Fadi

The war is raging in bodybuilding as to what constitutes the right workout routine. Which routine is better in giving bodybuilders the muscles they are working so hard for? Is the routine built upon high intensity and low volume, or high volume with lower intensity?

Now if you have not spotted the problem with my question by now, then you’d need to sit down and contemplate a bit. I mentioned the word “routine” three times in my first paragraph. The literal meaning of that word and the multitude of bodybuilders who stick to it like glue is a major part of the plateaus you see around the gyms worldwide.

I went on the net for a quick check on the American and British bodybuilding forums to see if the issue of my topic at hand had changed; not a chance, it remains a scorcher out there. Go ahead and ask away in your gym, if bodybuilders there know something about the difference in muscle fibers and if training to failure is a precondition to muscle growth. Ok, let’s get cracking…

So it’s the smart and productive program we want to talk about here. However before I get ahead of myself, there’re few essentials that need to be known.

Here’s what every bodybuilder ought to know and be familiar with: the 3 different types of muscle fibers, you’ve got to know them!

Type I Muscle Fibers: Type 1 muscle fibers have the slowest-contractile speed, (not good for weightlifting where explosiveness in lifting is key), the smallest cross-sectional area, the highest oxidative (aerobic) capacity, and the lowest glycolytic (anaerobic) capacity. They contract slowly and are able to hold a steady paced twitch for long durations without fatigue. Type I muscle fibers are predominately used in endurance activities. Long distance runners, swimmers, and cyclists mostly use Type I fibers. Ah, but don’t make the same mistake that many ill informed bodybuilders make and that is, to discount this type of fiber and ignore its potential for growth (which makes about 50% of your body’s total muscle fibers). Now you know what you could be missing out on if you don't include some high reps from time to time in your training. I’m speaking from experience here: sticking around the 3 rep mark as a weightlifter, I had neither use nor the time to waste on this type of fiber. My legs got bigger yes, when I in-cooperated some sets of 10 reps in my squats when I came over to bodybuilding. I dared not venture out to the 20+ territory in squatting, fearing I’d upset the “Gym Gurus” who taught me a thing or two when changing sport. It was only when I in-cooperated the 20+ reps in my squats and seated rowing etc, that incredible muscle growth began to develop. When was the last time you bench pressed 100lbs for a 50+ reps? 100lbs may seem like a joke to some, but let me tell you it’s nothing short of the hardest hardcore set that any human being can perform!

Type II-a Muscle Fibers: These fibers fall in between type 1 and type II-b. They are the intermediates, the happy medium fibers if you will. They offer bodybuilders the best of both worlds: the low rep world of the type II-b and the high rep world of the type 1 fibers. Is it any wonder bodybuilders like to hang around this station? The problem begins when a bodybuilder over stays his or her welcome and begins to set up camp here. That’s part of the problem I was talking about in my very first paragraph with the routine issue.

Type II-b Muscle Fibers: A lion is after you and there’s a tree 50m ahead. This dynamite of a fiber will be what you’d be using to race to that tree then explode into a leaping jump upwards. This is definitely weightlifting territory and it was home for three years of my life.
Type II-b muscle fibers have the fastest-contractile speed, the largest cross-sectional area, the lowest oxidative capacity, and the highest glycolytic (anaerobic) capacity (which means you don’t ask a weightlifter to perform aerobic activities unless you want to kill him). They are ideally suited for short fast bursts of power (now you know why my 1 minute burpees are exceptional, only to slow down miserably when doing 100 of them). These muscle fibers are used in such activities as sprinting, powerlifting, weightlifting, bodybuilding and definitely the world’s strongest man grueling activities.



I do a full body workout 3 xs per week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And if for some reason I had not recovered to my own satisfaction, I then add days on top of the three days I’ve already mentioned. Now I’m sure that has confused the hell out of you, right? How can I add more days to the Mon, Wed, and Fridays if I hadn’t recovered? Easy, it’s called active recovery and you don’t have to go back to your gym to do it. But first, another lesson is in order so we know where we’re heading.

Look at my photo, (I included it for a reason), now look closely at my chest. What do you see? I personally see an underdeveloped chest area. Let’s move to my shoulders now; what do you see here in comparison to my chest? You got it! Now the why and what I’ve learnt about this issue, I would like to share with you here and now.



