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Body Composition Training 101: Exercise Form
Exercise form: The manner in which you execute/perform a particular lift
Recommendations: Use various tempo prescriptions, always with a controlled negative/lowering phase. Most common: 3-1-1-0, 3-0-1-0, 2-0-2-0, 2-0-2-1.
If I was forced to put a number on it, I’d say that 75% of the average gym population is exercising improperly. A good percentage of those people are just plain exercising dangerously. You know what I’m talking about. The heaving, limbo barbell curls. The sternum crushing, bouncing barbell bench press. The swinging, hip thrust pull-up. The knee shredding, lower back crushing rebound squat. The list goes on and on…
POINT A TO POINT B, OR SOMETHING MORE?
You see people do all kinds of body contortions to complete a lift, solely thinking in terms of moving the bar from Point A to Point B. This builds the ego, not the body, and predisposes trainees to injury.
Appearance-based training, as opposed to Power lifting or Olympic lifting, is all about stimulating and overloading the muscle, it is less about how much weight is actually on the bar. We are not trying to get better at various lifts for competitive purposes. The lifts are simply a means to an end. They are tools we use to achieve our ultimate goal — physique transformation.
Your muscles don’t know the difference between 50lbs and 500lbs (ok yes they do, but for educational purposes just bear with me), they only know if the workload they’ve been given has forced each and every motor unit and muscle fiber to fire to exhaustion. This is what causes muscular overload, and a resulting adaptive response (muscle growth). For some, that very well may be 500lbs, for some it may only be 50lbs.
Cheating, using momentum, etc. reduces tension and workload on the target muscle and allows it to shift to the other muscles and/or joints. At best this is ineffective for physique development. At worst it can predispose you to training injury.
Coach Scott Abel talks a lot about this in his various works on bodybuilding and fitness training. He advises body composition athletes to think in the following terms, “train the muscle, not the movement.” In other words, we are using the barbell biceps curl to overload the biceps and force biceps growth. We are not barbell curling just to get better/stronger at barbell curling. For physique development, you are better off using 60lbs with proper form (controlled negative, no rebound, etc.) than using 100lbs with improper form (dropping the weight, heaving it up with knees, shoulders, lower back, and everything else EXCEPT the biceps).
Now don’t misunderstand me. We DO want to get stronger. The hypertrophy process is somewhat dependant upon progressive overload and strength development. We just don’t want to see strength as the be-all-end-all (there are other factors involved in the physique development process), and sacrifice proper form for strength increases at all costs.
EGO TRAINING
You should train for yourself, to develop our own body, not for anyone else. We all fall at various places under the strength spectrum. And I can guarantee you this. There is always someone out there who is stronger than you are. At the same time, there is always someone out there who is weaker and more uncoordinated than you are. So don’t even worry about it. Where someone else is at and what they are lifting in the gym makes no difference on what your body is capable of.
Besides, it’s not about where you are at; it’s about where you are going that matters. Feel free to give me a hug in spirit right now.
Despite this, there will always be the strong urge/inclination to ego train, especially when a hot chic (or dude, whatever you prefer) is training right next to you. “Slap a few plates on Joey. Gotta warm up.” So here are a few errors to keep an eye out for:
1. Using momentum/rebound to lift the weight.
The best example of this error is the barbell bench press. The person barely controls the weight down and rapidly and violently bounces the bar off the chest to lift it back up. Not only is this dangerous for the sternum and shoulder joint (most pec and rotator cuff injuries happen this way), it is ineffective for chest development.
The chest fibers are maximally stimulated in the stretch-to-midrange position. The top third of the movement is all triceps. By bouncing the bar off the chest, you are eliminating most of the lift that overloads the chest muscles. For physique development you are better off lightening the load, controlling the negative, and using pure pec power to lift the weight up.
2. Incorporating other muscle groups
The best example of this is the barbell curl. The biceps contract to flex the arm at the elbow joint, pulling the forearm towards the upper arm. What kinesiology tells us, then, is that only the forearm should be moving with a proper barbell curl, at least a barbell curl specifically performed for maximizing tension and overload on the biceps.
If any other body part is moving, you are incorporating other muscle groups to perform the lift, thus reducing tension on the biceps. You are starting to train the movement, and moving away from training the muscle.
Slight cheat would be upper arm movement. Muscles generally work on the insertion point, and thus initiate movement on the limb beneath it. Biceps contract and shorten to move the forearm. If your upper arm is moving, it is being initiated by shoulder contractions.
Major cheats would be lower back swinging, possibly combined with knee movement.
3. Not using a full range of motion
The two best example of this are the squat and leg press. Trainees will load up a bunch of plates on the bar, I assume to try and impress the rest of the gym crowd, and then proceed to barely budge the bar or sled ¼ inch. That does nothing to build the legs, and stresses the knee joints and lower back.
4. Letting gravity do all the work
People think of weight training as “lifting”, but research shows a lot of the structural damage that triggers the repair and growth processes occurs during the “lowering” or negative phase of the lift. If you lift the weight, and drop it down without using the target muscles to control it against gravity, you are missing out on many of the physique enhancing benefits of weight training. You certainly are not maximizing your development, and you are predisposing yourself to either traumatic injury (muscle, tendon strains) and/or chronic pain (join wear and tear).
TEMPO TRAINING
If I could give just one piece of form/technique advice to the average gym-goer, it would be this — slow it down — just a little bit. Not excessively, as with super slow training, which is meaningless for physique development, but just a little bit.
Tempo training is one of the best techniques to teach people proper form without actually being there to correct all of the little technique errors. It’s also a great way to ensure you are overloading the muscles, and not using too much momentum or rebound to initiate lifts.
To get your beach bod, you gotta use good form. Tempo prescriptions (made famous in the strength training world by Charles Poliquin) help trainees accomplish this goal. There are four numbers in the system. I change tempos all of the time but I think a great one to start with is 3-1-1-0.
The first number (3) is the negative or lowering portion of the exercise — when you’re muscles are elongating and working to resist gravity. You should lower the weight under control in three seconds, instead of just letting it drop towards the ground.
The second number (1) is the transition phase between the negative and the positive (lifting) — bottom of the bench press. A one second pause eliminates momentum and forces the target muscle to initiate the movement.
The third number (1) is the actual lift. You don’t want to sling the weight up, but you do want to use some controlled force to stimulate fast-twitch muscle fiber recruitment. Super-slow training (10 second lift) reduces the workload too much and is ineffective for muscle development. That’s why they call it weight lifting, not weight budging. So power the weight up in a controlled fashion without cheating or using other muscle groups to get the job done.
The fourth number (0) is the lockout phase. A good example is the top of the bench press where your arms are extended. Most people lock out their joints, rest for a second between reps, and allow the target muscle to rest. This prolongs the set but reduces tension on the muscle — not what we want for physique development. Stopping just short of locking out and immediately starting the next rep without a rest is the best way to overload the target muscle.
ONE FINAL THOUGHT
If you can’t feel your muscles working during a set, you probably are not doing it right. Look at slowing things down until you can feel the target muscle(s) working, especially with isolation movements. Think slow stretch and controlled, but forceful contraction with each rep. Remember, you are there to train and develop your body, not just sling weights around.
Body Composition Training 101: Reps
Repetitions (Reps): The number of times you lift the weight in a given set.
Recommendations: 6-15 reps per set
THE SCIENCE IS CLEAR
The research and literature regarding adaptations to strength training protocols are quite clear:
- 1-5 reps are primarily for strength
- 6-15 reps are primarily for size/development
- 15+ reps are primarily for muscular endurance
That’s simple enough to apply in the real world, but that’s also the problem. People feel they always need more complicated and revolutionary theories to get results. Trainers and coaches feel the need to invent exotic rep schemes and periodization plans to establish credibility, project value, and remain on the cutting edge.
This problem is compounded by the fact that many consumers are lazy and don’t get results on basic programs because (a) they are not following those programs with any real consistency or (b) they are not working hard enough within those programs to elicit noticeable change. They remain overweight, and bash the program for its ineffectiveness. But the simple, tough love truth is that its not the program, it’s the person.
As a result, consumers feel the need to go outside of basic training parameters and embark on the never-ending search for the magical programs that will produce magical results. They believe any marketing flash and unscrupulous claims, without checking the credibility of those claims. Hence, the market place is flooded with false promises, and training programs that are moving further and further away from the scientific foundations that produce real world results.
If you want to stop chasing infomercial claims and change your physique, you need to get away from the fitness marketing madness, and get back to objective scientific data. Trust me, if you can’t get results busting your ass doing basic exercises with basic set and rep schemes, nothing is going to help you.
IN DEFENSE OF THREE SETS OF TEN
The standard three sets of ten training protocol has taken a beating by the so-called “experts” and “innovative” trainers within today’s fitness industry. This is the first rep scheme to get blasted for its archaic and uninformed recommendations. “Oh, that’s so 1980′s” or “What did you just copy that out of a fitness magazine or bodybuilding book?”
Are these jokers frickin’ serious? Three sets of ten falls right within the parameters of optimal training for physique development. Informed and intelligent coaches and trainers that care more about their clients results (and not just making up new crap to sell) actually copied that scheme out of numerous research journals, University labs tests, and anecdotal evidence from thousands of physique athletes who make their living from their physical appearance. Remember, simple on paper does not necessarily mean simple in research and design. E=MC2 encapsulates a lot in one little equation.
