Do I always need to go heavy?

The most common objective in any gym by any avid gym goer is to lift heavier. This may not always be to build muscle, but a majority want both strength and size. But does lifting heavier promote muscles to grow and become larger? Well, you may say, Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman always states ‘Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights’ and he had some insane muscles. But is this true?

There are many different leagues of thoughts some believing muscle will only grow if you lift heavier but others believe you can just as effectively build muscle through using lighter weight but with higher reps. Now you may even ask ‘well surely the heavier I go I’m going to build strength so surely the muscle will have to grow’. So what is the difference between training for size and strength?

Strength is about increasing the force production, thus in bodybuilding terms being able to lift a heavier weight. Size is in our case the growth of a muscle through creating microscopic damage to the muscle in order for it to repair larger, this is hypertrophy in its simplest state.

When training for strength the general programme to follow is high weight along with low reps. This training is what I like to say to clients is much like a update on your computer, there to shock the body and thus promote the central nervous system into to thinking it has to increase motor unit recruitment. Much like an update on your computer will promote other parts of your computer to work more efficiently. This basically means the use of more muscles to perform that exercise. In contrast the goal with building size is to promote building muscle and strengthening bones, forcing the muscle tissue to grow stronger and develop. 

So you may ask, well which one should I do, I say both!!! There is a place for both in your programming if you're really serious about not only putting on size but getting stronger. Come on you may want arms the size of Simeon Panda but you also want to be able to deadlift 5 plates or bench press those 50kg dumbbells. The answer is therefore simple, include both in your routine. Here are a few pointers:

1. Begin the session with the heavy, compound exercise for that muscle group your looking to train. It will put pressure on the central nervous system but recruit every muscle within that group, hitting them in a different way, somewhat of confusion. I like to call this blunt force trauma training. Pushing the muscle beyond its limit.
2. Going heavy however doesn't mean you use momentum to cheat the rep or you lose focus on the muscle group you're training purely to lift the weight. Always have control over the weight you're lifting, this is where the strength will be built otherwise you'll just be further prone to injuries. 
3. If you're going heavy at the beginning don't then have a full workout planned after. You're body will already be slightly fatigued, reduce the volume and weight and focus on tempo of the exercises but most importantly the contraction. Really feel the muscle working, use forced reps or negative reps to really push the muscle beyond failure. 
4. Time under tension as partial mentioned above is critical in this stage. Use strict form focusing on the eccentric and concentric phases gaining maximal peak contraction. This doesn't mean a few cheat reps are out of the question, but do the fundamentals first. 

So the final point is do I need to lift heavier to gain muscle, the answer is yes, its a contributing factor. It will aid in the strength of the muscle and promote the central nervous system to become stronger however form shouldn't be compromised because of it. Hypertrophy still has its place to cause the breakdown of the muscle for it to grow back stronger but more importantly larger. So as a pair they go hand in hand and should be used to optzimumize both strength and size.

Happy Training

Jack

Rack Pulls instead of deadlifts?

Should I include Rack Pulls in my back programme? 

I got emailed a question from a follower of mine asking if I include rack pulls in my Pull/Back days, to which the answer is yes. I've only just begun to introduce them after reducing the volume of deadlifting in my routine. This is mainly due to the fact that I'm excerting so much effort on the Deadlifts that I'm exhausted when in comes to isolating my back with other exercises. This is because the deadlift is such a huge compound exercise. Legs, back, shoulders and most of the arm is recruited when performing. When you're hitting high weight, low reps and high sets you just haven't got anything left. This is where rack pulls come in.

Rack Pulls is given the title mainly because your pulling the weight out of the rack,quite literally. It's the upper two thirds of deadlift with little, if any use of the legs focusing predominately on the lower back and upwards. Points to note:

1) Set the safety bars so that the bar sits just below your knees. 

2) Keep a straight back at all times with a slight bend in the knees. Generate power from the lower back and lats transferring it through into the upper back.

3) The finishing position should be somewhat of a solider at attention. Push your chest out, look up and contract you traps and rhomboids. 

4) Avoid any real leg movement, just make sure the weight is transferred to your heels.

5) Keep your core engaged at all times. 

6) Lower the bar under control, avoid rounding of the back. 

7) Keep the reps around 4-8, with high number of sets. Don't forget this is a power exercise so ensure your achieving this, don't be scared about going heavy just don't let it comprise your form. 

So there you have it. Rack pulls are a great addition to your back workout but furthermore a perfect accessory movement to improve you deadlift in reaching lockout. Keep squatting heavy and your deadlift will improve or just add them in, to improve back width and thickness. 

Jack  

Inov8 Fastlift 335 - A MUST BUY!!

When squatting I've always been an advocate of wearing Olympic lifting shoes, not all the time for ever movement but certainly if you're looking to going heavy and generate power through your squat. 

