Training Styles

Ok, so this week I had a few guys in the gym ask me about my style of training and what I have used in the past to develop both strength and muscle size.

Firstly I need to highlight that most styles of training work and work very well, however like most things your training style must be changed to stimulate change in your routine, this change in routine is what will provide fresh results in both size and strength. For many years I performed reps of only 1 to 3 as I was doing competitive weightlifting, at this time I was solely focused on building strength and power so this rep range was fantastic, constantly pushing my 1RM        (1 rep max)

This style of training saw me build huge amounts of strength over a 5 year period, when I then made the change to body building I was lifting rather heavy weight quite quickly. My reps increased from 1-3 right up to 10-12 as now muscle size and muscle shape is priority.

I change my routine every 6 weeks as I believe after a 6 week period the body will start to become accustomed to the routine and you need to change it in order to shock your body once again. I generally ensure the weight I lift increases each set with my first set beginning on 12 reps then second set 10 then my final and heaviest set I will aim to fail on 6-8 reps and have a spotter assist me for an extra 2 forced reps. I will generally do  3 sets per exercise after an initial warm up has been undertaken. I don't warm up on every exercise, I don't understand why I see some people bench 150kg for 3 sets then as they start say Incline dumbbell press they warn up again using a light weight, once the muscle is warm I go hard and fast. I will do 4 exercises per body part as long as I am not in the gym longer than 45minutes to an hour, I try and get the major body part completed in 45minutes then use the remaining 15 minutes for some abdominal or calf training as well as stretching.

I will use the above routine for say 6 weeks then lower the reps down into a "power category" where the reps will decrease and weight increase. Here I will focus on building strength and power. Then I will repeat the initial sequence of training again. I never really do high rep training, even getting ready for comp I still only hit 10 reps most of the time, 12 at the absolute max and that's generally only on a warm up. A lot of people search high and low for the best style of training. I have learnt that there is no secret, there is no perfect way to train, you do however need a mix of quality mind muscle connection based movements using perfect form and focusing on contraction and you also need your pure, basic and brutal strength based movements, changing between these at the right times is what will bring you results.