ONE TO FIVE
Perhaps looking at the physiological responses to OTHER rep ranges will help clarify our stance on the optimal rep ranges specifically designed for physique development. What happens with low rep training, or sets of 1-5 reps? Other than meatheads loading up too much weight on the bar and (a) using terrible form or (b) budging it ¼ inch?
Low rep sets primarily lead to nervous system adaptations. The body becomes more efficient at recruiting the maximum number of motor units possible, and generating incredible amounts of force for a very short period of time. This is all about lifting heavy loads. Now that’s all great for performance-based goals like Powerlifting or Olympic lifting, or showing off at the gym, but what about physique development?
Training for performance is different than training for appearance. There are plenty of lifters who are incredibly strong and can move awe-inspiring loads, but don’t necessarily “look” like they can. I’m sure you can think of a few examples in your gym. There are plenty of overweight powerlifters and underdeveloped Olympic lifters that would make you or I feel like the weights we use might as well be coated in pink plastic. However, their physiques remain less than desirable.
That’s cool. Their goal is not to be a pretty boy or pretty girl, and they would probably gag at the idea of training for cosmetic enhancement. Their goal is to lift heavy shit. The real question is what is your goal? If your goals are to lift heavy shit, than train with 1-5 reps most of the time. But if your goal is to attain a certain look, you need to think outside of that rep zone.
While the body gets better at recruiting more motor units and generating more force, the individual muscle fibers within those motor units do not spend enough time under tension for maximum muscular development. This is why we say 1-5 reps results in primarily neural adaptation, not necessarily muscular adaptations. The latter is what we are after for physique enhancement.
Scott Abel is a physique coach who talks a lot about the difference between training for strength vs. training for development. Here is some of the research he presents on his blog:
And in 1995, David Behm’s research was more direct. His research article “Neuromuscular Implications and Applications of Resistance Training” came to the following sound conclusion so important to those of you interested in developing a better physique: “Maximum strength training methods with their high intensity resistance but low volume of work do NOT elicit substantial muscle hypertrophy.” His research some 10 years later served to reinforce this conclusion as well.
“Therefore a higher volume of work, (greater than 6 reps, with multiple sets) [emphasis and references are his] is needed to ensure a critical concentration of intracellular amino acids to stimulate protein synthesis” (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 1995: p271).
FIFTEEN PLUS
So why not just blast out 50-100 rep sets? Well you can every once in awhile to shock the body, but in general, high rep sets primarily lead to metabolic adaptations. The body becomes more efficient at maintaining aerobic metabolism during higher intensity levels, and increases its lactic acid threshold. In essence, it becomes more fatigue resistant and can do more work without “hitting the wall”.
Again, this is great if your sport requires a certain amount of muscular endurance, but endurance training does not “build” or “shape” a body. For development the muscles need time under (an adequate amount of) tension. The load, or “tension”, is not great enough with ultra high-rep training to produce an adaptive response within the muscle fibers.
You could curl a pencil a thousand times and eventually it would start to burn, but it wouldn’t do much for building your biceps. The resistance is not enough to force the body to tap into its higher threshold, larger motor units; the one’s mostly responsible for growth and development. You just get better at the process of curling, which is meaningless for body composition change.
There is another problem with endurance training for physique development. There are certain “intermediate” muscle fibers within our bodies that can take on either the properties of fast-twitch fibers (power, strength) or the properties of slow-twitch fibers (endurance) depending on training style. Endurance training leads to the conversion of those fibers’ characteristics into the slow-twitch type.
The problem for physique development is that slow-twitch fibers don’t really grow and contribute to gains in overall lean muscle mass. Slow-twitch fibers just get better and more efficient at what they do – maximizing endurance. This is great for performance improvements, but lousy for appearance improvements.
Fast-twitch fibers are the ones that grow and are most responsible for gains in overall lean muscle mass. Emphasizing the development of these fibers is what builds, tones, tightens, and shapes the body, or whatever your particular goal may be. Training in the right rep range — the hypertrophy zone — will maximize lean muscular development. This is can have varying effects on performance depending on your sport, but it is awesome for appearance.
This “conversion factor” is my biggest problem (in terms of physique development) with boot camps, cross-training, circuit training, or any other strength training mode that emphasizes high rep training in a non-stop fashion. What’s happening is the body is building muscular endurance with these plans (and more than likely converting intermediate fibers into the slow-twitch variation) — which is why you feel like you are going to die the first session, but after time you get better at completing the course. Getting better at doing something is a performance adaptation, not an appearance adaptation.
Don’t get me wrong, these workouts are challenging and will kick your ass. But will they build your ass? Will they help you in terms of physique development? There are better, more efficient ways to train if that is your primary goal.
There is this prevailing fitness myth that high reps will help you burn more fat and cut-up. Many people who are primarily concerned with fat loss follow misguided training programs that emphasize ultra-high reps along with non-stop circuit training as their foundation. High reps don’t help you burn fat or rip up. Building muscle (through hypertrophy training) to boost the metabolic rate and maintaining a relative calorie deficit (through proper diet, and maybe some cardio) are the two keys to fat loss. You can’t build muscle with ultra-high reps. If anything you will lose muscle, and end up with a soft/flabby appearance.
The hypertrophy range will indirectly help you burn fat and rip up because building muscle in this range boosts the metabolism and helps you burn more calories — predominantly from fat — at rest. We burn most of our fat at rest, not while we actually train. We burn mostly glucose/glycogen while we train. The damage from this training sets up the environment for fat burning in the recovery process. So to try and burn more fat while training (through cardio or higher reps or cross training or longer duration sessions or “fat burners” or whatever other misguided ideas people have) is a relatively ineffective and inefficient endeavor.
In practical terms, don’t use your weight training sessions to “burn fat”. Let your diet, and to a much lesser extent cardio, burn fat. Always use your weight training sessions to try and build lean muscle. And yes, this includes you ladies. Lean muscle is what shapes your body. You won’t get huge like a guy because of the difference in hormone profiles — testosterone/estrogen ratio. And make no mistake, the overly masculine women you see in bodybuilding mags are taking steroids to change their hormonal profile to resemble a man’s.
This means moderate rep hypertrophy training, not high rep endurance training, is the way to go for both men and women trying to attain a lean, shapely appearance.
SIX TO FIFTEEN
Any training will cause somewhat of an adaptive response. You will get some muscle growth training with both low reps (1-5) and high reps (15+). But for the reasons already discussed above, you will not get optimal growth, and will not be maximizing your physique development potential. And as a physique athlete, you want the most effective and efficient training plans to change your physical appearance.
So, we come full circle back to the optimal hypertrophy zone. The majority of your training should fall within the 6-15 rep range if your goals are related to body composition transformation. Here’s what happens in this rep zone:
- There is adequate tension to force all motor units (small and large) to be recruited.
- There is adequate time under tension to cause muscular damage, which leads to an adaptive response (growth). Muscle fibers become larger and more dense by increasing the size and number of contractile proteins (called actin & myosin) within those fibers.
- The area surrounding the muscle is pumped with blood and nutrients, which triggers protein synthesis (and makes you look good in the mirror).
- You get the greatest acute increases in anabolic hormones: testosterone, growth hormone.
A LITTLE EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY
Here’s just a little more science to take this thing home. In Exercise Physiology, there is a principle called the Size Principle of Motor recruitment. This states that:
Motor unit recruitment depends on the force/resistance of the exercise. With light intensity exercise the Type I (slow twitch) motor units are recruited. When the load is increased, the Type IIa (fast twitch) will be recruited with the help of the Type I fibers. When the load becomes even greater, the Type IIb/x will be recruited with the help of the Type IIa and Type I motor units. Therefore Type I motor units are always firing no matter what the intensity. – Jennifer Hill
The hypertrophy zone (6-15) allows this natural neural process to take place. With this rep zone, all of the muscle fibers within a muscle group are recruited (including the one’s that grow the most, the fast twitch varieties) AND those fibers spend enough time under tension for maximum development.
With high reps, only the slow-twitch motor units are recruited. The resistance is not enough to force the higher threshold units (IIa, IIb/x) into action. The problem is, these are the fibers that grow the most, and change a physique.
With low reps (1-5), the tension is great enough to force all of the fibers into action. However, the tension is so great that the body loses its ability to generate force (nervous system fails) before the muscles completely fatigue/exhaust (muscular system fails). Thus, the muscle fibers are not maximally overloaded. They do not spend enough time under tension to cause optimal development.
The take home message is this: Please, just trust me: 6-15 reps is where you should spend most of your time.
Body Composition Training 101: Exercise Selection
Exercise selection: The exercises you use in your training program
Exercise selection recommendations: Focus on traditional, basic exercises (examples embedded within article).
THE CIRCUS SHOW
Most gyms these days have become circus shows. Some of the shit you see in the name of “cutting edge” or “innovative” fitness is simply ridiculous, and offers little to no benefit in terms of real physique enhancement.
At the very least it is a waste of time. Like lying around trying to meditate/stretch your way to fat loss, or balancing on a ball like a seal, or more accurately like a lazy housewife (or house-husband) just pretending to work out.
At the very worst it is dangerous – twisting and swinging around at odd angles — the gung-ho dudes who are going to train like “beasts” until their shoulder pops out doing momentum-based pull-ups, or their back gives out doing a crazy boot camp drill.
