Training the “Natural Wayâ€
We as the natural bodybuilder are not afraid to try new workouts. But with all workouts it comes down to the basics and consistency. “Natural” lifters must remember the body does speak and when it does we must listen. Our bodies do not hide injuries like the “other” athletes. This is where three keys to a long productive “natural” bodybuilding career can really payoff. They are nutrition, technique, and recovery.
No magic workout will build ideal mass for man or woman. Each sex can attain similar results with testosterone being the limiting factor in which women do not build the tremendous musculatures men can. Similar workouts can work for men and women. My wife has been my workout partner for the last 3 years and made some really good gains from the workouts we have done. I myself have made very good progress from the workouts as well. She really has been my prized pupil during these past 5 years of being a personal trainer. Her strength has increased progressively each year and is now in the best shape of her life. Dr. Jeffery Volek has done extensive research to establish ideal gains in women who lift heavier weights in a periodized lifting program. Again due the main factor, testosterone, women can not attain the same musculatures as men due to hormonal differences, but can very productive progress in terms of fat loss and tightening up the entire body!! Nutritional factors can help to change the way muscle is carried in each sex as well, but never to the point where women will equal men unless “testosterone” is used.
Now that we see that men and women can do very similar workouts, let’s look at bodybuilding. Bodybuilding’s main purpose is build muscle to each person’s genetic ceiling with ideal shape, size, and symmetry. Knowing this, muscle stimulation of the group you are trying to work is the key. Tension, form, and technique are main way to promote the greatest muscle stimulation. In order to establish these factors, one must use a weight heavy enough to cause tension without losing your form for at least 6 repetitions (Power/Core Lifts) and maximally in the other direction of 15-20 repetitions during high intensity/ Volume training. It has been documented that weights done for more than 15 reps will do little to make the muscle adapt and grow. If this were the case women who walked for exercise would have the best legs around and that is not the case. Women must weight train to reap the benefits of total fitness; otherwise, optimal fat loss will not occur. On the other hand, those who go below 6 reps consistently are more prone to injury because these weights are not done with proper form and technique. When weights are done that fall under 6 reps, the muscle group being worked receive the least amount of tension, which can cause the accessory groups to take the brunt of the movement. Have that Orthopedic phone number ready!!
Training, in general, does not just change to higher reps when pre-contest comes around. Is that what got you there to begin with? I don’t think so!!! Routines need to vary as well as reps, but drastic changes in your workout will not support muscle retention. Experimentation and trial and error can help you see how your body responds. Variety in your workouts is a must if your plan is to keep plateaus and stagnation out of your workouts. Periodization is one of those ways to prevent plateaus and overtraining. Homeostasis is a condition our body is very comfortable with, but we never want our muscles to be in that comfortable condition. Our bodies try and figure out what we are doing to fight change, so never fall into the rut of the habitual workout. Extensive research has been done by the College of New Jersey about non-cyclic periodization. These workouts can really benefit the “natural” athlete. These are alternating a Power/ Core lift workout with a high intensity/ Volume workout, and recently just adding another cycle into the mix that kind of fits right in between, I call it the medium or Power/Volume day. Great strength gains have been reported in both men and women. This alternating workout program allows the body to recover and get stronger at the same time. Rep ranges will vary and adequate rest can occur while you train to stimulate not annihilate. The body over time can then feel strong and energetic without the increased chance of overtraining and injury.
Bodybuilders are not usually cardio lovers, but it is the necessary evil that must be done to work the heart and accelerate fat loss. Cardio should be done as little as possible being a bodybuilder, because excess cardio can eat away that hard-earned muscle. Excessive cardio can also cause injuries due to its repetitive nature and how it can pound away at your feet, ankles, knees, and hips. Work it just enough to have a healthy heart or when necessary to accelerate fat loss for an upcoming show. During the off-season 2-3 times per week is sufficient working on lower intensity cardio with areas such as mile runs and 100 m sprints with 300 m jogs. Pre-contest can get up to 4-6 times per week with higher interval training as necessary depending upon your condition.
