"Jimmy" at the gym says to me, "I am working really hard!".
I say to him, "Clothes washing machines work really hard too...
but they don't accomplish much".
Point is, lots of bodybuilding trainees are indeed working 'really hard'.
Problem is that they are usually working really hard the wrong way.
Most trainees waste a lot of time because of these 3 mistakes: 1) Doing too many exercises for the same body part in the same workout 2) Performing too many 'isolation' type exercises 3) Training a muscle group too frequently, and also not frequently enough WARNING: Prepare for some controversy, but stay with me here and read this article through to the end.
Performing more than 1 exercise per body part, per workout, is too much (Point 1).
Take a typical chest workout.
Most trainees perform some kind of flat bench press, followed by an incline or a decline pressing movement, followed by some type of chest 'flye' motion.
Often a trainee will even do more movements than that.
Here is the reality check.
After performing one exercise for chest, preferably a pressing movement, you have 'torn down' the chest muscles.
You have successfully fatigued the muscle.
You have created a stimulus for the muscle to recuperate, recover, and grow.
Why continue to beat the muscle up with more movements? At that point, you are not training the muscle, you are just beating it to a pulp for no reason.
Lee Haney, a former Mr.
Olympia title holder, said to "stimulate, don't annihilate".
Let me lay it on the line real simple.
Do 3 warm up sets for a given exercise.
Warm up sets should be a few reps short of failure, and done in a very controlled fashion.
Do a 4th warm up set if need be.
Now load the bar (or machine) with your 'working weight'.
Use this working weight for 3 sets in a row, with about 30 - 45 seconds in between each set.
Your should get about 5 - 10 reps the first set, then less on the second, then less on the third and final set.
Most trainees do way too many isolation type movements (Point 2).
I'll keep this simple.
What do you think is going to make your biceps bigger...
seated 'concentration curls' with 20# dumbbells, or heavy barbell curls with 80#'s loaded on the bar? Likewise...
what is going to make your shoulders nice and big...
dumbbell side raises with 20# bells, or military shoulder presses with a barbell loaded to 100#'s? Use basic movements that allow for heavy weights.
I will elaborate more in a future article.
Training too often is the most common mistake trainees make, and there is also the matter of not training often enough (Point 3).
If you are training the same muscle group directly 2x per week or more, then you are not going to make very fast bodybuilding gains.
Quite simply, that is not enough recuperation and growth allowance time.
Training each muscle 1x per week is a much better idea...
but now that is just a little too much time allowed to pass, although still better than 2x per week.
The 'trick' is to stimulate the muscle, let it recuperate and grow, then stimulate it again.
Training 1x per week lets this scenario run its course about 50x per year.
However, what if your routine was structured so that you had 70 - 75 of these 'growth cycles' per year? That is easy to answer.
Your muscles would grow all that much more.
Your workout routine should train each muscle direct, with a perfect amount of training volume, 3x during a two week period.
No less, no more.
Watch for more tips, including a detailed workout example while following the advice I have presented here.
Read below to finish this article and happy training to you!