Critical Mass

I would like to remind us of a fundamental.

I think back to when Vince Lombardi became coach of the Green Bay Packers many years ago. He held up a football in the locker room on the first day and said, "gentlemen, this is called a football." And then he proceeded to iterate fundamental and elementary rules of the game. Truth be told, the players already knew the things he was teaching, But they needed to be reminded. Football is about making very simple plays and consistant yardage over and over again to gain first downs, and ultimately, the coveted touchdown. Let me be your Vince "Critical Mass" Lombardi for a few moments and remind you of a fundamental to muscle growth.

When you work out, you need to give your muscles a REASON to grow.

As I look around the gym and read many exercise logs, I fear that the words of the great LEE HANEY have been used as an excuse for mediore lifting sessions. His philosophy was, "stimulate your muscles, don't anhiallate them." So, with the fear of overtraining secured in the back of our minds, you go to the gym and do your cute little 3 sets of 10, and then start a thread on EB.N wondering why you are not growing. Do you really think your 3 sets of 10 is enough to get your muscles to grow? I read of sessions that Steve Michalik used to have, and I feel like I need to pick the barbell up again! Read on the sessions that Arnold, Franco, Big Louie, Ed Corney, and those from the Golden Age used to have. Watch Big Ronnie Coleman workout!

Your workout is supposed to be rough! It's supposed to hurt like hell! It's supposed to have you leaving the gym short of breath, sick to your stomach, your whole body shaking, and your arms about to rip your shirt from the swole! Now dammnit!, There's just too many greasy, good looking, tight shirt wearing, eyebrow plucking, lotion wearing pretty boys who are in the gym posing the image! Us muscle heads cannot be doing the same type of limp wristed workouts they are doing!

I hate the word "overtraining." Yes, I do believe in it. In fact, today I had to throw the ez curl bar down because I have been shocking my biceps so much this past week that I was actually weaker today....... a sign of overtraining. But the larger point here is that it's talked about and feared way too much on the boards and it's gotten some lifters in the funk of just going through the motions of a less-than-stellar workout.


The next time you walk in the gym, I want you to prepare yourself for an onslaught of pain that you are going to willfully put yourself through in order to truly achieve the muscle growth you desire.

It's time to take your game to the next level. No, 3 is not enough. When you can't pull your arms in front of your chest because of the pain, it's enought. When your biceps are pulling your forearms up and you can't walk with your arms down straight to your side, it's enough. When the upper-inside of your triceps is pressing up against your lats from the swole, and it hurts like hell to relax and put your hands behind your head, it's enough. When you roll out of the leg press and can't get up off the floor for 15 minutes, it's enough. When you are doing walking lunges and you collapse, it's enough.

What? You want the appearance of muscle and strength without the actual experience?

3 is not enough.

wala

Bring on MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm ready to go now man, good words as always Cmass

Sam

Brilliant!

'Limp wristed workouts' owwww, how many of those have i had to bear witness too. Too many!

Its true though - dont be afraid of the pain, it is your friend

Big Guns

THANK YOU C-Mass!!!!!!!!!
"the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win"
In short, nothing comes easy. 3X10's will only drain your wallet of membership fees.
Train you A$$ of w/ Volume workouts, eat like a pro, and rest. How hard can that be. If you train legs on Mon and on Tues you have the gas for a 5 mile run or even the enegrgy to walk around the mall........you didn't "TRAIN" legs PERIOD

Michael

awesome words man. thanks for the motivation!

EricT

What? C'mon...

Training until you can't move isn't a "fundamental". Progression is a fundamental. So when are you able to go in the gym again and PROGRESS so that you have CONSISTENT stimulus and overload after an amateristic "workout" like that? You want to have success stop looking for excuses not to think and learn how to TRAIN instead of "work out". It has nothing to do with whether three sets of ten is enough....

That is just a range cooked up after some studies way back when. First off I'd say volume thinking is bane of most trainees existence. Look at ways to increase strength and the volume will be much more productive. However, given all the parameters we have to play with, all the ways to introduce an overload, the fact that some people still think in these "shock" and "blast" terms is beyond me. Looking at volume alone...one secondary parameter as a primary criteria for continued growth makes absolutely no sense.

Very few people can consistently go into train without a plan for continued success. If you can do that then more power to you. But for most looking at one workout as the be all and end all is just going to have you waiting around to be able to lift again...probably in a weaker state when your could have already have been progressing on a proper program.