I mean c’mon, I saw a professional trainer the other day have a client flop around on the ground like a fish out of water. That was the actual exercise. I swear, I am not messing with you. This literally happened right in front of my face.
To me, much of the fitness industry has it backwards. The gym is full of complicated, complex, weird, cute, wild, and new exercises and exercise systems backed by little scientific basis. It’s all about the trends and the fads and what sells (products or services), not about what is truly effective.
But we can’t put all of the blame on the fitness industry. Some of the blame falls directly on you — the consumers. You’re the ones who keep searching for the magic pill. You’re the ones who keep paying for the nonsense that is flooding the marketplace and invading the gyms. You want to believe there is some magical training system that can either (a) allow you to eat whatever you want/make up for a poor diet (b) allow you to get into shape without actually having to work hard and earn it. Sorry my friends, that magic plan is about as real as Santa Clause. You fitness kids need to grow up, embrace the truth, and get to work.
What you really need to do is ask yourself some important questions. Do you want to do exercises that make you look cool, intelligent, or cutting edge, or do you want to do exercises that are effective for physique development? Are you lazy, and just want a program that makes you “feel” like you are working out? Or are you willing to put real work into real workouts that give you real results?
LEVER SYSTEM
Effective training for physique development is exactly the opposite of the fitness trends and fads. It uses the complicated science of Kinesiology and Biomechanics to yield relatively simple exercises and simple programs. Now don’t misunderstand me. That means simple on paper, but it is actually challenging in its implementation and execution.
With all of the complexities of the human body, human movement really comes down to nothing more than a simple lever system. Your bones are the levers and your joints are the fulcrums. The biceps contracts to flex the arm and bring the radius and ulna (forearm) towards the humerus (upper arm).
Attach some resistance onto the end of that lever (ie a dumbell) and you have yourself a results producing exercise. It’s not rocket science, it’s physics, and the actual real world application is simple common sense. You don’t need crazy, weird exercises that have you balancing, twisting, and flipping all over the place, unless you are training for the circus. You need simple movements that overload the muscles and provide the initial spark for the adaptation process. That’s how you efficiently build a body. The basics may not be cool or hip or innovative or cutting edge, but they damn sure are effective!
To review:
Ineffective training programs: use simple science to yield complicated exercises that are relatively easy to perform (think one leg, twisting hip thrust curls while balancing on a ball).
Effective training programs: use complicated science to yield simple/basic exercises that are difficult to perform (think squats and lunges until you can’t move anymore).
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
There is an old saying in the strength and conditioning world that “form follows function”. In other words, the form of a particular exercise should mimic the function(s) of the particular muscle(s) you are trying to work.
So what type of exercises should you be doing in the gym for physique development? Here you go:
| Anatomical name | Gym name | Function | Exercises |
| Pectoralis major, clavicular head | Mid-to-upper chest, pecs | Flexes arm, brings arm across midline of body (horizontal adduction) | Incline presses, incline fly, flat presses, flat fly |
| Pectoralis major, sternocostal head | Mid-to-lower chest, pecs, titties | Downward and forward movement of arm | Decline presses, dips, cable crossovers |
| Trapezius, upper fibers | Traps | Scapula elevation | Shrugs, upright rows |
| Trapezius, middle fibers | Mid-back | Scapula adduction (pulling shoulder blades together) | Rowing motions |
| Trapezius, lower fibers | Mid-back | Scapula depression (pulling shoulder blades down) | Lat-pulldowns, rack pull-ups |
| Rhomboids | Mid-back | Scapula adduction | Various rowing motions |
| Anterior deltoid | Front of shoulder | Raise arm to the front | Front raises, shoulder press motions |
| Medial deltoid | Side of shoulder | Abduct arm, raise arm out to the side | Lateral raises, shoulder press, upright rows |
| Posterior deltoid | Back of shoulder | Raise arm to the rear | Rear delt fly, shoulder press |
| Latissimus dorsi | Back, lats, wings | Extend humerus, pull arm down towards pelvis | Pull-ups, lat pulldowns, straight arm pulldowns |
| Spinal erectors, erector spinae | Low back | Extend spine, stabilize spine | Deadlift variations, hyperextensions |
| Rectus abdominis | Abs, six pack | Flex spine, stabilize spine | Leg raises, crunch variations |
| Obliques | Side abs | Rotate torso, flex spine | Rotating movements (ie medicine ball twists), bicycle crunches |
| Transverse abdominis | Deep abs | Stabilize spine | Iso contractions, ab wheel, planks |
| Biceps brachii | Bi’s, arms, guns | Elbow flexion | Curl variations |
| Triceps brachii | Tri’s, arms, gun show | Elbow extensions | Triceps extension and press variations |
| Quadriceps (Rectus Femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medius, vastus intermedius) | Quads, thighs | Extend knee, flex hip | Squats, leg presses, leg extensions |
| Hamstrings (Biceps femoris, semitendinosous, semimembranosous) | Hams, back of thighs | Flex knee, extend hip | Leg curl and deadlift variations |
| Glutes (gluteus maximus) | Butt, booty, junk in the trunk | Hip extension, decelerate the seated movement | Squats, lunge variations, glute bridges and kickbacks |
| Calves | Calves | Elevate heel (plantarflexion) | Calf raise variations |
WHAT LOOKS UNINFORMED IS ACTUALLY HIGHLY INFORMED
Traditional bodybuilding and fitness programs tend to get bashed in the fitness industry as unintelligent/uninformed. I will concede that many meatheads and fitness diva’s DO give bodybuilding a bad name. “Just squat ’til you puke Junior. What your knee hurts and you have chronic low back pain? Well squat anyway you wuss.” “Just do cardio for 3 hours a day, eat only a salad, and make sure to sound really stupid when you talk because that’s what boys like.”
Whatever. That’s not real bodybuilding or fitness to me, it’s just ignorance. And keep this in mind as a person trying to learn about the physique transformation process: Just because someone looks good doesn’t mean they know anything about the scientific process behind physique development, not to mention general health and overall well-being.
The problem in fitness, however, is that because of this negative association with bodybuilding, the industry is going too far in the other direction. Anything old-school or even remotely basic in nature is considered worthless. Everything has to be new and cutting edge to be effective. On a side note, is the cutting edge stuff really effective? Many of the people I see balancing, flipping, bouncing, or meditating around don’t look like they’ve ever stepped foot inside a gym.
But real bodybuilding and fitness programs, designed by coaches and trainers with scientific backgrounds and true expertise, are far from uninformed. They select movement patterns and exercises based on the anatomical functions of the muscles. These basic exercises are the basics for a reason – because they work. This is a highly informed and intelligent way to train. And quit frankly, it’s the most effective and efficient way to build/shape a body.
So a shoulder routine consisting of: military press, seated side laterals, rear-delt flies, and alternate front raises may look too old-school and simple on paper to the fitness “experts”, but it actually works all planes of motions and functions of the shoulder and optimally overloads the delts for maximum development.
What about twisting, lunging, hip thrusting, rotating, one-arm shoulder presses with a hop? Can it be effective? Sure. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. If anything, it limits overload on the delts because of the complexity of the movement. It overloads the nervous and potentially cardiovascular systems before the muscular systems, which is not what we want for physique development. Is it cool looking? Maybe to novices. But to me, that shit looks better on desperate housewives than on real fitness warriors.
So stick to the basic exercises based on the knowledge of the body as a simple lever system and the knowledge of each muscle’s natural movement function. It’s the best way to get real world results.
That is unless you are willing to buy my latest and greatest training invention for ultra-fast results. We’re talking losing 30lbs in 3 days with no changes in diet necessary. In fact you can eat anything you want in unlimited quantities because I finally found the magic pill. Its called S.B.H.T.P. = The Stability Ball Humping Training Program. All you have to do is grab a stability ball and…
Body Composition Training 101: Routine Splits
Routine/Training Splits: The way you organize your training week. How you divide your muscle groups up over different training days.
Training Split Recommendations: 3-5 day splits. *Samples at the end of the article.
Ah, the training split — the legends, folklore, and arguments over the right or best training splits date back to the Golden Era of bodybuilding and fitness. Chest and tri’s or chest and back, which one is better? They both are effective. The truth is there is no one right or best training split. In fact, switching up training splits can be a variable you manipulate on a regular basis to change the training stimulus or to emphasize different muscle groups (priority training).
But my belief is that some type of training split is much better than no training split at all — meaning full-body workouts/total body training — at least for physique development. We’ll get to that argument in due time, but first…
MORE ON VOLUME TRAINING
The previous article in the series (volume) presented the science behind my recommendations for a moderate-to-higher volume training protocol for those with physique enhancement/body composition goals. Lets review a few of the critical points in those research findings, and introduce some additional concepts supporting volume training:
1. In the research data, higher training volumes improved both muscle strength and size better than singe-set or single exercise training protocols.
2. Multiple sets per exercise with multiple exercises per muscle group increase acute growth hormone, testosterone, and IGF-1 production more than lower volume training protocols. These all have a positive impact on the muscle building, fat burning, and body composition change processes.
3. Most muscle groups have more than one movement function (hamstrings flex the knee and extend the hip, chest flexes the shoulder and initiates horizontal adduction). Multiple exercises are necessary to train and overload all functions and movement patterns of each muscle group.
