+ 28 Maximizing Your Gains - Part 1: Tension
Maximizing your gains – Part 1
Yep another training article. What I am going to try to dissect in this series of training articles that I am going to put together is what I see most people doing wrong in the gym that is stagnating their growth (and frankly driving me crazy). They are lifting like chickens with their heads cut off day in and day out and getting nowhere but frustrated. Then they think they have to turn to drugs to make any progress. Once these training principles that I am going to discuss have been mastered, then AAS can come into the picture. I don’t even discuss AAS with anyone at the gym unless I know they can diet right and are following these principles. Here we go with part 1.
The Problem: Quit being obsessed with lifting heavy weights
What happens when you are lifting too heavy of weight is that in order to get that heavy weight to move you are using every muscle around your target muscle along with momentum to get the weight up. The TENSION is shifting everywhere except the target muscle and your range of motion is much smaller. We have all seen this before. Classic example is the bozo doing barbell curls that is leaning way back and swinging the weight up (nice shoulder and back workout dude – to bad your arms are never going to grow.) Then the dude is complaining he just can’t seem to get his biceps to burn and he just can’t feel it.
This is a true story here. I had a guy complaining about this so I asked him what weight he uses when he warms up for his bicep barbell curls. I said that is no longer your warm-up weight, that is going to be your working sets weight and if I see you lean back once during the set the weight is going lower. Well the weight went lower which I thought it would. Now we were ready for the working sets with the correct weight. I made sure proper form was maintained throughout the entire set and the weight was controlled on the way down (3-4 sec eccentric). After 4 sets of 10 reps he said I have never felt my biceps burn like that before. And that there is the moral of the story – heavy weights are useless if you can’t FEEL the tension in the target muscle.
Let me repeat that again heavy weights are useless if you can’t FEEL the tension in the target muscle. If you can’t FEEL your muscles then you won’t be able to exhaust them enough to illicit the hormonal, metabolic and nervous system response that is needed for muscle growth.
The Solution: Focus on TENSION not heavy weight
Let me burn it into your mind again: you will NEVER build a muscle you can’t FEEL. Muscle mind connection sound familiar here? I hope so. Muscles don’t understand how much weight you are lifting, it is the tension that they are responding to. Increased time under tension = Growth. So what are some ways to increase tension to spur growth.
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Make sure you have proper form. Poor form because of too heavy of a weight takes tension off the muscle leading to less growth.
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Use controlled eccentrics (negatives). Don’t just drop the weight right back down. Take at least 3-4 seconds to lower the weight (I have gone up to 6 seconds and it is excruciating). If you can’t complete your allotted number of reps with controlled negatives you need to lower the weight. Don’t let your ego get in the way of hypertrophy.
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Always employ INTENTIONS when you can. Intentions may be new concept for many of you so let me give you some examples. When you are doing a bench press, grab the bar and apply a small amount of inward force with your hands (without actually moving them of course). Think like you are trying to push the bar together and shorten it. This will keep constant tension on your chest which equates to more growth. When doing a lat pulldown or bent over row, think about lengthening the bar and pulling it apart. When you are going to squat, get your feet set and gently try to push them out to the side (once again without moving them of course). You should really feel the tension in the outer quad and this is a great way to build that sweep.
Well, that’s it for part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 next.
Part 2: Density Training
Part 3: Embrace the burn
Part 4: Learning Proper Anatomical Muscle
Part 5: Wave Loading
Part 6: Tips for Killer Quads
Part 7: Don’t Blame it on Genetics
Part 8: Slow Twitch vs Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers
Part 9: Progressive Overload
Part 10: Rest Pause Training
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You really have written some Great stuff on here Mak over the years - I think a GURU Tag would be well deserved
Quit lifting those heavy ass weights
I second that bro
!
“When benching think of pushing the bar together or shortening it” definitely going to start thinking this way!
Intentions are a gamechanger. Pull the bar apart (out) when doing back. Anything you can do to increase tension on the muscle will result in better gains.
Bro I just finished my back routine focus on hypertrophy. I picked two things to really focus on. Intention of ripping that fuckn bar apart and tempo 1 concentric 4 eccentric. God dam is all I have to say.
those little tricks are what will separate the boys from the men.
What a great article Bro! I admit I do a lot of this in my workouts, but I picked up a couple things from this. Thanks!
Great read. I especially like the part about intentions. I've maybe heard about that technique, you can bet I'll try it out today.
“Don’t let your ego get in the way of hypertrophy.” This is probably the most useful quote I have read this year. That girl that is half my age and that dude with two plates on the smith machine don’t give the first sh*t about how much I’m lifting. One of the most important lessons I learned in life is that people don’t think about me as much as I think they do!