As far as the idea that those who aren't doing extremely high volume lifting are "wimps" I look at it the other way around. If you are lifting with that high a volume than you are probably, no, most definetely lifting sissy light weigths. Volume before intensity is not "lifting hard" it's just "getting tired". I can do that loading a truck full of furniture. Anyone who believes this probably should start working on a better strength base which will garner much more bang for your buck in the long run when it comes to hypertrophy training. Sorry, I'm not buying it. This is just an excuse for inefficient light weight training...how much volume becomes "enough" someday? It will never end and all your training will be spent looking for magical ways to make your muscles sore. Drop sets and shit so you can lift for more reps at lighter weights. Hey, here is an idea, just skip a week or two of training and then it will be that much easier to get this effect of not being able to walk when you go back in. Or just never do the same exact movement twice in a row. That way the novelity of it will help produce this effect.

Facitousness aside, if, for example, the 3 sets of 10 is not enough at a given weight, most trainees would of course look to increase the load on the bar instinctually. Single progression. Simple and straightforward. One could increase reps. Again, single progression. Or, add a set. Three easy ways to progress. Then there is double and triple progression. Taking two or three of those parameters and increasing them on a given day.

But I'd recommend that some concentration be given in the area of absolute strength in that case. Those 3 sets of 10 will be much more effective if you are using a heavier weight....and that can be due to nothing more than increases in neural efficiency.


Over-training is an overused word. I agree. But this is one of those over-reactions. Hope it continues to work out for you though.

Critical Mass

I never said that training until you can't move is a "fundamental", now did I? And, yes, I agree with you that Progression is a fundamental.

Read my article again. I said,

"Let me be your Vince "Critical Mass" Lombardi for a few moments and remind you of a fundamental to muscle growth.
When you work out, you need to give your muscles a REASON to grow."

The fundamental is that you have to give your muscles a reason to grow. Reading your response, I read a lot of words, but failed to get your point. My articles are educational, but they are also designed to be inspirational. I know that if my articles are telling people to jump 10 feet, they may end up jumping 5 feet. Get what I'm saying? So, that being said, I think you would agree that there is no heresy in my article.... and that much of it is to try to inspire people with words, illustrations, and examples of intensity. And yes, I do try to train this way. I would much rather read an article that may be slightly over the top, if it causes me to burn in my soul, and I can no longer forbear....... and I MUST leave my computer immediately to go to the gym.

The name of the message board is EXTREME bodybuilding. That is to say, Over the top, excessive, and all other manner of prodigious adjectives.

Honestly, I really dont think we disagree on this.

EricT

This is a about the fourth time someone here has hit me with some abstract like "exteme" or "hardcore" to defend their posts. We'll havbe to disagree on whose post is educational. You did use the word fundamental and you coupled that with a lot of general stuff that sounded like "more and more with no plan". I put some detail in my post and I think that is fairly obvious. People don't need abstract buzz-words...they need something to cut-through all the crap found on the internet. Real info.

I thought I strung the words into sentences pretty well but if you need a short point then it is thus: Training is not like getting pumped up for the big game. Anyone can get excited and go into the gym and "workout", be "over-the-top" or "excessive". Matter of fact that is exactly what the new years resolutions crowd does...at least a good segment of it. Only to burn out a month or so later and stop until another resolution. Traing is a long long ongoing process.

1quick1

I've talked to people who are so afraid of overtraining that they probably don't workout hard enough.

I agree and if you go over the top all the time you will quickly stop progressing and will be burnt out. Nice comparison to the New Years resolutionists. My gym is bad with them but now it's in the May they are long gone.

Condor

Cool thread CM...I like this 'back to reality' approach. One thing I want to add is that, I have found it very important to experiment around with reps and sets. I've done some breathing set workouts that are technically speaking, only one set. But I'm lifting HEAVY weight with 5-10 sec. rep-pauses inbetween, and going as high as 20 reps (or to failure, depending).

When you're training with INTENSITY, the lines get blurred as to wether you're doing one insane set, or many many many sets with very little rest time inbetween. Intensity is always the foundation.

Critical Mass

Good deal Condor. I'm glad you liked the thread. Yeah, I've been experimenting with some higher volume lately. Especially in my squats. I've lighted up the weight and opted for 15-20 rep sets. Same with lunges and lying tricep extentions.

strawser9

(BOLD^^^)
...i'm so sorry
i used the word hardcore.....because we're in a HARDCORE BODYBUILDING FORUM........not a strength training forum
i thought we came to that understanding and agreed with each other? also, the website is Extremebodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum and Information.

Condor

Semantics...Lets talk about how to get jacked! :cool: