There are many ideas on how to properly implement a weight training program to successfully build muscle. There’s circuit training, there’s high volume training, and there’s high intensity. Some people say 3 sets of 10 is best and some say 2 sets of 15 and some say 1 set of 12 is best.
The truth is that it is the best would be the most productive in recovery and muscle growth. Sometimes certain workouts are only good for the genetically compatible person. Many programs advertised in muscle magazines are actually too far reaching for most who are led to think that their body would benefit from the muscle growth these programs promote. When you actually need the genetics or the use of stimulants (ie drugs). Most of these programs and supplements are marketing tools to get you to buy their product.
To really build muscle, without the use of steroids or drugs, you need intensity, and as you get stronger, you need enough recovery, so you should do less, NOT MORE! Overtraining is what happens when someone buys into the idea that they will experience huge gains with high sets and high reps. Hours of training every day will only get you to your plateau that much faster and you may lose muscle at some point.
If you haven’t tried high-intensity training and are having trouble getting results with your current type of program, I suggest you restart your program and implement good long-term high-intensity training. This type of training with proper nutrition will get you where you want to be when it comes to muscle growth, and much faster.
The principle of high intensity training is the opposite of what most people do. It sounds out of place, but when Arthur Jones, founder of the Nautilus weight training team and the Medx rehab team, first introduced it, it turned out to be the most prominent form, but it was slowly lost over the years.
With High Intensify Training, the concept is shorter: more intense and less frequent workouts. These are the key tools that will allow for maximum muscle stimulation and growth. Maximum muscle stimulation, because each set will be perfectly controlled, with no rocking, arching, or swaying. The minimum drive is strictly adhered to until momentary muscle failure, the point at which it is impossible to move in the positive direction, at which point it is maintained for maximum muscle stimulation.
The main goal is to increase strength and muscle growth, so for each workout you want to increase the repetitions of each exercise in your next workout. Start with 8 reps and work up to 12, then when you get to 12 reps add resistance, 2%-5% resistance is plenty. Each exercise has to be to momentary muscular failure.
Because your recovery doesn’t increase in proportion to your increase in strength, as you get stronger when doing HIT, you should do less.
When it comes to understanding “do less” we must take into account Duration, Frequency and Order.
The duration of the punch training should be a maximum of 12 exercises for a beginner, and as you progress to an advanced stage, a minimum of 7 exercises. The frequency will begin in 2-week increments with 3 workouts per week or 6 workouts for 2 weeks, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of each week. If no results are seen, reduce your frequency to 2 workouts per week.
As you progress after 6 weeks, you will implement a training day from the first week as NTF – “DO NOT FAIL”. After 6 weeks, he will leave NTF training on the first Wednesday and will only train 5 times in 2 weeks. Now after another 6 weeks the second Wednesday he becomes NTF, his frequency is now reduced to 4 workouts to failure and one NTF. Then as you progress, after another 6 weeks, you start to reduce the number of exercises to 10 per workout. Do another reduction with each 6 week period relative to the pattern discussed and you will start training only 3 times for 2 weeks with only 8 exercises per workout after 48 weeks. With this program followed, you WILL SEE advanced muscle growth. This workout is very intense but will give you maximum muscle growth in the least amount of stimulation-free time.