Lifting only heavy loads won’t stimulate enough muscular growth and development towards a physique chiseled by the old gods and new (rest in peace Ned Stark).
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Lifting Heavy vs Lifting Hard [Part II of II]
One thing that irks me to no end is to watch “others train others”, and as broad of a statement that seems…there is a reason behind it. If you’re a true ambassador of the iron, you will put your client through an appropriate workout that entails correct movements, relevant movements, suitable volume and a calculated load. But to train a client for two hours, aimlessly and having no specific goal or rhythmic choice of exercises being utilized just goes to show how lost we can be on our quest to bang the iron. Three days ago I witnessed some slum in his torn jeans and visor attempt to train another member, and after the hours of yelping and attempts to scream with alpha dominance, I had had enough of it. Lifting only heavy loads won’t stimulate enough muscular growth and development towards a physique chiseled by the old gods and new (rest in peace Ned Stark). This statement leads me into my second part of “lifting heavy vs lifting hard” for massive gains and attaining slabs of beef for improving your frame.
My last post broke down an upper body split, using a mainstreamed exercise routine and altering the volume and performance of each movement towards recruiting the best stimulus for the best results. Next I want to showcase a routine I developed for a client and breaking down each movement by offering my knowledge and reasoning behind the movements, volumes and loads.
Deadlift and Back Routine:
Deadlift 2x4
Deadlift (Cluster Sets) 12x1
Dead Bent Row 5x5
Eccentric Pull Up + Lat Pulldown 3x5 + 10,8,12
Lat Pulldown 2x30,50
Leg Curls 4x12
For this client, we are currently working a 16-Week Split. Every 4 weeks we cycle into a different phase, which in return has certain limitations on it.
Week 1-4: Hypertrophy
Week 5-8: Basic Strength*
Week 9-12: Power Phase
Week 13-16: Championship
*current phase
As you begin to read the workout, you notice the first set of deadlift is 2x4, meaning we are only completing 2 sets of 4 reps. Although this seems “lighter” in volume, we are truly employing the heaviest loads possible in these two sets to get the client assessing their strength, growth and development by comparing weekly loads and having them lift their heaviest for creating a heavy metabolic state. Afterwards, our next set of deadlifts is at 12x1. This might seem odd, but during this second exercise we are still utilizing heavier loads but at a submaximal percentage and trying to get the lifter to show a strong deadlift each set with limited volume and limited rest breaks, almost causing a cardiovascular response by the body. This is another way for us to help maintain a conditioned state of metabolic activity, and to be able to tolerate heavier loads versus doing so many consecutive reps that could put the workout at an intolerable pace.
Remember, this client is phasing over the course of 16 weeks towards a max deadlift, so it’s appropriate for this lifter to perform heavier loads and cluster sets. But I would also recommend this mindset to others as well. If you can improve your maximum strength, all your accessory movements will be stronger. The more you can load, the more you can grow.
The next 4 exercises that follow are…
-Dead Bent Row 5x5
-Eccentric Pull Up + Lat Pull 3x5 + 10,8,12
-Lat Pulldown 2x30,50
-Leg Curls 4x12
When we look at the dead bent row, we notice that the reps are at a volume of 5x5. This range of volume is looking to be heavier but the goal of this movement is to be more “correct” in the sense of pacing and full ROM, not jerking the weight with all intent of bending the bar in half. To follow this type of movement, we transition to the next three movements and start to go higher volume on the lat pull, lat pulldown and leg curls. As you notice, the eccentric pull up is paired with the lat pulls for a few reasons. The eccentric pull up helps to improve the time under tension, and when we superset the lat pulls with a repetitive cadence, we again improve time under tension. This is us matching a superset of tense movements by exaggerating an eccentric motion, then hitting more reps on the supersetted movement to add rigor and exhaustion to our programming for a fun and challenging stimulus. This variety of stimulus (tension, tempo, cadence, rep range) is now falling into the category of lifting harder versus lifting heavy. To finish, we have lat pulldowns for 2x30,50 and leg curls 4x12. The idea behind lat pulldowns is now instead of manipulating submaximal loads for reps of 5-12 (as demonstrated with the row, pull up and lat pull), we want a high amount of volume that’ll be our additional stimulus towards creating a “harder movement”.
So as you can see, lifting heavy is following by lifting harder using tension, tempo, cadence and higher volume. So as I have posted before, its not only what you lift but HOW you lift! To take your training to another level, try to employ these concepts of movement and give yourself a break from the monotony of squat, bench, and deadlift for a range of 6-10 reps within 3-4 sets. Lift with a variety of stimulus to break the barriers of resistance training and gain not only strength but size as well.
When at war, your biggest weapon is not the mightiest sword, but the sharpest mind. Knowledge, to me, is your biggest weapon. Don’t be some shmuck that trains with a limited selection of exercise modalities, gain knowledge to gain size brethren!