VIII. General Weight Training Questions, Part 3
Question - Does this program build mass, or does it only add strength?
The bodybuilding magazine world is wrought with huge, vascular, "pumped up" fellows with bulging musculature, ripped abs and pecs, and enormously wide delts and backs. Yet there seems to be a disconnect between the size of their muscles and the amount of weights some of them move. Unfortunately, common sense takes a back seat to fantasy and silliness, and the result is that the novice trainee sees the pro on the cover of a magazine and now believes that he can get "big and hyooj" without making progress in their strength. This is a fallacy, for several reasons.
First, we must define what a "bigger muscle" is. Your muscle, after a workout, is probably slightly bigger than it was when you started the workout. Think about what happens when someone does a few sets of curls, his biceps looks bigger. This happens for a variety of reasons, but for simplicity's sake, we'll just deal with the increased blood flow. That is "the pump" that has been discussed elsewhere. Intermediate trainees know this all too well, and they flaunt it to best advantage. Some keep light dumbbells in the back seats of their cars, and prior to encountering members of the opposite sex (or perhaps the same sex, depending upon which side of the plate they swing from), they will do some "pump sets" to make themselves look nice and 'swole'. However, this effect is short-lived, just as the flushing of your face from a hard workout is short-lived. It does not represent true "muscular size".
For our purposes, we will define 'a bigger muscle' simply as
increased muscle tissue. It is beyond the scope of this discussion to detail the difference between myofibrillar hypertrophy and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, except to say that additional myofibrillar hypertrophy is what results in "more muscle tissue", and is the type of size that causes the majority of muscular size and density in the vast majority of Homo sapiens sapiens. This is the type of growth we concern ourselves with. In the future, you can concern yourself with sarcoplasmic hypertrophy when you have been training for, perhaps, a year(ish). But for the novice, you need to understand that you MUST get stronger in order to get bigger.
Why do I need to get strong, I don't care about strong, I care about mass. Ronnie Coleman is bigger than the powerlifters, strength isn't really necessary, is it?
I'll make this as brief as possible.
1) The majority of powerlifters need to eat somewhat limited/controlled calories because they want to remain in their weight class for competition. They want to be as strong as possible while minimizing their overall bodyweight. As such, they eat with this in mind.
2) Lean muscularity coupled with vascularity and small joints creates the illusion of much greater muscular size, whereas smooth musculature and large joints create the illusion of much less muscular size. This is ESPECIALLY prominent in pictures, so bodybuilders, even if they have much less muscle mass than powerlifters, frequently look more "jacked".
3) The type of person who is going to be extremely successful in powerlifting will have very specific structural "abnormalities". Great deadlifters will have longer arms, great squatters and deadlifters will have shorter legs, great benchers will have shorter arms, etc. What is a guarantee is that a champion powerlifter will have a large, blocky waist and thick joint structure. A bodybuilder will have a smaller, more wasp-like waist, coupled with much smaller joints.
4) Powerlifters are frequently endomorphs with some mesomorph tendencies. As such, they will respond to training much more differently than the average bodybuilders, whose body has to be adaptable to losing bodyfat easily and rapidly.
Moral of the story? Don't compare powerlifters to bodybuilders. If you add 50 lbs to your bench without changing your technique, do you honestly think you won't have thicker pecs, delts and triceps?
On a side note, the last 2 Olympias, Dorian and Ronnie, are (or were) widely considered the strongest high-level bodybuilders of their respective times. By now, you've probably seen Ronnie's 800-lb back squat and deadlift, his 585x6 front squat, his 200x12 DB press, his 495 x 10 barbell rows...that is strength.
"Strength" != "1-rep max". Don't get them confused. "Stronger" means that your muscles can move more weight for any given rep range than they could before.
Question - I have injuries, can I do this program?
