+ 1 Slow and steady wins the race
So this post really has two meanings. The first is that muscle doesn't just get packed on overnight, even with use of anabolic steroids. You can blow up pretty quick with water and swell up almost overnight, but those aren't really gains.. and the second meaning is the way you lift the weights.
I see a lot of guys on here, mostly the younger guys, who want to know what they can take and what they can do to get big quick. While this is a good question, it's the kind of question that sold a lot of flex magazines in the 90's and early 2000's.. but the truth is, real muscle takes time.. quality keepable gains don't happen overnight.. I've been lifting since I was fifteen, and in that time I've put on 60 lbs of quality lean muscle.. and I only started using aas once I turned 29.. I'm 31 now.. and since I've been using, I've gained about 15 pounds of muscle. While that might not seem like a lot, it sure as hell looks like a lot.. because it isn't all water.. sure I can take a bunch of dbol or anadrol, and blow up ten more pounds, but in a few days you'll piss and sweat it out once you come off.so my real message here is take it slow.. keep the doses low, and you'll have more to show (for) in the end. And you'll have that beautiful hard dry look. Not the puffy water buffalo look, with tons of zits. Trust me, girls don't like that look.. they know what's healthy and what's not.. so if you plan on living more than another year or two, don't worry about blowing up overnight. Slow and steady boys..
Which brings me to my next subject.. the style of lifting that gonna give you that dense gnarly muscle is gonna be slow steady lifting as well. I've reached plenty of plateaus in my time lifting, even on gear.. and what always gets me out of them is slow negatives.. you can bounce a bar off your chest all day with heavy weights, but at the end of the day, you're gonna look in the mirror and it's gonna look like shit. Bring that bar down as slow as possible, and then blast it back up if you want. But the slow negatives is where you're getting the most bang for you buck. That's where you're tearing the most muscle fibers. Even have someone help you lift the weight once you can't do anymore.. and then bring it down slowly again.. do this for a few reps.. you'll be surprised at how sore you are the next day.. well that's all boys.. I know a lot of you already know this.. but this is for the youngs guys out there. It's the best advice I can give. Good luck and stay strong
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RustyhookerProof in the puddin!! Pauses, slow reps, run the rack, drops, supersets, 5x5, 10x10.
Welcome to eroids!! +2
Running the rack is one of my favorite things. I could care less how rediculous it looks when I'm struggling with 15's or 10's by the end of it. If that's all someone's seeing when they look at me at that moment it's on them. They're probably very confused though if they walk in at the tail end of it lol.
What looks ridiculous is an extreme dropset with the barbell bench press where you fail with just the bar then you go to failure "benching" nothing but your empty fists lol
Thanks rusty! Love the site.. been on here reading for over a year.. just now getting in on all the conversations and meeting some really cool people. Appreciate everything you guys do here!!
There are a lot more important things for the young guns to learn ahead of an advanced principle like negatives!
Almost nobody in the gyms at the young gun stage knows how to effectively engage a target muscle, nor do they understand TUT, tempo, fibre types, how to fuel those fibres, how to tax them, how to recover them etc. training types; strength/hypertrophy/cell swelling/over-reach/active recovery etc,, nevermind periodisation as mentioned by hB!!
It's only after mastering those things that a technique like negs should be considered
I don't think telling the young guys to slow down as they lower the weight is a very advanced technique. If they lower the weight to compensate, it can actually help teach the basic things like form and TUT.
Well slower reps beyond a certain tut have been shown not to promote growth, whereas heavy/forced negatives have
so light weight tut isn't really what i am referring to and isnt necessarily beneficial unless its tearning as per heavy negs (or end of set negs where the weight has become 'heavy'
Dya know what I mean?
Anyway, negs are completely irrelevant when someone cannot even engage their muscle! Most cant!
