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2003/08/25, 10:42 AM
Well I have been out of the gym for a month. I have not really lifted heavy since then, but I do have some dumbbells and a bar bell with 200lbs. So I set out to see what if any kind of workout I could get. I was used to lifting very heavy for 14 sets per body part. Now I was forced to limit not only the weight but what exercises I could do as well. So down to the dank, dark stinky basement that I now called my trainig center. I started day one with pushups. I really tried to contract the chest as well as back while doing these. I got 3 sets of 25. Well I will tell ya these actually killed me. I was so sore the next few days. I Also did triceps. Now luckly I have one set of 30 lb db, plus the ability to make another set into 2 20lb or one db ranging from 25-40lbs, so my kickbacks mainly stayed the same. I did Kickbacks, SK superseted with close grip presses. This workout killed my tis and chest. I did back and Biceps doing just bent rows and one deadlift, and curls galore. Ok that said I could not believe the pump and feeling I got. I sat down upstairs resting thinking back to see why I had done such a great workout. I slowly came to the realization that this was a no frills workout, and since I knew that i had to force the body to work at a higher level of intensity to make up for the lack of weight and equipment. So I got to thinking, why do i not always get this feeling at the gym? Because I can rely on the equipment to do some of the work. I mean look at it for back, you have all the cables, and pull downs and cybex equip. for arms youhave tons of cables, machines etc....but in my lowly gym I have just 200lbs and a bar bell, curl bar and 2 db. It forced me to go slow and steady. The basic exercises were there for me. I did not need that fancy equipment and hell I did not really need that heavy weight. I could indeed not only maintain my current muscle mass, but also would over time force it to grow a little as well. Here lay the key. I think we as lifters, get to rely on the comfort of the gym, and the fact that there are so many alternatives for us there that we can in fact induce a plateau of sorts in our training. By taking away to what amounts to a crutch, and forcing our body to really scramble to adjust we can increase our gains. Here is what I mean. Next time you go tot he gym, act like you can not see the cables, machines etc. Go and get a bar bell and try to do a workout without adding a huge amount of weight (I know JB and others are like me powerlifters at heart, but stay with me). Use the focus you have to move the weight , but use perfect form and do it slowly. Now limit yourself to one to 2 exercises for each bodypart, but increase the sets. So for back do like 5 sets of bent rows, and 5 deadlifts. But use perfect form and 3sec up and 3sec down rep count. Force yourself to go back to the basics. See what happenes.
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Eat More, Drink More, and Lift Harder than you thought you could, welcome to Becoming!
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2003/08/25, 03:16 PM
Depends I think that it is a myth that once you get to a certain level you can do less to keep it. makes no sense. We all know if you stick to one weight one routine your body will actually reverse itself and you will lose muscle. So just lifting to maitain that body i think is not right, but I have no real answer for ya have yet to get to where I wanna be
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Eat More, Drink More, and Lift Harder than you thought you could, welcome to Becoming!
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