“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” —Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher
Sure, Nietzsche went mad allegedly due to syphilis, dying in 1900, but he had a good philosophical run—like the above quote we can apply to bodybuilding…
While many bodybuilders take research studies as revelations of right—absolutes—realize that you can find a study to justify just about any training style…
That’s because you can trigger hypertrophy in many different ways. Here are a few that may shock you…
1) Heavy, low-rep training to near failure is best for mechanical tension and therefore best for growth…
BUT high-rep training to failure has been shown to produce just as much hypertrophy. Plus, seeing your muscles pumped via higher reps can excite you to train harder and focus your effort, not to mention come back to the gym regularly.
2) Higher reps to failure or close can cause more muscle damage that results in swelling…
BUT some damage can be good—if you want to look more like a bodybuilder; a bit of “swole” can get you bigger faster, even the day after a workout; just don’t overdo the damage.
3) The eccentric, or negative, stroke of a set does nothing for fast-twitch hypertrophy—too easy…
BUT slower negatives can better warm up a cold muscle, get you in the groove and prevent injury, so keep a slow tempo on your first set.
4) Heavy, low-rep training gets you to the high-threshold motor units faster…
BUT if you’re not blessed with bodybuilding super-genetics, you should train ALL fiber types to maximize your muscle’s size—and a 10-to-20-rep set does that with a fiber-array cascade:
Type-1 (endurance) —>
Type-2a (endurance/power) —>
Type-2b (power)
Just a few reasons you should consider training with variation for more mass creation—higher reps, lower reps, slower tempos, and speed sets. Case in point: Layne Norton, Ph.D….
As a drug-free bodybuilder below (left), he was using training variation. Now as a record-setting powerlifter (right), he focuses solely on building strength with heavy, low-rep sets, such as pause squats, 455 x 4. Compare his quads then and now…
Note: For tips and complete workouts to give you varied hypertrophy training—including sets, reps, ideal exercises, Mr. America Doug Brignole’s mass tactics and more—see Never Stop Growing.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
X-Rep.com
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