing knee pain or diagnosed knee condition, whether chronic or acute, allowing the |
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Myostatin Inhibitors, NO, Prohormones, Protein Supplements |
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Myostatin Inhibitors
Myostatin is a protein that negatively regulates muscle growth. At a certain point, myostatin is released to prevent muscle from getting "too big." Interestingly, a specific sulfo-polysaccharide extract (CSP-3) cultured from algae has been discovered, in the laboratory, to bind to the myostatin protein and prevent myostatin from keeping muscles smaller. If this supplement can bind to the myostatin protein in the body, it could neutralize the inhibition that the myostatin protein puts on new muscle growth. However, no one knows whether or not this actually happens. Just because a compound binds to myostatin in a laboratory experiment done outside of the body doesn't mean that it will survive digestion, find the skeletal muscle, make it into the muscle, and bind to the myostatin protein in the muscle. Until more research is done, we suggest skipping this one, especially since myostatin is found in the heart as well as skeletal muscle.
Nitric Oxide Boosters
Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical gas produced in the body from the breakdown of the amino acid arginine. The primary function of NO is to relax smooth muscle, like the kind in your blood vessels. In doing so, NO can decrease blood pressure, increase bloodflow |
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Introduction to the Squat, Part 4 |
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There are actually several things you can do to make the squat an effective part of your training arsenal regardless of where you place the bar. The first, as we've already mentioned, is to be diligent about improving your flexibility. You'd be surprised at how different the lift can feel by simply improving the range of motion of the muscles that surround the hips, knees, and ankles. Another thing that can help quite a bit is limiting your depth.
Now mind you, we're both huge proponents of the deep squatin some situations. As long as a lifter possesses the balanced strength and flexibility to execute this movement properly, doesn't bounce to propel himself out of the bottom position, and has no pre-existing knee or lower back injuries, deep squats are about as effective a muscle-building exercise as there is. As good as they are, though, they don't make a whole lot of sense for taller lifters. Even if you are able to improve your range of motion and remain more upright, at some point, your basic body structure is going to require you to deviate from proper form. Once you do, the risk of injury to the knees and lower back |
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Nutrition Basics |
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Proper nutrition is one of the key elements in putting on massive muscular body size.
The diet of a bodybuilder and the diet of the average person are vastly different. For example, the average person derives most of his or her caloric intake from processed foods. "There is a problem with the average diet in that two-thirds of the food Americans eat is processed, and processing almost always depletes nutrient content. Government surveys continually find vast numbers of Americans deficient in many nutrients critical to health. Sugar and highly processed refined carbohydrates comprise an estimated 60 percent of our total dietary intake. These are the "empty calorie" foods, poor in nutrition, high in fat, that force the body to borrow from nutrient reserves to digest the junk."
If you try and build a big and muscular body on junk food you will almost instantly flop. The diet of the average person just won't cut it when it comes to making your muscles massive. Processed food will make your stomach massive instead of your muscles. The difference a proper diet makes is seen in the contrast between a bloated belly as opposed to bulging muscles. The two are opposites. Each comes about |
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