Quote:
Originally Posted by Mydivorcegift
You didn't read...
"It's breaking down the workouts to smaller muscle groups and using much lighter weight loads".
The articles are about how to incorporate more training sessions than 4 times a week.....
And you'd be a fool to call Westside training "junk"....
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There is a lot more to it than you are reading, There are many specialization programs that are similar to this and some that are much different and as I said I didn't say they were junk. They do not outline the exact details but you can easily see where they are going and the logic behind it. They do not directly work the same muscle groups with heavy loads two days in a row, they also vary grips, grip width's etc. in doing this, again you do not directly work the same muscle groups. For example, you can take the bench press, when done with correct form it is a chest exercise, use a close grip and you now made it an arm exercise, mainly triceps. so if you follow what they are referencing across the board they talk about varying these factors to target the muscle groups or the muscle fibers that have not been worked or underworked, this helps to eliminate the overtraining of particular muscles. They talk about on certain exercises on the "extra workouts" to use 50%-60% of the 1RM. Generally speaking, beginners make decent progress at these levels but intermediate and upward most gains are made at about 80% max which they use on the heavy days, lighter loads.
The other thing with these types of programs they are very hard for the average trainee to follow as he does not see where the work is needed as a result of muscle growth unless he is very dedicated and religiously records and measures because the mirror lies. This is evident when you see the majority of joe shmoes going in and out of the gym with no proportions to their physiques.
And still you did not get all of what I said, these guys are looking at muscle recovery. There is also the nervous system involved which is a whole different subject. If you look at writings and programs from guys like Charles Poloquin, considered to be one of if not the best coach in strength training they do not recommend training more than two days in a row for this reason. You cannot argue with his success stories.
There is a big difference in recommendations made here to those other than professional lifters or body builders who can devote the time and commitment to follow those types of programs and general rules of thumb and known to work techniques that I might suggest to fellow enthusiasts.