Fadi
...
Okay, let us begin at the very beginning. Let us begin with the title of this post. What I really wanted to call it was: IT’S TIME FOR SOME INSANE MUSCLE DAMAGE! The reason I did not do that was the concern I had for the less experienced and knowledgeable bodybuilders on Ausbb.
We all know that whilst we’re slugging it out in the iron dungeon, we’re in fact breaking down our muscle fibres; depleting our nutrients at the cellular level, and if we’ve truly overloaded our muscles with some extra low repetitions in the 3 to 5 zone, then we can almost be guaranteed some serious central nervous system exhaustion that would make us physically and mentally tired for few days to come. So in a nutshell, we’re in the gym to insure that on the way out of it, we have achieved a solid one step back (in our reserves) in comparison with the way we’ve entered it.
That out of the way, this now brings me to the aim of this muscle building article. What will you find here? You’re gonna find a prescription so damn brutal, that if you do the right thing by your body when you get home in the way of recovery, then new muscle growth would be your ultimate and most satisfying reward. You see ladies and gentlemen, you can’t expose your muscles to some newly shocking methods and get peanuts for it no siree, that would be the ultimate injustice! Laying the foundation for your muscles to adapt, spells one thing and one thing only: muscle growth. Now that’s justice! Ooops, I nearly left the meat and potatoes out. I did make mention of the word recovery (when you’re out of the gym). It’s extremely imperative that you pay heed to this factor of your muscle building journey. Many train like a Mr Olympia in the gym, breaking down muscles and depleting bodily reserves, only to leave the gym and not give it a 110% in the eating sleeping and resting department. You’ve got to learn to slow down and let both your mind and body recover or else burning out with injuries, lack of enthusiasm for training and a general feeling of blasé would become your only friend. Don’t be one of those please.
Shocking method #1: Ascending sets (not to heaven but to hell)!
Shocking method #2: Rest pause (when you seriously need it).
Shocking method #3: Descending sets (with a new meaning).
Shocking method #4: Pre-exhaust set (the purest & most honest kind)
Shocking method #5: Insane (or whatever you wanna call all the above combined into the one single set)!
We’ll get to the above babies soon enough, but first this: I want you to rest assured that if you follow this routine as I set it out, all your muscle fibres will be engaged with no escape from the fire; a very deep and intense fire… no, unlike any superficial fire from a set of high pumping reps, this would be something much deeper with a capital P for Pain!
It’s time for an example.
Shoulders/dumbbell side laterals.
What’s your best for 8? At one time my best was a set of 45 pounders x8. Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna pick a pair of 5lb dumbbells and perform 8 reps with them. I know I know, it feels like bit of a joke. Don’t worry, this joke is gonna become the most serious thing you’ve ever done for your shoulders, so stay with me. Please, no heaving and no throwing up the weights okay. A nice and controlled concentric and eccentric gliding motion, preparing both mind and body for the fun to come! Respect the 5 pounders, they are related to the 45 pounders, all belonging to the one and same family.
Now that you’ve so easily managed to rep out 8 reps, please pick up the 15 pounders and show me another 8 controlled reps. You should feel something, not pain, but rather a sensation like your shoulders are actually waking up.
Right, you know the drill by now. I want you to immediately put down those 15 pounders and pick up the 25 ones. Mmmm, by the time you’re done with those babies, you ought to be feeling your blood is gathering at your shoulders for some serious party that is about to go down. So hang on to your seat my dear friend and give me some serious concentration and focus in anticipation of what is about to come your way.
K, down with the 25s and up with the 35s. Yes I hear you from here, someone has just lit up a friggin flame (and it ain’t a small flame either) deep within those delts of yours. Those 35s have never felt so damn heavy but…, perseverance and determination brother, you’re gonna need it. Do not quit now okay, no matter what your mind is telling you to do; how negative that chatter box inside of your head might be, soldier on! Bravo, pat yourself on the back (whilst you can still lift your arms) coz you’re in muscle growth territory now!
I know, you’re probably thinking it’s just a silly idea really picking up those 45ers. I mean you’re already cooking, what more is there to do right? Wrong! Here is where the men get separated from the boys, so pick up those 45s and begin with as much control as your now burning delts allow you to be in. The thing is you won’t be able to squeeze out your normal 8 reps on this weight, not now. Not after what you’ve already been through right! Don’t worry. Enter shocking method #2. Yes, it’s rest pause time. But not before you manage to do few reps please. After (say) 2 or 3 reps, or even 4, rest for about 15 seconds or so and squeeze out another rep, until you reach your target of 8.
Bravo, you’ve just done one set. If you have been training for two years solid, you may want to continue with this shocking method by continuing the set but now in a descending fashion, all the way back to 5lbs.
Now that we’ve accomplished the total obliteration of our side deltoids, it’s time for some military presses. So we have managed to ascend, descend, rest-pause, and pre-exhaust all in the one and the same set. We now move on to a compound movement such as the military press, having the confidence that every press is going to be targeting our already exhausted deltoids, leaving our fresh yet weaker (link in the chain ) triceps muscle ruled out of the termination of our shoulder focused routine. Of course, the bonus here is two-fold.
1. You’d be mainly targeting the shoulder muscles whilst pressing.
2. Your weight will not need to be heavy (in kilogram) to overload your shoulders, in turn saving your shoulder joints from unnecessary weight overload.
Let me give you some more examples of exercises you may wish to do for this shocking method.
Biceps: Any curling movement with either dumbells or barbells, straight or EZ bar. Don’t forget seated preacher curls or hammer curls.
Triceps: All single (elbow) joint exercises using dumbells, barbells, rope or cable.
Chest: Dumbell flys or machine flys.
Back: Any of your favourite cable pulling machines here, be that seated rows or lat pulldowns.
Quads: Leg extensions. Now if you’re feeling extremely adventurers and your ability to recuperate from brutal workouts is amazing, then in this case you may attempt some leg press.
Hamstrings: Leg curls lying down or standing up.
Trapezius: Dumbell, barbell, or machine.
So you’ve noticed, there are no squats or deadlifts, no bent over barbell rows or bench presses etc. The reason is simple: I want you to damage your muscles enough without crossing the red line, where negative side effects would begin to far outweigh any potential benefit this type of painful training exerts on your whole bodily systems. I speak from experience when I share with you that the name of the game in bodybuilding (or any sport of your choosing) is how well you recover after inflicting damage on your body as a whole.
Enjoy.
Fadi.
We all know that whilst we’re slugging it out in the iron dungeon, we’re in fact breaking down our muscle fibres; depleting our nutrients at the cellular level, and if we’ve truly overloaded our muscles with some extra low repetitions in the 3 to 5 zone, then we can almost be guaranteed some serious central nervous system exhaustion that would make us physically and mentally tired for few days to come. So in a nutshell, we’re in the gym to insure that on the way out of it, we have achieved a solid one step back (in our reserves) in comparison with the way we’ve entered it.
That out of the way, this now brings me to the aim of this muscle building article. What will you find here? You’re gonna find a prescription so damn brutal, that if you do the right thing by your body when you get home in the way of recovery, then new muscle growth would be your ultimate and most satisfying reward. You see ladies and gentlemen, you can’t expose your muscles to some newly shocking methods and get peanuts for it no siree, that would be the ultimate injustice! Laying the foundation for your muscles to adapt, spells one thing and one thing only: muscle growth. Now that’s justice! Ooops, I nearly left the meat and potatoes out. I did make mention of the word recovery (when you’re out of the gym). It’s extremely imperative that you pay heed to this factor of your muscle building journey. Many train like a Mr Olympia in the gym, breaking down muscles and depleting bodily reserves, only to leave the gym and not give it a 110% in the eating sleeping and resting department. You’ve got to learn to slow down and let both your mind and body recover or else burning out with injuries, lack of enthusiasm for training and a general feeling of blasé would become your only friend. Don’t be one of those please.
Shocking method #1: Ascending sets (not to heaven but to hell)!
Shocking method #2: Rest pause (when you seriously need it).
Shocking method #3: Descending sets (with a new meaning).
Shocking method #4: Pre-exhaust set (the purest & most honest kind)
Shocking method #5: Insane (or whatever you wanna call all the above combined into the one single set)!
