Not sure about you, but I for one have been struggling to make progress after a while in fitness, despite having tried out several programmes, read several books, tried numerous diets. Whilst on some workout routines I could make some progress, especially on Mike Mentzer’s , there has never been a single guideline that gave me the ideal mix of diet, work, rest and supplement. This was going on until I read Mike Matthews’ bigger, leaner, stronger. Apart from the enormous research he had put into this topic, what made his core idea appealing and ingenious is the simple realisation of the very fundamental of nature and bodybuilding in general: the ability to adapt. This explained the yoyo effects of dieting, why you get stuck after a while on a programme without any progress. Whilst we usually accept that one has to change a workout routine to stimulate the muscles, we don’t seem to understand the adaptability with regards to metabolism. (Until I read Mike’s book I’ve never heard about reverse dieting or repairing ones metabolism). The biggest issue is the source of information: From blogs through magazines, the whole industry is full of workout routines and diet plans of celebrities, whom are leading a different life in many ways, most importantly: they use drugs. Now as a libertarian, I personally do not think it is my business whether or not they use steroids for their own benefit, it is a question of their own value system. The problem comes when they start giving advice on workout and dieting. Several studies have proved, that the use of steroids affects ones ability to gain muscle so significantly, that the actual method of workout and the rest period is nearly borderline irrelevant, therefore, following a steroid user’s workout plan would not necessarily yield beneficial results. Most of these famous workout plans contain enormous amount of exercises, short rest periods between sets and very frequent workouts with little to no recovery periods (rest days). It makes sense for them, because on steroids, the muscles develop so much faster than naturally, that the nerve system, joints and other supporting part of the human body cannot keep up with it, thus to maximize efficiency, users focus on Type 2 muscle fiber development and endurance training. Secondly, the drugs enable them to overcome the detrimental effects of over-training, so they can train using weights more often, than a natural bodybuilder, without impacting their progress. This blog focuses on providing guidance for natural bodybuilders and anyone using resistance training, based on my personal experience. The principles are:
Lift heavy, train in a high intensity manner, keep control of your motions, train to failure. It IS beneficial to mix it with high intensity cardio (I know this sounds blasphemy for HDW-ers). Train the core muscles and most of the time stay away from isolation exercises. Have enough rest. Details will follow. :)