Under no circumstances should ANYTHING I say be construed as medical advice. The only real advice I'll give you is to find a competent physical therapist/orthopedic/sports medicine doc who lifts weights. If the doc doesn't lift weights, I guarantee that he will give some retarded diagnosis because he probably still thinks creatine is poison and that lifting will stunt your growth.
With that said, if you have injuries, then don't do stuff that hurts your injury, simple as that. Don't "train through the injury", because you'll only make it worse. Get fixed, do a thorough rehab, and THEN think about your training routine.
If you are injured, you work AROUND the injury, not through it.
Question - I don't have a spotter, can I still do this program? What can I do?
A power cage is the answer. Spend 5 minutes during your warmups checking how deep you go on your squats and presses, and set the spotter pins accordingly. Just about any workout is very do-able without a spotter, if you have a power rack. Lack of a spotter is frequently advantageous since many people end up relying on their spotters far too much. If your spotter seems to always get a great pump in his delts and traps while you train chest, then you're probably using the spotter too much. Since NO REPS COUNT if they are touched AT ALL by anyone other than the lifter, there is no real need for a spotter.
How do I warm up properly for my training sessions?
Rippetoe recommends that you first warmup by doing a few minutes on the bike prior to starting your workout. The idea is to get a general increase in body heat and metabolism (no, not for fat burning). This will help prevent injury, as a warm group of muscles and tendons are less prone to injury. You should also do warmup sets for each exercise, although less warmups are generally necessary later in the workout, as the squat and press will get most of the body warmed up relatively well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mark Rippetoe
As a general rule, it is best to start with the empty bar (45 lbs.), determine the work set or sets, and then divide the difference between them into even increments. Some examples are provided in figure 5." (pg. 196)
For example (weight x reps x sets)
Squat
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5 x 1
135 x 3 x 1
185 x 2 x 1
225 x 5 x 3 <--Work Sets
Bench Press
45 x 5 x 2
85 x 5 x 1
125 x 3 x 1
155 x 2 x 1
175 x 5 x 3 <--Work Sets
Deadlift
135 x 5 x 2
185 x 5 x 1
225 x 3 x 1
275 x 2 x 1
315 x 5 x 1 <--Work Set
Press
45 x 5 x 2
75 x 5 x 1
95 x 3 x 1
115 x 2 x 1
135 x 5 x 3 <--Work Sets
Power Clean
45 x 5 x 2
75 x 5 x 1
95 x 3 x 1
115 x 2 x 1
135 x 5 x 3<--Work Sets
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mark Rippetoe
The warmup sets serve only to prepare the lifter for the work sets; they should never interfere with the work sets. As such they should be planned with this in mind. The last warmup set before the work set should never be so heavy that it interferes with the work set, but heavy enough that it allows the lifter to feel a heavier weight before he does the work sets. It might only consist of one or two reps even though the work sets are five or more reps.
(emphasis mine)
Note that in all cases, as you get closer to the actual working weight, you do less reps in your warmups. The idea is to get the feel of progressively heavier weights in the hands/across the back prior to beginning your maximum weight sets.
I will offer this one caveat...stronger/larger lifters may have a serious issue trying to warm up with an empty bar while doing squats. I personnaly cannot perform a squat with no weight on the bar, I need at least 185 or I can't balance properly. You may find it necessary to add, perhaps, a 25 to each side of the bar during your warmups in order to maintain proper technique.
Question - How do I stretch properly?
Like this
DC Extreme Stretches are used after each exercise, when the muscle is warm.
NEVER stretch a cold muscle, make sure you are warmed up first, and only do very light stretches before and during exercise. Save the serious stretching (i.e. 30+ seconds per stretch) for after your exercise, and on your off-days (highly recommended to stretch on the off-days). Avoid serious static stretching before your training. Use some light stretches between sets to keep limber, but don't overdo the stretching between sets. Just stretch enough to keep blow flow steady and to keep the muscles loose. Pay special attention to shoulder girdle and pectoral flexibility, as well as hamstring flexibility.