We’ll get to the above babies soon enough, but first this: I want you to rest assured that if you follow this routine as I set it out, all your muscle fibres will be engaged with no escape from the fire; a very deep and intense fire… no, unlike any superficial fire from a set of high pumping reps, this would be something much deeper with a capital P for Pain!
It’s time for an example.
Shoulders/dumbbell side laterals.
What’s your best for 8? At one time my best was a set of 45 pounders x8. Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna pick a pair of 5lb dumbbells and perform 8 reps with them. I know I know, it feels like bit of a joke. Don’t worry, this joke is gonna become the most serious thing you’ve ever done for your shoulders, so stay with me. Please, no heaving and no throwing up the weights okay. A nice and controlled concentric and eccentric gliding motion, preparing both mind and body for the fun to come! Respect the 5 pounders, they are related to the 45 pounders, all belonging to the one and same family.
Now that you’ve so easily managed to rep out 8 reps, please pick up the 15 pounders and show me another 8 controlled reps. You should feel something, not pain, but rather a sensation like your shoulders are actually waking up.
Right, you know the drill by now. I want you to immediately put down those 15 pounders and pick up the 25 ones. Mmmm, by the time you’re done with those babies, you ought to be feeling your blood is gathering at your shoulders for some serious party that is about to go down. So hang on to your seat my dear friend and give me some serious concentration and focus in anticipation of what is about to come your way.
K, down with the 25s and up with the 35s. Yes I hear you from here, someone has just lit up a friggin flame (and it ain’t a small flame either) deep within those delts of yours. Those 35s have never felt so damn heavy but…, perseverance and determination brother, you’re gonna need it. Do not quit now okay, no matter what your mind is telling you to do; how negative that chatter box inside of your head might be, soldier on! Bravo, pat yourself on the back (whilst you can still lift your arms) coz you’re in muscle growth territory now!
I know, you’re probably thinking it’s just a silly idea really picking up those 45ers. I mean you’re already cooking, what more is there to do right? Wrong! Here is where the men get separated from the boys, so pick up those 45s and begin with as much control as your now burning delts allow you to be in. The thing is you won’t be able to squeeze out your normal 8 reps on this weight, not now. Not after what you’ve already been through right! Don’t worry. Enter shocking method #2. Yes, it’s rest pause time. But not before you manage to do few reps please. After (say) 2 or 3 reps, or even 4, rest for about 15 seconds or so and squeeze out another rep, until you reach your target of 8.
Bravo, you’ve just done one set. If you have been training for two years solid, you may want to continue with this shocking method by continuing the set but now in a descending fashion, all the way back to 5lbs.
Now that we’ve accomplished the total obliteration of our side deltoids, it’s time for some military presses. So we have managed to ascend, descend, rest-pause, and pre-exhaust all in the one and the same set. We now move on to a compound movement such as the military press, having the confidence that every press is going to be targeting our already exhausted deltoids, leaving our fresh yet weaker (link in the chain ) triceps muscle ruled out of the termination of our shoulder focused routine. Of course, the bonus here is two-fold.
1. You’d be mainly targeting the shoulder muscles whilst pressing.
2. Your weight will not need to be heavy (in kilogram) to overload your shoulders, in turn saving your shoulder joints from unnecessary weight overload.
Let me give you some more examples of exercises you may wish to do for this shocking method.
Biceps: Any curling movement with either dumbells or barbells, straight or EZ bar. Don’t forget seated preacher curls or hammer curls.
Triceps: All single (elbow) joint exercises using dumbells, barbells, rope or cable.
Chest: Dumbell flys or machine flys.
Back: Any of your favourite cable pulling machines here, be that seated rows or lat pulldowns.
Quads: Leg extensions. Now if you’re feeling extremely adventurers and your ability to recuperate from brutal workouts is amazing, then in this case you may attempt some leg press.
Hamstrings: Leg curls lying down or standing up.
Trapezius: Dumbell, barbell, or machine.
So you’ve noticed, there are no squats or deadlifts, no bent over barbell rows or bench presses etc. The reason is simple: I want you to damage your muscles enough without crossing the red line, where negative side effects would begin to far outweigh any potential benefit this type of painful training exerts on your whole bodily systems. I speak from experience when I share with you that the name of the game in bodybuilding (or any sport of your choosing) is how well you recover after inflicting damage on your body as a whole.
Enjoy.
Fadi.
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