4. There are different muscle fiber types and firing thresholds within each muscle group. Changing exercises, angles, and even rep ranges can change muscular recruitment patterns and goes a long way in ensuring maximum fiber recruitment, overload, and development.
5. We all have strong and weak muscle groups. This is often due to muscle innervation patterns, or the way in which the nervous system recruits muscle groups to complete a specific lift. Generally, a weak muscle group is located right next to one or more strong muscle groups. This makes sense — the stronger muscles just take over for the weak muscle and accomplish the task. A mix of compound and isolation exercises (especially for our weak muscle groups) is necessary to correct muscle imbalances and induce maximal, symmetrical muscular development.
6. There are different causes of muscular failure during different lifts. Sometimes we fail during heavy, compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, etc.) because of systematic reasons — nervous system fatigue or oxygen debt (cardiovascular system). Generally, during isolation lifts (dumbell curls, leg extensions, etc.) we fail because of localized muscular reasons — accumulation of lactic acid. Combining compound exercises with isolation exercises covers all bases of muscular failure, and thus maximizes adaptation, improvement, and development.
7. Multiple exercises per muscle group allows you to figure out which one you look the best performing (especially when you are spritzed with oil and a fan is pointed directly on you) for your cover model shoot, or at least for your facebook/twitter/dating website profile pic.
TYING SOME PRINCIPLES TOGETHER
I hope I’ve convinced you — through both the science AND real world examples of physique athletes (bodybuilding and fitness training generally consists of 3-4 sets of 3 or more exercises per body part) — that volume training should form the basis of your training program. Multiple sets and exercises per body part is the way to go for body composition change.
Now remember back to the article on training duration. We explained that due to primarily hormonal reasons, the optimum length of a training session is right around 30-60 minutes. This allows our anabolic/fat burning hormones (growth hormone) to peak and prevents our catabolic/fat storing hormones (cortisol) from rising too high and making the workout counterproductive in terms of physique improvements.
If we are to do a certain amount of volume per muscle group, yet limit our training time; then the only possible answer is to utilize some type of training split. There is no way you can perform adequate volume per muscle group (for physique development) using a full-body routine AND stay within the duration parameters. It just doesn’t work.
What you do is blast 1-3 muscle groups with the right amount of training volume, and come back another day for a different set of muscle groups. By the end of the week you’ve trained the entire body, all with the right amount of volume.
THE BEACH BOYS AND GIRLS
Guys, does this sound familiar? Monday you train chest and biceps. Tuesday you train chest and biceps. Wednesday you train chest and biceps…Girls, does this sound familiar? Monday you train hips and thighs. Tuesday you train hips and thighs. Wed you train hips and thighs…
Remember when you weight train, you are actually breaking down individual muscle fibers. Training is only the stimulus to produce physique change. Your body recovers, repairs, adapts, and develops in all of the processes that take place BETWEEN training sessions.
Research shows that muscle groups can take up to 48-72 hours to fully recover from a volume-based strength training routine. And usually these research studies involve no additional training in that time frame. Additional training — as is necessary for physique development – delays this recovery process and extends the recovery time frame.
If you hit muscle groups before full recovery and adaptation has taken place, you are inhibiting your potential physique development gains. In other words, if you train the same muscle groups day in and day out — as are the case with the above examples, but also with full-body training — your body will not be able to realize optimal development. The muscles remain in a chronic broken down state, and never have the chance to rebuild.
A properly designed training split will ensure you have ample amounts of training volume for physique development while at the same time ensuring proper recovery for each individual muscle group. For example, you overload your chest and triceps one day, and the next day those muscle groups are resting while you train your legs and core. Now, you still need to take complete rest days entirely off from training to allow the body as a unit, including the nervous and hormonal systems, to recover. But you get the idea of staggering overload with recovery across the body for maximum training efficiency.
SAMPLE 3-DAY SPLIT
Monday — Chest, shoulders, triceps
Tuesday — Off
Wednesday — Legs, core
Thursday — Off
Friday — Back, biceps
Saturday — Off
Sunday — Off
SAMPLE 4-DAY SPLIT
Monday — Back, core
Tuesday — Chest, biceps
Wednesday — Off
Thursday — Legs, core
Friday — Shoulders, triceps
Saturday — Get drunk and party like a rock star (just kidding, but wanted to see if you were still paying attention).
Sunday — Off
SAMPLE 5-DAY SPLIT
Monday – Back, core
Tuesday – Chest, calves
Wednesday — Off
Thursday – Shoulders, core
Friday — Quads, hamstrings, calves
Saturday — Biceps, triceps
Sunday — Are you ready for some football, or the Real Housewives of (some city), or whatever you are into, and the couch?
Again, these are only a few of the many possibilities of different muscle combinations and training splits. But again, the take home message is this: I believe some type of training split is better than full-body/total-body training for physique development. Performance-based goals is a whole other ballgame, and the exact opposite may be true, but as physique athletes we don’t really care about those goals.
Body Composition Training 101: Volume
Volume: Amount of work performed during a training session. The total amount of weight lifted, the total amount of time under tension. The number of exercises and sets performed in a training session.
Volume Recommendations: 3-5 exercises for large muscle groups, 2-3 exercises for small muscle groups. 2-4 sets per exercise.
Enough TALK about how often or how long we should work out. I’m beginning to feel like a body “talker” or body “philosopher” instead of a body “builder” or body “sculptor”. Its time to dive into the heart of it all and figure out what we should actually be DOING at the gym for optimal physique development.
TURN IT UP
My wife is always complaining that I turn up the volume too loud on the TV. Hey, I need to hear the dialogue after all of those gunfights, explosions, sex scenes, and fart jokes. Sex, violence, and immature humor, what can I say? I’m a product of contemporary American society. As the old-school rockers used to say, if it’s too loud (or there is too much volume), you are too old!
Training for physique development requires a certain amount of training volume. That’s just the bottom line. You have to stimulate each muscle group, and force it to spend a certain amount of time under tension in order for visual development to take place. That’s not just me talking, that’s the science of human and exercise physiology.
Instead of diving into the beautiful and entertaining, yet educational prose you’ve come to know and love here, I’ve decided to rip this article off with just the facts. I’m sorry to all of my fans. The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be (stolen from Bret Hart), will be back in another installment.
By now, I hope you know me well enough to know that I’m only kidding. There are people out there who are way, way, way smarter and more talented than I am. All I am trying to do is take the research I’ve compiled from various sources, along with practical experience from competing in natural bodybuilding and working ten years as a personal trainer, and narrow it down into a plan that you can follow in the real world to get optimal physique enhancement results.
In other words, my goal is to merge the lab with the gym.
Just so you know I’m not making all of this stuff up, here’s some of the science behind training volume recommendations for physique development.
THE SCIENCE SAYS
“Single set training may be appropriate for untrained individuals or during the first several months of training, but many studies indicate that higher volumes are necessary to promote further gains in strength, especially for intermediate and advanced resistance-trained athletes” (NSCA via J Strength Cond, J Appl Sport Sci)
“The musculoskeletal system will eventually adapt to the stimulus of one set to failure and require the added stimulus of multiple sets for continued strength gains.” (NSCA via Designing Resistance Training Programs, Human Kinetics)
“It is generally accepted that higher training volumes are associated with increases in muscular size. This is the result of both a moderate to higher number of repetitions per set and the commonly recommended three to six sets per exercise.” (NSCA via J Strength Cond, The Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine: Strength and Power in Sport.)
“Although research studies usually only focus on one or two exercises (total or per muscle group), empirical observations, interviews with elite bodybuilders, and more exhaustive prescriptive guidelines suggest that performing three or more exercises per muscle group is the most effective strategy for increasing muscle size.” (NSCA via Strength Cond, Designing Resistance Training Programs, Phys Ther Pract.)
“Resistance training is the best natural stimulus for muscular growth. Many weight training programs have been developed over the years in an attempt to modify and manipulate this natural process, each with varying degrees of success. The truth is, the success of a program is often determined by its ability to elicit a specific hormonal response, and little else.” (ISSA)
“Independently or in various combinations, several exercise variables can increase serum tesosterone concentrations in boys and younger men:
- Large muscle group exercises
- Heavy resistance (5-10RM)
- Moderate to high volume of exercise, achieved with multiple sets, multiple exercises, or both.
- Short rest intervals (30 seconds to 1 minute)
- Two years or more of resistance training experience”
(NSCA via Med Sci Sports Exerc, Can J Appl Physiol, Int J Sports Med)
“In a study designed to sort out the different variables related to GH (growth hormone) increases, Kraemer and colleagues found that serum increases in GH are differentially sensitive to the volume of exercise, the amount of rest between sets (less rest, higher GH), and the resistance used (10RM produces higher lactate values and higher GH responses). When the intensity used was 10RM (heavy resistance) with three sets of each exercise (high total work), and short (1-minute) rest periods, large increase were observed in serum GH concentrations.” (NSCA via J Appl Pysiol)
“Variation is even more important relative to resistance training. The skeletal muscles are many and varied, and they function in intricate patterns of cooperation and opposition. To make matters more complex, there are different muscle fiber types within the muscle which have different firing thresholds such that working a muscle does not necessarily mean working all of the fiber types that comprise the muscle.” (Hormonally Intelligent Exercise)
I’M SPEECHLESS, FOR ONCE
There’s not much I can add to the above data to convince you any further, other than that virtually every fitness athlete, model, bodybuilder, figure girl, or anyone whose primary goal is to look good that I know personally or have read about through various media outlets trains with a certain amount of volume. Quite simply, volume training, or multiples sets and exercises per body part, is the superior way to train for body composition change. This style of training maximizes lean muscular development, which of course, increases the metabolic rate. This in turn helps your body burn off more unwanted body fat, even at rest.