What is the benefit of a Weightlifting shoe? Many people like to wear them when performing any pressing movement or power based exercise. They provide you with a heel block, flat base and a secure fit meaning power generated by the feet is transferred through the body, into the movement thus not lost. 

Now you may ask so why Jack don't you use them when doing those exercises and here is my answer. I just can't stand not being able to walk around or do anything else whilst wearing them because they are literally so uncomfortable when doing anything except lifting, this is until I came across the Inov8 Fastlift 335.  

These provide stability, and all of what an weightlifting shoe provides but also a more comfortable feel that you can use to train in any environment. This makes it perfect if you are going from a compound exercises where you need that support, into say a burpree, much like the most recent of the cross fit open workouts. The shoe won't get in your way, allowing you to perform the exercise with ease. This is unlike any other weight lifting based shoe unless you loose the stability when lifting and opt for much more of cross training shoe, which I’m really to a fan of.

This shoe therefore does a variety of jobs for you in the gym that is unlike any other shoe I have come across in the market to date. It gives you the weight lifting, olympic lifting and cross trainer options, the only it doesn't is running, but then who needs to run!!! A definite shoe you need in your collection, which you will always use unlike a common weightlifting shoe which will only come out once a week when it comes to squatting. 

Get onto www.SportsShoes.com where these are currently on offer at £69.99, a great deal. They'll make you feel more comfortable in a heavy squats, power through cleans and more explosive when it comes to a push press. Bring more versatility to your training, allow you to do more, but more so then anything help you in reaching your goals.  

Have fun training 

Jack

Aiden Jones Weightloss and Fitness Gym - Biggleswade.

Aiden Jones Weight Loss & Fitness

The Old Print Works,

Church Street, 
Biggleswade SG4 0TA

01767 316367 
www.aidenjones.co.uk


With the Easter period upon us, I decided to have some time away from the hustle and bustle of London and head back home to the parents in rural Bedfordshire. Like many of us this means spending time away from the gym; luckily for me a new gym has just opened up in Biggleswade. It is owned and managed by Aiden Jones.
Aiden was the first person that really inspired me into what fitness is all about way back in my early teenage years. Punishing me through early morning circuits before school, to sampling boxing at the weekend, which really cemented the fundamentals and discipline into my training. His approach, attitude and professionalism drove me to become passionate about what I have now turned into, pushing yourself to the limit to make it all feel worth while. This I can tell he has instilled into the gym, but more importantly the trainers around him.

The gym is located in the town centre, with a two floor layout catering for the cardio and a smaller weights area upstairs, with a more dedicated weights area downstairs with two racks, along with an array of dumbbells up to 40kg. This leads onto a small outdoor area where you’ll find tyres, ropes, pull up bars and punch bags, perfect for when the weather gets slightly warmer and you want to train outside. This gives you so many options when training from your functional based training outside to a more so bodybuilding type training inside the gym. The equipment had some new aspects I hadn't come across before featuring the Watson ‘thick grip bars’. Unlike the normal conventional barbell the thick bars take pressure off of the wrists and placing it directly on the biceps when performing any curling based movement. The gym also has a ‘Poliquin Bar Extreme’ allowing different grip options for you to perform various exercises, from the bicep to different heads of the tricep. I found this best when training chest, as it really promotes activation across the whole chest which is often lost when performing your conventional bench press. So the gym certainly didn't disappoint on equipment or space.

If you're really new to fitness, or want to get out of the same old routine then this place is a must, the knowledge base is second to none. If Aiden or Nick (one of the head trainers) doesn't know then it really isn't worth knowing. Their depth of knowledge from Rehab training through to strength and conditioning is of the highest standard and this knowledge has been passed on to all trainers. There are junior guys just starting out as PT’s who really are excellent, with me witnessing this first hand through them training a young boy with autism. He was totally engaged through the whole session and you could see the rapport they had with each other.
The atmosphere however is the subject I wanted to mention the most. I have seen this first hand in London where cleanliness and a pleasant place to train being neglected, this gym cannot be faulted on these elements. I never saw a disc weight out of place, a dumbbell un-racked or a treadmill left still on an incline. This straight away puts you at ease and really helps you get on with your workout. Jack, one of the young PT’s was keen and always happy to help, buzzing around making sure everything is running smoothy. Nick and Joe were there to provide a more advanced understanding on certain areas, with this support available it has allowed such a wide range of age groups to attend the gym, each of them educated to a high standard due to the superior team that works in the environment.

I observed during the time I spent there, that everyone is always utilising the piece of equipment to its full potential, focusing on things such as form, tempo and the muscles which the exercise is being concentrated on. This is a rare sight in gyms of today; even the younger guys using the gym are doing the fundamentals of training, the compound exercises, with great form and perfect execution of each exercise, as oppose to consist bicep curls in the mirror.

This gym is what more should aspire to be like and what is being lost as more and more become commercialised. Its showing how fitness can be fun, enjoyable, yet gruelling at times but with the final goal met at the end, a better you. The gym is a testament to Aiden and his staff and I can’t praise them enough, I just wished I didn't live so far away. If you're in the area, check out this gym!!!