My chest area has the poorest blood circulation out of all the muscles in my body. Do you want to take a guess which muscles have the best blood circulation of all? That’s correct, my whole shoulder area from the neck all the way down to my front deltoids. Now in order for my muscles to grow, I first have to stimulate them with some intelligent training. Ok, granted I’ve done that, now what? Now I’ve got to supply these babies with the right nutrients so they can begin to grow. Here’s your answer: my blood supply to my chest was extremely poor, (the exact opposite of my shoulders). Poor circulation meant fewer nutrients could get delivered to my chest, which meant less recovery, (that’s what we’re talking about here remember) and less supercompensation after training, which actually made my chest smaller rather than bigger.

Enter the 100 REPS! Ah, not for growth mind you, not directly anyway. You see, this 100 reps are done with very light weights (hence no need for a gym trip, a 5kg d/bell or a 10kg barbell will do just fine thank you very much). This is NOT the 20+ rep squats I mentioned above. This here is serving a totally different purpose. What purpose? The purpose of increasing capillarisation in muscle tissues as well as increasing the capillary’s density. What does this mean to your precious muscles? Well it simply means that more oxygen and nutrient dense blood will be delivered to them. I can start a new thread here on how to add an inch onto your biceps or whatever body part is lagging behind, in one month flat. I’d be saying do your normal workout, eat like a horse and do a set of 50+ reps with very light weight at the end of your workout on that lagging bodypart. Then sit back and watch the magic take place!

That was my answer to what I’d do if a muscle had not recovered. So on a Tuesday for example, I’d grab a 5kg dumbbell and do a 100 rep bench press with it. That will flood the area with nutrient dense blood which will greatly facilitate my recovery and have me ready to go for another workout on a Wednesday.

Look at the illustration I’ve included of a capillary.




The capillary is what looks like a sausage, and the muscles are the “clouds” above and below. That sausage can only multiply and get bigger when you include some serious high reps in your workout.


I do NOT believe in going to failure. I don’t want to even remotely offset the growth stimulus I just achieved and blunt the anabolic response which I busted my ass to get. Going to failure WILL give you more muscle fiber microtrauma which will / may result in greater muscle building. But at what expense? Training to failure imposes greater stress on the CNS which will extend the recovery period compared to stopping sets at 1 rep short of failure. Examples around you abound. Would you sun tan under the intense midday sun for an hour and risk burning, or would you rather sun tan using shorter intervals and arriving safely at your desired colour? Would you stop eating short of bursting or would you continue to eat until you couldn’t possibly fit another mouthful in? Any wonder bodybuilders today need a total week of recovery time; performing between 12 -20 sets per a single body part whilst at the same time going all the way to failure? Don’t take my word for it. Test it for yourself next time you hit the iron. Do a set of bench press or whatever and go to failure on your first set. I bet you won’t be able to achieve the same rep numbers for your second set. Doesn’t that take away from the intensity your aiming so hard to maintain; you’ve just lost a rep of your set. Ah, but you’re getting tired or you haven’t really recovered from the first set yet: that’s exactly the point I’m trying to get across over here. All these and I haven’t even touched on the potential for injury, (which almost every bodybuilder feels immune to until he or she falls victim to it).

6. Cedrick, (1995). Strength and Conditioning Journal 17

7. BENEDICT, TAN, 1999: Manipulating Resistance Training Program Variables to
Optimize Maximum Strength in Men: A Review. The Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research: Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 289–304.

8. HARRIS, GLENN R., MICHAEL H. STONE, HAROLD S. O'BRYANT, CHRISTOPHER M.
PROULX, ROBERT L. JOHNSON, 2000: Short-Term Performance Effects of High
Power, High Force, or Combined Weight-Training Methods. The Journal of Strength
and Conditioning Research: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 14–20

9. Hoeger, Werner W.K., Sandra L. Barette, Douglas F. Hale, David R. Hopkins,
1987: Relationship Between Repetitions and Selected Percentages of One Repetition
Maximum. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 11–
13

10. Ruther, Christine L., Catherine L. Golden, Robert T. Harris, Gary A. Dudley,
1995: Hypertrophy, Resistance Training, and the Nature of Skeletal Muscle
Activation. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.
155–159

11. Fukui, Y. et al. (1986). High-resolution immunofluorescence for the study of the
contractile apparatus. In "The Contractile Apparatus and the Ctyoskeleton"
("Structure and Contractile Proteins", Meth.Enzymol.134, Part D), ed R. B. Vallee,
Academic Press, pp. 573-580.

12. Henneman, E et al "Functional Significance of cell size in spinal motor neurons."
Journal of Neurophysiology 28: 560-580. 1965.

21. Pauletto, Bruno, 1985: Let's Talk Training #1: Sets and repetitions. National
Strength & Conditioning Association Journal: Vol. 7, No. 6, pp. 67–69.

Bye for now.

PS: don't forget to check this: http://ausbb.com/general-topic/9120-who-you.html

Fadi.