But I do agree that these guys should learn the basics first. Maybe not worry about negatives.. but bringing the weight down slow and controlled is a good place to start
Absolutely, tut and tempo as it pertains to either strength hyperT or pump/lactic etc.
its all valid of course, and your sentiment is rock solid
There's some truth to that. Definitely.. what I'm trying to do here is help someone from getting hurt or messing their bodies up.. I l ow it will fall on deaf ears for 90% of the Young guns. But if one person listens, then I'm happy. There were some big guys in the gym when I started lifting (world gym) and we admired these guys. They went ass to the ground, put extra plates with extra pins on the low row and were just all juiced up and ripped.. and they showed us the proper way to lift. Some of us listened, while others didn't.. but I've never been injured in over 15 years of lifting. And while I might not be the biggest or strongest guy around, I get compliments all the time on my physique. And that is more motivating for me than knowing I could swing up 225 for 1 on barbell curls
I hear you man, and sentiment is rock solid,
define Bring that bar down as slow as possible
because studies show elongated negs dont increase growth
I think that this is a true statement that slow quality gains are better than fast gains but there definitely is a place for both but working out it kills me when I see guys in the gym with horrible form in there lifts rocking back and forth while curling way to much weight and then they get injured. Slow and steady lifts with the right amount of weight I believe is better than going full force with too much weight and no form. You just don't get anything from lifting like that except an injury
Cheat reps have their place. But cheating is an advanced technique to be utilized by advanced trainees, not noobs. Novices don't know how to cheat correctly and safely.
+1 to that brotha (can I do that? Lol... or do I need a certain amount of karma to plus someone)
Fiddy, brother. Thx
Right. That kills me too. I'm no pro at lifting. But I do a lot of research to get the most out of what I do. I see these guys with no clue. I've found only 1 out if 11 are willing to listen to a little advice. I will watch for a moment. I usually put my finger over my lips and sshhhh. They are like what? Slow down man. I mean slow down . Explode up and slow down. Then they are all oh yeah that's the best way. Then right back to jerking and swinging. I've found most people are not willing to learn. They got this. Course I lift at the PF. And there is a "no personal training allowed rule." Which translates into don't give the dumb ass hurting him self any advice that could help him. It's this every one deserves a metal for participation. And for shit sakes don't do any flexing in the mirror after a good set.
That's ridiculous. If someone pays his membership, he has every right in the world to flex in the mirror without being judged by people.
Oh I do . Like my shoulders delts starting to look like little pumpkins.
Flexing in the mirror! You're crazy!! You can get the link alarm set off just for looking at yourself in the mirror! Lol (I go there too unfortunately)
Judgement free zone my ass it's okay for people to judge us but should if we judge them all my God
Yeah I know. It should be illegal they way they treat people trying to get a little pump on
I agree with the first part, not so much the second. It's not good to get caught up in one particular training philosophy exclusively. The biological law of accommodation may catch up to someone who does this. Using only slow and controlled lifting would negate the manifold strength and hypertrophy benefits of lifting explosively, and taking full advantage of the stretch reflex. Both techniques are essential, not just one or the other.
Why not periodize training? Say, 3 weeks with slow negatives, 3 weeks weeks with fast negatives, and so on? It's a whole different feel, although it may seem only a minor change on the surface.
I do both styles of training myself. I usually forget about doing the slow negatives to be honest.. but when I do them, I feel it the next day
Betcha anything if you stuck with slow negatives exclusively it would eventually stop giving you DOMS, as you would be well used to it. Then when you did decide to have a day where you do all fast eccentrics, you'd be feeling THAT the next day. Therein lies the value of periodization!
Not to perpetuate the myth that DOMS is a sign of an effective program
2 well written responses about various training styles & periodization
I suppose you are right. I just hate when I see these kids in the gym bouncing and swinging big weights around.. but I agree with your statement 100%
Lol I'm sure you'll also agree that there's a big difference between the 150 lb 15 year old bouncing 205 off his chest for 3 "reps" before having the bar lifted off him and the gargantuan brute doing close grip speed triples with 495 off the 2 board. One lifts like that because he has no clue what he's doing, the other is training with purpose. Context.
Agreed, agreed, and agreed!!
Food, food and more food.
As vague as "gear, gear, and more gear." Overeating or eating the wrong foods can easily be just as damaging to health as steroid abuse. I would suggest: knowledge, knowledge, and more knowledge as regards nutrition.
Yes, and definitely that too!