I have been training for well over 15 years and have seen my share of comfortability with workouts by both sexes. Women will take endless aerobics classes and use cardio equipment 7 days per week. For all those years of hard work, she has little to no progress to see. Why? Because resistance training is not part of their workout. You know they could get bulky!!!! BIG!! NOT!! Women need to embrace their muscles and be proud of their genetics and train hard to achieve what they have worked so hard for!! Men are no different, except they are on the other end of the spectrum. They tend to lift too much weight, no matter what the cost!! They work every muscle group in the body, except the one being emphasized that day. Take the Bench Press, on a Monday, on Big Chest Monday, as you load up the bar with improper warm ups, one plate on each side, then two plates on each side. As the sets get further along and the weight increases so does the speed at which the bar freight trains to your chest!! All of a sudden, the direction changes from the negative to the positive and the chest becomes a trampoline and the lower back and ass become a parking spot for your car. Nothing good can come out of that last scenario except injury and pain. Muscle control and maximum stimulation are the keys to bodybuilding when lifting. Bodybuilding is just that building your body, not out of control power lifting. Power lifting movements have their place in the bodybuilding world, but not to the low one rep maxes being performed by power lifters. I feel power lifting movements can be very effective during the off season to put on those extra pounds of hard earned muscle, but in the proper rep ranges and hitting low rep ranges once in a while.
Stiff-legged deadlifts are another movement, which has been butchered over the years as well. This movements’ pivot point should be around the hip joint. The main muscle group should be the hamstring with some help from the lower back muscles. Minimal feeling should be felt in the lower back due to the isometric hold in the upper body. Countless times this exercise is done with movement occurring around the spine thus compromising the back. And even more stress can be put on the lower back if the bar is moved away from the legs during the descent. Remember on this one to keep the back flat and stretch those glutes backwards as the bar descends and as you return to the top the glutes are squeezed tight!!
Your workout should be built around the 3 main regions: the legs, back, and chest. All the other groups are assistive and will get their work but not at the expense of the big three. These other groups are the shoulders, biceps, and the triceps. These smaller assisting groups should not be trained to where they impede the larger muscles in their workouts. Biceps should not be trained the day before your back. The shoulders and triceps should not be trained the day before your chest. I have worked out the most ideal scenario on how to work your schedule from experience and extensive research. I know that everyone does not fall under the typical workout that works for everybody, but a lot of variables go into this workout and tremendous results have been seen. I suggest a 6-8 week cycle and you won’t be disappointed!!! It calls for a 2 days on/ 1 day off schedule for the “natural” athlete. A typical week goes like this:
Day 1: Chest/tris/abs
Day 2: Legs/calves
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Shoulders/traps/abs
Day 5: Back/biceps/calves
Day 6: OFF
Day 7: Repeat Day 1
No muscle groups really overlap and no one-day is set in stone with the non-cyclic periodization. Workouts can vary and the body is not taxed the same way each time.
Power and Volume workouts are ideal for men and women. It lets the women push themselves on the power workout, while the men tax themselves on the volume workout. Rep ranges always vary accordingly, where benefits can be derived from each workout. Both workouts are an eye-opener for each sex as they venture into unchartered territories and keep the body guessing as to what’s coming next. Quality gains will come without extensive pounding on your joints, tendons, and ligaments. Oh, what a relief!!!
Remember, workouts change and adapt according to research. Everyone will have a special way to hit their muscles, but I believe this one to be a winner for all!!! If you would like to see how I lay out this workout, please email me at Cytrainer913@aol.com and I will send you the excel sheet on how to set this up!! I am here to help and I know everyone will not fall under these generalizations, at least with your back rounds in the bodybuilding field. I also know there are beginners out there that could use this to benefit your workout. So send me an email and I will try and help you out any way I can.
I have recently taken this type a training another step further and yet it still falls under the category of non-linear periodization! It is called SSHIT Training (Sully’s ((Sean Sullivan)) Super High Intensity Training) because Sully put some ideas out there that really helped me develop this program along with Dr. Joe Klemczewski’s ideas of Non-cyclic periodization!! It calls for more of a power style training grouped on only a heavy upper body workout and a heavy lower body workout through one cycle!! Each of these workouts hits only the bigger muscle groups which include the Legs, Back, Chest, and Shoulders!! On the heavy lower day, the legs are hit with basically one major multi joint movement, the Squat which will prioritize the quads, and then the Stiff-Legged deadlifts to hit the hamstrings and the glutes while helping to strengthen the whole leg and lower back connection! These exercises are done for about 4-5 working sets of with a rep scheme of 5,5,5,5,2 and only one exercise is chosen for each body part. Calves would be done at the end of course!