This is good. The muscle doesn't know or care about the weight you are holding. it responds to the torque. I have made better gains by focusing on time under tension and good contractions. I love the 4-1-1 tempo
REALLY GREAT MATERIAL
thetdog623837Does this work for abs as well? Iv started slowing my ab exercises down and cant do anywhere near as much reps.
Yes. Abs are a muscle group as well, and as such they follow the rules of muscle growth just as any other group. Only difference in training tecnique would be due to fiber type, which i believe for abs are more type I which means it is more conditioned and need more reps. One thing about abs - they too need to be elongated and contracted. Don't do the motion in the hips. That will only get you strong hip flexors and probably anterior tilt of the pelvis result in bad posture. Focus on geting your sternum closer to your pelvis and contract the abdominals. And then add the tempo manipulation and you will feel the burn!
thetdog623837Focus on getting your sternum closer to your pelvis and contract the abdominals...what do you mean by this?
Thanks for the advice TDog
bbondsThis was a great read Makwa, wish I would of learned this lesson years ago but at least
I know now plus since ive gave up ego lifting and focused on tension/mind muscle connection
my body totally changed and have put on more muscle that I could have imagined.
When doing squats would you recommend pointing your toes in then out to hit the different areas of the quad.
Personally I wouldn't. You are not going to be hitting "different" areas of the quad. Thanks for the idea here by the way (I am going to write a post about lifting urban legends now). A squat is a squat and it is going to impact guess what, the entire quad regardless of your toe position. I surely wouldn't be pointing my toes in. That is an injury waiting to happen due to the poor biomechanical position that your knees and ankles are put in when doing that. It will also limit growth. Due to that poor position that your knees/ankles are in you will not be able to lift as much weight safely which means less tension on the muscle which you know by now means less growth.
What you can vary is the width of your stance. The closer your feet are together the more tension that will be placed on the quads and the less emphasis on the hammies. Take a wide stance with your toes pointed out and you will put more emphasis on the hammies slightly less on the quads. You are probably thinking I just contradicted myself because earlier I said not to change your toe postion and here I say to point them out. It is OK in the case of the wide stance toes pointed out squat because in this case it allows you to put more tension on the hammies and your ankles/knees are not in precarious position. The wide stance squat is also performed slightly different than a regular squat. When squatting with a wide stance your knees kind of "flare" out to the side as you squat and you should be "squeezing the hammies to bring you down. They should never be flaring out when doing a regular squat.
Sorry about the long winded response here but use foot width instead of toe placement to be the determining factor on where you want to place the most tension.
Thanks brother for the clarification.
Really good post dude. I stopped worrying about the weight on the bar a few months back. Wish I had realized the benefit sooner. Its funny because people who don't lift regularly always ask how much you can bench. I say I'm not a power lifter so the weight on the bar doesn't matter, only the feeling in the muscles and the progress on the scales.
Sticky material for sure, can't wait for part 2.
I get people all the time asking me too how much I can bench or curl or whatever. I tell them all the same thing. I am a bodybuilder not a weightlifter. I wouldn't have a number to give them anyway. It has probably been a decade or more since I ever tried to max something out.
TOTALLY feel you on this, when people haven't seen me in quite some time, they are like wow how much are you benching now?????
Then theres me like.. Oh uhhh.. ahah, especially when someone walks in and im finishing up my NOS set LOL or aka DROP SET it looks like I lift nothing.. LOL
NOS sets. I love those!
Only the strong survive! LOL Have you tried his CS-6 (Cell Swelling-6) Sets yet?
Set 1: 8 Reps, rest 80 Seconds
Set 2: 8 Reps, rest 80 Seconds
Set 3:8 reps, drop in weight approx. 10%, rest no more than 20 seconds
Drop 1:8 reps, drop in weight approx. 10%, rest no more than 20 seconds (ideally less)
Drop 2, as above
Drop 3, as above
Drop 4, as above
Drop 5, as above
Drop 6, 8 reps and done.
Destroyed.
Haven't seen it before but it sure looks like fun!
It's sweet wreckage, let me know how you feel if you do it LOL
One of ,my buddies LOVES to bench. Well, really all of them do, but he was pushing up 355 last night and when he got up, he winked at me. I said, how many times can you do your weight? He said he weighs 285, so probably 5 times. I winked back at him and said, I can do my weight 30 times. LOL
"Don't let your ego get in the way of hypertrophy"
Hands down best lines I've read in a long time!!! Thanks for taking your time to write this, I'm staying tune for part 2
Great post bro, should be made a stickie for everyone to have a read. Negatives really contribute to hypertrophy training and this is what alot of people don't understand or its just to hard for them to do.
