My way to do strength/hypertrophy training and why
I have decided upon a way to train for strength and
hypertrophy that sort of has precedents but not exactly the way I am going to
describe. This way of training is one
that is kinder to my forty six year old joints and yet still takes advantage of
some well established stressors that are known to cause the adaptations that I
seek.
It is well established that supramaximal eccentric muscle
actions cause microtrauma to the myofibril elements (actin and myosin) which in
turn induces satellite cells to donate their nuclei to the damaged muscle
fibers thereby increasing the protein synthesis that does the repair and
supercompensation of the fibers. But,
all of the definitions of supramaximal eccentric training that I have seen only
include loads greater than the 1RM. I
cannot sustain that kind of training for very long without rupturing
something.
It is pretty well established that occlusion training with
cuffs with loads as light as 20 to 40 % of 1RM can cause hypertrophy and even
strength gains in type II fibers all without any observable microtrauma. It seems that the low oxygen environment
caused by the occluding cuffs takes the oxidative type I fibers out of the
recruitment menu and leaves only the type II’s to carry the load. I think that generating a pump (intramuscular
occlusion) causes this same effect. Also,
occlusion training that does not involve any eccentric muscle actions (such as
cycling) does not induce hypertrophy.
Hmmm…
It is well established that actin myosin cross bridges
require ATP to detach. It is also well
established that creatine phosphate regenerates ATP faster than anaerobic
glycolysis does, and anaerobic glycolysis regenerates ATP faster than aerobic
glycolysis.
The problem is that when intensity is high enough the first
work set ends just when intramuscular occlusion is achieved. Also, no supramaximal eccentric work is
getting done when the set stops at concentric failure. Multiple sets with short rests between sets get
around the lack of occlusion during the first work set but there is still no
suprmaximal eccentric work getting done.
But, if you are like me, a drug free normal gainer, and you want to
minimize workout volume, then getting the desired stimulation done with one work
set per exercise would be preferable.
So, my trick is to decrease the rate at which ATP is
regenerated at a given load by doing as continuous tension as possible reps of
an exercise to concentric failure. The
concentric failure is proof that the rate of ATP regeneration has
declined. After concentric failure has
been achieved then the muscle is well warmed up and ready for some eccentric
work. I assert that any negative work
done with the same weight that concentric failure was achieved with constitutes
supramaximal eccentric training. The
main caveat is that the negatives are done right after concentric failure such
that more concentrics would be impossible during the negative work part of the
set.
Forced reps, with the help of a spotter, during the
concentric phase and no help during the eccentric phase is an example of a way
to accomplish this. Cheat reps, at the
end of a set of strict reps, are another way to get there provided the
eccentric portion of the exercise is done as slowly and strictly as
possible.
My way of doing supramaximal eccentric training immediately
following concentric failure involves doing exercises that I can do my own
assisted concentrics with during the eccentric work portion of the set without
a spotter. You see, I train alone.
The most challenging exercise that I do is high bar back
squats. I do squats with my heels on a
2x4 and go down until my rear end touches a 5 gallon bucket. They are not full squats but they are full
enough for my 6’3” frame. When I reach
concentric failure in a set, I take my hands off the bar and balance the bar on
my traps while I use my arms to push off a step ladder that is right in front
of me. When I get back up, I reset for
another negative rep. I have to step
backward around/over the step ladder when I move from the rack to the starting
position. My rep range for the
continuous tension concentric failure has been around 11 to 13, and I have been
doing around 20 to 25 negatives right after, keeping the bar on my back throughout
the set.
My full routine consists of two different abbreviated
workouts.
Workout A
Squats
Full close grip pull-ups
One arm dumbbell curls
One arm lying side delt raises
Workout B
One leg deadlifts
Three chair pushups
Barefoot heel raises
One arm French presses
I have been resting at least one day between workouts never
lifting/lowering two days in a row. I was
doing workouts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday so that I would do each
workout three times every two weeks but, recently, I decided to increase the
number of rest days to at least two. So,
now I do a workout on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Each workout is done once per week.
For cardio, I ride my bike every day as part of my commute to work.
I strive to progress in the regular rep portion of the set
and the negative rep portion too. So, I
have to measure the performance of both parts separately. For the continuous tension to concentric
failure part of the set I use the formula
Weight squared times reps
This is my approximation of what I call the work power
product. Work is weight times reps and
power is weight times reps divided by time.
Since I do continuous tension reps with as steady a cadence as possible,
I assume the rep velocity to be constant.
Therefore I can arbitrarily set the reps/second equal to 1. Doing so makes the power equal to weight
times 1. So then
work times power becomes weight times reps times weight
times 1 or weight squared times reps.
Got it?
For the negative portion, measuring performance is
simpler. I merely measure the negative
work of just the negatives done right after concentric failure.
Weight times reps
If I do not progress in the “to con failure” part of the set
then I add another rest day between workouts.
Progression in the negative reps part of the set is a fair certainty, so
I cannot use that as a marker of overtraining.
I think that is enough gospel to be getting on with for
now.
Peace