Now as for the Heavy upper body, I would one exercise for each group, the Chest(Incline BB), the back(Deadlifts), and the Shoulders(Power Presses)!! The same rep scheme is used from the legs and the abs would be skipped as this workout does take some time to complete!! The heavy days will be shown below as in how the days on and days off are split up!!
The power days allow for the body to keep the muscles that you want to be worked (fast twitch) and these are the ones that will help to release the GH from the body and the best to help build more muscle, which in turn will increase your metabolism, and this will burn more body fat! Everything here causes a nice domino effect, but it does take time and it is more dependent upon body type and sex of the individual. This is the main thing we are trying to accomplish here and this is the main way to do it, but at the same time if this is done day in and day for weeks and yes some will do this for months and even years without ever changing the workouts up and the body can eventually be over trained and injury could be the result. Nothing slows down progress more than an injury, and this is where the second half of the workout comes along!! This involves doing a higher volume, just as I have mentioned above, but there will be some twists to the workout and will seem like the workout is never the same week after week!! It will work those endurance fibers and yes even help to release hormones that would not normally be released during the other style of workout. The other positive aspect of these part of the workouts is it helps to let the joints recover adequately because the pounding going on here is nothing compared to the one you will get when doing the heavy upper or heavy lower days!!
Now, next we will be going to the 4 day split I have mentioned up above, but their will be some catches along the way as you will see!! This part the body is split up to the way I like and you could split this up into a three day, a four day, or even a five day! It’s just whatever works best for you and your needs and what your body can handle!!
The spit I set goes a little like this:
1)Chest/Tris
2)Legs/Calves
3)Shoulders/ Traps
4)Back/Bis
Along with my 4 day split, I had to include some different training protocols to help keep the variety in the workouts!! These would include 100 rep sets, slow positives, Negatives, Supersets, and Drop sets (step Bombs)!! I will show how each one was hit and how each one was used when I lay out the 72 day complete rotation of the workouts for proper rest and recovery!! All of these training protocols have been shown to show some type of improvements in your muscle size and to work them into your program takes a little bit of proper spacing. These 100 rep sets would be done a day or after it had been trained already and is done for one all out set at the end of another workout with an isolation movement for that body part!! If you have never done 100 reps sets, you should give them a try. It starts off with a weight that you can do at least 25-30 to failure, then you will rest for 10-15 sec. and then continue your count until you fail again and then take the break again for 10-15 sec and then start up again and continue until you reach 100 reps no matter how many sets it will take!!! Negatives are done where the muscle is being elongated or stretched with either a 10-12 sec. negatives on a single movement or the 4-6 sec negatives when it super setted with an isolation movement of that same muscle group!! Slow positives are done now in the opposite direction where the muscle is being contracted slowly in the opposite direction of the negatives for about 5-7 sec and at the end of each set the motion is held isometrically for about 15-20 sec. The old drop sets are done with a weight you can handle for a good 8 reps and then dropped 4 times about 15% and then done for a total of 5 sets of 8 reps(40 total reps). Next I will show the 72 day schematic of how this all comes together, so you can see how it all works!!
If you have heard of the method of training in a week with the whole body three times a week where the 1st day is Heavy, the 2nd day is light, and the 3rd day is kind of medium, well it’s the 3rd step I have added to the SSHIT training style and it gives a higher frequency of workouts and lets you really isolate a bit more on each muscle group for the entire cycle. This workout is a 5 day cycle and is broken down to one muscle group per workout except for the last days which includes biceps and triceps. So how this all lays out is the 1st cycle is the heavy workouts and is only a 3 day cycle, with no small muscle groups. The 2nd cycle is a lighter style workout and is a 4 day cycle, with smaller muscle groups being done after their primary groups using much lighter weights but the emphasis is time under tension and training protocols include negatives, slow positives, Step Bombs, Supersets, and X-reps. The 3rd cycle is the medium style workout and is a 5 day cycle that includes training all of the muscle groups on their own days while hitting it with a little power and then hitting it all out with a volume style circuit. For each style to be completed the whole cycle runs through 3 times, so it runs for 72 days and is a style that closely resembles an undulating periodization.