If you want to look good, then turn up the training volume so loud that you can’t hear the “experts” trying to sell you on a “cutting edge” system that promises that hyper-abbreviated workouts are enough to produce maximum physique development results.
Body Composition Series 101 Complete
When I got this blog/website thing up and rolling, I really wanted it to become a resource where anyone could learn everything I thought they needed to know about nutrition and training plans specifically geared towards physique enhancement/body composition change.
I’m not trying to train performance athletes. My goal is to advise people who are interested primarily in changing their physical appearance. It’s really bodybuilding, body sculpting, and fitness training without the negative associations with those demographics (drug use, supplement overkill, meatheads and diva’s, and uneducated approaches to physiological processes and development). I want to use my science background and my practical experience as a fitness competitor/model and trainer to get the most effective practical information out to all of you.
I started with the Barebones Fitness Nutrition Plan (the practical dietary advice you could implement immediately) followed by the Fitness Nutrition 101 Series (the science behind why you should eat a certain way as a physique athlete). I then posted some sample training routines (the practical training advice you could implement immediately) followed by introducing the Body Composition Training 101 Series (the science behind why you should train a certain was as a physique athlete). Next came two installments in that series — training frequency and duration. It was a good start, but the BC 101 Series was far from complete.
Then I got sidetracked! Sorry. I started working with a few people to tighten up the website, and started some social media stuff (Twitter, Facebook, You-Tube Channel) to reach more people. That worked, and then I got published a couple of times on T-nation, started helping a few people online, prepped a friend for a bodybuilding competition and photo shoot, etc., and the weeks flew by.
But, it’s time to get back to my original goal with this blog/site.
I want you to know everything you need to know to get into top shape — the rest is up to you. Instead of holding things back and releasing articles slowly, this week I’ve decided to finish the entire Body Composition Training 101 Series and post it up. Why wait? You need access to quality information and you need it now. Besides, with everything that’s going on with my career, I may get frickin’ sidetracked again for another few months. I don’t want to leave you hanging.
Quite honestly, between the Barebones Fitness Nutrition Plan, the sample workouts, the Fitness Nutrition 101 Series, and the Body Composition Training 101 Series, that’s everything I know, and think you need to know, about fitness to implement an effective plan, and to understand the reasons why you are doing it. That’s every principle I use with my own training and with my clients’ programs. Sure some individualization needs to take place, but that’s the basic structure of body composition training and dieting.
And that was my goal. I wanted a resource where if anyone off the streets asks me about body composition change, I could point them to my site so I didn’t have to try and explain it over and over again (and besides, I’m a better instructor through writing than through speaking). Also, there is a lot of bullshit training and nutrition programs trying to sell you stuff (or TV shows trying to be dramatic), and it gives people the wrong idea of what it really takes to reach the upper echelon of physical development.
That’s why there is the 101 Series — you need to understand some of the scientific processes so you don’t get duped/confused by marketing and sales pitches. I made a lot of mistakes along my own journey because of my lack of knowledge at that time. I don’t want to see you waste your valuable time like I did.
So head on over and check out the Body Composition Training 101 Series. It’s finally finished, and is all the science behind my training program recommendations. There are seven new installments — volume, routine splits, exercise selection, reps, form, inter-est rest, and intensity. Its like a free e-book without all of the annoying advertisements.
And by the way, Happy Turkey Day! This year, we give thanks that with all of this new information, there will be no “turkey arms” at the dinner table next year.
IT’S ALIVE!
I’ve been slacking on the blog posts lately. Sorry about that. I’ve been working hard on some other aspects of the website/online business. I started a Twitter account, linked it to Facebook, linked it to the website, etc. Nate Miyaki is going high-tech, which is completely against his nature, as is referring to himself in the third person. But hey, I just found out yesterday that my wife likes the Rock?? So expect more third person references, People’s Elbows, and eyebrow raises out of me. Can you smell what “Miyak” is cooking?
My goal is to make this website as comprehensive as possible so it can become a valuable instructional tool. Bodybuilding and fitness is my passion. I’ve learned a lot over the last 15 years about the physique transformation process — from formal education, training/nutrition certifications, thousands of hours reading and doing personal research, competing in bodybuilding/fitness competitions, prepping for photo shoots, and practical experience coaching hundreds of clients — and I want to share that information with all of you.
I can only train so many clients one-on-one, yet I believe everyone deserves access to top-quality fitness information. There’s a lot of biased misinformation out there (for a variety of reasons – none to truly help YOU), so I want this site to become a trusted resource where you can get honest, no bullshit info. I’m not going to sugar coat stuff. I’m not going to hold your hand. I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear. I’m going to tell you what you need to hear.
But what you will get is everything I think you need to know to get in top “appearance-based” shape. I’m not holding anything back. Everything I would tell the people I love the most about health and fitness WILL be on this site. Just ask my wife. She’s helping me with the whole web development process — but don’t bring up the Rock to her or I will find you.
To be honest, I believe the content has been there for some time. What was holding me back was my lack of tech knowledge. Well, I’m happy to say I’ve met some great people over the last few months that are helping me overcome that fear and get that content out to you.
So here is what you can expect over the next couple of months from this website:
- Weekly blog posts (I promise)
- More and better training and nutrition principles. I want you to know exactly what you should be doing for optimal physique development.
- The Body Composition 101 Series. This is a compliment to my Nutrition 101 Series, and will go into the science behind why I think you should train a specific way if your primary goal is physique enhancement.
- Some video clips. We’re starting to film some time this month. So look for the YouTube Channel soon.
- Regular tweets. Follow me at www.twitter.com/SenshiFitness
Til next time, train hard, eat right, and follow the Way of the Physique Warrior.
The Best Damn Cardio Article, Period! Part 3
In Part 2, we talked a lot about some of the theories behind my critique on long distance cardio. Now it’s time to get down to some practical application strategies. Science and stories are all good, but what should we be doing in the real world with regard to this cardio conundrum? That’s the real question.
CARDIO IS FOR FAT PEOPLE
In Part 1, I mentioned that cardio can be good for several different populations: performance athletes, general health enthusiasts, and of course, porn stars and erectile dysfunction patients. We should add one more group to that list — fat people.
If you are over 20-25% body fat, than you need to start being honest with yourself — you are not bulking up or retaining water or using the extra mass to your advantage in a sport (unless its sumo wrestling). You are fat, plain and simple. I’m not trying to be a jerk or make you feel bad, but I am trying to give you some of the tough love that many of today’s spoiled, lazy generation needs to hear. We all need to stop procrastinating, making excuses, and finding rationalizations, and start getting motivated if we expect to make some changes to our physiques.
If you are fat, your body is obviously out of whack. It could be from improper food selection, lack of activity, stress factors, hormonal imbalances, or some combination. Activity in general, and cardio in particular, can go a long way in regulating some of your body’s fat burning mechanisms that currently lie dormant. Cardio can increase many of the hormones and enzymes that influence the fat burning process. These compounds are not functioning properly, or are just not stimulated enough, in the overweight population.
Cardio activity elevates the circulation of catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine) which increase the rate at which stored body fat is broken down to be used as a fuel source. It also increases the output of hormone sensitive lipase, which has similar fat burning effects. In short, introducing a regular aerobic routine into a fat person’s life can help them make the transition from a fat-storing machine into a fat-burning machine.
With fit people — those who have a higher lean muscle to body fat ratio — you need to be aware of some of the detrimental effects cardio can have on physical appearance. The leaner you get, the more concerned you need to become. Too much cardio can force the body to burn off muscle tissue, especially if you don’t have a lot of body fat left to burn.
This is less of a concern with fatter people — those who have a higher body fat to lean muscle mass ratio. Fat people have a lot of body fat to lose, so the body will preferentially burn off some of this excess, non-functional tissue in response to cardio sessions. The body will burn what it has plenty to spare and is less likely to tap into muscle stores as a reserve fuel.
In short, fat people can benefit from regular aerobic exercise. We’ll talk about specific recommendations later in the article.
CARDIO FOR FIT PEOPLE
The leaner you get, the more counterproductive cardio can become. This is because you are more susceptible to tapping into muscle tissue as a reserve fuel, which results in the loss of lean muscle mass, a lowered metabolic rate, and a soft/flabby appearance despite a high volume of work. Add to that the effects overdoing long distance cardio can have on the hormonal balance that influences physical appearance — cortisol is elevated and testosterone is suppressed — and you have yourself quite a counterproductive 1-2 punch combo. So what is a fit person, especially a fit person still trying to lose a little more body fat, supposed to do with their training protocol?
Lets look at our evolutionary past for clues. In terms of “activity” or “exercise”, our bodies were designed to be anaerobic in nature. Yes, for most of the day we performed sub-maximal (and what could technically be termed aerobic) activities. We walked around, gathered food, tracked prey, cooked, cleaned, etc. But we didn’t run to keep the heart rate up or reach some type of fat burning/aerobic zone. None of what we did was formal exercise; we just completed the necessary tasks of the day, whatever that may be. In fact, we used as little energy as possible during most of the day in order to conserve energy for when it was absolutely necessary for survival.