"Slow controlled negatives are the king for growth.....PERIOD" Viking tribute post
You know it. Someone who never uses controlled negatives will be experiencing some serious delayed onset muscle soreness once they start incorporating them.
Great post Mak. These principles are basic to me because I had a REAL trainer when I was 15 years old that beat these concepts in to my head. I thought this was how everyone trained. Boy was I wrong. The truth is, the majority of folks are clueless about form and technique.
I'm actually surprised I don't see more people get hurt. I see guys lifting heavy with terrible form and they do it for months or years, but they never seem to get hurt. I'm thinking to myself, if I lifted like that for even 1 session, I'd need a surgeon. LOL
That is what turned you into the beast you are today. You started off on the right track. I feel like I have wasted the last 25 year in the gym. If only I knew back then what I know now.
Good work mak , I think you already know my thoughts on these training methods :). These honestly should be stickies but that's just my thoughts tho. Hopefully more people read these.
I have kind of let the cat out of the bag. If everybody starts doing this I won't have a leg up on them anymore
Damn right bro. If only more people would listen. It took me about 2 years to figure this out and when i did wow did i finally start to blow up. Its an ego bruiser going from repping the 110lb dumbbells for 6-8 fast uncrtolled reps down to the 80s for 12-15 perfect controlled reps but thats how you build muscle. Time under tension, squeezing the contraction, controlling the negative, and a feeling the muscle thru the entire range of motion. Mind muscle connection is everything. Once one realizes this first off you stop getting hurt all the time, and second you blow the fuck up. Great post brother. +2
I got hurt last year four months out from my first show and had to have surgury. After I recovered from my surgury I basically cut all my weight in half if not more and focused on the time under tension and really trying to feel and engage the muscle through the entire range of motion. In about the 9 months time frame since I started doing this I have gained over 12lbs of lean body mass and I am going to be coming in bigger and better for this show now because of it. I have been lifting for a long time I have never gained that much lean mass in that amount of time. My muscles are blowing up and my joints are thanking me. I wish more people would realize the mind to muscle connection, it would take them to a whole new level. I wish I would have caught on to this years ago, I could only imagine where I would be now, but I was one of the crowd back then trying to impress everyone with how much I could lift.
Damn that sucks gettjng hurt so close to your first show. Being out of the gym sucks so bad. I learned the hard way just like you did bro, last winter I messed up both my shoulders and was out for 3 months. But when I came back it was rigjt around this time last year I did exsclty what you did. Dropped the weight dramatically and did exsclty what you did, started to focus on my form and nice slow controlled reps and really connect with the muscle and since then I've avoided any major injuries and I guess if my math is right I've put on close to 30lbs of muscle since then so in the last year. Although 10 of that is what I lost when I was out of the gym injured so around 20lbs of new muscle and I still have 4 more months to gain befoe it's time to really drop cals for prep. So I'm glad it only took me two years to realize that heavy weight does not equal better gains, exact opposite in my experience. I'm with you tho bro trying to impress people with weight and shit. My workout partner at the time gave me so much shit when I came back and I was repping half of what I used to. But guess what? He still looks the same and Ive dramatically changed my body.
Funnily enough I've just watched the "barbell back bicep workout" from a couple of young lads this morning. 60kgs on the bar, reality is their arms probably can't lift half that weight. Amazing how many people complain their arms don't grow and yet can't work out why.
Cheat curls have there place in all seriousness. But after you got a good focused workout first. Then you can load up the bar and do some cheat curls cause if you do it right yes your using your back and stuff but your biceps are still fully engaged and your putting up more weight then you would with perfect form. Atleast thats what arnold said lol, i dont do it much but i might throw in some cheating barbell curls towards the end of a good workout. But 95% of your workout should be done with perfect form. Fuck the weight on the bar, its meaningless.
There's cheat curls and there's cheat curls. When your biceps are doing 20% of the work you're wasting your time.
If I can't lift it properly, I either use a spotter or drop the weight. Cheat reps aren't for me.
thetdog623837good read makwa. Its good to see a post on training for a change lol
Hell ya bro. 90% of posts should be about diet and training because 90% of ones results are determined by the quality of their training and diet. Drugs are the last piece or the puzzle and ENHANCE an already good routine. They don't do the work for ya which is what most people think and why so many fail. We need more and more posts like this and less about drugs. Shooting gear and building cycles is the easy part it doesn't take a genius to put together a decent bulking or cutting cycle. But it takes some knowledge to build a perfect diet and training program and also know when to make changes based off ones progess or lack of.
That pretty much sums it up right there and why I am trying to put together more posts like this.
It all starts in the kitchen and then in the gym.