S.S.H.I.T. Training Schematic
Day 1= Heavy Legs/Calves
Day 2= OFF
Day 3= Heavy Chest
Day 4= OFF
Day 5= Heavy Shoulders/Back
Day 6= OFF
Day 7= am Negative Chest/tris
pm 100 reps with back and bis
Day 8= am Slow positives/Tension Legs(Hams, Quads, calves)
pm 100 reps chest and tris
Day 9= OFF
Day 10= am Step Bombs Shoulders/traps
pm 100 reps Legs(Hams, Quads, Calves)
Day 11= am Negative Back/bis
pm 100 reps shoulders/traps
Day 12= OFF
Day 13= Power/Volume Combination (Chest) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 14= Power/Volume Combination (Back) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 15= Power/Volume Combination (Shoulders) 4X6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 16= Power/Volume Combination (Legs/Calves) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 17= Power/Volume Combination (Arms) 4x6-10(bis/tris), 3 Cycle Triset-10-15 reps
Day 18= OFF
Day 19= Heavy Legs/Calves
Day 20= OFF
Day 21= Heavy Chest
Day 22= OFF
Day 23= Heavy Back/ Shoulders
Day 24= OFF
Day 25= am Slow positives chest/tris
pm 100 reps back and bis
Day 26= am Step Bombs legs
pm 100 reps chest and tris
Day 27= OFF
Day 28= am Negatives Shoulders/traps
pm 100 reps legs
Day 29= am Slow positive/ Tension Back/bis
pm 100 reps shoulders/traps
Day 30=OFF
Day 31= Power/Volume Combination (Chest) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 32= Power/Volume Combination (Back) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 33= Power/Volume Combination (Shoulders) 4X6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 34= Power/Volume Combination (Legs/Calves) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 35= Power/Volume Combination (Arms) 4x6-10(bis/tris), 3 Cycle Triset-10-15 reps
Day 36= OFF
Day 37= Heavy Legs/Calves
Day 38= OFF
Day 39= Heavy Chest
Day 40= OFF
Day 41= Heavy Back/Shoulders
Day 42= OFF
Day 43= am Step Bombs Chest/tris
pm 100 reps back/bis
Day 44= am Negatives legs/calves
pm 100 reps chest/tris
Day 45= OFF
Day 46= am Slow Positive/ Tension Shoulders/traps
pm 100 reps legs/calves
Day 47= am Step Bombs Back/bis
pm 100 reps shoulders/traps
Day 48= OFF
Day 49= Power/Volume Combination (Chest) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 50= Power/Volume Combination (Back) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 51= Power/Volume Combination (Shoulders) 4X6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 52= Power/Volume Combination (Legs/Calves) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 53= Power/Volume Combination (Arms) 4x6-10(bis/tris), 3 Cycle Triset-10-15 reps
Day 54= OFF
Day 55= Heavy Legs/Calves
Day 56= OFF
Day 57= Heavy Chest
Day 58= OFF
Day 59= Heavy Back/ Shoulders
Day 60= OFF
Day 61= Chest/Tris (Combos) use all three training protocols, no 100’s
Day 62= Legs/Calves (Combos) use all three training protocols, no 100’s
Day 63= OFF
Day 64= Shoulders/Traps (Combos) use all three training protocols, no 100’s
Day 65= Back/Bis(Combos) use all three training protocols, no 100’s
Day 66= OFF
Day 67= Power/Volume Combination (Chest) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 68= Power/Volume Combination (Back) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 69= Power/Volume Combination (Shoulders) 4X6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 70= Power/Volume Combination (Legs/Calves) 4x6-10, 4 cycle triset-10-15 reps
Day 71= Power/Volume Combination (Arms) 4x6-10(bis/tris), 3 Cycle Triset-10-15 reps
Day 72= OFF