And when it was time to move, we frickin’ moved, baby! We sprinted away from predators or towards prey. We climbed trees, hoisted objects, swung weapons, and clubbed stuff to death with maximal exertion. These are all predominantly anaerobic activities. We are not meant to reach arbitrary fat burning zones for arbitrary amounts of time. We are meant to alternate periods of kicking back with periods of kicking ass. That’s how you efficiently build an attractive, functional body.
INTRODUCING INTERVALS
How does that translate into today’s dilemma of designing optimal fat loss protocols? It’s quite simple. Assuming adequate health levels and no pre-existing medical conditions, all of your exercise sessions — or formal “activity” – should primarily be anaerobic in nature. Weight training is one form. In terms of cardio exercise, interval training is another option.
Interval cardio essentially means alternating periods of sprinting/maximal exertion with periods of recovery. It’s like the old physical education classic of walking the curve and running the straightaway on a track (minus the PE teacher with high and tight shorts yelling at you). You go hard for something like 30-60 seconds, then back off for 60-120 seconds, and then repeat.
There is a lot of research on the superiority of interval cardio (sprinters) to steady-state endurance training (marathon runners) for body composition transformation purposes.
- Intervals boost growth hormone and igf-1 levels. This leads to increased rates of fat oxidation (fat burning).
- Intervals have a higher after-burn effect than traditional cardio. Upon completion of an exercise session, intervals elevate the metabolism for a longer period of time than traditional cardio. This is due to the high-energy (calorie) demands involved in the recovery process from anaerobic-based, interval training.
- Intervals have positive nutrient partitioning effects, meaning nutrients are diverted more towards muscle cells (where they can be used to build/maintain lean muscle tissue) and away from fat cells (where they can be stored as body fat).
- Intervals improve insulin sensitivity, which is a follow up to the preceding statement. Improved insulin sensitivity means the carbohydrates you eat are more likely to be absorbed into the muscle cell and stored as muscle glycogen rather than stored as body fat.
- There are certain “intermediate” muscle fibers that can take on the properties of either slow-twitch or fast-twitch muscle fibers, depending on different modes of exercise. Endurance-based training leads to the conversion of those fibers into slow twitch fibers. Interval-based training leads to the conversion of those fibers into fast twitch fibers. The latter is the more desirable result for physique enhancement because fast twitch fibers have the greatest potential for hypertrophy. This process is what firms and shapes the body, boosts metabolic rate, and leads to increased fat burning even at rest.
WHY NOT JUST WEIGHT TRAIN?
When people talk about the numerous benefits of interval cardio sessions, such as above, it sounds a lot like the benefits of another form of training — strength training! Weight training is an interval-based method of training. You do a set, hopefully close to maximal exertion, spend a period of time recovering, and then repeat. That’s an interval by definition.
Weight training boosts growth hormone, elevates the metabolic rate, has a superior after-burn effect, etc. In fact, many articles describing the benefits of high intensity interval training will often say things like, “interval training has many of the same benefits as weight training.” So my question is, why not just weight train?
I guess people have it so ingrained in their heads that cardio is absolutely necessary for fat loss. It is not. A solid diet and some anaerobic activity are requirements — which can be accomplished with smart food choices and weight training alone.
I will admit I am biased towards weight training. I’d much rather kill myself hitting the weights than kill myself running wind sprints or doing boot camp drills. I think a lot of people feel the same way. Many people come to enjoy weight training — the pump, the burn, the mind-muscle connection, and the varied stimulus of changing exercises, angles, and rep execution. They don’t necessarily enjoy the cardio-based stuff — feeling like their lungs are going to burst. I am one of those people. So I do intervals, its just all weight training based intervals.
But if you are a cardio junkie, that’s cool too. You can hit the wind sprints or stationary bike or stair intervals a few times a week instead of the weights. Any sport that incorporates sprints, jumps, lifts, etc. — football, basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, the list goes on and on — is what I am talking about. You just have to get out of the habit of a cardio routine that consists entirely of sub-maximal, low intensity endurance training. Don’t get lazy and sit there mindlessly plodding or pedaling away like a hamster on a wheel. Don’t fall into the endurance-training trap. Keep incorporating the anaerobic/sprint bursts to maximize the session’s effectiveness for physique enhancement.
THE LOST ART OF WALKING
I told you all of my formal activity is based on weight training sessions, but that’s not quite the entire story. I walk, and if I’m trying to peak for something (say a physique competition or photo shoot) I walk quite a bit.
Walking is one of the most underrated forms of activity around. And I don’t mean walking on a treadmill or anything “exercise” specific. I just mean real, outdoor walking as an informal activity. Remember, that’s what we did in our evolutionary past. We walked to hunt, gather, travel, track, etc., all just as part of our regular day. We didn’t sit at a computer all day eating M&M’s.
(On a side note though, aren’t M&M’s awesome with their milky chocolate center and crunchy shells? Damn I love those things! But I digress…and of course I am not condoning that you ever eat those tasty, little morsels. Stay away and stay on track my friends!)
Walking gives us many of the same benefits as traditional aerobic activity (calorie burning, lowered blood pressure, lowered resting heart rate, lowered cholesterol, increased nutrient/oxygen delivery, etc.) without all of the drawbacks (musculoskeletal injury, joint wear and tear, elevated cortisol, muscle loss, etc.).
Just like everyone can benefit from a little more Nate Miyaki in their lives, everyone can benefit from a little more walking in their lives. This covers the entire spectrum, from the severely overweight and deconditioned beginner to the advanced physique athlete looking to peak. Here are some deep thoughts for your walk:
1. Remember when I said fat people could benefit from a regular aerobic routine, and that I would give you practical advice later in the article. Well, here it is. Walk, preferably daily. That’s right, you get to walk as a formal exercise session. Wake your ass up earlier and walk for 30-60 minutes before work, or walk at lunch, or take a walk before dinner.
Most overweight, deconditioned people can’t handle the stress of anaerobic interval training. And what about traditional aerobic training (running, etc.)? Forget about it. All of that weight pounding down on the joints leads to nothing but chronic aches and pains, and ultimately results in the inability to adhere to a consistent fitness program.
Amazing weight loss results can be achieved by focusing on a sound nutrition plan and walking alone, no formal gym time necessary (kind of like our caveman ancestors). This is probably the easiest, safest, and most effective way for overweight/obese people to get results. And it’s probably the plan most likely to be followed — walk and eat right, simple enough if you are at least somewhat motivated. But what’s the drop out rate for extreme diets and/or pump and jump aerobics classes?
When you get below 20-25% body fat, which should be a relatively easy process if you work to clean up your diet and walk consistently, then we can talk about adding in some weight training and/or interval training to shape the body and magnify the fat loss results.
And if you can’t find 30-60 minutes a day to walk and do something good for yourself then: (a) You’re just being lazy as shit or (b) You really don’t give a shit. Either way, this blog is probably not for you.
2. For physique athletes, some outdoor walking on your off days from anaerobic training (weight training or interval cardio sessions) is a great way to burn off a few extra calories WITHOUT inhibiting your recovery abilities. In fact, the little extra blood flow and circulation can aid in the recovery process between training sessions.
If you are trying to peak and reach low single digit body fat percentages, you probably are already weight training 4-5 days a week, or performing some mix of weight training and interval training, AND following a strict, regimented diet. There’s not a ton more you can do. However, walking can be a small yet effective additional tool that helps you burn off some extra body fat WITHOUT the detrimental effects of traditional aerobics — muscle loss, cortisol elevation, testosterone suppression, etc. In this case, you too can walk as a formal exercise session, maybe 30-60 minutes on off days.
3. Because of our unnatural, sedentary and “seated” lifestyles due to the Technology Age, everyone can benefit from a little more non-exercise induced thermogenesis. In other words, a little extra, informal calorie burning built into the normal course of our days can add up over time. This generally involves walking more.
These are some of the common tips people throw around: take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away from exits, and walk to a destination instead of driving (if its within reason). I’m sure you can think of a few more opportunities within your specific daily routine.
CARDIO CONCLUSIONS
The science explains it, but from a pure logical standpoint it seems counterintuitive that less (cardio) can actually equal more (fat loss) results. All I can tell you is that it is true. I’ve seen it time and time again in the trenches of the training industry. I’ve had numerous clients back off on the volume of their aerobic sessions, or cut them out completely, focus more on strength training or interval aerobics, and as a direct result lose fat and tighten up their physiques. I guess you could say it comes down to a hormonal/metabolic-thing.
To summarize: If you want to lose body fat, particularly stubborn belly fat or whatever else your particular problem areas may be, than you should:
1. Follow a nutrition plan backed by science AND real world success (see my Nutrition 101 series).
2. Focus on anaerobic training (strength training and/or interval aerobics)
3. Limit traditional long-distance endurance training
4. Walk more
The Best Damn Cardio Article, Period! Part 2
When most people think about dropping fat, they immediately think in cardio-terms. Oh, I’ll get out there and run every morning or I’ll hit the treadmill/bike/elliptical machine more often. Yet, I’m telling you this is not the most efficient, productive approach. What gives? Cardio as potentially counterproductive to fat loss and body composition change is completely contradictory to what most of the fitness world, and general population for that matter, believe.