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Squat 200kg, FSquat 195kg, C&J 160kg, PC 140kg, MP 90kg.

Josh_GTiR

Subbed, I am going to have to read this a bit later.

Man it looks like I have some huge reps coming up.

lucku

very informative post!!!



"Examples around you abound. Would you sun tan under the intense midday sun for an hour and risk burning, or would you rather sun tan using shorter intervals and arriving safely at your desired colour? Would you stop eating short of bursting or would you continue to eat until you couldn’t possibly fit another mouthful in?"

i really love how you explain things in layman terms

EdCid

Fadi champ, good read there. Quick question -



People (myself included) are going to ask "Most if not all my body-parts are lagging!" LOL Is this something I can incorporate into every exercise, ie. as a last set? (currently doing 5x5's). Or should I use a rev. pyramid or drop-set type workout?

In summary, I'm weight training for fitness and to lose fat long-term. I vary my "routine" every two months or so and have tried high reps which at first worked great but then I hit a plateau.

Cheers!
Ed

BoyFromAus

brilliant read... i've forgotten half the info already so i'm gonna read it again in the evening. But the active recovery reminds me of when I think Vince Gironda (or someone) spoke of fibre saturation.. where you do ultra low weight, ultra high rep after your routine to feed nutrients to the muscle.

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Reloaded

BoyFromAus

Fadi, just to simplify things...

So are we saying, do 3 total body workouts a week but then speed up the recovery by doing very low weight, high reps on the remaining days?

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Reloaded

PowerBuilder

Another great post by a great teacher!

Somewhat of an example of training to failure is using a car engine. If you crank that mother to the max, over & over again, it's not a question of 'if' it will blow, but when. The same can be said for a body part. If you push your pec's to the max, over & over again, training to failure, it's not a question of 'if' it'll snap & do serious damage, but when.




BFA, that sounds about right, 3 full body workouts & to pick up a lagging body part, gentle stimulation of a lagging body part.

Ed, it's not that a lot of people have multiple lagging body parts, IMO it's more of an overall under-development of potential. The concept that needs to be accepted is to train smart & all things will fall into place. I, for example have a lagging pec, one of my chest muscles are lagging, making my chest look uneven, this approach would be helpful. A'ight ?

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Mobility/Flexibility - Strength - Conditioning. These 3 things are paramount to any training program no matter who you are. - Jim Wendler

Fadi

Ed, thank you for your positive comment.

1. The ultra high reps are not high in intensity and are in no way comparable to one of the most brutal bodybuilding system ever devised: drop sets. No, we're talking about facilitation here. Facilitate or create a path if you will to drive the nutrients dense blood into a "stubborn" muscle. We're not looking for muscle stimulation here Ed, but rather creating something which WILL make our "normal" training that much more effective. It's basically laying down the foundation for a skyscraper. You see the example I gave about my shoulders, the foundation was there possibly due to genetics. My chest on the other hand had to be coaxed into responding to the stimulus and made to recover properly thereafter.
So please Ed, this high reps are NOT about direct building (of that skyscraper), but instead should be treated as the foundation from which we can proceed to build (a lagging part).

2. It's hard to comprehend a total non responsive physique to muscle stimulation as you have described your body to be Ed. I'd first look at other areas of my training starting with the OVERALL program. I'm sorry I don't know anything about your training, nothing. So to give advice based on silence would be unfair to you and rude dishonest of me. So I reserve my comments here Ed and I'll stop for now.


Fadi.

Yes Rasika. As long as you differentiate between the TWO high reps types I mentioned in my article. There's the building high rep, and there's the recovery high rep. It's the second type that we are interested in to help us with our recovery (if needed).


Fadi.

Thank you very much PowerBuilder. Your understanding of the concept I was putting forward is very refreshing indeed. All power to you broher.


Fadi.

Lucku & Josh, thank you both kindly. I await for any questions that you may have for me.


Fadi.

__________________
Squat 200kg, FSquat 195kg, C&J 160kg, PC 140kg, MP 90kg.

BoyFromAus

I see now... going back on the article, so there are two types of high reps:
- the high rep such as 20 rep squats to build up the Type 1 fibres
- the after workout high rep for the lagging muscles to create capillary development.

That's awesome information... but can you show us a sample routine of what beginner's wanting to bulk can do, which incorporate the two techniques.