Happy Training 

Jack 

You can't always have great workouts

You can't always have good workouts. 

Today was one of those workouts where I really was just not firing. Heavy deadlifts to begin with 6x3 at 220kg and it was a struggle, into an normal hypertrophy back routine and I just really wasn't feeling. What do you do in this situation, here are my 3 tips:

1) Spend to long in the gym trying to have a good workout. Throw in a quick few supersets or a circuit for that muscle group. Keep everything at a high intensity. Don't try to keep pushing on through the normal routine, thinking you're going to hit the reps and lift the weight you normally would. Get in and get out. 

2) Push yourself beyond where you normally would, running the risk of injury. Because you're not getting that pump don't then start loading up the bar with more weight, pushing the body beyond a point you normally would. This will end up leading to injuries as if you're mind isn't in it then, your body most defiantly won't be. An injury will put you much further back than one bad workout!!!! 

3) Change the muscle group you're training. So many people end up doing this when faced with this situation. I promise you now you'll end up just getting the same results, wasting another good workout, another day. Just follow point number 1 and cut your losses. 

Just remember training is a mental game, not always a physical game. If you're minds not in it neither will the body. A bad workout is only once in a blue moon and use the points above which will help you get the best out of these days. 

Hope this helps and more importantly happy training. 

Jack

Arm Assault

Train arms heavy and high volume. 

Yesterday was arm day but due to various commitments I had very little time to dedicate to the gym so I thought I'd mix my workout up slightly different to usual. 

1) Pre Exhaustion. This is something I've somewhat kept out of my programmes of late as I've been really focusing on lifting as heavy as I can with the first exercise, but I thought I'd put it in, beginning with the 100reps challenge on the cables. 10 reps at whatever weight is selected by a partner with no rest in between. 10x10 basically. I didn't have a partner but opted for a weight range and just kept changing the pin within that. I did the same with reverse curls then moved on to close grip bench putting 65% of BW and aimed to hit 100 reps in the fewest amount of sets possible. This brought a pretty insane pump and really made me feel warm and ready for the workout ahead. Check out Mike Rashid online for arms where he brings a much more descriptive meaning to it. 

I then moved on to heavy compound skull crushers followed by barbell curl. I opted to pyramid up until I found my 5 reps max then performed 5x5 at 90% of that focusing on a tempo of 4240. This tested the muscle group in a different way to normally pyramiding all the way up to the top weight yet, still encompassing the blunt trauma training that I've been following of Mike O'Hearn recently.  

Then I moved on to super sets of triceps followed by biceps for a slightly different effect. Close EZ curls into incline skull crushers at 45 degrees, really trying to stretch the tricep out as much as possible. Then hammers and DB curls followed for the biceps, hitting no more than 10 and still going heavy, followed by a variations of push downs using upsets, instead of the normal drop sets. Focus to be paid of the squeeze as you contract the 3 heads, not fully locking out at the elbow to keep full tension on the triceps. Reverse push downs I really focused on here to really engage to long head, don't be afraid with this to take the weight down. 

Lastly to push the muscle beyond failure I focused on them individually. A single cable curl, focusing on the twist and squeeze, using the other hand to aid with forced reps once failure had been achieved. Then single cable kick backs into push downs to really finish of the triceps. Go for anything over 15 reps for 3 sets, this shall really finish the arms off. 

And there you have it, In and out in under 45 minutes, limit your rest and you'll gain an insane pump and tear down that muscle tissue.  

Happy Training

Jack 

Sports Massage - MSH Wellbeing

I've been getting a lot of pain in and around my upper traps recently which has pushed in the last few days into my neck. This I think is because of the heavy volume of deadlifts I've brought into my programme of recent. I therefore decided to book myself in for a massage at MSH Wellbeing in Islington. I'd heard some great things about it so knew this was just the place.  Sometimes a sports massage is needed to get rid of all those knots where the muscle fibres haven't quite built back together in the correct manner, upper back and traps is often an area where these are prolific. These are mainly where people don't quite stretch/ form roll the correct way. 

MSH is just a small walk from Angel station on the Northern Line and is a must place to visit if you're in the London area and looking for a high class deep tissue massage. The place is really quiet (hard to find in London), relaxing, every facility you'll ever need along with excellent customer service. There isn't forms after forms that you have to fill out on arrive, just all about you and getting the best treatment to meet your needs. A quick discussion with your therapists, who I was lucky enough to get Arturo, on key areas and away you go. 

The hour was all that was needed with a real focus on the areas where I was mainly concerned about and I came away feeling loose and ready for a ever testing leg session this afternoon. 

If you're really getting stiff in between workout and DOMS that never go away then a sports massage really is essential. Get down to MSH where they do regular deals, it's  worth its weight in gold. 

Happy Training

Jack