I can’t just state my personal opinions and be done with it. I know I need to bring out the big guns if I expect to get my message across, help you ditch your preconceived fitness notions, and finally get results from your training efforts. That’s where diving into the scientific process of physique development can help.
Part 2 is all about the science behind my beef with traditional cardio for physique development. It’s for all of the people who can’t just take my word for it, and need a little more research to back up those claims. That’s good, because I wouldn’t take me at my word either. Don’t I just look like a scumbag? I mean honestly, what type of douchebag poses with his shirt off for the photo on his website home page?
THE TEAM OF EXPERTS
In a battle as intense as this, you can’t just go in it alone. There are too many people dogmatically married to the idea of traditional cardio. A man apart can’t sway the pack.
That’s why I’ve decided to bring in a team of physique experts to get their opinions on the topic. I’ve always been told that to be successful in any endeavor, or in this case argument, you should surround yourself with people who are more talented and intelligent than you are. Makes sense to me. And trust me, these folks are just that.
Here are some cardio quotes from various experts via their books and articles on the topic. My added commentary follows each quote:
“The calories burned while exercising are relatively few in quantity and small in significance. The major benefits of exercise are metabolic and hormonal, and they accrue after the exercise session has ended.” Rob Faigin, Natural Hormonal Enhancement
Too many people think of the fat loss process as simply calories in vs. calories out. It is much more complicated than that. There comes a point where cutting calories and/or increasing calorie burning activity can become counterproductive. The body has internal survival mechanisms (mainly hormonal, metabolic, and enzymatic) set in place to protect itself. One of those mechanisms is to burn off active muscle tissue and become more efficient at storing/hoarding body fat. This is why people who crash diet on extremely low calories or perform excessive activity, especially aerobic activity, end up flabby with no muscle tone.
“Aerobic exercise burns more fat than resistance exercise, while you are exercising. But that is not the end of the story – it’s the beginning. The greater portion of fat loss benefits accrue between [not during] exercise sessions. The hormonal and metabolic forces set into motion as a result of your motions in the gym can have an effect for many hours after your workout ends. Both aerobic and resistance exercise raise metabolic rate for a period of time after exercise ceases. But studies show that resistance exercise is substantially more powerful in this regard, with post-exercise metabolic elevation persisting for 15 hours and sometimes for as long as 24 or even 48 hours after a resistance training session ends. Remember, the adaptive remodeling process occurs mainly during rest not during work. In other words, the physical improvements you seek, though they are prompted by what you do during your workouts, are brought to fruition during the period of time between workouts. Moreover, the beneficial restructuring of the body – a function of recovery* – requires energy.” Rob Faigin, Natural Hormonal Enhancement
To repeat, changing your physique is much more complicated than calories in vs. calories out. That’s part of the equation, but not all of it. Using exercise and diet to manipulate muscle building/fat burning hormones and elevate your metabolic rate are the real keys to physique transformation. Strength training has a much more profound effect on these processes than aerobic activity, which is why strength training should be the cornerstone of your program. And more importantly, if overdone, aerobic exercise can have a negative impact on hormones (reducing testosterone, elevating cortisol) and metabolic rate (due to loss of lean muscle mass).
“In light of the foregoing discussion, it is clear that, whether male or female, building a calorically “high-maintenance” body is the best strategy for achieving maximum permanent fat loss - and that means a high muscle/fat ratio. Women are limited in this regard, due to their relative lack of testosterone. Nevertheless, within this narrow window of muscle growth potential, building muscle will greatly assist a woman in her effort to lose fat permanently, while giving her a firm, toned, shapely look to go along with low bodyfat. Relying solely on aerobic exercise to reduce bodyfat, which many people (especially women) do, can actually have a negative long-term effect, by reducing muscle mass. Prolonged, high-volume aerobic exercise is catabolic, raising cortisol levels and causing muscle loss in both men and women.
* And it appears that women, who can less afford to lose muscle than men, are more susceptible to the catabolic effects of endurance training. Even the loss of one ounce of muscle reduces your metabolic rate and your ability to burn fat. Hence, those highly motivated men and women who spend hours laboring-away on the treadmill or stairclimber, rather than allocating an appropriate proportional amount of energy to this mode of exercise, are committing a costly error.” Rob Faigin, Natural Hormonal Enhancement
Changing your body composition involves reducing body fat AND increasing lean muscle mass. Too many fitness enthusiasts focus solely on the former, and neglect the latter. This lose at all costs can result in destructive patterns such as overdoing aerobic work and/or cutting too many calories from the diet. This happens more commonly in women, who often shy away from weight training for fear of bulking up, and use cardio-based activities as their sole form of exercise.
Excessive aerobics and calorie cuts cause a loss of lean muscle mass, destroy the metabolism, and inhibit natural hormone production. Once this physiological state is reached, it becomes impossible to lose any more weight no matter how many calories you cut or how much aerobic work you try and add. What you end up with is someone who is on starvation level calories and performing excessive exercise, yet is still flabby with a less-than-ideal physique.
Even worse, with a suboptimal metabolism, this person is setting up the perfect environment for a huge weight rebound. When they go back to even just normal, healthy calorie and exercise levels, they gain all of the weight back plus some because of the slow metabolism. This generally results in a viscous cycle of yo-yo dieting and training protocols, and huge swings in body weight and appearance. Sometimes the damage to the metabolism and hormones becomes so great that it is irreversible without medical intervention. I bet you can think of a few celebrity examples of the above scenario.
“Even where little or no growth hormone is stimulated (because intensity is too low), cortisol will gradually rise and can reach excessive levels if the exercise session is prolonged. This is why I recommend against a workout program that primarily consists of high-duration, low-intensity exercise. This is also why long distance runners tend to be weak and skinny – their “muscle axis,” is skewed toward catabolism (promoted by cortisol) as opposed to anabolism (promoted by growth hormone and testosterone.” Rob Faigin, Natural Hormonal Enhancement
Chronically elevated cortisol levels are the reason why many aerobic athletes have little-to-no muscle tone and often struggle with body fat. Cortisol can force the body to break down its own muscle tissue, convert it to glucose, and use it as fuel. It also leads to increased fat accumulation, especially around the midsection. So with excessive aerobic work, even though you are potentially winning the calories in vs. calories out battle, you are losing the hormonal/metabolic battle. And if you are losing that battle, you are losing the fat loss war.
“Feeling soft around the midsection? Can’t see your abs anymore? Feel the need to get lean in a hurry? Slacking off on your diet and workouts can do that to you. In my case, training for an Ironman triathlon can do that, too. What? Yeah, you heard me right. This is exactly how I felt after training for and completing in my first Ironman. My body was soft, with no definition, and had definitely changed due to spending the majority of my training in the steady-state aerobic zone — the same “fat burning zone” many books and magazine still talk about. I was in great shape as far as my endurance and cardiovascular system were concerned, but I had less noticeable muscle tone and didn’t have the definition I was used to having in my abs and arms. Put it this way: I didn’t even want to wear a crop top at my race because I didn’t have abs, to show. In fact, I felt like I had rolls for the first time ever! My body had started to look like that of a flabby endurance athlete.” (Source)
Just another practical example from the real world, from a woman who has trained both as an endurance athlete AND a physique athlete. This further cements my stance that training for performance is different than training for appearance.
“During a steady-state workout (when you move at the same pace for a certain amount of time), your body does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat. This is where that “fat burning zone” myth comes from. On the surface, it sounds like you’re burning more fat calories. There are two big problems with this. 1: As I explained earlier, you burn fewer total calories as your body adapts. So even if you’re burning a higher percentage of fat, you aren’t burning as many calories overall. It’s like winning 80% of a Lotto jackpot. It sounds good until you realize that the jackpot is just fifty bucks. 2: Your body actually becomes efficient at storing fat. Since you’re now burning fat as your primary source of fuel, your body adapts and becomes very good at storing fat. Blame it on a dumb self-preservation mechanism built into the body’s operating system.” (Source)
With excessive aerobic work, the body becomes very efficient at storing body fat. It must protect itself and ensure proper fuel based on activity demands. The opposite is true with strength training. The body becomes more efficient at storing glycogen, which is the primary fuel for high intensity activity, and can burn off more body fat rest. This happens because: (1) The body burns predominantly fatty acids during rest. (2) The metabolic rate is elevated after a strength training session primarily because all of the physiological steps in the recovery process from weight training require energy (calories).
“Go easy on the cardio. If you want your cortisol under control, stay away from excessive cardiovascular work. I’m utterly convinced that if gym rats cut down on cardio, they’d be leaner. Humans aren’t aerobic animals. We’re designed to throw a rock or spear at the prey; not run six miles to get the food. Aerobics works only for about six weeks. Once the enzymatic response is maximal, you’re wasting your time. It’s a myth that cardio burns bodyfat only. That’s based on antiquated studies that couldn’t measure all fuels contributing to exercise. Amino acids have been underestimated for the longest time as fuel sources for cardiovascular exercise. Cardio burns not only fat but muscle as well.” - Charles Poliquin
Often times, looking at our evolutionary past is a great way to figure out what we should be doing to become healthier and fit. No caveman just ran long distances for the hell of it. We walked for miles to complete daily tasks, sure. But most “activity” was anaerobic: sprinting towards or away from prey, climbing trees, lifting rocks, bashing things with a club, etc. Training for physique development should mimic these evolutionary patterns. In other words, most “training” should be anaerobic (ie weight training) in nature.