Thanks

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Reloaded

Fadi

I'll give you a sample program here Rasika. As for incorporating the two techniques go; I did it out of necessity/need instead of applying it as part of my program. That is not to say you can not incorporate the 50+ reps as “insurance"; a way of insuring maximum blood supply and laying down some capillary density foundation.
Week 1
Workout 1
Sets: 3
Reps: 6
Rest: 240 sec
Chest: Decline dumbell presses
Back: one arm bent over rows
Shoulders: standing barbell military press
Biceps: standing barbell curls
Triceps: seated french curls
Legs: Squats

Workout 2
Sets: 3
Reps: 9
Rest: 180 sec
Back: Close grip lat pulldown
Chest: Flat dumbell press
Shoulders: cable upright rows
Triceps:seated french curls
Biceps: standing alternating dumbell curls
Legs:dumbell squats

Workout 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 12
Rest: 120sec
Chest: Incline dumbell press
Back: cable bent over rows
Legs: dumbell step ups on two milk crates with a piece of wood on top
Shoulders: Side Laterals
Biceps: EZ bar B/bell curls
Triceps: decline cable extensions (two arms).

Week 2
Workout: 1
Sets: 3
Reps: 6
Rest: 180sec


As in week 1 but this time doing more reps with the same weight I did with week one. If not possible, the less brake employed will take care of preventing the body from adapting due to it being under higher stress. Example: Week 1 / workout 1 had a rest of 4 minutes; here it's 3 minutes etc.

Workout: 2
Sets: 3
Reps: 10
Rest: 90sec

Workout: 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 15
Rest: 60sec

Week 3
Workout: 1
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 60sec
Legs: cable front squats (all the way down weightlifting style, which will involve the hamstrings big time);
Chest: Incline d/bell press;
Back: Close grip lat pulldown whilst kneeling on the floor right underneath the cable (you'll need to do that on the cross over cable machine). You've got to try it to feel the difference in comparison with your normal lat machine. It's much more directed toward the lats! Alternatively, whilst still kneeling down under the cable crossover, move away from the machine so you're pulling the weight down with your upper body at a 30 degree angle from the pulley. This is all lats and nothing but lats (shoulders have been taken out of the equation here). Etc...

Workout: 2
Sets: 3
Reps: 12
Rest: 60sec

Workout: 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
Rest: 150sec

Week 4
Wild 1 week (applying my favourite bodybuilding principle where anything goes)


Monday:


Chest: Incline flys 3x20, Decline d/bell press 3x12, cable crossovers 1x50.
Back: Kneeling lat pulldown 2x25, bent over cable rows 2x25, Back to lat pulldown as before 2x 10, one arm d/bell rows 1x 6, 1x12.

Wednesday:

Shoulders: Military press/press behind neck/upright rows (3x30 broken up into 10 reps each for the movements mentioned. First set begins with military press/upright rows/ behind neck press. Second set begins with upright rows/behind neck press/military press. Third set begins with behind neck press/ upright rows/ military press. All weights are done with a barbell that will allow for 30 reps/set. That was the warm up for these babies: descending sets side laterals: 3x max (4 drops). I can begin with 22.5kg/20kg/17.5kg/15. Second set will be slightly lighter because I hardly rest between sets when I do side laterals. So it might look like this: 20kg/15kg/12kg/10kg etc


Friday:

Arms & Legs: Anything I like plus a 100rep squats staggered/ rest paused, call it what you wish, I have to complete the 100 Gold coins for the bank to be happy and for me to reach an ultra- high (in dopamine levels).

Take it fairly easy for a week to regenerate all my bodily systems and get ready for some new progressive resistance training again where I’ll try and increase the weight, the rep, or reduce the time. OR I might change things drastically and do the following:

Incorporate all the muscle fibers into the same workout. So, rather than training the 3 different muscle fibers on 3 separate workouts, we’re going to involve them all in one and the same workout. Here’s an example:

Monday
Chest...........B/bell bench press 1x6, 1x12, 1x20
Back............Shoulder width lat pulldown to the front 1x6, 1x12, 1x20
Shoulders.....Standing b/bell military press 1x6, 1x12, 1x20
Biceps..........Barbell curls 1x6, 1x12, 1x20
Triceps.........Seated french curls 1x6, 1x12, 1x20
legs.............Squats 1x6, 1x12, 1x20 and whatever else you feel that you need to do (calves, abs, lower back extensions etc)

Wednesday
Back.............One arm bent over rows 1x8, 1x15, 1x25 etc...

Friday
Legs..............Leg press 1x7, 1x10, 1x30 etc...

This was a rush job, so I hope you’ve gotten the idea. The idea that adaptation leads to stagnation and stagnation lead to plateauing and that is what this whole program is aiming to avoid.


Fadi.

__________________
Squat 200kg, FSquat 195kg, C&J 160kg, PC 140kg, MP 90kg.