buildingrealmusclesize

I have been weight training off and on since 1975.  I compete as a power-lifter when my strength levels get close to a peak.  My last competition being in November of 2006.

Since I work full time as a Professional Plumber and also run a Hardware Store, I took what I thought would be a few weeks off and ended up taking two years and 5 months off instead.  Now that I recently turned 50 in January I came to realize that I better get off the couch and get back to the gym.

My first day back I ran into a lot of the “Old Gang” that train in the morning when I use to.  They said I looked great and asked if I was training somewhere else the last few years?  As I looked around and started warming up, I realized that these people had not put on an ounce of muscle in the two and a half years I laid off.  Further more, though I had lost some size and strength, I still maintained most of my size.

As I went through the first few “light” workouts to “break myself back in”,  I started analyzing  my training methods compared to theirs and realized where the differences lay.  I have always trained HEAVY with minimal sets.  I stick to free weights and compound movements which I call the Basic Seven:  Bench Press, Squats, Military Press, Bent Rows, Deadlift, Shrugs and Power Cleans.  I do all these exercises one day a week, Heavy!

I keep a journal which lists my exercises,  sets,  reps and weight used.  I always try and add weight each workout even if it is only 2-1/2 lbs.  Weight Training is called Progressive Resistance which means you must continually add more resistance i.e. weight in order to make the muscles grow larger and stronger.  I hit the other body parts such as Calves, Hamstrings, and Arms on another day at least three days later.  For example now that I have got back up to regular workouts,  my weekly workout looks like this;  Basic Seven on Sunday,  Legs and Arms on Wednesday.  I make sure I feed my muscles fast absorbing protein and complex carbohydrates to replenish glycogen stores and allow my body to recover.  I always eat about 200 grams of protein a day when I am training.    After 8 weeks of training I take a week off to allow my joints and tendons to recoup.

This type of training has allowed me to maintain muscle size and density despite long periods of inactivity or lay offs.   As I watched some of the others train,  I noticed they were doing “Bodybuilding” type workouts which usually means lots of sets , reps and different exercises.  For example, two young guys were just starting their chest workout when I arrived this past Sunday.  They started out with 5 sets of bench press, 5 sets of incline press, 5 sets of dumb bell flys, and 5 sets of cable crossovers and a few sets of Pec Deck.  When I came back on Wednesday to do my arms and legs, I noticed the same two fellows just starting their chest workout again.  Unless you use Steroids like the guys in the magazines, there is NO WAY your body can recover from that many sets and reps in that short time span.

They later came up to me when I was done with my workout, to ask me what supplements I was taking.  “Dude, you look way bigger than you did last week, what stuff do you use?”  I said sure supplements are part of the reason, but they way I train was the biggest part.  They asked me what exercises I did for chest, (they are obviously obsessed with building up their 34″ chests).  I told them I trained chest on Sundays and my last workout I did a warm up with 135lbs for 20 reps,   225lbs for 10 reps,  315lbs for 8 reps, 385 for 4 reps and 405 for 2 sets of 2 reps and a final flush set of 150lbs for 15 reps.  That was it.  They sort of mumbled that they could never lift that kind of weight and went back to their workout.

They failed to see that I only did a total of 7 sets to their 20 plus sets.  By lifting heavy only once a week my body was able to recover and grow.  Something that they would never experience.  More, is not better.  You want to stimulate not annihilate your muscles.

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