Firstly apologies with the lapse in my regular posts, I've been really busy with work. Anyway back to the more important stuff, training. Over the last few weeks as you may have seen from my Instagram posts I’ve somewhat reduced my usual high volume workouts with a focus more to going heavier, improving strength.
My workouts have consisted more of a focus on the compound exercises, with a few isolated exercises just to finish off the muscle group. Going heavy doesn't always mean going up to your 1 rep max or 5x5, mix it up. I use both of these however, I also like to use 7x3, 8x2 and 6x6. Give these a try, some may work better for you or work better for each exercises. I prefer using the lower reps based sets for squats and going higher for deadlifts. Whatever you do, make sure to keep mixing it up and you will be less likely hit that wall with these exercises. Record each workout to see improvement, thus motivating you with an attempt to hit your 1 rep max every fifth workout.
Try with the remainder of the workout through isolation exercises to focus on the tempo of the rep along with contraction. This will aid both strength, endurance and bring size to the muscle. Limit this however to no more then 6 working sets. I like to add a giant set onto the end of the workout as a perfect finisher.
One more point which I have been asked a lot on social media recently is what is a deload week? Now many people think this is where you reduce your workouts to very little weight, along with high reps, giving the muscle a semi rest week. My opinion on this however is you've taken 3 steps forward, so why take 2 steps back? Keep the weight high so that the muscle is still being hit hard, however just reduce the volume. Cutting the working sets in half is always a good option.
So there you have it, a few tips to keep you going but there shall be a few more tips coming soon.
Jack.
No comments:
Post a Comment