CLASS DISMISSED
I remember falling asleep in more than one lecture in college. I remember staring at the clock in several others. Are we headed that way? Is this enough science to at least slightly convince you that there may just be a more effective and efficient way for fat loss? Can we get to the fun stuff?
Good. In Part 3, we’ll be back with the practical strategies you can apply to your own training routines.
The Best Damn Cardio Article, Period! Part 1
There are only two types of people I hate in the fitness world: People who are intolerant of other people’s exercise choices, and runners! I should qualify that second part. I hate people who dogmatically insist that running (or any other form of long duration, sustained cardio activity) is the best and only way to lose fat and change a physique. Actually, I don’t really hate anyone, but for Hollywood dramatic effect…
Long distance running is the worst form of exercise an average to semi-fit person could do for body composition enhancement. I understand that stance is highly controversial and contradictory to what most people believe, and I know I’m going to have to do a lot of convincing to make a true believer out of you. But trust me, I’ve been in the physique game long enough to say that with the utmost confidence, and more importantly, with the truest sincerity in wanting to help you reach your physique goals.
The hierarchy of body composition transformation goes something like this: nutrition is by far the most important, weight training is next, and the “C” word is a distant third. Traditional cardio is, at best, a minor importance in the physique enhancement game. My stance stems from a combination of scientific research, practical experience as a competitive physique athlete, and over ten years running a training business working with clients interested in body composition change just like you.
So if you chose to run, make sure you understand the real reasons why you are running. You are running for performance enhancement, or sport specific training, or stress relief, or general health, or endorphin rush, or to prove something to yourself, or just because you like to do it. But if you are running to drop body fat, remove that last little layer of flab from around your midsection, or look good at the beach, you are doing it for the wrong reasons — unless your last name is Hasslehoff.
CARDIO – THE GOOD
I’ll be doing a lot of bagging on cardio in the upcoming article, so I figured I’d start by saying a few nice things about it first. After all, there’s a little bit of good in everyone, and in everything. I don’t want you to think I’m some crazy radical that is completely biased or is way off his rocker. I understand the many benefits of aerobic exercise:
- Improved cardiovascular functioning
- Increased maximal cardiac output
- Increased stroke volume
- Reduced resting heart rate
- Reduced heart rate during submaximal activity/exercise
- Reduced blood pressure
- Increased capillary density and circulation (increases oxygen and nutrient delivery to cells)
- Increased mitochondrial density
- Increased cardiovascular endurance
- Improved aerobic performance
THE CARDIO CREW
Keeping in mind the above physiological adaptations to aerobic exercise, the two primary groups of people that could potentially benefit from regular cardio activity should jump right out at you. Take a wild guess — porn stars and erectile dysfunction patients. Just kidding (actually, not really, both of those groups can benefit). But the two groups I am thinking of are: (1) the general population for general health; and (2) performance athletes.
Some people just want to include moderate exercise in their daily routine simply to improve overall health, reduce disease risk factors, feel better, extend life expectancy, etc. They don’t necessarily care about improving physical appearance or getting ripped. That’s cool, and certainly understandable. And yes I get it — us bodybuilders, figure girls, fitness models, beach-goers, and single guys/girls on the prowl are way too vain anyways, right?
Obviously, reducing blood pressure and improving circulation and cardiovascular functioning can go a long way in improving your overall health profile. Couple that with a sound nutrition plan, and you’re not doing half bad. You may not get yourself onto the cover of next month’s Men’s or Women’s Fitness magazines, but you can rest assured you are doing something good for your health and well-being.
The benefits of aerobic exercise for performance athletes should be a no-brainer. It’s common sense. If your sport requires a certain amount of aerobic endurance, than your training should mimic those demands. Training protocols need to be structured in a way that enhances your sports’ skills and maximizes your performance abilities. In other words, if you run in your sport, than you should be running, and trying to improve your running efficiency, in your training routines.
PERFORMANCE GOALS ARE DIFFERENT THAN PHYSIQUE GOALS
Now, here is the critical distinction that most people overlook when designing their fat loss plans. Training for general health is different than training to maximize body composition change. Training for sport performance is different than training to maximize body composition change. Yes there can be overlap. Yes there can be similarities in training protocols. But what is good for one group of people is not necessarily good for the other. You need to prioritize.
One size does not fit all when it comes to targeted program design based on a person’s SPECIFIC goals. While running may be good for your resting heart rate or for improving your marathon times, excessive aerobic work may also be the reason why you can’t get rid of your damn stubborn belly fat. So, what you really need to ask yourself is do you want to have a kick-ass marathon time or a kick-ass six-pack? Those are different goals that necessitate different training protocols that necessitate different trainers/coaches. Obviously, being biased towards appearance-based training, my focus is on the six-pack junkie.
CARDIO FOR FAT LOSS — A PRACTICAL LOOK
Traditional cardio sucks for fat loss – period. That’s the end of today’s lesson my young apprentice. I’ll see you next week.
We’re going to get into the science of my critique on cardio, so don’t worry. But for now, lets just take a look at some practical examples. After all, that’s what matters most right? We just want to know what works for fat loss in the real world, forget about science or theory.
I was sitting in a coffee shop by my house the other day, which was directly within the route of the San Francisco Marathon. In half an hour, I must have watched at least a thousand runners go by. I could count on one hand the number of them that had what would be considered exceptional physiques. You know what I’m talking about — lean, ripped, would look phenomenal in board shorts or a bikini — the type of body most of us are in pursuit of right?
And what about the rest of the pack, the other 99%? Most of them were skinny-fat. They were lean to some extent, yet somehow remained flabby. They had no muscle tone or definition, and their arms and legs jiggled as they wiggled. They carried a nice layer of flab right smack-dab around the midsection; no six-pack setting up shop under the lycra shirt. Many of them were just plain ol’ fat. To make matters worse, almost all of them looked beat up, unhappy, injured, hobbled, etc. It didn’t look like an appealing way to get in shape, even if it was the most productive way.
But it is not. If running, or the performance of any type of long duration, sustained cardiovascular activity were the key to fat loss/body composition transformation, wouldn’t every single one of those runners be ripped? I mean, based on their shear volume or aerobic training – often 20+ hours a week — marathon runners or triathletes would be the fittest “looking” people on earth. They definitely are fit, but they are not the fittest “looking”, and that is what my clientele cares about the most. The people I advise want to “look” like they can run a thousand miles non-stop or bench press 1000lbs or beat-up Superman or Wonderwoman in a fight. Whether they can actually do it or not is of lesser concern. Again, beach body training is about appearance, not performance.
I hope you don’t think I’m trying to be a fitness bully picking on runners or endurance athletes. In all honesty, I highly respect what they do. I was born a sprinter, I couldn’t even imagine running 26 miles straight. That’s amazing to me. Give me 100-200 meters, an oxygen tank, and a Martini and I’ll cheer you on the rest of the 25¾ miles. To complete a race is an incredible achievement that you can remember the rest of your life. I’m simply trying to teach people the optimal way to train for physique enhancement, and point out the many differences between performance-based training and appearance-based training.
Many people are under the misguided notion that they must kill themselves running long distances in order to get into shape, or maintain a decent weight. It’s simply not true. If you want to complete a race to attain a personal goal or prove to yourself you can do something athletically, than run Forest or Franny, run. But if you are as vain as I am and just want to look good, I’m hear to tell you the answers DO NOT necessarily lie on a treadmill or running trail. You should lift Forest or Franny, lift.
THE GYM PHENOMENON
Take a look around your gym the next time you are there. What do you typically see? You probably see rows and rows of cardio equipment filled to the brim. You probably see the aerobics room overflowing with dancers, spinners, hip hoppers, and cardio kickboxers jumping and pumping away. You probably also see a bunch of average physiques.
Now, find some of the fittest “looking” people in the gym. Look at the people that have the physique attributes that you want. Guys, we’re talking full pecs, wide shoulders, ripped arms, six-pack abs, etc. Girls, we’re talking toned arms, firm legs, tight glutes, flat stomach, etc. I can guarantee you that you are looking on the weight room floor to find those beautiful bodies.
The fittest “looking” people in the world — natural bodybuilders, figure girls, fitness models, etc. — base their exercise programs around strength training. Just look online or in some magazines at their programs, you’ll see what I mean. They all lift weights — both the men and the women. Cardio may be a part of the plan, but it is not the foundation. And on a side note, I would even go as far as to say that most of the physique athletes out there do cardio out of tradition rather than necessity. Diet and strength training are what changes physical appearance. Cardio is supplemental at its very best.
HITTING THE WALL
This article is probably starting to feel like a marathon, right? Lets take a little break to digest some of what I’m trying to get across. I understand it is a controversial topic, and is counter-intuitive to what has been brainwashed into us from most of the fitness industry and mainstream media.
Think about some of the practical examples I’ve discussed. I speak the truth, right? How many ripped endurance athletes do you personally know? Thin, maybe, but full-blown ripped?
We’ll be back in Part 2 with all the scientific explanations for the problems associated with too much cardio. Sometimes objective science is necessary to overcome preconceived notions and personal biases.
natemiyaki
Kalai Diamond
