This last installment on damage control will circle back to #1: training to failure, a controversial topic…
Here are the damage factors again—too much of which can derail growth…
1) Too many sets to failure—high-rep and low-rep sets both cause damage in different ways.
2) Too much volume—each additional set has diminishing returns.
3) Too much heavy negative, or eccentric, emphasis.
4) Too much muscle-stretch work.
In the Old Man, Young Muscle workouts, I was going to failure on every set. And I made good mass-building progress…
Backing off somewhat has made my workouts less stressful and more hypertrophic while still using four sets per muscle twice a week—but…
Looking back, I was doing two regular sets followed by one or two “speed” sets for each muscle.
Instead of lifting in one second and lowering in three—negative, or eccentric emphasis—the speed sets contain piston-like 1.5-second reps.
That means the more traumatic negative stroke on every rep of a speed set is NOT emphasized, so there’s less damage (#3 factor above).
So while I was doing eight sets a week for each muscle, some were less traumatic speed sets. Like this for chest…
Dumbbell decline presses: 20, rest 20 seconds, 10
Rest 20 seconds
Close-grip bench pushups (speed sets): 10, rest 10 seconds, 6
That’s from the Old Man, Young Muscle workouts on page 60.
Now, if I don’t use speed sets, I’ll stop a rep or two short of failure on all sets other than the very first set, which is the 20-repper…
I believe the 20-rep set needs to be to positive failure in order to fatigue the slow-twitch fibers and transition to fast-twitch activation.
So there you have a number of ways you can optimize the stimulation-trauma balance. It’s damage mitigation for more mass creation—but most will require some experimentation.
Sculpt your perfect physique: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
Recommended
“[Arnold’s] just a fat f#@k” — say what?
Iron Man Publisher John Balik worked at Vince’s Gym in Studio City back in the ’60s. He has great memories—and funny stories—like when Arnold walked in for the first time…
“I am Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Universe,” the Oak proclaimed proudly…
Vince looked up over his glasses, paused and said, “You look like just a fat f#@k to me.” And looked back down.
It brought Arnold down to earth and made him realize he needed to be more polished, more ripped, to be the greatest of all time…
And that’s what he did, winning the Mr.Olympia seven times…
We can say from experience that Vince was unique in his approach to both people and training…
We’ve got the over-300-page e-book anthology on Vince and all of his methods, and it’s a treasure trove of mass-building, physique-etching info. You’ll definitely want this in your mass-building library for sure…
–> Check out Vince Gironda: Legend & Myth HERE
It will blow your mind and blow up our muscles—everything from Train 21 Rest 7 to 10-8-6-15 to Vince’s Stone Age Nutrition to Failure vs. 60-80 and much, much more (remember, it’s over 300 pages!).